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Unchained

3AC's Kyle Davies on Why He's Crypto's Lloyd Blankfein and Why He's Not Sorry - Ep. 621

Unchained

Laura Shin

News, Tech News, Business News

4.61.3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 March 2024

⏱️ 78 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Few crypto figures have been as vilified as Kyle Davies, the co-founder, along with Su Zhu, of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, which imploded in mid-2022, losing $3 billion and bringing many pillars of the crypto industry down with it. Davies and Zhu have been accused of, among other things, lying about 3AC’s assets as the firm was imploding, trying to borrow money when the firm was insolvent, and seeking funding from the Mafia, all of which Davies denies.  But he remains unapologetic about 3AC’s demise, saying most, if not all, companies eventually go bankrupt, and that 3AC had a “pretty spectacular” ten-year run. He joined Unchained to explain why he and Su Zhu were ordered to prison in Singapore for non-compliance with the liquidation proceedings, Zhu’s “six weeks meditating” (in prison), where he’s living now, why he and Zhu went to Bali after the bankruptcy, his $25,000-a-month fee for consulting for crypto bankruptcy exchange OPNX, his and Zhu’s current work advising crypto derivatives platform OX.FUN, and what he wishes he would have done differently in terms of 3AC’s wind down.  Show highlights: Whether Kyle is cooperating with 3AC liquidator Teneo and his opinions of that firm His and 3AC co-founder Su Zhu’s prison sentences in Singapore Why Kyle says he didn’t know about the scheduled court date Why Dubai levied fines against him, according to Kyle Where he is living now Whether or not he made misrepresentations about 3AC’s assets to lenders before its implosion, traded when the firm was insolvent, and borrowed money from the mafia Why Kyle went to Bali after the bankruptcy  His defense of his $25,000 a month fee for consulting for OPNX Why Kyle thinks his reputation post-3AC was still “huge” because all companies eventually go bankrupt Gamified derivatives platform OX.FUN, where he is an advisor His dreams of opening a cloud kitchen chicken restaurant Why he filed a lawsuit against Sixth Man Ventures’ Mike Dudas What he could have done differently at the time of 3AC’s collapse Why Kyle is not sorry 3AC went bankrupt  Thank you to our sponsors! Polkadot Guest Kyle Davies, OX.FUN advisor and co-founder of Three Arrows Capital  Links Su Zhu’s Arrest Unchained: Three Arrows Capital Cofounder Su Zhu Arrested in Singapore 3AC Founders’ Assets Frozen CoinDesk: Court Freezes $1 Billion of Assets of Three Arrows Capital Founders 3AC Ventures CoinDesk: Bankrupt Hedge Fund 3AC's Return as a VC Stirring Up Crypto Community Davies and Su’s Post Bankruptcy Lives New York Times: Their Crypto Company Collapsed. They Went to Bali New York Magazine: ‘They Are Very Comfortable Lying’: How fallen crypto kingpins Su Zhu and Kyle Davies are dodging prison — and rebranding  OPNX Wall Street Journal: Founders of Bankrupt Three Arrows Capital Plan Trading Platform for Distressed Crypto Debt  Cointelegraph: CoinFLEX creditors dissatisfied with restructuring to OPNX: Report Unchained: 3AC Founders’ New Crypto Exchange OPNX to Shut Down Cointelegraph: OPNX to shut down with mysterious new exchange as replacement Decrypt: CoinFLEX Creditors React to OPNX Closure: 'They Have Left a Trail of Destruction' OX.FUN March 11 Twitter spaces on OX.FUN with Davies and Zhu  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Do you disagree? Am I not the Lloyd Blankfarm of crypto in 2022?

0:04.1

Hey all, this is an interview I did with Kyle Davies, co-founder of the bankrupt

0:08.1

crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, which imploded in June of 2022, owing its creditors over $3 billion.

0:15.0

Back in 2012, Kyle and his co-founder Sue Ju, who were high school and college

0:19.5

buddies, started 3acC as an arbitrage shop.

0:23.0

Turning $1 million into anywhere from what they claimed was $5 billion to $10 billion at 3AC's height.

0:29.2

In fact, Kita its success was the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Arbitrage trade, creating shares of G. B.C. and then selling

0:36.2

them after a six-month lockup period since G. B. C. Traded over-the-counter at a hefty

0:41.3

premium compared to its nav, which was based on the price of

0:44.4

Bitcoin. However, when that premium switched to a discount in early 2021, suddenly 3AC would lose money

0:51.6

on that trade.

0:53.0

Then May 2022 saw the crash of Terra Luna,

0:56.5

into which 3AC had invested $200 million,

0:59.7

with their holdings of Luna hitting half a billion dollars

1:02.0

at their peak.

1:03.0

At that time, lenders tried to recall some of their loans to 3-AC.

1:07.0

When the firm could not either repay the loans or post-more collateral,

1:11.0

some of its lenders went under, such as Voyager, which had lent 3A654 million dollars.

1:17.0

Three Arrows capital was one of the major dominoes in the Cryptocarnage of 2022, and Kyle and Sue became emblems of an era of excess and direct. of was a lack of cooperation. A few weeks ago Kyle reached out to me wanting to do an interview.

1:35.6

I was surprised given his history, but welcomed the opportunity to ask him some questions about the past couple

1:41.1

years. I was dealing with a lot of health issues that week and so I'm grateful to Kyle that he was willing to push our interview from our initially scheduled time.

1:48.0

And with that, now on to the show.

...

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