“From 2019 through 2022, I was aware that Alameda was provided access to a borrowing facility on FTX.com, the cryptocurrency exchange run by Mr. Bankman-Fried,” Ellison said. “In practical terms, this arrangement permitted Alameda access to an unlimited line of credit without being required to post collateral, without having negative balances and without being subject to margin calls on FTX.com’s liquidation protocols.”
“if Alameda’s FTX accounts had significant negative balances in any particular currency, it meant that Alameda was borrowing funds that FTX’s customers had deposited on the exchange,”
I do find the reporting of this mightily confusing. Are the funds “customers had deposited” in dollars or crypto? To derive any benefit from any of this, the swag has to extracted in real spendable money. Crypto in itself is essentially worthless. You can’t do anything with it. There’s virtually no commerce being conducted in it.
“There’s virtually no legal commerce being conducted in it.”
FTFY
Ah, no. One of the biggest problems – even if they’d been legal in everything else – was that they had their own coin, FTC (I think). Which was then used as the collateral for borrowing. If the coin slumps in value – it did – then you get margin calls and……
The amount of illegal commerce being conducted in crypto is trivial Grikath. Compared with the total issuance. And it’s irrelevant whether the commerce is being done legal or illegal. What gives any money its value is its ready & confident exchangeability for goods & services. To cash out say $1 billion equivalent in crypto you’d have to find $1 billion worth of buyers for crypto. At what price?
If the coin slumps in value – it did – then you get margin calls and……
Not even that helps very much, Tim. What’s the margin call in?
This whole SBF trial has already been stitched up. The authorities in the US don’t want any dirty laundry waved around, so SBF wil plead guilty and be whicked away to some soft penitentiary where he will be quietly released after doing a bit of time. He won’t even be put into the same cell as Bubba, who hasn’t seen a woman in 15 years.
$250 million bail ? Duh.
When we’ve gone away and let our house we’ve followed the rule of never taking tenants who study or teach law, economics, or management.
Ellison’s parents are academic economists, Bankman-Fraud’s academic lawyers. I think we can pat ourselves on the back but also note for the next time to ask prospective tenants what their parents do for a living.
Apparently it’s legal to discriminate like billy-oh as long as you don’t offend the pieties of the moment.
Almost sounds too good to be true.
Otto: …SBF wil plead guilty and be whicked away
Do you mean “whisked” or do you mean “whacked”? Either seems to work given the murky background and the antecedents of the criminal justice system.
Off topic but following Spud’s sanctimonious claim on Thursday that he was taking a break from blogging over Christmas to spend time with his family (and then posting his ‘Jesus agrees with me’ blog yesterday) I popped on his blog just now.
From time stamps he was on the blog until 10 p.m. yesterday, first reply 7.13 a.m. this morning and throughout the day, most recently at 5 p.m.
His ego needs constant pumping up. Sad little man.
Merry Christmas to you, Tim, and all the regulars on here. An oasis of sanity in an increasingly mad world.
Can’t say my timings are that much different……
The quote attributed to her is simply unbelievable. Unbelievable in that she said it.
If you’ve seen her speak, pre-collapse, she had the vocabulary and grammar of a giggling schoolgirl.
Then, upon her arrest, she is suddenly speaking like a Harvard MBA graduate?
Nope. Not her. Most likely the script her (or the government’s) lawyer handed her.
Andrew C +100000%
In a world that is increasingly not worth living in, thankyou all for the sanity boost. I love both the agreements and disagreements.
Kudos Tim, Merry Christmas and a happy new year to everyone.
@vern
My thoughts too. This isn’t the way people speak, it’s the way that the DA’s office writes your script. Not even a Harvard MBA (let alone an Oxford PPE grad or a valley girl) talks in such constipated language.
Leading the witness at all? If Banksman Fraud’s mum and dad are such hot lawyers they should make hay with this.
《What gives any money its value is its ready & confident exchangeability for goods & services.》
Why is the number 1 good demanded US Dollars?
Or do FTX depositors want SBF to come mow their lawn?
Are the funds “customers had deposited” in dollars or crypto?
AFAIK it’s a bit of a mix. SBF certainly spent real money on real things, like property in the Bahamas and PE funds. He also ‘invested’ crypto-bollox in other crypto-bollox.
The amount of crypto actually spent on the few things you can buy with it (drugs, nonce porn) is indeed minimal, but a lot of crims have put real ill-gotten money into crypto to try and launder it.
The whole thing is due for collapse but at the moment a lot of it is held up by the current floor of bitcoin and stablecoins like Tether. These might be bullshit but at the moment holders are generally not trying to redeem them because that will make it all real. Matter of time though.
The FTX/US aid/Ukraine/Democrat money-laundering thing is tripe, of course. As I’ve said, it’s 1 + 1 = wake up sheeple!
However, organised crime is heavily involved in crypto (obv) so SBF might still get offed…
Oh yes, Merry Christmas all!
@MC
I have severe doubts about the efficacy of trying to launder money through crypto. To launder, one’s trying not draw attention to ones self. Having your bank account crossing paths with a crypto exchange is like waving a red flag about. Especially in money laundering sums.
With reference to Andrew C’s logkeeping of the P³’s internet activity, there’s an article on Spiked coined the term “the pyjama classes” for “Those upper-middle-class graduates who make up the knowledge economy. Who think tweeting is a job.”
https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/12/24/the-year-we-finally-rose-up-against-the-pyjama-classes/
Which is certainly something Spud aspires to be.
And I was thinking. We probably all have a vision of the P³ becardiganed & drip-dry shirted. But the truth is more likely a pair of threadbare striped bottoms with the cord dangling & skidmarks visible from the rear, a vest yellowing to grey & a moth-eaten robe with egg stains on the lapels & pockets bulging with snotty kitchen roll.
Adding a big “damn right!” to Andrew C’s comments above.
Thanks for the sanity, Tim and all!
Merry Crimble, too!!