Unchained

In a recent report, Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy, predicted that inflows to spot bitcoin ETFs would rise above $14 billion in the first year following the potential approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission of multiple applications the agency is considering. Thorn called the availability of this product significant because it will give financial advisors and wealth managers acce...

In a courtroom drama minus the jury, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) took the stand for what can be best described as a “test run.” The hearing aimed to help the judge decide what evidence will be admissible in the actual trial. SBF's performance under Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon's questioning was less than stellar. His verbose answers and frequent apologies contrasted sharply with Sassoon's...

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news. This week, the four discuss Bitcoin’s price surge over the past week amid growing optimism that a spot BTC exchange traded fund would win regulatory approval, an erroneous Wall Street Journal story about crypto funding to the terrorist group Hamas an...

James Seyffart, market analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, and Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management, feel quite certain a spot Bitcoin ETF will launch in the next few months.  First, the SEC decided not to appeal a court’s rejection of Grayscale’s application to convert its bitcoin trust to a spot ETF. Second, there’s been a change in the way the SEC has been treating t...

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news. This week, the four discuss – and disagree about – Uniswap’s new fees, SBF trial week 3, and DCG potentially being taken out by the NY Attorney General.  Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitch...

Sam Enzer, a partner at the law firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel, told Laura that compelling evidence from Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle had increased the difficulty for the fallen FTX CEO to convince a jury of his innocence. Former FTX head engineer Nishad Singh said that he became suicidal after understanding the full magnitude of FTX’s misuse of customer funds, while ex-chief legal counsel Can S...

On the 12th day of the SBF Trial, former FTX General Counsel Can Sun testified about a $7 billion deficit in customer funds. Sun, who was responsible for crafting FTX's terms of service, expressed shock at the deficit and revealed that Sam Bankman-Fried had asked him for legal justifications. Sun also mentioned that Nishad Singh, a key witness and former head of engineering at FTX, looked emotiona...

The courtroom was abuzz on Wednesday as financial and technical experts took the stand in the ongoing criminal trial against Sam Bankman-Fried. Accounting professor Peter Easton, a standout witness, presented a detailed analysis showing that Alameda had spent customer funds on VC investments, real estate, and political and charitable donations. Easton, who had previously worked on high-profile cas...

On day 10 of the Sam Bankman-Fried trial, SBF’s defense team tried to discredit Nishad Singh, a key witness for the prosecution. Despite their efforts, Singh's testimony about FTX's financial mismanagement and Bankman-Fried's questionable ethics remained largely unchallenged. The defense's line of questioning focused on Singh's memory and inconsistencies in his statements, but prosecutors were qui...

The third week of the criminal trial against Sam Bankman-Fried began Monday. Nishad Singh, one of three key witnesses for the prosecution, testified about the alleged misuse of customer funds and a toxic work environment at FTX, created by Sam Bankman-Fried. Singh's account echoed earlier testimony by former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison and former FTX CTO Gary Wang and raised questions anew about...

Samson Enzer, partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, and Greg Strong, partner at DLX Law, dissect the second week of the criminal trial of Sam Bankman-Fried. At this point, the prosecution’s star witness, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, has testified, as well as another prominent insider, co-founder Gary Wang. Both Enzer and Strong believe that it’s already over for the defense, but agr...

On the eighth day of the SBF trial, former BlockFi CEO Zac Prince took the stand, serving as a strong witness for the defense, while offering a detailed look into how Alameda Research's borrowing from FTX differed from traditional crypto lending, and the impact of FTX’s and Alameda’s collapse on BlockFi, which subsequently filed for bankruptcy. The defense team tried to pin BlockFi’s loans to Alam...

The second week of Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial is underway, bringing emotional testimony from SBF’s ex-girlfriend and former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, along with some surprising stories about alleged bribes to Chinese officials and discussion about reaching out to the Saudi Crown Prince for help. Ari Redbord, Global Head of Policy at TRM Labs, discusses why the question of who was actua...

Day seven of Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial saw the defense team unable to discredit Caroline Ellison, despite multiple attempts. The defense's questions often seemed aimless, failing to draw any substantial conclusions. Ellison remained steadfast, revealing that SBF had plans to buy Telegram around the time Alameda "borrowed" $14 billion of FTX customer money. Defense attorney Mark Cohen trie...

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and chop it up about the latest news. This week, the crew is joined by Gabriel Shapiro, general counsel at Delphi Labs, to talk about the key points in the criminal trial of Sam Bankman-Fried and his lackluster defense strategy so far. They also delve into Michael Lewis’ book and his depictions of SBF’...

Day 6 of the SBF trial was marked by emotional testimony from Caroline Ellison, who shed tears as she detailed the financial chaos within Alameda and FTX. She also recounted dramatic incidents such as an alleged bribe by Alameda to a Chinese government official, creating accounts using the IDs of Thai prostitutes, and an attempt to raise money by selling FTX shares to a Saudi prince. Ellison discu...

Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Research and SBF's ex-partner, took the stand to reveal the alleged financial mismanagement at Alameda and FTX, which she claimed was at Bankman-Fried’s direction. The cross examination of Gary Wang finally began to show how SBF’s lawyers plan to defend him, though Wang largely appeared to be a yes man who simply trusted and followed his friend and co-founde...

The first week of the criminal trial of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has come to a close, with his former friends and FTX colleagues Adam Yedidia and Gary Wang delivering powerful testimonies that are forming the foundations for the prosecution’s arguments — arguments that the defense may have a difficult time surmounting. Sam Enzer, partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, and Brian Klein, partner...

Laura reports on the testimony of Gary Wang on Thursday, who described Alameda’s special privileges that were programmed into FTX’s code as early as July 2019, a few months after the exchange launched.  These privileges included Alameda’s ability to have a negative balance on its FTX account. This meant that Alameda was able to transfer and withdraw more funds than it had, essentially “borrowing f...

The blockbuster trial of Sam Bankman-Fried wrapped up its third day, with multiple witnesses, including former FTX software developer Adam Yedidia, Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang, and FTX cofounder Gary Wang, taking the witness stand. Joshua Ashley Klayman, Senior Counsel, U.S. Head of FinTech and Head of Blockchain & Digital Assets at Linklaters, discusses the main takeaways from the trial so far...

Laura reports on the testimony of three witnesses on Thursday, including one who declared that “FTX defrauded all of its customers” and another stating that he had committed financial crimes at the direction of Sam Bankman-Fried.   Former FTX software developer Adam Yedidia, Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang, and FTX and Alameda co-founder Gary Wang filled in the details of different aspects of FTX a...

Laura reports on the opening statements of the prosecution and defense, which painted a portrait of Sam Bankman-Fried as power-hungry and discussed how he allegedly managed to fumble customer funds.  Next witnesses are set to include Matt Huang, cofounder and managing partner at crypto VC firm Paradigm, and Gary Wang, former CTO of FTX.  Tune in to get the latest updates and insights on a case tha...

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news. This week, they discuss the wildest claims in Michael Lewis’ new book on Sam Bankman-Fried, debate whether SBF’s effective altruism was ever genuine, and whether Ethereum should enshrine more features onto its protocol. Listen to the episode on Apple...

Laura reports on a noticeably composed Bankman-Fried and delves into the jury de-selection process, revealing potential jurors with surprising crypto ties. The government's stance on a plea deal is finally clarified, and a long list of potential witnesses from the crypto world is unveiled. Tune in to get the latest updates and insights on a case that could have far-reaching implications for the cr...

The high-stakes trial of Sam Bankman-Fried is set to begin on October 3, and the FTX founder and former CEO will have to answer for his role in the cryptocurrency exchange’s downfall, which led to billions in losses. Both the prosecution and defense are currently preparing for what is set to be a significant milestone for the crypto industry. Kayvan Sadeghi, partner at Jenner & Block and Sam Enzer...