Crypto Critics' Corner

Bennett Tomlin  and Cas Piancey are joined by Ed Zitron to discuss NFTs and why they became popular and why they are so empty. This episode was recorded on February 1st, 2022.

Bennett and Cas go live to discuss the collapse of Silvergate, the bank of choice for cryptocurrency companies and exchanges in the US. Recorded on Wednesday, March 8th, 2023.

Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey discuss the recent Wall Street Journal report that reveals that Tether and Bitfinex falsified bank records in order to try to maintain access to banking. WSJ article discussed on the show. This video was recorded on March 3rd, 2023.

Cas Piancey and Bennett Tomlin are joined by Laurence and Josh Cincinnati to dis1cuss the value of satire in cryptocurrency, ordinals, Justin Sun and more. This was recorded on January 30th, 2023.

Cas Piancey and Bennett Tomlin are joined by Domingo Flores to discuss the Salvadoran Bitcoin Token being developed in partnership with Bitfinex. Domingo's Website, Patreon, YouTube, and Twitter. This video was recorded on January 20th, 2022.

Bennett and Cas revisit the Harmony Horizon bridge exploit from last year, discuss why the Lazarus Group is targeting cryptocurrency so much, and go over the billion plus lost on cryptocurrency bridges over the past year. Special thanks to ZachXBT, who uncovered the movements of Lazarus exploit funds as they were happening.

Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey discuss the raid executed against Nexo, SBF's lies in his Substack, and the unregistered security charges brought against Genesis and Gemini. Kentucky Cease and desist against Nexo Protos On SBF's Lies This video was streamed live on January 12th, 2022.

Cas Piancey and Bennett Tomlin discuss Silvergate, Signature, Metropolitan, and other cryptocurrency banks in light of their massive deposit outflows and increasing regulatory issues. American Banker Post about Silvergate using Home Loan bank advances: https://www.americanbanker.com/news/silvergate-bank-loaded-up-on-4-3-billion-in-fhlb-advances OCC, Federal Reserve, and FDIC statement on risks to crypto banks: https://www.fdic.gov/news/press-releases/2023/pr23002a.pdf This video was recorded on January 12th, 2022.

Cas Piancey and Bennett Tomlin are joined by Evan Ratliff to discuss Paul Le Roux, an international criminal who some believe may have been Satoshi Nakamoto.    We also discuss Evan's new podcast Persona, and the similarities between the crimes of Gilbert Chikli and cryptocurrency hacks and scams. Additional resources: Persona podcast The Mastermind Vanish for one month  This episode was recorded on October 18th, 2022.

Today Bennett and Cas are recording an IN-PERSON(!!!) episode of CCC together! We discuss auditors exiting the cryptocurrency industry en masse, what's next for Binance, and how regulators will or won't take on the new global financial industries. Recorded on Tuesday, December 21, 2022.

Today Bennett and Cas discuss walking the fine line between beneficial and frank skepticism and full-blown conspiracy theorist, and how sometimes the line can get a little blurry. This episode was recorded on November 4th, before everything spiraled into an utter sh*tshow.

Today Bennett and Cas are talking about the collapse of FTX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, and its sister trading firm, Alameda Research.

Today Cas and Bennett are joined by law professor at American University Hilary Allen to discuss whether or not web3 and DeFi are shadow banking 2.0, and if they will lead to another 2008 financial crisis. Hilary's paper available here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4038788 Read more: https://cryptocriticscorner.com/2022/10/27/episode-97-defi-as-shadow-banking-2-0-feat-hilary-allen/ This episode was recorded on August 3rd, 2022 and edited by Griffin Davis.

Today Bennett and Cas discuss two recent major cryptocurrency problems: one via Binance Smart Chain, a "DeFi" protocol built by CZ and the Binance team, that suffered a $100 million hack, and Mango Markets, a DeFi marketplace, that suffered a $100 million exploit. Another fun week in cryptocurrency. Other resources mentioned in this episode: Unchained Interview with CZ: https://youtu.be/J0XJesFkdl0 Chris Brunet revealing Mango Markets attacker: https://karlstack.substack.com/p/exclusive-the-man-who-may-have-milked Bennett's newsletter about the BSC hack: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/protos/issues/cz-stopped-bsc-why-it-matters-1408029 This episode was recorded on Wednesday, October 12th and edited by Bennett Tomlin.

Today Bennett and Cas talk about what's going on with the Ooki DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization), why the CFTC is suing them, and why it's okay that Ooki DAO is not okay. This episode was recorded on Tuesday, September 27th, 2022 and edited by Bennett Tomlin.

Today Bennett and Cas discuss the best of times and the worst of times for two enormous Ponzi scemes: Celsius - a now bankrupt cryptocurrency lender - and Luna - an algorithmic stablecoin ecosystem once valued at nearly $60 billion, and the two individuals who ultimately led them to their respective downfalls: Alex Mashinsky and Do Kwon. KeyFi lawsuit against Celsius: https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=RvF30Mz2IZW63s1mjjau2Q== Celsius lawsuit against KeyFi: https://assets.law360news.com/1523000/1523691/complaint.pdf Coverage of the Celsius countersuit: https://protos.com/celsius-lawsuit-claims-keyfi-stole-customer-deposits-to-buy-nfts/ Mashinsky resigns: https://protos.com/chief-exec-alex-mashinsky-resigns-from-celsius-network__trashed/ Celsius Network all-hands: https://youtu.be/40-w9r7WSKM Bennett's reaction to Coinage interview of Do Kwon: https://youtu.be/vcy_N8Kozf4 What is a red notice?: https://protos.com/what-is-an-interpol-red-notice-and-how-does-it-work/ Cas' article on death fraud: https://medium.com/coinmonks/death-fraud-6920cc93d0a7 This episode was recorded on Tuesday, September 27th, 2022 and edited by Bennett Tomlin.

Today Bennett and Cas discuss Michael Saylor's reckless behavior, his departure as CEO of MicroStrategy, the tax fraud charges he faces, previous run-ins with the SEC for making up quarterly numbers, and why everyone should have seen this coming. This episode used clips from Laura Shin's wonderful podcast, Unchained, which you can find here: https://youtu.be/cuRRVo2Cmsc We also used clips from John Vallis' Bitcoin Rapid-Fire: https://youtu.be/hIZIXKTicw4 This episode was recorded on Monday, September 18th, 2022 and edited by Bennett Tomlin.

In this episode Bennett and Cas are joined by CoinDesk journalist Nikhilesh De to discuss how to report on cryptocurrency.  This episode was recorded on August 5th, 2022. Follow Nik on Twitter.

Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey are joined by economist Frank Muci to discuss the challenging economic situation in El Salvador, including the need for austerity and the possibility of debt restructuring. Follow Frank on Twitter @frankmuci. A Spanish translation will be available on our website: https://cryptocriticscorner.com/ Para una traducción al español transcrita por favor visite https://cryptocriticscorner.com/ This episode was recorded on August 2nd and edited by Griffin Davis.

We're back! Today Bennett and Cas are joined by Boaz Sobrado to discuss Tether's use in Cuba and why people turn to assets as volatile and risky as Bitcoin and stablecoins in sanctioned countries. Follow Boaz @sobradob. This episode was produced by Bennett Tomlin.

Today Bennett and Cas are talking about recent moves by the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) to slow down token listings and perhaps even fundamentally alter the business models of every cryptocurrency exchange located in the United States. Episode recorded on July 28th, 2022.

Today Bennett and Cas are joined by marketing executive and substack writer Adam Singer to discuss all the issues and problems clearly visible and at the forefront of cryptocurrency companies. Follow Adam on Twitter @AdamSinger or read his Substack. This episode was recorded on Tuesday, July 12th, and produced by Asher Hirsch.

In this episode Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey discuss how Tether has been composing itself over the last several months. Interview with Paolo Ardoino with Dierdre Bosa: https://twitter.com/CNBCTechCheck/status/1545472707374071808 This episode was recorded on July 10th, 2022 and produced by Asher Hirsch.

Today Bennett and Cas are joined by Jackson Palmer, co-founder of Dogecoin and host of the Griftonomics podcast. We talk about how Doge flew off the rails, why Jackson has taken a few social media hiatuses, and why he's back and talking about cryptocurrency grifts and scams more than ever before. Follow Jackson on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ummjackson This episode was recorded on July 10th and produced by Griffin Davis.

Today Bennett and Cas talk about a civil suit brought by a former contracted employee of Celsius Network against the entity itself claiming that Celsius Network has, effectively, been run as a Ponzi scheme (and doesn't have the funds to pay back its debts). This episode was recorded on July 7th (before Celsius Network filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection) and was produced by Asher Hirsch.

Today Bennett and Cas are joined again by Molly White, the single best archivist of web3 fraud (on her website https://web3isgoinggreat.com/), to discuss the difference between criticism during a bull market and a bear market as well as a host of other topics. This episode was recorded on June 16th and produced by Asher Hirsch. Follow Molly White on Twitter @Molly0xFFF

Bennett and Cas discuss the risk of contagion in the cryptocurrency ecosystem and how the leverage between lenders and trading firms contribute. This episode was recorded on June 16th, 2022 and produced by Asher Hirsch.

Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey are joined by entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, to discuss NFTs, the proliferations of fraud, and whether or not algorithmic stablecoins are viable. Follow Mark on Twitter @mcuban. This episode was recorded on Tuesday, June 7th, 2022, and produced by Asher Hirsch.

Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey are joined by James Seyffart to discuss what has prevented a spot Bitcoin ETF, and what things may make it easier for that to finally happen. This episode was recorded on May 23rd, 2022 and produced by Griffin Davis.

Today Bennett and Cas discuss the recent Southern District of New York move to charge a former OpenSea employee, Nathaniel Chastain, with wire fraud and money laundering charges related to insider trading. This episode was recorded on June 5th and produced by Griffin Davis.

Today Bennett and Cas are joined by Mike Burgersburg (Dirty Bubble Media), a Twitter personality, writer, and analyst who has been discussing the systemic risks of Celsius Network and what could, and likely will, ultimately lead to its collapse. Follow Mike on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeBurgersburg This episode was produced by Asher Hirsch and recorded on Thursday, June 9th, 2022.

Today Bennett and Cas are joined by Mario Gibney, host of the Unhashed Podcast and employee at a Bitcoin lending service called Ledn. We debate pre-philanthropic billionaires, lending services in the Bitcoin and DeFi industries, and other weird topics. Follow Mario on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mario_Gibney This episode was produced by Asher Hirsch.

Today Bennett and Cas discuss a recent phenomena in regard to media personalities either not doing due diligence on sponsors or pretending that any criticism must be coming from a place of malicious intent. This episode was produced by Griffin Davis.

Bennett and Cas have the opportunity to speak to Domingo Flores, a privacy and infosec specialist who's gained an understanding into key parts of Chivo wallet's functionality. Follow Domingo on Twitter https://twitter.com/domingroso This episode was produced by Asher Hirsch and recorded on Monday, May 9th, 2022.

Today Bennett and Cas are joined by the absolute legendary shortseller Jim Chanos (who successfully shorted Baldwin-United, Enron, and Luckin Coffee) to talk about his thoughts on cryptocurrency, shorting, Coinbase, and other economic woes and fears. If you want to follow Jim on Twitter, find him at https://twitter.com/WallStCynic This episode was produced by Griffin Davis recorded on Friday, May 20th, 2022.

Today Cas Piancey reads an article titled "Finding Finex" - a piece written in 2020, two years after a trip to Hong Kong - that describes his fall down the stablecoin rabbit hole and search for the offices of Bitfinex and Tether.

Today Bennett and Cas are joined by Lily Francus, director and quantitative research strategist at Moody's Analytics, who helps us understand the underlying risks, rewards, and caveats of participating in the decentralized financial industry. Follow Lily on Twitter @nope_its_lily or join her free Substack here https://nopeitslily.substack.com This episode was produced by Asher Hirsch and recorded on Thursday, April 28th, 2022.

Today Bennett and Cas discuss Terra, an algorithmic stablecoin, again. This time they discuss its collapse in realtime (this episode was recorded live as Terra collapsed), what it could mean as far as contagion is concerned, and if other stablecoins need to begin to worry. This episode was produced by Bennett Tomlin recorded on Wednesday, May 11th, 2022

Today Bennett and Cas talk about Terra, a stablecoin that uses an algorithm to stay pegged to numerous currencies (mainly the US dollar). Recently, Do Kwon, the creator of Terra, and its token that buoys the stablecoins it supports, Luna, decided to spend $10 billion worth of Luna's reserves to buy Bitcoin. What does this even mean? Let's figure it out. Bennett's appearance on the Blockchain Debate Podcast to discuss algo stablecoins: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/motion-algo-and-fractional-stablecoins-are-flawed/id1493609456?i=1000530171560 The FUD Letter's discussion of Terra: https://bennettftomlin.com/2022/02/06/is-terra-stable-the-fud-letter/ The episode was produced by Asher Hirsch and recorded on Sunday, April 24th, 2022.

Today Bennett and Cas discuss Reginald Fowler, a former part-owner of the Minnesota Vikings and co-owner of Crypto Capital Corp - cryptocurrency's shadow bank of choice for years. Reggie recently pled guilty to numerous counts of... we'll just say financial malfeasance, and now faces up to 90 years in prison. For background on Crypto Capital Corp, listen to episode six of Crypto Critics' Corner: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crypto-critics-corner/id1557045965?i=1000523117384 For a read about Ravid Yosef, read this piece by Cas: https://thecaspiancey.medium.com/that-time-an-internet-nobody-tracked-a-woman-on-the-hook-for-850-million-and-then-let-her-get-d5d93149c837

Today Bennett and Cas are joined by the richest man in the world*, Colin Platt: creator of PTK. While you may not be aware of this quadrillionaire, he tokenized his way to being king of the world. Other topics discussed include: wash trading, NFTs, and traditional financial issues versus issues seen within the cryptocurrency landscape. *Colin isn't the richest man in the world in any real sense. Read about PTK in the Financial Times: https://www.ft.com/content/9af35678-36d1-3477-93b8-c3990b87b16a Follow Colin on Twitter @colingplatt This episode was recorded on Thursday, April 14th, 2022

Today Bennett and Cas talk about the unfortunate tale of Virgil Griffith, who was recently sentenced to over five years in prison for helping North Korea attempt to evade US sanctions. The story is absurd for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to: • generally, as a rule of thumb, don't evade US sanctions • if, indeed, you plan on continuing with your sanctions evasion plan, don't write it down • the US sentencing and prison system isn't fair Here's some of the documentaries mentioned: A State of Mind: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/astateofmind Secret State of North Korea: https://youtu.be/N-cX1d4BSCI This episode was recorded on Tuesday, April 12th, 2022.

Today Bennett and Cas are joined by pioneering cryptocurrency author and skeptic David Gerard so he can tell us why he was skeptical in the first place and why he continues to be so today. David's books:  Attack of the 50 Foot Blockhain https://www.amazon.com/Attack-50-Foot-Blockchain-Contracts-ebook/dp/B073CPP581 Libra Shrugged https://www.amazon.com/Libra-Shrugged-Facebook-Tried-Money-ebook/dp/B08KK9SZP6/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= Books Recommended: Extraordinary Popular Delusions http://supernovae.in2p3.fr/~llg/Textes/Extraordinary-Popular-Delusions-Mackay.pdf The Politics of Bitcoin https://www.amazon.com/Politics-Bitcoin-Right-Wing-Extremism-Forerunners/dp/1517901804 BitCon https://www.amazon.com/BitCon-Naked-Truth-About-Bitcoin-ebook/dp/B00NUIUQ3A Shameless self-promotion: Cas' article on Caritas Ponzi Scheme https://thecaspiancey.medium.com/caritas-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-hating-and-love-the-ponzi-26bd8e05c066 Cas on Crypto Island by PJ Vogt https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crypto-island/id1614253637?i=1000556292753 This episode was recorded on Friday, April 8th, 2022

Today Cas (Orson Newstat) and Bennett talk about Cas' previous arrest record and why he's being forced to share his name and discuss an arrest from 16 years ago.

Today Bennett and Cas are joined by returning guest and assistant professor of law at Willamette College, Rohan Grey. We're going to speak with him about the ECASH Act (which you can read here: https://lynch.house.gov/_cache/files/1/7/17e47e5a-2bff-42c1-b509-eb8a50931fa6/BDDFF183213326821B5C88B7F326EABB.ecashact-lynch.pdf), a bill he helped author that aims to bring the privacy of physical cash into the modern age. Follow Rohan on Twitter @rohangrey. This episode was recorded on Tuesday, March 29th, 2022.

Today Bennett and Cas are joined by a brilliant creator, münecat, who recently did a wonderful YouTube video about how Web3 is ushering in a libertarian dystopia. Watch her video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-sNSjS8cq0 Watch her video on Gary Vee: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Xpx0l6FXJU This is the book she mentions at the beginning of the episode: https://www.amazon.com/Life-After-Google-Blockchain-Economy/dp/1621575764 This episode was recorded on Monday, March 28th, 2022.

Today Bennett and Cas are joined by two Salvadoran natives - Mario Gómez, a developer who was arrested in El Salvador for voicing criticism about the Bitcoin bill, and Oscar Salguero, a senior software engineer who has been traveling to and from El Salvador, testing the limits of the cryptocurrency remittance services. Para nuestros oyentes en español, hay una transcripción disponible aquí: https://cryptocriticscorner.com/2022/03/29/episode-63-we-need-to-talk-about-el-salvador-feat-mario-gomez-and-oscar-salguero/#spanish-transcript This is an incredible episode. If you want to follow Mario on Twitter, please click here: https://twitter.com/mxgxw_alpha If you want to follow Oscar on Twitter, please click here: https://twitter.com/OscarSalguero (or his website https://oscarsalguero.dev) Here are some of the articles and stats referenced during the episode: https://video.vice.com/da/video/gangs-of-el-salvador-part-1/5633b710023f0a102ad05e14 https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7vk5x/nayib-bukele-ms13-murder-rate https://camarasal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/SondeoEmpresarial35422_FINAL10032022.pdf https://diario.elmundo.sv/economia/solo-el-14-de-las-empresas-reporta-ventas-en-bitcoin-segun-encuesta This episode was recorded on Thursday, March 24th, 2022

Bennett and Cas are joined by their good friend, former executive director of the Zcash Foundation, and current board member of the Mina Foundation, Josh Cincinnati. We wanted to pretend this was a debate about whether money laundering should be illegal, instead we all pretty much agreed, "Yes, it should." But we had to define it first and discuss the rules and regulations put in place because of it before coming to a peace accord. Follow Josh on Twitter @acityinohio or visit his website https://ponzico.win This episode was recorded on Monday, March 21st, 2022.

Today Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey are joined by John Reed Stark of John Reed Stark Consulting and formerly with the Securities and Exchange Commission for over two decades. We discuss our frustrations with the SEC, the perceived lack of action, and what John expects to see from them in the coming years. Visit John's website: https://www.johnreedstark.com/digital-trust-watch/ Or, follow him on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/johnreedstark?s=11 CORRECTION: John mentions Kik as having requested SEC staff disclose cryptocurrency holdings - this was actually requested by Ripple in the ongoing litigation brought against them by the SEC. This episode was recorded on Thursday, March 17th, 2022

Today Bennett and Cas are proud to have Francine McKenna, former auditor, current journalist, and soon to be professor at Wharton, to talk to us about all the problems with auditing, cryptocurrencies, and, let's face it, Tether's totally garbage attestations. Francine's newsletter: https://thedig.substack.com The Chickenshit Club by Jesse Eisinger: https://www.amazon.com/Chickenshit-Club-Department-Prosecute-Executives/dp/1501121375/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= Dave Michaels' article on The Big Four: https://www.wsj.com/articles/big-four-accounting-firms-come-under-regulators-scrutiny-11647364574

Bennett and Cas talk about Justin Sun (or Sun Yuchen): billionaire, creator of TRON cryptocurrency, citizen to five-ten countries, and egomaniac who has managed to outrun and outpace law enforcement for years. Read the fantastic The Verge article about Justin: https://www.theverge.com/c/22947663/justin-sun-tron-cryptocurrency-poloniex

Today Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey talk about the proliferation of cities associated with blockchains, why the concept in and of itself is silly, and go through some historical and current examples. If you'd like to listen to Bennett and Cas' other podcast, Innovated: Blockchain City, you can listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/innovated-blockchain-city/id1611390567

Today Bennett and Cas talk about the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces (as dictated by Vladimir Putin). We discuss the need for being cautious when donating to newly created charities, to not FOMO into giving, and the deep effects that sanctions against Russia may have within the space. If you'd like to donate to a humanitarian relief effort that will support Ukraine, here are three (feel free to research further and/or donate elsewhere!): Doctors Without Borders: https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/ Save the Children: https://support.savethechildren.org/site/Donation2?df_id=1620&1620.donation=form1 Committee to Protect Journalists: https://cpj.org/ This episode was recorded on Thursday, March 3rd, 2022

Today Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey are lucky enough to be joined by the "Batman of Cryptocurrency" - pseudoanonymous Twitter user ZachXBT (https://www.twitter.com/zachxbt). We ask him what it's like uncovering every fraud and scam in crypto, why he does it, and whether the Cryptocurrency Batcave has a secret "nuke scam project" button. Donate to Zach either at his ETH address: zachxbt.eth Visit his website here: https://investigations.notion.site/ Here's a list of links that were discussed during the episode: https://t.me/s/Crypto_Deleted https://etherscan.io https://twitter.com/search-advanced?lang=en https://www.nansen.ai https://www.breadcrumbs.app https://revert.finance https://t.me/EtherDROPS_bot

Bennett and Cas are joined by Dr. Ángela Vergara - an expert in company towns and co-author of Company Towns in the Americas. We try to address why they tend to fail, how they usually harm employees, and why they've never really gone away. If you want to follow Dr. Vergara on Twitter, you can find her @vergara_angela. The new podcast Bennett and Cas will be hosting is available here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/innovated-blockchain-city/id1611390567 Dr. Vergara's book is available on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Company-Towns-Americas-Working-Class-Transformation/dp/0820333298) You can follow Protos @Protos on Twitter, or visit their website www.Protos.com This episode was recorded on Thursday, February 24th, 2022.

Today Bennett and Cas have the distinct privilege to have on Molly White, the creator and maintainer of www.web3isgoinggreat.com - a beautiful showcase of all the disastrous projects that have plagued the Web3 ecosystem thus far. We ask Molly why so many grifters are interested in blockchains, her goals with her website, and why the Federal Reserve, Treasury, and Jamie Dimon are paying her billions to FUD cryptocurrency. Follow all of Molly's projects: www.web3isgoinggreat.com - blog.mollywhite.net - follow her on twitter - @molly0xFFF - @web3isgreat This episode was recorded on Friday, February 25th, 2022.

Bennett and Cas talk about the most recent scam that's been omnipresent on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media outlets: the verification scam. If you've spent any time on Twitter or Instagram, you'll have noticed verified accounts with tens or hundreds of thousands of followers that are spam liking tweets (usually about NFTs). But there's a lot more to the story than a simple compromised account. Let's talk about the thriving ecosystem of compromised verified accounts, engagement farming, and public relations firms that all work together to make our lives worse. This episode was recorded on Tuesday, February 22nd, 2022.

Today Bennett and Cas are joined by the portfolio manager and chief strategist for Simplify Asset Management, Michael Green (on Twitter @profplum99). In one of our most wide-ranging discussions, we had the opportunity to pick Mike's brain on what inflation means for the U.S. and the world, how the Fed should respond, the Canadian Trucker Convoy / Protest, and what all of it might mean for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general. Mike specifically mentions The Trades of March 2020, a book by Alex Gurevich, available here: https://www.amazon.com/Trades-March-2020-against-Uncertainty-ebook/dp/B09NX372KG This episode was recorded on Thursday, February 17th, 2022.

Today Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey are joined by Ben McKenzie (star of Gotham, Southland, and The O.C.) and Jacob Silverman (author of Terms of Service and writer for The New Republic and Slate) who discuss the ideas behind their upcoming book about cryptocurrency, their issues with celebrity shilling of speculative assets, and how it really feels like corporate greed is eating our democracy. Here are some of the books and movies mentioned during the interview: Lying for Money by Dan Davies - https://www.amazon.com/Lying-Money-Legendary-Frauds-Workings-ebook/dp/B078WFT5JV The Future of Money by Eswar Prasad - https://www.amazon.com/Future-Money-Revolution-Transforming-Currencies/dp/0674258444 The China Hustle - https://www.amazon.com/China-Hustle-Dan-David/dp/B07BQH2LQG This episode was recorded on Monday, February 14th, 2022

Today Bennett and Cas will be talking about how $3.5 billion dollars (of $4.5 billion) worth of Bitcoin stolen 6 years ago was found and seized by the US Department of Justice. We discuss Ilya Lichtenstein, Heather Reyhan Morgan, what this means for all the Bitfinex tokens, and if it's possible the funds won't be returned to Bitfinex at all. This episode was record on February 12th, 2022.

Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey talk about the recent incredible hack of the cryptocurrency bridge, aptly named, Wormhole. Did $320,000,000 worth of ETH evaporate? Yes. Did Jump Crypto 100% cover that? Also yes.

Today Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey have the opportunity to chat with THE BEAR LORD - or just Travis, if you prefer - about all things SCARY when it comes to the future of the dollar, yields, cryptocurrency, and the economy as a whole. Follow Travis on Twitter @coloradotravis (Recorded on Monday, January 31st, 2022)

Today Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey bring you up to date on an old character in an old story: Michael Patryn - er, should we say Omar Dhanani? Or 0xSifu? It's all up for debate, because on January 27th, 2022, the cofounder of QuadrigaCX, a now defunct Canadian cryptocurrency exchange - reappeared in a big way: by being the chief financial officer and treasurer for one of the biggest decentralized protocols around today. So now what? Read the initial thread exposing Michael Patryn here: https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1486591682728673282?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey discuss the long, complex, and fraught history of DAOs (or Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and try to understand the current hype cycle.

Today Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey are joined by Doomberg - Twitter and Substack's favorite Little financial Chicken - to discuss Bitcoin's, and cryptocurrency in general's, biggest threats for maximum liquidations and pain (including, but not limited to: Microstrategy, El Salvador, and Tether). Follow Doomberg on Twitter @Doomberg or subscribe to their Substack at doomberg.substack.com If you'd like to subscribe to Bennett Tomlin's FUD Letter, please visit https://TheFUDLetter.com/#/portal/ for details. Note: This episode was recorded on Friday, January 21st, 2022

Today Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey discuss online Poker's Black Friday - April 15th, 2011 - and it's everlasting effects with Jason Bral, a semi-professional poker player.

Today Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey talk about how Bitcoin mining works, why the Bitcoin miners have (mostly) fled China, why the Bitcoin miners moved to Kazakhstan, and how Kazakhstan's spike in in fossil fuel prices and political upheaval has effected Bitcoin.

Today Bennett and Cas are lucky enough to have the opportunity to discuss the Elizabeth Holmes trial with Elizabeth Lopatto, Deputy Editor of The Verge, who was present for the entirety of the trial. Please read some of her eye-opening pieces written during and since the end of the trial here: https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/5/22867505/elizabeth-holmes-guilty-fraud-investing https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/9/22820995/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-trial-testimony-defense-abuse Also worth listening to John Carreyrou's podcast, available here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bad-blood-the-final-chapter/id1575738174

Today Bennett and Cas talk about Craig Steven Wright, the self-proclaimed "Satoshi Nakamoto," and lawyer, doctor, ninja, and creator of Bitcoin Satoshi's Vision.

For the last episode of 2021 Bennett and Cas are joined by Nicholas Weaver (@ncweaver on Twitter) to discuss the history of the darknet marketplace The Silk Road, which was owned and operated by Ross Ulbricht, who is currently serving a double life sentence without parole, and its association with Bitcoin.

Today Bennett and Cas rant about the ineffectiveness of the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and its mostly failure fraught 87-year history.

Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey talk about the history of Ponzi schemes, the definition of Ponzi schemes, and why they're both pretty tired of hearing everything described as a Ponzi scheme (hint: it's because most things aren't Ponzi schemes).

Today Bennett and Cas talk about an idea being passed around that NFTs or non-fungible tokens will ruin shorts and change the market forever. The reality? No. Definitely not.

Today Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey discuss a really interesting and weird idea: the El Salvador Bitcoin Volcano Bonds offered by El Salvador in collaboration with Tether, iFinex, and Blockstream.

Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey talk about the concept that maybe stablecoins play an intimate role in how successful a fork of a major cryptocurrency is or whether the cryptocurrency forks at all.

Today we dissect The Tether Papers along with one of the main authors, David Canellis - also the head of the Protos newsroom. Please follow along at home by reading The Tether Papers here: https://protos.com/tether-papers-crypto-stablecoin-usdt-investigation-analysis/

In today's episode Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey discuss the President's Working Group, which recently released a report on stablecoins, and the issues that the creator of TerraUSD (an algorithmic stablecoin) is facing.

Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey are joined by a good friend and special guest Daniel Goldman, an engineer working on the Ethereum layer 2 solution called Arbitrum, but who is also a cryptocurrency critic. Daniel helped create a Twitter bot that allowed skeptics to follow any and all Tether prints for years, and without his work the chore of monitoring every large Tether print during the early days would've been an annoying errand. 

Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey talk with Oliver Beige, an engineer turned economist, who tell us whether decentralization is sustainable and how tribalism plays a role.

Today Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey are joined by Blockworks author Sam Reynolds, a Taipei-based reporter, who discusses the early history of Tether in Taiwan and what can be implied by their issues with their early banking partners.

Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey talk about a huge investigative drop from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists: the Pandora Papers. The leaks will help the public understand how the rich, famous, and politically connected are able to evade taxes and move money without anyone knowing. If you'd like to read about the Papers yourself, please visit https://www.icij.org/investigations/pandora-papers/ If you'd like to donate to the ICIJ, please visit https://checkout.fundjournalism.org/memberform?org_id=icij&installmentPeriod=monthly&amount=10&campaign=701f4000001A4kF

Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey review Liberty Reserve - the first stablecoin and the first stablecoin shutdown by US regulators.

Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey are joined, once again, by David Z. Morris, the chief insights columnist at Coindesk, to discuss what's happening with Evergrande, why it matters for other regions and industries, and how the property market on the Chinese Mainland operates.

Today Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey explore the incredible interest rates offered by centralized cryptocurrency lenders, how they likely make their money, and whether or not any of them are "risk-free."

Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey reflect on a fraud that began in the 1980s and ended when the Dot-Com Bubble burst: WorldCom. Are there applicable comparisons to cryptocurrency and securities markets of today? (Hint: Yes.)

Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey discuss the history and importance of DRW/Cumerbland Global, one of the top liquidity providers in the cryptocurrency space, and speculate on the influence the company exerts on the industry.

Today Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey talk about the Binance Tai Chi document (which you can read about here https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2020/10/29/leaked-tai-chi-document-reveals-binances-elaborate-scheme-to-evade-bitcoin-regulators/?sh=6dbafb302a92). This was recorded *before* Binance introduced full-KYC (know-your-customer) practices, but highlights previous issues with Binance, Binance US, and other Binance affiliated companies. If you're interested in the book by Evan Ratliff that we mention, it can be purchased here: https://www.amazon.com/Mastermind-Drugs-Empire-Murder-Betrayal/dp/0399590412

Robert Green (@robogreen on Twitter), a marketing consultant who ended up doing contract work for Blockchain Terminal - a company claiming to be "the Bloomberg Terminal," but for cryptocurrencies! - joins us to discuss his time at the bold project. The main problem with the company? One of the biggest fraudsters in Canadian history was running things under a pseudonym, "Shaun MacDonald," and was planning his exit scam from day one (perhaps even laundering funds from a pervious scam to bootstrap the project). Tune in to hear the full story.

Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey discuss the history, function, positives, negatives, flaws, and potential benefits of Bitcoin.

The second part of the two-part discussion with Frances Coppola. On this episode, Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey ask about algorithmic stablecoins, overcollateralized stablecoins, regulation, and historical precedent for pegged-currency failures.

Frances Coppola - "infamous" nocoiner and author - joins Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey to teach everyone a thing or two about inflation, deflation, hyperinflation, and stablecoin regulation.

Today's episode is guest-less! Just Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey discussing how particularly egregious cryptocurrency-based charities tend to be. Examples include Jacob Kostecki, Binance's Pink Care Token, and Deltec Cares.

Lawyer Preston Byrne joins Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey for a wide-ranging discussion that goes from his own crypto journey (of skeptic to believer) to regulatory and legal risks for stablecoin operators. Visit his Twitter to see more from Preston https://twitter.com/prestonjbyrne

Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey are joined by Assistant Professor of Law at Willamette University and one of the authors of the STABLE Act, Rohan Grey. We discuss how stablecoins operate, what he hopes to see from CBDCs and the problems he sees in all kinds of new(er) money markets. Find him on Twitter @rohangrey

Today Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey are joined by David Z. Morris to discuss what happened at Enron, the ramifications of its downfall, and how the climate during Enron relates to today. If you'd like to hear more from David visit his website http://www.davidzmorris.com/  his twitter profile https://twitter.com/davidzmorris or subscribe to his substack http://davidzmorris.substack.com

Today Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey discuss Cas' trip to Hong Kong in search of the ethereal Bitfinex headquarters, how and why exchanges continue to try to get away with existing nowhere, and what it means for consumers.

Today Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey bring on David Canellis, the director of news at Protos Media (https://protos.com) and long time journalist covering cryptocurrency and fintech, to discuss the "decentralized" social media platform BitClout. We'll talk about its odd origin story, why David thinks it's probably destined to fail, and why it reminds us of so many other projects that never made it out of the 2017/2018 cryptocurrency bullrun.

In this episode Bennett and Cas discuss the concepts of regulatory capture and regulatory arbitrage - systemic problems that aren't unique to any particular industry, but have helped dissolve public trust of regulators and enriched some of the worst companies and individuals.

Bennett and Cas try to discuss an intensely complex and controversial topic: what Bitcoin being declared legal tender in El Salvador will mean for the small, Central American country.

In this episode, Bennett and Cas discuss the confusing concept of what a "Tether redemption" would look like: an ever-shifting definition built on a stablecoin with an ever-shifting definition of what 1-1 backed by traditional fiat currency means. Though we haven't seen an actual Tether redemption shown on Twitter, or otherwise, for the world to see, we look forward to someone coming forward with one shortly!

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.