Crypto Critics' Corner

In this episode Bennett and Cas discuss what's being termed "shillfluencers," or influencers, celebrities, and other individuals with wealth and power, who use their "influence" to "shill" their investments. There's plenty of people - including billionaires (Elon) and has-beens (Soulja Boy) - who continue to take advantage of their ability to manipulate markets, to the point where it feels like a societal sickness. But will there be consequences?

Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey discuss how Coinbase plans on creating a media company to confirm its own version of the facts and report its own version of the truth. Is journalism entering its final death spiral or are VC bros just losing their minds? Read more here: https://protos.com/coinbase-crypto-exchange-media-content-marketing-journalism/ https://bennettftomlin.com/2021/05/31/a-rant-about-coinbase-media-and-coinbase-fact-checking/

Bennett and Cas dive into what happened at QuadrigaCX - once the largest Canadian Bitcoin exchange. If you'd like to read a more detailed piece you can find "Death Fraud" here: https://medium.com/coinmonks/death-fraud-6920cc93d0a7

Cas and BT discuss Crypto Capital Corp, a defunct, fake, Panamanian money services transmitter that helped service almost every important cryptocurrency exchange, owned and operated by Reginald Fowler, Ivan Manuel Molina Lee, and Oz and Ravid Yosef. 

Today Bennett Tomlin and I go over the recent disclosure by Tether of the make up of its reserves. If you'd like to read more, please visit: "For Every $1 in Tether there are $0.03 in Cash" https://bennettftomlin.com/2021/05/13/for-every-1-of-tether-there-are-0-03-in-cash/ or "Inside the Great Pie Chart giving Tether its dollar value" https://protos.com/tether-pie-chart-usdt-dollar-pegged-crypto-stablecoin-dollar-value/

This episode, unfortunately, is absent Bennett. Quick summary of why Zhao Dong ended up being sentenced to prison time in China. If you'd like to read more: https://protos.com/renrenbit-zhao-dong-bitcoin-billionaire-pleaded-guilty-money-laundering/ https://medium.com/coinmonks/another-usecase-bites-the-dust-e64ba9b95c6 https://medium.com/coinmonks/zhao-dong-still-matters-heres-why-cff29d6089fd https://thecaspiancey.medium.com/zhao-dong-the-final-word-e3417eea12f

After going through the history and red flags behind Tether and Bitfinex, Bennett Tomlin and I go through some questions from the listeners.

In this part of our discussion, Bennett Tomlin and I go over the later problems Bitfinex and Tether encountered, why the New York Attorney General filed an injunction, and what the settlement between iFinex and the NYAG means for the companies and the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem.

In this recorded conversation, Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey discuss the early history of Bitfinex and Tether and why Tether has outpaced Bitfinex as a growing concern. Another discussion concerning the NYAG settlement and ongoing skepticism will be addressed in the next conversation.