💸 Big Sam is buying big again and Coinbase in hot water

Sab badiya doston? This is your favourite Doodhwala, and like your favourite pani-poori wala, we’ll give you a sukha on the house!

Here’s what we got for you today:

• Big Sam buys yet another big exchange

• Coinbase locks horns with a familiar foe

• Some wholesome content for the elderly

• Meme of the day

Big Sam buys yet another Big Name

Bear markets are not so good for investors.

But (some) companies love them.

Why?

Because of consolidation. What’s consolidation?

It’s like if one of your neighbourhood’s doodhwala buys the other doodhwalas. He becomes the biggest doodhwala. He consolidates the doodhwala market.

Like that movie said, “One doodhwala to rule them all.”

Now who’s doing this in crypto rn?

Sam Bankman-Fried, the curly-haired CEO of FTX, one of the largest crypto companies in the world.

Here are some quick facts on FTX:

• Trading volume of $5.4 billion a day

• Valuation of $32 billion

• Launched a token (FTT), market cap of $3.6 billion

• Ton of money to buy companies

SBF and FTX are buying companies left right and centre. They’re like Cult Fit acquiring gyms.

So far they’ve:

• acquired derivatives exchange LedgerX

• acquired brokerage services provider Embed

• acquired portfolio tracker Blockfolio

• acquired crypto trading platform Bitvio to enter Canada

• acquired crypto trading platform Liquid to enter Japan

And he’s got up to $2 billion (Rs 15,000 crore) to buy (bailout) crypto companies.

Now the company is making yet another purchase by potentially acquiring Bithumb, a South Korean crypto exchange.

Bithumb is one of the OG crypto exchanges from back in the day, handling over $2 billion in daily trading volume back in 2018.

Since then things have gone south for the South Korean exchange.

Bithumb was one of the exchanges that were called up by South Korean regulators in the Terra Luna mess (don’t remind me!).

Big-name players were after Bithumb including Morgan Stanley, Nexon, but it looks like FTX got to them first.

Doodhwala’s take: Sam is like me when I go to Barbeque Nation, putting everything on my plate. From lending platforms to Asian exchanges. He’s going after it all with the aim of consolidating much of crypto under FTX. Let’s hope this is a good thing.

Coinbase fights a familiar foe. Not for the last time.

Coinbase, one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world, is having a real bad time. Like real bad.

Since the beginning, the SEC (the US version of our SEBI) has been finding new ways to make trouble for them.

This time the SEC is alleging Coinbase listed 9 securities as tokens on their platform.

Securities law is financial mumbo-jumbo. We don’t get it either.

So, here’s something we googled:

Ever since the creation of cryptocurrencies, they have been trying to fit the same law to govern these digital assets. But it just doesn't work well for crypto.

Coinbase, however, has been cautious of this vague law and is sticking by it.

But, with governments…it’s always like one step forward, two steps back. Much like RCB every IPL season.

The SEC tried to use the recent issue of a (now) former Coinbase employee accused of insider trading to bring up the claim of listing 9 tokens.

Tsk tsk. Cheeky move SEC.

This whole drama resulted in Coinbase’s stock (aptly named COIN) dropping by 20%. Since its IPO last year, COIN is down 77%.

Hah, at least Bitcoin is outperforming something.

Cathie Wood from ARK Invest, one of the biggest capital funds in the world, also dumped around 1.4 million shares.

Coinbase v SEC is like Big Boss.

You don't want to follow it but you just can't take your eyes off the drama.

Doodhwala’s take: Governments across the world are struggling to regulate crypto and crypto companies.

But one thing is certain.

Crypto doesn’t fit into any traditional regulation.

Instead of fighting it, let's find a way to regulate it in a way that benefits everyone.

Time to launch the Doodhwala Party?

Wholesome: Okcoin helps the elderly folks

Crypto is, well, not exactly a safe industry.

There are a ton of scams, fake projects, pump and dumps, and spiked doodh. It’s a nightmare.

And the targets of many of these scams, are the older folks.

One cryptocurrency exchange — Okcoin — is doing its bit to help the elderly.

They managed to stop scamsters using their exchange to withdraw $1 million (Rs 7.9 crore) that they scammed from elderly customers. If the scamsters would’ve made away with the dough (not to be confused with the doodh), they would’ve stolen $4.1 million (Rs 32.7 crore).

The cool thing with crypto is — everything is on the blockchain. From where the money came, which crypto it was in, my 10 standard marks. Everything is public.

Okcoin’s risk team tracked the scammers’ wallet addresses and when they transferred the funds to the exchange to liquidate (fancy word for sell). They got em.

Meme of the day

That’s all for today frens! See ya tomorrow!

Aakash "Dahi Cheeni" Athawasya & Arvind "Doodh Peda" Krishna

Yo! Our legal and financial advisors (aka our good ol’ conscience) have asked us to add this boring disclaimer.

None of what you read here is financial advice. We aren’t here to get to buy or sell a crypto. We’re only here to tell you what’s up in crypto today and make you laugh. So, if you screwed up on a trade, that’s on you G. Stay safe in the markets.