{"id":23975,"date":"2022-10-18T21:42:49","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T21:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/?p=23975"},"modified":"2022-10-20T17:03:35","modified_gmt":"2022-10-20T17:03:35","slug":"news-us-treasury-on-the-threat-of-crypto-failed-corporate-nfts-sec-vs-yuga-labs-urbit-tries-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2022\/10\/18\/news-us-treasury-on-the-threat-of-crypto-failed-corporate-nfts-sec-vs-yuga-labs-urbit-tries-again\/","title":{"rendered":"News: US Treasury on the threat of crypto; failed corporate NFTs; SEC vs. Yuga Labs; Urbit tries again"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Don\u2019t forget to join the Patreon \u2014 your $5 or $20 a month really does help. Also, don&#8217;t forget to message and ask for your \u201cBitcoin: It Can\u2019t Be That Stupid\u201d stickers! [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/davidgerard\"><i>Patreon<\/i><\/a>]<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2020\/11\/26\/get-signed-copies-of-libra-shrugged-and-attack-of-the-50-foot-blockchain\/\">I sell signed copies of the books!<\/a> Get in quick, before I have to put the postage up again as the pound goes down \u2026<\/li>\n<li>Sign up to get these newsletters, and all my other blog posts, by email the moment they go up. [<a href=\"#byemail\"><i>scroll down, or click here<\/i><\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2022\/06\/05\/its-still-2014-in-crypto-payments-and-buying-a-burrito-is-now-a-taxable-event\/chipotle-burrito\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-23009\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-23009\" src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/chipotle-burrito.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"340\" height=\"210\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/chipotle-burrito.png 680w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/chipotle-burrito-300x185.png 300w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/chipotle-burrito-348x215.png 348w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Regulatory clarity, systemic edition<\/h3>\n<p>I had a chat recently with someone whose job involves worrying about systemic risks to the world economy. It\u2019s horrible when investors get ripped off, and it must be stopped \u2014 but it\u2019s even worse if crypto breaks the whole system.<\/p>\n<p>I thought the main threats from crypto were:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Global stablecoins, <i>i.e.<\/i> a Libra-like private currency \u2014 if they were issued by someone <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/libra\/\">less stupid about it than Facebook were.<\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Crypto gets its tendrils into something systemic \u2014 <i>e.g.,<\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2022\/03\/16\/news-no-crypto-in-401k-retirement-plans-more-bitcoin-etf-rejections-nfts-on-instagram-jamaican-cbdc\/\">pension funds,<\/a> which it&#8217;s been trying really hard to get into.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Another retail bubble. This <i>must<\/i> be forestalled by regulation. Just keep tightening the regulation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The reason for 3. as a systemic risk is that fresh dollars from suckers are the necessary fuel for the risk to be really risky.<\/p>\n<p>I said the best news was that the US Treasury are really on crypto&#8217;s case \u2014 and they care <i>a lot<\/i>. Here\u2019s a nice report from the Treasury&#8217;s Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC). [<a href=\"https:\/\/home.treasury.gov\/system\/files\/261\/Fact-Sheet-Report-on-Digital-Asset-Financial-Stability-Risks-and-Regulation.pdf\"><i>fact sheet<\/i><\/a><i>, PDF; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/home.treasury.gov\/system\/files\/261\/FSOC-Digital-Assets-Report-2022.pdf\"><i>report<\/i><\/a><i>, PDF<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>FSOC is loudly warning of stability risks if crypto\u2019s \u201cinterconnections with the traditional financial system or their overall scale were to grow without adherence to or being paired with appropriate regulation, including enforcement of the existing regulatory structure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That is: the Treasury\u2019s specific fear is that these bozos will contaminate the real economy with crypto\u2019s slapdash incompetence and fraud.<\/p>\n<p>FSOC recommends:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Legislation to assign or establish a financial regulator for the non-security crypto asset spot market (the crypto exchanges);<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Address regulatory arbitrage (jurisdiction-hopping) between the affiliates of crypto entities (<i>e.g.<\/i>, US and non-US versions of a crypto company);<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Study \u201cpotential vertical integration by crypto-asset firms,\u201d which sounds to me a lot like anti-trust.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The full report details a wide range of crypto market disasters, untethered speculation, liquidity fragmentation, manipulations, operational centralisation, bridge hacks, rug pulls and scams in general. The ongoing crypto meltdown caused by UST-luna and Three Arrows Capital gets a mention too \u2014 Amy and I will cover this bit in our next <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/?s=%22crypto+collapse%22\">crypto collapse<\/a> newsletter.<\/p>\n<p>The FSOC report looks mildly worded, with lots of &#8220;could&#8221; and &#8220;might&#8221; and &#8220;possibly&#8221; and so on. But this is how regulators phrase &#8220;NO AND HELL NO.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The real problem is that even those who do remember history are cursed to repeat it.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">[CHIEF ECONOMIC STRATEGIST AT THE TREASURY] you say capitalism bad but use phone?<br \/>[10 FOLLOWER ACCOUNT CALLED &quot;MILFING FREIDMAN&quot;] if you look at the ways in which engels actually used the terms base and superstructure it&#39;s clear the english translation has introduced a degree of<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Crowsa Luxemburg (@quendergeer) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/quendergeer\/status\/1566169158940868611?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 3, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Idiot joy showland<\/h3>\n<p>In July 2021, CNN announced with great fanfare its plan for NFTs for News! \u201cVault is a Web3 project by CNN to reflect on the world events we experience together. Collect NFTs of historic artistic interpretations from digital artists.\u201d Anyway, they\u2019ve just shut it down. [<a href=\"https:\/\/vault.cnn.com\/\"><i>CNN Vault<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/E7sSY\"><i>archive<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/vaultbycnn\/status\/1579562628493774851\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>People who spent actual money on CNN NFTs are yelling that they\u2019ve been rugpulled. Press Gazette estimated that CNN had taken in at least $329,700 by April 2022. CNN was actively promoting spending your money at Vault up to a few weeks before the shutdown. [<a href=\"https:\/\/pressgazette.co.uk\/news-publishers-nfts\/\"><i>Press Gazette<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/10\/10\/23397766\/vault-by-cnn-nft-shutdown-flow-rebate-rugpull\"><i>The Verge<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>CNN claim Vault was just an \u201cexperiment.\u201d This doesn\u2019t really match up with the detailed project roadmap they published, which extends into 2023 with a \u201cglobe\u201d icon. [<i>CNN, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20221011142248\/https:\/\/docs.vault.cnn.com\/docs\/the-vault-ecosystem\/2022-roadmap\"><i>archive<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Vault was running on Dapper Labs\u2019 Flow blockchain. CNN has offered a refund of 20% of minting price \u2014 why only 20%? \u2014 in USDC stablecoins or FLOW tokens. Flow limits stablecoin withdrawals to $10 per transaction, with a $4 transaction fee. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theblock.co\/post\/176092\/cnn-offers-holders-partial-refunds-as-it-suddenly-shutters-nft-vault\"><i>The Block<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">my advice to anyone who lives on twitter: don&#39;t try to argue economics or politics with anyone who has bitcoin\/&quot;web3&quot; in their bio. they are living in a completely different spacetime reality to us. scientists cannot yet explain it<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Cain Maddox (@ctrlshifti) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ctrlshifti\/status\/1564527671379312640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 30, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Fol de rol<\/h3>\n<p>Mexican businessman and art collector Mart\u00edn Mobarak takes today&#8217;s prize for Worst Person in NFTs. Mobarak said he had made 10,000 NFTs of a drawing that he tore from the pages of one of Frida Kahlo\u2019s diaries, believed to be worth $10 million \u2014 and burned it to promote the NFT collection.<\/p>\n<p>The authorities are not pleased with Mobarak: \u201cthe deliberate destruction of an artistic monument constitutes a crime in terms of the federal law on archaeological, artistic and historical monuments and zones.\u201d The only good news is that there\u2019s some doubt it\u2019s a genuine Kahlo. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/businessman-frida-kahlo-drawing-burned-b2180355.html\"><i>Independent<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The SEC is investigating Yuga Labs, the promoters of the Bored Apes, Apecoin and the Otherside metaverse virtual land sale. Amy Castor told you so in March. [<a href=\"https:\/\/amycastor.com\/2022\/03\/17\/bored-apes-yacht-club-launches-apecoin-it-looks-like-an-unregistered-penny-stock-offering\/\"><i>Amy Castor<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2022-10-11\/bored-ape-creator-yuga-labs-faces-sec-probe-over-unregistered-offerings\"><i>Bloomberg<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/amycastor.com\/2022\/10\/13\/when-wells-notice-yuga-labs-the-sec-is-coming-for-you\/\"><i>Amy Castor<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The fashion world is still promoting NFTs! One brand\u2019s evidence for consumer interest wasn&#8217;t anything so tawdry as &#8220;sales&#8221; for actual &#8220;money,&#8221; but &#8230; the number of views of something they built in Roblox. That is, the number of users who were in the vicinity at any given time.\u00a0 With quotes from me. [<a href=\"https:\/\/techmonitor.ai\/augmented-reality\/why-is-fashion-world-obsessed-with-nfts\"><i>TechMonitor<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Brian Roberts has quit as CFO of OpenSea and sold all his apes. He thanks OpenSea for the \u201crare opportunity,\u201d and remains \u201cincredibly bullish on web3 and especially OpenSea.\u201d Just not bullish enough to stay financially involved in any way. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/-brian-roberts_well-it-is-time-for-me-to-come-ashore-from-activity-6984258573081989120-H7Bq\/\"><i>LinkedIn<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20221010183421\/https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/-brian-roberts_well-it-is-time-for-me-to-come-ashore-from-activity-6984258573081989120-H7Bq\/\"><i>archive<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HunchoCheetah\/status\/1578470967432519682\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHey everyone!\u201d said a Wal-mart executive to the single person in its new Roblox metaverse nightmare. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/hey-everyone-says-walmart-executive-to-the-single-person-in-its-new-roblox-metaverse-nightmare\/\"><i>PC Gamer<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Facebook lets US Instagram users use NFTs anywhere on their sites! Everyone wants that in late 2022, right? [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/business\/2022\/09\/29\/meta-opens-nft-sharing-on-instagram-and-facebook-to-all-users\/\"><i>CoinDesk<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>A grand total of six people have bought one of the chess.com NFTs since their inception in March 2022, for total sales of $1183. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/chess\/comments\/xg4m9q\/a_grand_total_of_6_people_have_bought_one_of_the\/\"><i>Reddit<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I&#39;m not trying to scam you I just mistyped NTFS<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; SwiftOnSecurity (@SwiftOnSecurity) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SwiftOnSecurity\/status\/1580966831556558848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 14, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Kicker conspiracy<\/h3>\n<p>Former Pilsen footballer David Limbersk\u00fd and three other men are being investigated on allegations of attempting to extort 4 million Czech korunas (USD$160,000) at gunpoint. Limbersk\u00fd had paid the man for crypto mining rigs, and was unhappy with his profits. The man first offered Limbersk\u00fd crypto mining equipment. Then, when one of Limbersk\u00fd&#8217;s companions (allegedly) put a gun to the guy&#8217;s head, he promised to return the money by the end of November. The target then left and called the police. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.novinky.cz\/clanek\/krimi-fotbalista-limbersky-byl-obvinen-z-vydirani-40410951\"><i>Novinky<\/i><\/a><i>, in Czech<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>Limbersk\u00fd has a track record of falling for con men. He said of \u010cenek Pazderka, who took him for millions in a luxury car scam through the 2010s:\u00a0 &#8220;He was dressed luxuriously, he had expensive watches, he looked like he was successful, that his business was going well.&#8221; [<a href=\"https:\/\/isport.blesk.cz\/clanek\/blesk-sport\/368674\/duverivy-limbersky-naletel-podvodnikovi-pocita-mnohamilionove-ztraty.html\"><i>Blesk<\/i><\/a><i>, in Czech; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.denik.cz\/krimi\/cenek-pazderka-david-limbersky-vladimir-darida-viktorie-plzen-podvodnik-vez.html\"><i>Den\u00edk<\/i><\/a><i>, in Czech<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>Just the facts of the initial story convince me the \u201cvictim\u201d is the bad guy here, and Limbersk\u00fd is not excessively equipped with good judgement or business negotiation skills. Even as pointing guns at people is rightly considered antisocial.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It&#39;s been a slow few days on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/web3isgreat?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@web3isgreat<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Turns out there was a &#8211;allow-rugpull flag when deploying smart contracts, that nobody knew about and which defaulted to true.  Default was changed to false in Version 0.15.6.1 and now smart contracts are secure.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Niko (@00xou) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/00xou\/status\/1570109391046672391?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 14, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Container drivers<\/h3>\n<p>Grayscale runs GBTC \u2014 a fund that buys bitcoins and sells you shares in them. (Or exchanges bitcoins directly for GBTC shares.) The GBTC shares are then sold in over-the-counter markets in the US. GBTC used to be priced <em>above<\/em> BTC itself, but has been down for quite a while. So Grayscale wanted to convert GBTC to a proper Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF). [<a href=\"https:\/\/amycastor.com\/2022\/04\/19\/welcome-to-grayscales-hotel-california\/\"><em>Amy Castor<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Grayscale has filed its 100-page brief against the SEC for <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2022\/08\/01\/crypto-collapse-3acs-grayscale-two-step-and-where-in-the-world-are-zhu-and-davies\/\">not allowing GBTC to be converted to an ETF,<\/a> just because the bitcoin market is unregulated trash. Grayscale holds that the SEC\u2019s refusal was arbitrary, capricious, and creates unfair discrimination between issuers \u2014 because the SEC already allows bitcoin futures ETFs, which Grayscale claims carry similar risks.<\/p>\n<p>Grayscale also says the SEC\u2019s refusal exceeds the SEC\u2019s statutory authority \u2014 because the Exchange Act does not contain the \u201csignificant markets\u201d test that the SEC has used in refusing this and other bitcoin ETFs. Good luck with that one, guys.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Commission received more than 11,600 comment letters on the Exchange\u2019s rule-change proposal, with more than 99.9% favoring approval\u201d \u2014 because Grayscale put up a website and bought public advertising telling customers to <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2022\/04\/26\/news-sam-bankman-fried-on-defi-ponzinomics-grayscale-etf-comments-binance-and-russia-el-salvador\/\">spam the SEC with form-letter comments.<\/a> Grayscale doesn\u2019t mention that bit, but I expect the SEC&#8217;s response will. [<a href=\"https:\/\/grayscale.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/GBTC-Lawsuit-Grayscale-Opening-Brief.pdf\"><i>Brief<\/i><\/a><i>, PDF<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">(US) Crypto industry at large: We want the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CFTC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@CFTC<\/a> to be our primary market regulator<\/p>\n<p>CFTC: &#39;K, we are on it<\/p>\n<p>Industry: Wait, no, not like that<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Nikhilesh De (@nikhileshde) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nikhileshde\/status\/1576005114208276480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 1, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>They say damp records the past. If that&#8217;s so, I&#8217;ve got the biggest library yet<\/h3>\n<p>I have a half-finished blog post, that\u2019s been in my drafts pile for a few years, on Urbit and its founder Curtis Yarvin, <i>a.k.a.<\/i> Mencius Moldbug. Yarvin is the founder of the political ideology \u201cneoreaction,\u201d a precursor to what we now call the alt-right \u2014 that is to say, neo-Nazis with big words. And it&#8217;s freshly across the blockchain press of late.<\/p>\n<p>I tried and failed to explain the idea of Urbit as a new paradigm for computation that combined <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Functional_programming\">functional programming<\/a> with what happens when libertarian <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Anarcho-capitalism\">anarcho-capitalism<\/a> goes <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dark_Enlightenment\">so right-wing reactionary<\/a> that it openly turns into <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hans-Hermann_Hoppe\">Hans-Hermann Hoppe<\/a>\u2019s vision of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dark_Enlightenment\">neo-feudalism.<\/a> But that previous sentence needs about a Wikipedia article per jargon word just to get started.<\/p>\n<p>Urbit itself has blockchainy elements and has long been written up in the crypto press. The Urbit \u201cland registry\u201d is written to the Ethereum blockchain for secure timestamping. Yarvin has previously claimed Urbit is not a blockchain, and doesn&#8217;t need blockchain. [<em>Urbit, 2018, <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20160720075521\/http:\/\/urbit.org\/blog\/blockchain\/\">archive<\/a>; Urbit, 2017, <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20171014183906\/https:\/\/urbit.org\/blog\/2017.9-critique\/\">archive<\/a><\/em>]<\/p>\n<p>Tlon, the company developing Urbit, got a small amount of venture capital from Peter Thiel, then ran a &#8220;land sale&#8221; of Urbit addresses. The money seems to be running out \u2014 because Urbit has transformed into just another blockchain that runs the Ethereum Virtual Machine. It even has its own <em>minor altcoin<\/em>, $URBIT, not yet bridged or traded, which has been airdropped to Urbit users. They\u2019re actively reaching out to DeFi and DAOs, trying to get them to set up on Urbit. After the crypto crash. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/layer2\/2022\/09\/27\/an-urbit-airdrop-highlights-promises-and-problems-of-permissionless-development\/\"><i>CoinDesk<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/cw2OT\"><i>archive<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/layer2\/2022\/09\/24\/urbit-courts-daos-crypto-teams-in-push-to-make-internet-p2p-again\/\"><i>CoinDesk<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/JdhZK\"><i>archive<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/layer2\/2022\/09\/27\/an-urbit-airdrop-highlights-promises-and-problems-of-permissionless-development\/\"><i>CoinDesk<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/cw2OT\"><i>archive<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Like all the finest blockchain projects, Urbit isn&#8217;t really useful for anything at all. The applications mostly don&#8217;t work, and the ones that do work do so by bypassing the language the system is supposedly based on. This means Urbit has no technical merits to succeed on, and only has its political cult as its audience \u2014 so it leans hard into that cult. &#8220;We like to think this hard work is exactly what makes Urbit special.&#8221;\u00a0 [<a href=\"https:\/\/thepointmag.com\/examined-life\/among-the-reality-entrepreneurs\/\"><em>The Point<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Urbit already had NFTs. Even CoinDesk just straight-up called Urbit\u2019s Milady NFT project a bunch of neo-Nazis in May this year \u2014 which somehow slipped past a senior editor. There\u2019s only one kind of person with an Urbit address in their bio. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/layer2\/2022\/05\/05\/everything-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-miladys-but-were-afraid-to-ask\/\"><i>CoinDesk<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/MVYW7\"><i>archive<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Understanding how Urbit works doesn\u2019t answer \u201cyes, but why on earth?\u201d \u2014 any more than the bitcoin white paper explains <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/the-conspiracist-gold-bug-economics-of-bitcoin\/\">the ensuing subculture.<\/a> I recommend that you come to understand Yarvin himself by reading Elizabeth Sandifer\u2019s book <i>Neoreaction a Basilisk<\/i> (<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2rzfSOA\">UK<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2G78K0i\"> US<\/a>), which is an absolute delight. And I\u2019m not just saying that because my name\u2019s in the first sentence.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">our great-grandparents dreamt that we&#39;d live in a technological utopia where every headline was like &quot;more kinds of cancer cured forever&quot; and instead we got a tech nightmare world where every headline is like &quot;can blockchain be used to monetize the concept of having ears?&quot;<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Janel Comeau (@VeryBadLlama) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VeryBadLlama\/status\/1581409989637197827?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 15, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>New facts emerge<\/h3>\n<p>Crypto.com was reported to have laid off hundreds of staff in recent months \u2014 but in fact, 2,000 employees out of about 5,000 have left or have been pushed. It\u2019s also quietly downsized a lot of the sponsorship deals it made over the last year. And stiffed Angel City FC on their sponsorship deal. \u201cThey were just writing checks they could only cash when things were good,\u201d said one former employee. [<a href=\"https:\/\/adage.com\/article\/digital-marketing-ad-tech-news\/inside-cryptocoms-marketing-meltdown-layoffs-cuts-sponsorship-deals\/2435076\"><i>AdAge<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Why did Circle shift its USDC stablecoin from being backed by assorted weird garbage to near 100% US treasuries? Circle feared being deemed an investment company by the SEC \u2014 \u201cinvestment securities exceeded 40% of the value of our total assets as calculated under the 1940 Act.\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net\/CIK-0001876042\/d372f208-1c41-4909-b529-f2b0614fc1ea.pdf\"><i>SEC filing<\/i><\/a><i>, PDF<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>Coinbase has been sued for patent infringement by Reggie Middleton and Veritaseum Capital over some &#8220;crypto transfer technology.&#8221; Veritaseum had previously <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2019\/11\/04\/news-libra-stumbles-on-bitmex-leaks-customer-list-crypto-capital-corp-arrest-and-indictment-tether-appeal-blockchain-for-china-kleiman-v-wright-settlement-fails-telegram-tokens-delayed-uk-tax\/\">settled charges with the SEC<\/a> over <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2019\/08\/15\/news-iota-blackmail-coinbase-banking-and-lawsuit-ezbtc-vanishes-ross-ulbricht-appeal-fails-wright-motion-denied-butterfly-labs-timihealth\/\">their 2019 ICO.<\/a> Software patents are deeply odious, and, since <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Alice_Corp._v._CLS_Bank_International\"><i>Alice<\/i><\/a>, largely invalid \u2014 but, hmm, let them fight. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/litigation\/coinbase-sued-patent-infringement-over-crypto-transfer-technology-2022-09-23\/\"><i>Reuters<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>ASIC has put a temporary halt on Holon offering its bitcoin, ethereum and filecoin funds to Australian retail investors \u2014 they think these funds are just too risky to even offer to retail. \u201cASIC may consider further regulatory action in relation to Holon and the Funds.\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/asic.gov.au\/about-asic\/news-centre\/find-a-media-release\/2022-releases\/22-278mr-asic-places-interim-stop-orders-on-holon-crypto-funds\/\"><i>press release<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ll be flabbergasted to hear that the <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2022\/06\/05\/its-still-2014-in-crypto-payments-and-buying-a-burrito-is-now-a-taxable-event\/\">Flexa\/SPEDN system, used by Chipotle<\/a> to fail to accept crypto, which I wrote up in June &#8230; doesn&#8217;t work. [<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/crypto\/2022\/09\/28\/free-lunch-at-chipotle\/\"><i>Fortune<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The Central Bank of the Bahamas has published a paper on their Sand Dollar CBDC and financial inclusion. They conclude that the Sand Dollar has helped. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.centralbankbahamas.com\/viewPDF\/documents\/2022-09-23-13-49-13-CBDCupdated-paper.pdf\"><i>CBB<\/i><\/a><i>, PDF<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s left after the crypto crash? A whole pile of dead <i>minor altcoins.<\/i> &#8220;Of the more than 64,400 assets Nomics tracks, only about 13,800 had trading volume in a recent 24-hour period last week, Gauthier said. And there are myriad coins that are not quite zombies yet but nearly so, and trading at a fraction of a cent.&#8221; [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2022-10-03\/more-than-12-000-crypto-coins-become-zombies-in-digital-asset-slump\"><i>Bloomberg<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Ethereum advocates said <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2022\/08\/20\/proof-of-stake-is-better-than-proof-of-work-but-ethereums-merge-wont-fix-any-other-problem-with-cryptocurrency\/\">the &#8220;Merge&#8221;<\/a> would eliminate more than 99% of Ethereum&#8217;s power use. It turns out the power use was just shifted elsewhere. David Rosenthal estimates the real reduction to be around 35% \u2014 because most of the power has been diverted to mining bitcoin. The real constraint was rack space in data centres close enough to the cheapest electricity, and they filled those out with old and new bitcoin mining rigs. [<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.dshr.org\/2022\/10\/the-power-of-ethereums-merge.html\"><i>blog post<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2022-10-10\/bitcoin-btc-eth-mining-difficulty-surges-as-ether-miners-redirect-resources\"><i>Bloomberg<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>David Rosenthal concurs that &#8220;decentralisation&#8221; in crypto is pretty much always a lie. [<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.dshr.org\/2022\/10\/piercing-veil.html\"><i>blog post<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A complete map of the US tech landscape <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/B6GWcUzUIh\">pic.twitter.com\/B6GWcUzUIh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Workweek \ud83e\udd1d (@workweekinc) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/workweekinc\/status\/1577702626560311299?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 5, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Living on video<\/h3>\n<p>This is me being interviewed about Facebook&#8217;s Libra and my book &#8220;Libra Shrugged&#8221; on Swedish crypto podcast Kryptoteket. It&#8217;s in Swedish with my bits in English, starting around 7 minutes in. [<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/7J2IeygHPruWQc7kPV9xeG?si=963b4953765b4b1b&amp;nd=1\"><i>Spotify<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The Way podcast did an interview with me about Facebook\u2019s failed Libra initiative. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.podcasttheway.com\/l\/libra\/\"><i>The Way<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Le Monde on le coin du butt. With quotes from me. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lemonde.fr\/pixels\/article\/2022\/09\/21\/r-buttcoin-sur-reddit-un-canal-sarcastique-federe-les-antibitcoin_6142626_4408996.html\"><i>Le Monde<\/i><\/a><i>, in French<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>WealthSimple on the Ethereum merge, with a quote from me. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wealthsimple.com\/en-ca\/magazine\/ethereum-merge\"><i>WealthSimple<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Crypto Policy Symposium by Ben Munster in Decrypt, with quotes from me. [<a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/109218\/inside-the-worlds-first-no-coiner-conference\"><i>Decrypt<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Le Monde on the Crypto Policy Symposium, with quotes from me. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lemonde.fr\/pixels\/article\/2022\/09\/07\/au-crypto-policy-symposium-les-sceptiques-de-la-cryptoeconomie-entrent-en-resistance_6140539_4408996.html\"><i>Le Monde<\/i><\/a><i>, in French<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I hope to revolutionise education or die trying once I finnish reading <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/davidgerard?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@davidgerard<\/a>&#39;s book on the secrets of blockchain <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/sVYSiyIlTw\">pic.twitter.com\/sVYSiyIlTw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Eamon Costello (@eam0) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/eam0\/status\/1571110552742821889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 17, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I only just recently managed to get the joke in the title of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/davidgerard?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@davidgerard<\/a>&#39;s book about Facebook&#39;s failed <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/crypto?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#crypto<\/a> project, &quot;Libra Shrugged&quot;. <\/p>\n<p>Bravo, David, Bravo. <\/p>\n<p>As penance I have ordered a copy. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mriQKnxAM7\">pic.twitter.com\/mriQKnxAM7<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u26af Michel de Cryptadamus \u26af (@Cryptadamist) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Cryptadamist\/status\/1579141610226712576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 9, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<br><br><div align=\"center\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=8420236\"><img src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/become_a_patron_button.svg\" alt=\"Become a Patron!\" title=\"Become a Patron!\" width=217 height=51><\/a><br><p style=\"align:center;\" class=\"patreon-badge\"><i>Your subscriptions keep this site going. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=8420236\">Sign up today!<\/a><\/i><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They say damp records the past. If that&#8217;s so, I&#8217;ve got the biggest library yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[961,138,1986,3281,1474,3282,650,3279,288,1853,614,1813,3283,82,444,1281,2916,2455,3093,1799,3285,2821,1328,2011,6,3280,3284,1717,2020,2181,1510,1414,33,3008,613,403,1865,1415,943,2848],"class_list":["post-23975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-asic","tag-australia","tag-bahamas","tag-brian-roberts","tag-cbdc","tag-chess-com","tag-circle","tag-cnn","tag-coinbase","tag-crypto-com","tag-curtis-yarvin","tag-dapper-labs","tag-david-limbersky","tag-ethereum","tag-facebook","tag-flexa","tag-flow","tag-fsoc","tag-gbtc","tag-grayscale","tag-holon","tag-instagram","tag-libra","tag-libra-shrugged","tag-links","tag-martin-mobarak","tag-milady","tag-mining","tag-nft","tag-opensea","tag-podcast","tag-reggie-middleton","tag-sec","tag-spedn","tag-urbit","tag-us-treasury","tag-usdc","tag-veritaseum","tag-wal-mart","tag-yuga-labs"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/chipotle-burrito.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23975"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24020,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23975\/revisions\/24020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}