Crypto recaps
Issue 46 – Checkmate, crypto
Cheating chess-players, cursed mansions, and more defi centralization.
Molly White
Molly White is a researcher, software engineer, and prominent critic of cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based projects.
Crypto recaps
Issue 45 – I'm the director now
Rising bitcoin prices bring echoes of the crypto mania from years past, and an ambitious hacker decides to manifest a new job for themselves.
Newsletter
Effective obfuscation
Silicon Valley's "effective altruism" and "effective accelerationism" only give a thin philosophical veneer to the industry's same old impulses.
Crypto recaps
Issue 44 – Four
The Justice Department's interest in Binance isn't just "FUD" anymore.
Newsletter
The stones left unturned in the Sam Bankman-Fried trial
From billions of mysterious Tethers to the apparent identity theft of Thai sex workers, many questions remain about what happened at Bankman-Fried's crypto empire.
Crypto recaps
Issue 43 – Laser eyes
Two crypto firms emerge from bankruptcy, and a Bored Ape party turns out even worse than it sounds.
Newsletter
New York Times: Crypto's fragile foundations
My article in the New York Times describes the common practice throughout the cryptocurrency industry that can lead to death spirals like the one at FTX.
Newsletter
Sam Bankman-Fried: guilty on all charges
Jurors spent less than five hours deliberating before returning the verdict.
Newsletter
The FTX trial, days 15–16: Sam Bankman-Fried doesn't recall
Bankman-Fried comes off as sullen and cagey in his cross-examination in front of the jury.
Newsletter
The FTX trial, day fourteen: Same events, new stories
Taking the stand before the jury for the first time, Sam Bankman-Fried recounts familiar events we've heard described by previous witnesses, but gives a very different version of those stories.
Newsletter
The FTX trial, day thirteen: Sam Bankman-Fried gets a dress rehearsal
After a few other brief witnesses, it was time for the main event — or, at least, a preview of it.
Newsletter
Video report: Sam Bankman-Fried began his testimony
If you're dying to hear about today's events at the FTX trial, here's a livestream to hold you over until I can write!
Newsletter
Sam Bankman-Fried will testify, and I'll be there
I'm taking this show on the road to hear Sam Bankman-Fried testify in person.
Crypto recaps
Issue 42 – To the moon
Reddit MOONs aren't mooning, and people can't tell if TrueUSD is telling the truth. Also, a crypto project feels the industry's initial ambition to create "the new internet" is hopeless.
Newsletter
The FTX trial, day twelve: What's up with Sam Bankman-Fried's defense?
Is the defense team doing as poorly as it looks, or do they have a trick up their sleeves?
Newsletter
The FTX trial, day eleven: Off the record
Sam Bankman-Fried's direct messages to a journalist about "unethical shit" were admitted as evidence, much to the dismay of his legal team.