🐻 So...is crypto dead? 🤔

How the industry is reacting post FTX-collapse

Author

Build in Bear
November 17, 2022

Welcome to Web3 Seems Legit, the weekly newsletter that brings you all the latest web3 news and updates, even in this spooky market 😨.

In this issue, we're continuing to unravel the aftermath of the FTX collapse and how the industry is responding to it:

  • The state of FTX and SBF. The contagion continues to spread across the industry and SBF is resting easy.

  • Is crypto dead? Meanwhile, major brands and influencers are continuing to launch their web3 initiatives.

  • Up next: CBDC and regulation. The Federal Reserve and some major US banks are teaming up to roll out a 12-week digital dollar project.

The state of FTX and SBF

The dominoes are continuing to fall as major crypto companies and exchanges collapse one by one in the aftermath of the FTX collapse. If it's not obvious enough already, get 👏 your 👏 crypto 👏 off 👏 centralized 👏 platforms!

  • Blockfi ❌

  • Salt Lending ❌

  • Liquid Exchange ❌

  • Genesis ❌

  • Crypto.com ✅

  • Gate.io ✅

As the crypto industry scrambles to recover from the major blowup, Sam Bankman-fried (SBF) on the other hand, seems to be doing...well. According to his interviews, he's still getting sleep and even gaming.

Instead of being behind bars for his unethical handling of customer funds, SBF is running around, openly doing interviews with journalists. Here are some highlights of his DMs with a VOX media journalist that gives us a better look into the mind of a criminal.

Aside from the VOX interview, SBF also briefly spoke with New York Times.

The best one yet is this lovely essay written by Washington Post on SBF's heroic contributions to pandemic prevention before the FTX collapse. That should absolve him of all crimes for sure.

So, it seems like SBF was not only friendly with the democrat party, but he was also quite cozy with traditional media outlets.

This leaves us to wonder: will SBF ever be rightly charged for his crimes or will all his friends bail him out?

Is crypto dead?

We'll admit, web3 doesn't seem very legit right now, but when you look at the news beyond the FTX FUD, you'll notice that major brands are continuing to launch web3 initiatives.

For some perspective, this week alone, Nike announced the launch of .Swoosh, a Polygon NFT-based marketplace for virtual apparel.

Their competitor Adidas also launched its first-ever virtual gear collection.

CZ and Cristiano Ronaldo announced their partnership to launch an exclusive NFT collection on Binance.

So if crypto is truly dead, why are major brands and influencers still launching web3 projects? More importantly, why are cold wallet sales and DEX volumes up in the past week? 🤔

Maybe crypto isn't actually dead, but the speculativeness of crypto is dying. It's time to say goodbye to all the ponzi schemes, crooks and projects with little to no value and focus on building real use cases 🙌.

Up next: CBDC and regulation

Never let a crisis go to waste, right? In the wake of the FTX crash, the Federal Reserve and a group of major US banks have quietly announced that they have started to test the use of digital tokens.

Now, this is nothing new. Countries all around the world are pushing towards a central banking digital currency (CBDC). This fallout is just another catalyst to progress the US agenda and bring in regulation.

So, to get this straight: SBF was a major Biden donor, who appointed Gary Gensler, the crypto cop. SBF crashes the crypto market, gets off scot-free and gives the Biden admin more of a reason to usher in regulation. Gotcha ✅.

And to think all this started because "someone" leaked Alameda's balance sheet to Coindesk.

So many questions are still left unanswered 🤔.

In other news

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