Will Sam’s Frenetic Media Tour Save Him or Damn Him?

The Breakdown

Blockworks

Investing, Business

4.8 • 786 Ratings

🗓️ 2 December 2022

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode is sponsored by Nexo.io, Circle and Kraken. Ah Sam, will we ever be able to escape you? This week, “main character syndrome” came roaring back into fashion as Sam Bankman-Fried broke his silence with a string of interviews culminating in appearances with Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times DealBook Summit and on “Good Morning America” with George Stephanopoulos. NLW breaks down what SBF said, and how the community is reacting. - Nexo is a security-first platform where you can buy, exchange and borrow against your crypto. The company ensures the safety of your funds and keeps innovating with products like the Nexo Wallet - a non-custodial smart wallet that allows you to create your Web3 identity. Get early access at nexo.io/wallet. - Circle, the sole issuer of the trusted and reliable stablecoin USDC, is our sponsor for today’s show. USDC is a fast, cost-effective solution for global payments at internet speeds. Learn how businesses are taking advantage of these opportunities at Circle’s USDC Hub for Businesses. - Kraken, the secure, trusted digital asset exchange, is our sponsor for today's show. Kraken makes it easy to instantly buy 185+ cryptocurrencies with fast, flexible funding options. Your account is covered by regular Proof of Reserves audits, industry-leading security and award-winning Client Engagement, available 24/7. Sign up and trade today at kraken.com/breakdown. - “The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features Nathaniel Whittemore aka NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell and research by Scott Hill. Jared Schwartz is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. Music behind our sponsors today is "Back To The End" by Strength To Last. Image credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk. Join the discussion at discord.gg/VrKRrfKCz8.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to The Breakdown with me, NLW.
0:09.2	It's a daily podcast on macro, Bitcoin, and the big picture power shifts remaking our world.
0:15.3	The breakdown is sponsored by nexo.io, circle, and crack it, and produced and distributed by CoinDesk.
0:22.8	What's going on, guys? It is Thursday, December 1st, i.e. Welcome to the best month of the year.
0:28.6	And today, we are talking Sam's Media Tour. Will it save him or will it damn him?
0:35.5	Before we get into that, however, if you are enjoying the breakdown, please go subscribe to it,
0:39.1	give it a rating, give it a review, or if you want to dive deeper into the conversation,
0:42.7	come join us on the Breakers Discord.
0:44.5	You can find a link in the show notes or go to bit.ly slash breakdown pod.
0:48.5	All right, friends, well, exactly one month ago, on November 1st, the world was very different. I was just coming off
0:55.5	celebrating my daughter's fourth birthday, a Ghostbusters Halloween birthday party, into a Paw Patrol
1:00.4	dress-up birthday, of course. I was a couple days away from my ninth wedding anniversary, which is
1:05.1	also my in-laws 42nd anniversary. In the crypto industry, meanwhile, FTX was the second or third
1:10.5	biggest exchange on any
1:11.5	given day. Debates were raging about regulation, and market prices were more or less a byproduct
1:16.3	of larger risk asset questions and Fed policy. Alas, this normalcy would not last long.
1:23.6	The next day, CoinDesk would publish the partial Alameda balance sheet. FtX withdrawals would start
1:29.2	based on the nervousness created by seeing just how much of Alameda was held in highly illiquid
1:34.2	assets. A few days after that, CZ's comments and FTT sale would help a trickle of withdrawals
1:40.0	turn into a flood. A few days after that, it would become clear that something much more
1:45.1	fundamentally wrong was happening inside FTX, as the normally loquacious CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried,
1:51.3	was dead silent. A silence that, as I've explained before, was not just external, but internal.
	...

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