Kalam Crypto #49: FTX Fallout continues, World Cup #CoinMENA_Goal campaign!

This week, we continue our coverage of the FTX fallout, but we also highlight some positive developments that have gone under the radar, as well as announce new campaigns like discounted card fees and our World Cup campaign, #CoinMENA_Goal!

21 Nov, 2022

CoinMENA Team

Author

“Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked.” Warren Buffett

Ahlan wa sahlan, and welcome to the 49th edition of CoinMENA's weekly newsletter, Kalam Crypto. This week, we continue our coverage of the FTX fallout, but we also highlight some positive developments that have gone under the radar, as well as announce new campaigns like discounted card fees and our World Cup campaign, #CoinMENA_Goal, where we will be giving away $1,500 of token airdrops as well as other prizes. All that and more, so let's dive into this week's letter, and talk crypto: Prefer to listen to Kalam Crypto instead? Check out our podcast:

Global News 🌍

FTX Fallout: Newly appointed CEO John Ray, who has 40 years of experience in restructuring companies and oversaw some of the biggest bankruptcies ever, including Enron's, said he's never seen anything as bad as FTX. "Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here." and “Accounting, audit, cash management, cybersecurity, human resources, risk management, data protection and other systems that did not exist, or did not exist to an appropriate degree, prior to my appointment." Here are some of the other findings from the court filing documents:

No board meetings
FTX funds were used to buy personal items like homes
Software controls used to hide misuse of user funds
Alameda exempt from liquidation
Alameda lent billions to SBF and executives (personal loans)
Financial statements with false/lacking info
No cash management

We will keep you updated with the latest information on a weekly basis. It is becoming more evident every day that FTX was criminally mismanaged. In the midst of all this, SBF gave an interview to VOX where he admitted that his “effective altruism” stance was never sincere and that it was only a PR move.

FTX Hack: As if the saga couldn’t get any worse, FTX was hacked, and around ~$400 million dollars was drained from FTX wallets. The hack occurred one day after FTX filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The hacker’s wallet has been identified and labeled as “FTX Accounts Drainer” on Etherscan. Initially, the hacker swapped several altcoins for ETH, and at one point was the 35th largest holder of ETH in the world. In the past 48 hours, he’s been dumping ETH on the market in exchange for renBTC. The identity of the FTX drainer remains unknown. However, his on-chain activity is being tracked.

Signal Beyond the Noise 🔊

In this new segment of Kalam Crypto, we will go beyond the “noise” (such as the FTX collapse the past two weeks) and look deeper to cover the developments that have gone under the radar:

Polygon announces a partnership with Nike: Nike launches “.Swoosh” web3 platform that will offer polygon-based NFTs and digital collectibles. Here is a list of all the brands currently building on polygon: Nike, Adidas, Starbucks, Reddit, Meta, Robinhood, eBay, Disney, Stripe, and Adobe.
Energy giant Shell enters bitcoin mining: Earlier this year, we covered the story of Exxon, which capturing flared gas and using it to mine bitcoin. This week another energy giant, Shell, announced a 2-year sponsorship agreement with Bitcoin Magazine. In addition to utilizing flared gas for bitcoin mining, Shell will be able to exhibit its revolutionary cooling techniques for the Bitcoin mining industry at the next Bitcoin Conference.

Did You Know 🤔

Despite all the market turmoil in the wake of the FTX collapse, Bitcoin HODLers remain unfazed:

67% of bitcoin has not moved in over one year (all-time high)
25% of bitcoin has not moved in over 5 years (all-time high)
13.25% of bitcoin has not moved in over 10 years (all-time high)

CoinMENA News 🗞

⚽️#CoinMENA_GOAL: To celebrate FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, we will be giving away $1,500 worth of token airdrops, exciting prizes, and dozens of CoinMENA merch! Make sure you follow our Instagram and Twitter accounts to learn how to participate.

Limited-time Combo Offers! Enjoy discounted card deposit fee: now only 2% instead of 3.5% until Thursday, November 24, 2022, 11 PM Bahrain/KSA time. In addition, you can also qualify to win $1,000 in ETH, $1,000 in USDT, or $1,000 in XRP when you trade for $25 or more before the end of November. Deposit and trade now!

Tweet of the week 🐥

Quiz Corner ✅

Last week’s question:What is the name of the general ledger that tracks all bitcoin transactions?

Answer: Blockchain

This week’s question: What is a cold wallet?