Why SBF's Conviction is Just the Tip of the Iceberg

Written by:
Aaron Goldstein
Published on:
Nov/03/2023

These are the latest tweets, news and quotes from Web influencer and billionaire Calvin Ayre, a proponent of the BSV blockchain, an environmentally friendly, fast, and robust choice for enterprise-grade applications.

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10:53 am - Why SBF's Conviction is Just the Tip of the Iceberg: Disgraced crypto wunderkind Sam Bankman-Fried, or “SBF” as he was commonly known in the digital asset world, faces a potential maximum 115-year prison sentence for (among other things) using $8 billion in FTX customer and investor money to purchase non-blockchain assets like sports sponsorships and real estate and make large donations to Democratic political campaigns.

Following the unanimous verdict Thursday that took under four hours, Judge Lewis Kaplan gave “crypto” speculators a further five months of salivating expectations, setting a tentative sentencing date in March 2024. SBF’s sentence may end up being far less than the term of his natural life, but it’s expected to be significant. He’s also likely to appeal the conviction.

Appearing on CNBC, John Reed Stark, President, John Reed Stark Consulting LLC | Senior Lecturing Fellow, Duke University School of Law | Former Chief, SEC Office of Internet Enforcement, suggests this is only the beginning that stretches far beyond "SBF".

"Oracle, the greatest data base company in the world", Stark says.  "What are they talking about in respect to blockchain?  Nothing.  Crypto is not innovation."

He adds that "what happened here (with FTX) is just pure thievery. It comes down to lying, cheating and stealing" but if you are talking about how Bankman-Fried orchestrated the fraud, "he used this type of group think by buying people".  And this is something we can expect to see continuing in the space. 

"The biggest idea here, and this is why I'm so emphatic about it, is because it turns victims into victimizers." 

Friday October 27, 2023

1:59 pm - Kleiman v Wright: Ira Kleiman Loses Appeal in Florida Satoshi Trial:Ira Kleiman has lost his appeal in his case against Dr. Craig Wright, meaning that the 2021 verdict—that Dr. Wright invented Bitcoin alone and not in partnership with Kleiman’s late brother—will stand.

The trial originally took place in 2021. Ira was attempting to secure half of the Satoshi Nakamoto fortune by arguing that Dr. Wright had invented Bitcoin alongside Kleiman’s late brother, Dave. He sued Wright in two capacities: one on behalf of the estate of Dave Kleiman and one purportedly on behalf of W&K Info Defense Research LLC, a company supposedly formed between the two to mine Bitcoin and develop related intellectual property. Only it turns out that W&K is owned by Dr. Wright and his family, so after trial when the jury decided that Dr. Wright owed $144 million—not to Dave (or Ira) Kleiman but to W&K, that left Ira Kleiman with precisely nothing to show for his years-long litigation.

With Ira Kleiman losing on all three appeal counts, his involvement in the case should now effectively come to an end.  See: CoinGeek Here

Wednesday October 18

9:28 am - BSV Roundtable Wednesday: Becky Liggero will be diving into the world of iGaming and how blockchain and micropayments can impact the space. She will be joined by Pete from Lil Bit, Alex Agut from Handcash, Miles Malec from Champions TCG.  This one has gone live so be sure to check it out below.  See: CoinGeek here

Tuesday October 17

1:50 pm - Binance Halts All U.S. Direct Dollar Withdrawals: The crypto exchange new terms note that U.S. dollar deposits in user wallets are no longer eligible for FDIC insurance protection, effective Monday October 16, 2023. 

"In the event that customers wish to withdraw U.S. dollar funds from their account, they may do so by converting U.S. dollar funds to stablecoin or other digital assets, which can subsequently be withdrawn," the email said.

Ayre and his CoinGeek news site regularly warn users in regard to Binance.  This week, Israel froze 100 Binance Accounts it suspected has ties to the terrorist group Hamas.

"We are deeply saddened by the events in the Middle East. As always, Binance follows internationally recognized sanctions rules, blocking the small number of accounts linked to illicit funds. We wish for a swift and peaceful end to the conflict and the safety of all innocent civilians," a spokesperson for Binance said in a Tuesday email to CoinDesk.

From CoinGeek:

Last week, blockchain intelligence analysts TRM Labs issued a report aimed at ‘understanding how Hamas uses crypto.’ The report followed the attack by the Palestinian terror group Hamas on Israeli civilians earlier this month that U.S. President Joe Biden called the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

Monday October 16

7:50 am - BSV Roundtable Wednesday: Becky Liggero will be diving into the world of iGaming and how blockchain and micropayments can impact the space. She will be joined by Pete from Lil Bit, Alex Agut from Handcash, Miles Malec from Champions TCG.  See: CoinGeek here

'Ya...Nothing to See Here' Calvin Quips in Regard to Slew of Crypto Murders (September 14, 2023)

The following may not be suitable for all readers.  Small children should be removed from the room.

Billionaire investor and BSV influencer Calvin Ayre is the latest to chime in on a series of high profile murders that have recently taken place in the world of cryptocurrencies.

And the deaths have been nothing short of gruesome.

"Stuffed down toilets, dismembered in suitcases — crypto has been the common denominator for several gruesome murders and mysterious deaths this year," blares the headline from Coin Telegraph Magazine.

Plumbers in Bulgaria discovered the decomposing remains of 41-year-old United States crypto mogul Christian Peev — suspected to have been battered to death with a dumbbell by a friend out of jealousy.

In Buenos Aries, crypto millionaire Fernando Pérez Algaba's body was discovered chopped up in a suitcase near a river bank by a group of children.

It doesn't end there. 

Others involved in the world of cryptocurrencies have been killed in a helicopter crash in France and a fatal stabbing in the U.S.  There was also a suspected suicide in South Korea.

Since November of 2022 we've seen ten suspicious deaths of those in the cryptocurrency community, and these are just the cases we know of.

Ken Gamble, the co-founder and executive chairman of financial crime intelligence firm IFW Global, tells the magazine he believes most of these deaths are linked to organized crime making its way into the world of digital currencies.

“What’s happening is that these organized crime groups, particularly the Chinese, have suddenly come into masses of money. They have had more money now than they’ve ever had traditionally,” said Gamble.

“They’re making so much money that it’s become extremely dangerous now […] they have to now reach out to more groups and more people to try and move the money — broadening their money laundering capabilities,” he added. 

May be time to beef up the security and might want to avoid pissing off the wrong person as to not end up floating around inside the pipes of someone's toilet.

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Calvin Announces New BSV Site and Encourages Consumers to Become Better Educated (September 12, 2023)

"BSVBlockchain.org has a new site up that is the best place in the world to go to learn about this amazing tech now. Still more stuff coming but the Association has done a great job on this already."

The new site can be found here.

The BSV Blockchain is billed as "Reliable open source software, providing the fundamental requirements for enterprise grade blockchain applications."

It focuses on the following three pillars:

  • Unified Compliance Approach

Explore our unified approach to regulatory compliance, recognizing that existing laws apply to all tokens on blockchain platforms. At BSV, we prioritize adherence to the comprehensive legal framework.

  • Streamlined Legal Compliance

Learn how BSV integrates legal compliance seamlessly into its blockchain ecosystem. We ensure that all transactions and interactions on our platform adhere to existing property, security, and criminal laws.

  • Transparent Regulatory Measures

Discover the transparency in our regulatory measures. We provide clear visibility into how we enforce compliance and uphold existing regulations to create a secure and trusted environment for our users.

BSV About to Change the World? (August 31, 2023)

Julian Goddard (the technical product lead at @nChainGlobal) nChain has been working on CBDC solutions for several months, with Goddard playing a part in the company’s projects since last year, he revealed.

One of the company’s guiding principles is flexibility, aware that governments will only integrate blockchain technology if it fits into their existing systems.

“We’re always trying to meet our customers’ requirements first, and where they don’t know [about blockchain nitty-gritty], we try to build our products as flexible as possible.”

As the technical product lead, Goddard is at the forefront of exploring new products that nChain develops. He says the company is currently working on “a new product that’s very exciting and is going to help change the world. It will make a difference to the way things work in the world.”

CoinDesk Compromised?  (August 28, 2023)

Calvin on Monday retweeted a question concerning whether the popular crypto news site CoinDesk may be compromised. 

Bitfinex'ed made the original tweet, noting the site appears to be removing a number of negative articles of late.

Anti Crypto Revolution offered this suggestion:

"Need UK's new FCA rules on crypto media and marketing here in the USA asap. Crypto shillers/media must pay for billions of losses and Americans' savings being hacked to fund NK's nukes. Egregious."

Binance Seeks Protective Order....Against SEC? (August 15, 2023)

If you follow our good friend Calvin Ayre regularly as we do here at Gambling911.com, you'll realize pretty quickly there is no love lost between him and the cryptocurrency exchange Binance.

"Binance is bad news—is anyone still surprised?," he tweeted back in January. 

At the time Ayre's popular website CoinGeek reported that  a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Daniel M. Sirmons, claimed under sworn deposition that "according to his knowledge, training, and experience, ransomware attackers frequently use digital currency exchanges like Binance to launder or obfuscate their ill-gotten gains."

Ayre's site was the first to report on the skullduggery taking place at the FTX Exchange a good year plus before they went into free fall this past December.

The billionaire investor was quick to tweet out how Binance on Tuesday filed for a protective order against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) saying the regulator's requests for information were "over broad" and "unduly burdensome".

Binance is claiming that the SEC is demanding it produce all communications dating back to November 2022 for “dozens of topics — many of which have nothing to do with customer assets.”

Stay tuned.

Calvin's Corner: Billionaire Launches New Site to 'More Accurately Explain What My Multinational Business Group Does' (August 10, 2023)

On Thursday, online gambling and blockchain pioneer Calvin Ayre announced his new website that he described as more accurately demonstrating what his investment firm encompasses.

Ayre Group was launched just days after his global investment group purchased nChain, the global leader in blockchain and Web3 technology.

Ayre Group invests in building ventures in real estate, blockchain technology, media, publishing, health & wellness and travel & leisure.

The new site proclaims: "Led by entrepreneur and philanthropist Calvin Ayre, Ayre Group is a multi-faceted global operation funding real estate projects, businesses and technologies that break down barriers to entry, democratize opportunity and positively enhance peoples’ lives."

Suits Can (Will) Be Brought in Regard to Micropayment Technology (August 2, 2023)

We've had an opportunity to speak with those closely associated with the BSV Blockchain and one thing is abundantly clear, Web3 and micropayments are the future.

Calvin tweeted (or X'd) on Tuesday that he believed this article to be fair.

And it appears that Ayre's investment firm's announcement it has taken a majority stake in nChain (announced Tuesday) will make as a priority the aggressive legal pursuit of those who violate nChain's patents pertaining to micropayment technology.  Of note is that this technology will become the future of iGaming, in particular sports wagering.

In response, someone tweeted:

"He (Calvin) is bullish that the BSV chain is the blockchain to unite all blockchains. He points to the scaling technology solutions offered by BSV to be its superpower and the nano transactions possible putting the token firmly in the utility section and not as a security.
The scaling and rate of transactions on BSV according to Ayre are so substantial as to make the Proof of Work (POW) blockchain green."

And then there is this tweet:

“There isn’t a single blockchain or Web3 project out there that isn’t standing on the shoulders of nChain’s patent library—the earliest, largest, and highest quality collection in this space.”

'Crypto Scammers Running Around Asking for Clarity' (August 1, 2023)

Responding to an article featured on Fortune: "Coinbase boss Brian Armstrong: SEC suggested change that would have triggered the end of the crypto industry in America".

"These crypto scammers are so funny...they run around asking for Clarity...they were clarified and then they just refuse to accept it. They don't want clarity in the law, they want exception from existing law."

Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong told the Financial Times that the SEC made recommendations to halt trading in all cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin before launching legal action against the Nasdaq-listed company last month for failing to register as a broker.

From the Financial Times article:

The SEC’s case identified 13 mostly lightly traded cryptocurrencies on Coinbase’s platform as securities, asserting that by offering them to customers the exchange fell under the regulator’s remit.

SEC charges HEX founder Richard Heart with fraud (August 1, 2023)

Hex founder Richard Heart’s luck finally ran out after America’s securities regulator slapped fraud charges on the bling-loving conman.

CoinGeek's Steven Stradbrooke reports on these developments.

On Monday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought civil charges against Heart, aka Richard Schueler, and his Hex, PulseChain and PulseX entities for offering unregistered securities that raised over $1 billion from customers.

The SEC is also alleging Heart committed fraud by “misappropriating at least $12 million” of the funds raised to buy luxury goods, apparently to perpetuate the illusion of wealth that his marks might one day enjoy. The SEC wants Heart to forfeit all his ill-gotten gains and to be permanently enjoined from ever taking part in any future digital asset scams.

Stradbrooke writes that customers were urged to buy HEX with ETH and stake their HEX—as a ‘Blockchain Certificate of Deposit’—with the expectation that they’d receive even more HEX down the road, by which time the value of each HEX would have soared. Allegedly.

Ayre: 'Everything But BSV is a Security Including BTC', CoinBase Ordered to Only Trade Bitcoin (July 31, 2023)

One of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges was told by the SEC to stop trading in everything except for Bitcoin, according to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.

This is viewed as a sign of the agency's intent to assert regulatory authority over a broader slice of the market, according to Scott Chipolina of the Financial Times, which broke the story.

The SEC sued Coinbase soon afterwards.

“They came back to us, and they said . . . we believe every asset other than bitcoin is a security,” Armstrong revealed. “And, we said, well how are you coming to that conclusion, because that’s not our interpretation of the law. And they said, we’re not going to explain it to you, you need to delist every asset other than bitcoin.”

Armstrong claimed any such action would signal the end of the cryptocurrency industry as we know it.

Calvin Ayre, who is a proponent of the BSV Blockchain, offered his assessment of the situation.

"Everything but BSV is a security including BTC," he asserted.

- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com

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