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Check this space for my regular weekly news posts on "Stanley's Musings" - click HERE for instant access. 

Current news on Banking, Fintech, Blockchain, Crypto, Financial Services and Technology issues as well as Training Courses may now be found on Stanley Epstein Training - Banking and Fintech News

Death of the NFT

There is some bad news for NFT fans. The digital collectibles are pretty much worthless now.

Using data from NFT Scan, the crypto platform dappGambl found that 95% of the 73,257 non-fungible token collections (e.g., Bored Ape Yacht Club) it analyzed are worth 0 ether. In other words, if NFTs were physical objects, it’d be time to put them on the same garage shelf where your Beanie Babies went to die. The report estimates that 23 million people are now the owners of worthless digital files. The crash is mainly for one reason: There just isn’t enough demand to keep up with supply.

(Culled from the MORNING BREW)

Crypto: The World’s Greatest Scam

Bitcoin to Blockchains, to NFTs, to Web 3.0... it's time to find out if it's really all the hype or just part of one of the greatest scams in human history.

Worldcoin - An Old Crypto Trick in New Clothing?

Worldcoin has generated a lot of attention lately, raised a lot of capital, and a lot of eyebrows across various countries and communities.

According to CoinFund’s investment thesis, Worldcoin could onboard more than 1 billion new users to crypto, including a new segment of users from developing countries with poor access to finance. All of this sounds good on paper.

On the other hand, there have been some serious concerns regarding Worldcoin’s exorbitant collection of biometric data, questions regarding their business plan, and what the project is actually good for. 

Check out a take on the many concerns HERE.

Crypto - A security or something else?

Crypto is at a crossroads. As exchanges and currencies blow up, the US Securities and Exchange Commission is ready to step in. 

The SEC is on the verge of regulating crypto. But first, America has to decide, again, what a security really is.

Is crypto a security, like a stock? Or a tradable item of speculation, like a Beanie Baby? 

Robert Armstrong and Ethan Wu argue about the benefits and risks of regulating crypto.

Check out thus "Behind the Money" podcast HERE.

SEC Suits Against Binance And Coinbase Rock The Crypto Industry

Steven Ehrlich, the director of research for Forbes Digital Assets, joins "Forbes Talks" to discuss the state of the crypto market and his conversation with Coinbase's chief legal officer amid the SEC lawsuits.

The SEC Comes For Crypto!

This week, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), filed lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase, two of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges, on which investors buy and trade a large offering of cryptocurrencies. 

The SEC’s main allegation against Coinbase is that it’s running an unregistered securities exchange — like if the Nasdaq independently operated without any regulatory oversight. Binance faces the same charge, as well as additional accusations that it appropriated billions of dollars in customers’ funds for its CEO’s trading firm, misled its customers, lied to regulators, and more. 

Binance is accused of moving money from the US business to pay for a Yacht for the exchange founder Changpeng Zhao.

How will regulation affect America's crypto industry?

On June 6th the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Coinbase, the US’s largest crypto exchange, for failing to register as a broker, exchange or clearinghouse of securities. When markets opened, Coinbase’s share price dropped by a fifth.

The day before the SEC had sued Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange—alleging both that it offered securities-trading services without the necessary registrations, and that it had placed customer funds in a trading outfit owned by its boss, Changpeng Zhao. Binance rejected all the allegations and said it would “vigorously defend” itself.

At the core of both lawsuits is the idea that many cryptocurrencies are in fact securities. American law defines securities to include any “investment contract” that produces an asset for which an owner can expect to accrue returns depending on the effort of a promoter.

So, how will this affect the US crypto industry? Read the full article HERE.

Crypto frenzy is rife with ‘hucksters, fraudsters, scam artists’

The current crypto frenzy is “reminiscent of what we had in the 1920s before the federal securities laws were put in place,” said U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler. He went on to add that “... Hucksters. Fraudsters. Scam artists. Ponzi schemes. The public is left in line at the bankruptcy court.”

“The crypto securities markets should not be allowed to undermine the well-earned trust the public has in the capital markets,” Gensler said. “The crypto markets should not be allowed to harm investors.”

The SEC this week brought separate actions against Binance and Coinbase, alleging they had unlawfully offered securities intermediation functions without registering them with the regulatory agency. The agency also alleged Coinbase commingled its exchange, broker-dealer and clearinghouse functions. The SEC also accused Binance of commingling investors’ assets.

Read the full article HERE.

FTX And The Future of Crypto

Citadel Advantage News Digest - Issue #157

Read / Subscribe to the “Citadel Advantage News Digest” In this edition -

• Can Blockchain Technology Change Plagiarism Detection in Academia?
• Bernie Madoff's Lawyer to #FTX's Bankman-Fried: 'Shut Up!
• ChatGPT Explained in 5 Minutes
• The ‘Twitter Files,’ and other news from the bird app
• BIS warns of $80 trillion of hidden FX swap debt

NEWS about World Affairs, Banking, Fintech, Payments, Business, Blockchain, Crypto, Money and more…

Check it out

HERE

FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried on the Crypto Exchange's Collapse

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried sat down with The Wall Street Journal to discuss what happened to the billions of dollars deposited by the exchange’s customers. This interview has been edited for length.

Citadel Advantage News Digest

Read / Subscribe to the “Citadel Advantage News Digest” 

In this edition -

• "CBDCs: a potential game-changer for treasurers"
• "Why Meta Dropped 70%"
• "Ex-FTX boss Bankman-Fried: 'I didn't try to commit fraud' "
• "Examining the revolution in mobile banking”

NEWS about World Affairs, Banking, Fintech, Payments, Business, Blockchain, Crypto, Money and more…

CHECK IT OUT HERE>>.

Here’s Why FTX Collapsed — And Why It Matters -The Mehdi Hasan Show

FTX, a $32 billion cryptocurrency company that was supposed to change the world, evaporated seemingly overnight in a “liquidity crisis.” In other words, all the money's gone. The New Republic’s Jacob Silverman, along with actor and crypto skeptic Ben McKenzie, join Mehdi to discuss FTX’s downfall.

FTX Disaster - 7 Unbelievable Bankruptcy Discoveries

The FTX Disaster is Deeper Than you Think

A deep dive into Sam Bankman-fried (SBF) and the FTX / Alameda situation.

Investors learning this ‘painful lesson’ after FTX’s ‘crypto Ponzi scheme’

'Coin Stories' podcast host Natalie Brunell argues FTX's bankruptcy was a 'failure on so many levels.'

How FTX Went Bankrupt - What Went Wrong

Former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was hailed as a savior of crypto before FTX’s implosion. 

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX was seen as a survivor in a struggling industry, but over the course of six days the exchange collapsed due to a sudden liquidity crunch. 

WSJ explains the factors that drove FTX’s growth and what led to its downfall. Illustration: Alexandra Larkin

Crypto's vaporware problem

Vaporware refers to products not underpinned by realistic assumptions or a solution looking for a non-existent or overstated problem. The Blockchain has it too.

"Humans are fundamentally irrational beings: we have the tendency to overvalue far-fetched stories and undervalue practical reality, especially in times of abundance. It is during these times when narratives take precedence over fundamentals, that ‘vaporware’ projects will spawn en-masse." 

 

Read more HERE.

Read the latest Edition (#130) of the Citadel Advantage News Digest

NEWS about Banking, Fintech, Payments, Business, Blockchain, Crypto, Money and more…

Read the newsletter HERE

In this edition;

• After $2 trillion crypto crash, what happens next?
• Are big corporate profits to blame for inflation?
• Massive Wall Street layoffs feared as banking profits tank
• Top 100 Banks on Twitter Ranked by Most Followers
• Should You Buy The Dip in Crypto Crash?
• Inside the Digital Marketing Strategies of Top Neobanks Revolut & Monzo
• DeFi in the Metaverse: Possibilities, Pitfalls, and Promises
• 62 Digital Marketing Statistics Every Financial Marketer Should Know
• Phishing 101: A Beginner's Guide on Phishing Attacks
• Embedded finance: a double-edged sword for traditional financial institutions
• The 6 Pillars of Digital Marketing for Banks & Credit Unions
• 4 Reasons for Cyber Intelligence Failure
• Data Science and AI Predictions for 2022
• Digital Transformation in Lending Keys to Success
• The New Community Bank Model: Digital-First With a National Footprint
• Crypto crash, crypto investing and your taxes: A look at impact on investors’ taxes
• How Big Banks' Tech Advantage Hinders Innovation and Hurts Competition
• How Financial Institutions Can Stop Chasing Their Digital Tails
• 12 Must-Have Mobile Banking Features Consumers Expect Now

You can read/subscribe to the newsletter HERE