The Crypto Winter Becomes a Nuclear Winter

Plus, PPP fraud hiding in plain sight.

Number of the Week: 67% (explanation below)

The Crypto Winter Becomes a Nuclear Winter

The question preoccupying much of the financial world this week—will fallen crypto idol Samuel Bankman-Fried testify before the House Financial Services Committee, or won’t he?—is of little more than academic relevance to the industry he helped to build and then quickly shatter. The crypto market is now well into a year of generally falling prices, and nothing Bankman-Fried says to Congress is going to restore investor confidence. The collapse of FTX exposed just how little capital and control underpin the crypto system, and even some of the strongest-looking crypto players are walking wounded. Consider: