Crypto

Andy Baio discovered it’s there while trying to fix his printer. If you have a Mac, you can see for yourself. Open Terminal, then type (in a single line):

Signature, Bank, closed by regulators almost a month ago, was an important ramp for controversial stablecoin firm Tether, Bloomberg reports. Its Signet payments platform was part of how Tether’s clientele could send dollars to Capital Union Bank.

Last week, Elon Musk’s lawyers asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit that claims he’s “engaged in a Crypto Pyramid Scheme” around Dogecoin, citing his tweets as evidence, according to Reuters. Today, Twitter’s bird logo was swapped out for a doge one on the web.

There’s a new licensing framework there, and the US appears to be less crypto-friendly in 2023 than it was in 2021 or 2022.

Sure, maybe Elon Musk could take over FTX’s vacant office space in Miami, but the edit history on the mayor’s tweet exposes this one as a joke.

Uncle Sam sold off $216 million this month. Four more sales coming this year!

Even worse than last year, writes Fais Khan. One thing that was boosting Coinbase’s returns? Luna, which oopsies doopsie, failed.

After the rapid collapse of Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature, the crypto world has needed to find new bankers. Regional bankers such as Fifth Third and Customers Bancorp are stepping up. Big banks like JP Morgan Chase can afford to be choosy:

Folding Ideas, the folks behind the classic “Line Goes Up” video about NFTs (and generally just a very good YouTube channel), just put up a long and spicy take on the metaverse in general, Decentraland in particular, and especially the people who spend their time and energy promoting them both. It’s a long watch, but it’s a good one. It’ll make you feel things.

CTO Michael Kagen doesn’t mince words when it comes to crypto. The industry “bought a lot of [Nvidia’s hardware], and then eventually it collapsed, because it doesn’t bring anything useful for society,” he tells The Guardian, “AI does.”

That’s right, you can use them to serve complaints now. Congratulations to the lawyers!

They just didn’t want to listen:

FT Alphaville rounds up the Signature Bank music videos.

Hey, remember the industry that isn’t the traditional US financial system?

It’s the promise the president made to depositors in a speech at the White House on Monday. Throughout his brief remarks, Biden also reassured viewers that no taxpayer money would be used to bail out the bank.

Silvergate is gone. The FDIC took over Silicon Valley Bank. Several other banks have lost billions in value, and it’s unclear whether a number of tech companies will be able to keep operating while all of this gets figured out.

Elizabeth Lopatto has all the information you need about why this now-collapsed institution was so important to US crypto companies, and what its collapse could indicate for the wider economy.

If you’ve been following the case closely, most of the facts here won’t be a surprise to you. Hearing from the people who put their money into Celsius, around 15:24, is the stand-out here: people who lost money saved from years of work, and one person who couldn’t put a down payment on a house because his funds were locked in Celsius.

Nishad Singh, FTX’s head of engineering and owner of a 7.8 percent stake in the company, has pleaded guilty to criminal fraud charges. He wrote the software that let Alameda exempt itself from being auto-liquidated, Reuters previously reported.