A Week of Madness

What a week! 

This has certainly been one of the craziest weeks in recent memory and although the revelations were fantastic the results were not. This week has destroyed a lot of people.

First, let me quickly recap the end of October when this chilling tweet was posted.

For those that don't know, @delete_shitcoin is Nikolai Mushegian, co-founder of Maker DAO. 

He was found dead a day after that tweet.

Now let's get back to FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange based on the Caribbean Island of The Bahamas!

Just days after the US Mid Term elections the unravelling was in motion. As the FTX story heated up the details become more and more outrageous and there is plenty more to come. 

In the USA, Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren has been an outspoken critic of cryptocurrency, which she describes as "smoke and mirrors" and demands more aggressive and stricter regulation to "ensure consumers are protected". 

An admirable position to take but the obvious and easiest one. As a beneficiary of Bankman family money, donations to Elizabeth Warren have been small but show a political affiliation that has become a huge part of this story.

With some sources even suggesting that USA tax payer money sent to Ukraine was filtered back through FTX and received by the Democrat party. What is without question is that SBF did donate around $40million to the Democrats. He is the second biggest individual donor, beaten only by everyone's favourite villain, George Soros.

The scale of the donations didn't stop there, a secretive Super PAC called Mind The Gap, lead by SBF's mother, planned to spend $140million during the 2020 US Election. Now I don't know if all that money was spent, I don't know how much of that money came through FTX but one thing is for sure the timelines are incredibly convenient. Only months after founding this PAC her son became a millionaire with access to untold funds. 

I recommend checking out THIS thread for more detail.

Then, in the least surprising news about this whole thing, the name Clinton was mentioned!

Sam Bankman-Fried's mother, Barbara Fried, the generous Democrat donor was Hillary Clinton's lawyer and apparent friend. Sam Bankman-Fried shared a stage at a Crypto Bahamas convention with serial womaniser/pervert Bill Clinton and untouchable war criminal Tony Blair. SBF was even a guest speaker at the Clinton Foundation event in September 2022. The relationship is undeniable.

Bankman-Fried had been having meetings with SEC chairman Gary Gensler (CFO for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presedential campaign and former MIT professor). There is a lot of speculation right now about the relationship between these two but the fact that shared numerous meetings and video calls suggest they were working closely. Gensler's former boss named Glen Ellison was also connected as his daughter Caroline Ellison was CEO of Alameda and also dated Bank-Fried.

There is a lot more detail to this story but you should probably rely on news outlets for up to date info on this.

To go back to Elizabeth Warren's remarks, most people in crypto are realists, we know there are problems that need solving. Yes the crypto industry is likely rife with fraud but why should we pretend this is a crypto-specific problem? 

We watch our politicians trade stock, launder money, delay elections, rise to power without a single vote, lie to us with the help of the media and we are supposed to pretend that crypto is the issue?

The world is going through a huge change, whether that is incidental or is being forced upon us is up for debate. What is obvious to all within this space is the fact we are staring at potential financial freedom away from central banks and their resistance is felt every single day. If we can seize the opportunities at our fingertips we can change the course of not only history but humanity.

No more shady business coming from MIT connected, Caribbean Island dwelling, friend of the Clinton's. The world doesn't need another Jeffrey Epstein Sam Bankman-Fried.

As a final thought this week has highlighted the old and often repeated line, not your keys not your coins. The dangers of leaving your crypto on exchanges has been talked about for years and yet some people take the risk probably with the mindset of "It will never happen to me".  A tough lesson for a lot of people but hopefully one that will inspire them to learn more about security and how to protect their assets, starting with a cold wallet such as Ledger.

It may seem cliché to say money isn't everything but it's true, if you are reading this then you are clearly alive and I'm sure there isn't any amount of money you would swap for your life so be grateful for that at least! But if you are still struggling with the collapse of FTX you can sleep easy at night knowing that at least the Democrat party benefitted from your loss.

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