🧠 FTX and Binance go head to head

GM Seedphrase Nation 👋 Today's email is packed with goodies you actually want.

Today's Agenda 📓 :

• 🧑‍💻 The full FTX story in 7 points

• 🧠 Question everything- especially Ligma/Johnson

• 😂 Meme of the day

Everyones jumping to comment on the FTX situation- not us though.

We're not here to tell you what to think. We're just here to feed you every layer of the controversy cake. 🍰

We found the only source you need to get the full story, and we share it with you at the end. First, let's break it down:

7 stages leading to FTX's possible doom:

1. Daddy?

Remember when everything crashed in June, but SBF was there to save the day? We call this the daddy phase. Because it felt a lot like this:

• he bailed out BlockFi for $240M

• entertained bailing out Celsius

• Bid for Voyager assets

At the time, SBF was painted as a hero trying to save the crypto markets. Now, people are saying this was a front to strengthen FTX.

2. The great resignation

• Aug. 4, 2022: CEO of Alameda (owned by SBF) resigns

• Sep. 27, 2022: FTX president steps down

Why are the heads of SBF's two companies stepping down?

Do they know something we don't? Where there's smoke, there's fire.

So SBF did some damage control:

3. $50M to politicians

• SBF has donated $50M to Democrats for midterm elections

• he said he would donate $1b to the 2024 presidential election- but then he took it back.

• we told you guys about this last week

• he clearly has political interests.

3. Regulation

• a crypto regulation bill, called DCCPA, circulating in DC was leaked

• SBF was a huge supporter of this bill

• he got TONS of backlash, with well known people calling his motives to question

• we covered all the controversy here

Pro tip: watch the second video below to see SBF slowly crumble

4. Alameda balance sheet

We covered this yesterday. Basically:

• Alameda, a trading giant owned by SBF, had their balance sheet leaked

• "the net equity in the Alameda business is actually FTX’s own centrally controlled and printed-out-of-thin-air token." 

• AKA: they're backed by illiquid assets, meaning they could go broke.

• Here's a terrific breakdown if you want to dive deeper into possible insolvency:

5. Binance plans exit of ALL $FTT tokens

• CZ, CEO of Binance, called this a risk management move

• he compared this to the $LUNA crash

• the FTX token, $FTT, dumped 15% as a result

6. I'm fine, we're fine, it's fine

After this entire sh*t storm, SBF is apparently fine.

Kinda like when you ask your girlfriend what's wrong and she hits you with "I'm fine."

Final thoughts: This could all just be FUD. Whenever strong narratives like this are put out in crypto, be skeptical. If your opinion is black and white, you don't actually have the full answer. We believe this is bearish for FTX, but we aren't going to be quick to claim insolvency.

Here's the link to the full thread analyzing the FTX timeline.

No matter what happens, at least we can laugh at the memes:

Now its time to ligma (after the sponsor)...

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If you love a good troll, we have just the story for you.

It all started when Elon took over Twitter.

Mainstream media was salivating at the mouth. They gobbled up every bit of Elon news they could get, including the riveting testimony from Mr. Ligma and Mr. Johnson.

The facts:

• two dudes

• two cardboard boxes

• a ligma joke

• & CNBC, Bloomberg, NBC, and Daily Mail

The story:

Mainstream media is pushing the narrative that Elon is the big bad billionaire wolf. Reporters camped outside Twitter HQ to cover any story they could.

Two guys just so happened to be there with cardboard boxes, sharing that they just lost their jobs at Twitter. They played the media by sharing the sad story of sudden termination, not knowing what they'll do next, and a weird rant about Michelle Obama.

Now deleted: A CNBC reporter tweeted this about them:

It’s happening. Entire team of data engineers let go. They are visibly shaken. Daniel tells us he owns a Tesla and doesn’t know how he’s going to make payments," she added.

Surprise: they weren't really Twitter employees. The two trolls went by the names Rahul Ligma and Daniel Johnson. Even a 6th grader would have been able to smell the troll from a mile away.

Red flag: CNBC, Bloomberg, NBC, and Daily Mail jumped to publish this story before any kind of fact checking. Sure, they're boomers. But it's deeper than that. They didn't fact check because they're looking for stories that propagate their narrative.

What does this have to do with Web3?

It's time to get skeptical.

Stop believing every narrative in the media. If Ligma/Johnson was able to fool all these professional reporters, imagine what else is circulating out there for the sake of a narrative, rather than a fact.

For instance: the FTX narrative. It's time to think for yourself, rather than be told what to think. Do you really think FTX is going insolvent? Or is this a narrative being pushed by media for other reasons?

⚜️ Golden nugget: Be an independent thinker. Whether it's about Elon, FTX, or the new Drake album.

Meme of the Day:Who do you know in crypto posting Drake memes?

Recognize a real one (us) and share this with a friend:

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research