FTX's Bankman-Fried "Blames Everyone But Himself"

Sam Bankman-Fried Blames Everyone but Himself for FTX’s Collapse

Most notably, Bankman-Fried still seems unwilling to take any responsibility for what happened — or even register that $8 billion somehow went missing, people lost life savings or that he could spend the next decades of his life rotting in prison. And, somehow, his biggest regret still seems wrapped up in his fallen public persona, as if the weekly court hearings and ongoing bankruptcy process are a detour from his life as a magnanimous, beloved statesman he was destined to live.

“I’m broke and wearing an ankle monitor and one of the most hated people in the world,” Bankman-Fried reportedly wrote. “There will probably never be anything I can do to make my lifetime impact net positive.”

To be fair, the NYT gave no indication of the real context of why or when Bankman-Fried wrote this down, and it is essentially a personal diary that was leaked to the press. But: What. The. Hell. How unbelievably self-involved does a person have to be to write that they feel broke after losing so much money for so many people.

Wall Street Is Furious Over Rising Fines From SEC

Wall Street is feeling the pain of inflation—at the tills of its regulators.

Big banks and brokerage firms are handing over bigger checks to settle regulatory investigations, including those that don’t result in losses for investors. U.S. market regulators are increasingly demanding tens of millions of dollars to settle technical violations that just a few years ago cost companies much less to resolve.

***

Defense lawyers and some legal scholars said Gensler’s SEC is levying fines beyond historical norms. That stance is generating some pushback among defense lawyers and conservative legal groups that are looking for ways to challenge the SEC’s civil-enforcement authority.

Billionaire Cuban Loses Ether, RARE, and Other Tokens to Crypto Phishing Scam

Dallas Maverick owner and billionaire technology investor Mark Cuban lost some $870,000 worth of tokens over the weekend after likely clicking on a phishing link after “months of inactivity.”

Phishing attacks trick users into divulging sensitive data, downloading malware, and exposing their private information. Such attacks are extremely common in the crypto industry, as users may fail to check the source of requests on a crypto wallet, or unknowingly download a fake application that mimics the original – one that exists only to steal holdings.

Cuban’s wallet was drained of U.S.-pegged stablecoins, staked ETH (stETH), SuperRare (RARE) tokens, and some Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domains, blockchain data shows. These movements were first spotted by on-chain sleuth @wazzcrypto.

Gary Gensler Tells a Climate Whopper

The Chairman’s biggest whopper was his assertion that “we have no climate agenda whatsoever.” Yet emails obtained by Energy Policy Advocates through a Freedom of Information Act request show that SEC officials have been working on the rule with the climate outfit Ceres, whose stated goal is to “achieve a zero emissions future.”

Mr. Gensler may not want to risk the wrath of Congress by admitting that a climate disclosure rule amounts to a climate agenda. But the rule’s goal is to give the climate lobby and trial lawyers ammunition to attack business. That’s why they’re pressuring Mr. Gensler to force it through on a partisan vote.

You Might Be Paying Too Much for That Index Fund

Index-tracking funds are inching closer to free.

State Street last month slashed the fee on its cheapest S&P 500 exchange-traded fund, known by ticker symbol SPLG, to 0.02%—making it less than a quarter of the cost of its popular SPY fund that tracks the same stocks. It is now the cheapest index fund in its class. A $1,000 investment in SPLG costs investors just 20 cents a year in fees.

The arrival of a 0.02% fund fee—about as close to zero as many in the market expect major funds to get—is the culmination of a decadeslong fee war among asset managers.

Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence to Settle FTX Endorsement Fraud Suit

Three high-profile endorsers of the failed FTX cryptocurrency exchange – including NFL quarterback Trevor Lawrence – agreed to settle claims they helped dupe investors who lost billions in the meltdown of Sam Bankman-Fried’s digital-asset empire.

The proposed agreements with Lawrence, a star for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and YouTube influencers Kevin Paffrath and Tom Nash were cited in a Friday court filing. The settlement terms weren’t disclosed.

SEC’s Gensler May Face an Unbeatable Foe in Crypto

At the forefront of what comes next will be whether the SEC can establish it should have purview of the rapidly expanding cryptoverse – and whether many crypto offerings are, indeed, securities.

In his recent interview with CNBC, former SEC chair Clayton said he was not so sure the SEC would prevail. “As this has developed, it is clear Bitcoin is not a security,” he noted, adding, “Crypto is a technology.”

“Now the SEC has to deal with the line between securities offerings and trading – and non-securities trading and offerings.” Clayton said crypto assets are “something that retail investors want access to, that institutional investors want access to.”

Gensler may have backed himself into a corner on crypto but, as Wall Street’s top cop, he can still outlast his crypto foes by continuously appealing, even if he can’t win — at least, until he leaves his post — market observers say.