There are many companies working hard to collect and distribute data about you and your family for profit. What you want to buy, where you want to eat, even what medical conditions you have, and whether or not you believe in God. That information and anything else you put into the internet can be collected and monetized by companies like Google and Facebook. At The Washington Post, Geoffrey Fowler explains just how far Google has gone to prevent internet users from employing its competitors' privacy-enhancing products. He writes: There’s a setting on your phone and web browser that Google … [Read more...]
Another Under-the-Radar Crypto Fraud?
The trial of Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX is getting a lot of attention right now, but there may be yet another cryptocurrency fraud coming to light, albeit a smaller one. Xerberus, which calls itself a "risk rating protocol," has uncovered what it claims is shady activity by the executives of Ardana Labs. Tom Blackstone reports in Cointelegraph: In 2021, Ardana Labs claimed it would provide an innovative stablecoin platform for the Cardano network. The new project, called “Ardana,” would allow investors to lock up crypto collateral and mint fiat-pegged stablecoins, including a U.S. dollar-based … [Read more...]
Are Most NFTs Now Worthless?
Your Survival Guy has watched many investment fads come and go, with speculators piling in with dreams of making it big, only to watch as the hype cycle fades and values decline. It appears that the end may have come for one of the most recent fads, Nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. Much like blockchain, there's a lot of interesting technology wrapped up in NFTs that may find a good use, but the speculative buying of many NFTs left a lot of people wondering where the value was supposed to be. Now, according to a new study by dappGambl, which describes itself as "your go-to platform for everything … [Read more...]
SEC Signals Greater Regulation of Crypto “Casinos”
After the catastrophic collapse of the world's second largest cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, the SEC's Chairman, Gary Gensler, has signaled that his commission will be taking a harder line on cryptocurrency exchanges, tokens, hedge funds, and broker-dealers. Gensler made the comments about cryptocurrencies in an interview with Yahoo! Finance. When interviewer Jennifer Schonberger asked Gensler why the SEC didn't enforce the rules on the books regarding the collapse of FTX, Gensler responded: We are enforcing. The Securities and Exchange Commission, I couldn't be prouder. And it started under … [Read more...]
Remember This from FTX Bankruptcy and You Can Thank Yourself Later
The fall of crypto exchange FTX is a brutal lesson in fear and greed. Not the fear of losing but the fear of missing out or FOMO. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBM) said this on the podcast “Odd Lots” describing how venture capitalists pick investments (highlighted by Jason Zweig in his WSJ column the “Intelligent Investor”): You get a bizarre f—ing process that does not look like the paragon of efficient markets that you might expect. [Venture capitalists] see what all their friends are chattering about, and their friends keep talking about this company…and they start FOMOing [feeling the … [Read more...]
CRYPTO: A Generational Reality Check that Markets Are Cruel
It never ceases to amaze me how investors find new ways to lose money. They tell you about their wins and can’t believe it when they lose. If they're rolling in cash, where are they when it comes to helping pay for dinner? Do they get alligator arms? Did they brag about how well they’re doing while picking up the next round for everyone at the bar? Crypto is this generation's reality check that markets are cruel. Maybe schools should teach that instead of the other nonsense being taught. This week, cryptocurrency owners using FTX to hold their coins are facing disaster, as the firm attempts to … [Read more...]
Cryptocurrencies Tumble as Owners Lose Faith in Institutions
The imminent purchase of cryptocurrency exchange FTX by rival firm, Binance, has sent shivers through the cryptocurrency market as it is revealed that FTX was facing a liquidity crunch. Forbes reports: Bitcoin fell to a two-year low and the crypto market slid after a shocking run on billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX cryptocurrency exchange and subsequent pact for an acquisition from rival Binance, as the crypto industry shook from the collapse of one of its foremost institutions. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced early Tuesday that his company signed a letter of intent to acquire FTX … [Read more...]
IS IT OVER? Regulation Comes for the Crypto Market
After nearly two decades of Wild West-like freedom, the Senate is coming for the cryptocurrency market. This isn't the first time legislators have tried to tame the crypto market. The latest effort is led by Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and John Boozman (R-AR), the two senators who lead the Senate Agriculture Committee. The bill would allow cryptocurrencies to avoid regulation by the SEC and instead fall under the authority of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The crypto industry desperately wants to avoid oversight by the SEC, and would likely consider regulation by the CFTC … [Read more...]
Flood of Withdrawals Breaking Crypto Platforms
Has the long-foretold cryptocosm arrived? It's hard to say given the stop/start tendencies of the recent crypto-collapse, but one scary thing is for certain, many crypto lenders are blocking access to customer assets. Kyle Barr reports at Gizmodo: The number of crypto lending platforms that actually let users take their crypto home with them is getting progressively smaller. One company even reported its users were draining their accounts of close to $198 million in total over the past three weeks. CoinLoan announced Monday it was putting a big hold on users’ abilities to withdraw most of … [Read more...]
SECRETLY INSOLVENT: Crypto Exchanges Hiding Their Troubles
You know that crypto speculators have been suffering. Big drops in the value of cryptocurrencies have exposed some of the firms that were swimming naked when the tide went out. Now, the founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, a mega-crypto owner, says that there are certain crypto exchanges that are already operating in insolvency. Forbes's Steven Ehrlich reports: The question on everybody’s mind in the crypto world is whether we’ve reached the market bottom. Nearly $2 trillion in crypto market value has evaporated since November. Two bellwether digital assets Luna, a $40 billion crypto asset … [Read more...]