Bitcoin and several leading cryptos have bounced a bit, thanks to a lower-than-expected CPI inflation report in the US. Fear, uncertainty and doubt surrounding the FTX implosion saga very much remains, though.

And it likely will for some time. It’s fair to say that this week has been a dramatic, historic even, turn of events for the crypto industry at large. Events that have dented confidence and trust massively, unfortunately. Finance is a game of confidence, and crypto is currently the complete and utter joker in the pack.

(That said, we still very much believe in the long-term future of the best parts of the industry.)

Just a quick word on why it’s bouncing today. The US Consumer Price Index (CPI) data landed overnight with inflation figures that have come in lower than widely anticipated. This has precipitated a boost for stock markets, and the crypto market rides off the coattails of positive sentiment in the Nasdaq and S&P 500.

And that’s despite the overarching crypto market sentiment:

 

It’s what markets have seemingly been waiting for to give the US Federal Reserve its evidence that its interest-rate hiking is actually having some effect. Whether this is enough for the Fed to slow down or pause its fiscal tightening policy in December and “pivot”, is debatable at this stage, though.

 

FTX liquidity-crunch saga updates

Where are we at with this, then? Frankly, it’s a confusing, soupy mush that’s adding all sorts of ingredients and spices to the pot faster than we can type/serve it up to you here.

But here are some key updates:

• SBF tweets, and says sorry. Lots.

FTX exchange boss Sam Bankman-Fried (aka SBF) has written a bizarre, near-incomprehensible 700-word-or-so thread on Twitter, in which he uses the words “sorry” and “I” and “f**ked up” several times.

Here it is – click to read the full 22-part thread, if you can stomach it:

• FTX has reportedly misused the exchange’s customer funds.

If part of you has some sort of sympathy for a bloke who was a couple of months ago on the cover of Fortune mag and lost the vast majority of his personal wealth (more than US$15 billion) in a single day, then maybe just put a pin in that.

There are reports suggesting that FTX grossly misappropriated and misused vast amounts of customer funds in the lead up to the current mess that has the exchange on the brink of insolvency – and SBF himself close to bankruptcy, if you believe the rumours.

Citing people close to the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that FTX had placed billions of dollars worth of customer funds on risky bets, with some suspecting customer funds were used to help shore up SBF’s embattled sister company, the trading firm Alameda.

This is the sort of violation of trust and fraudulent activity that has many wondering if SBF could wind up behind bars when all is said, scrutinised and done.

• FTX US to potentially halt withdrawals. 

The US branch of the wide-reaching global FTX firm has warned its users that trading on the platform could be halted in a few days’ time.

This comes after SBF wrote in that Twitter thread above that FTX US is “separate” from FTX more broadly and that it “was not financially impacted by this shitshow”, adding that “it’s 100% liquid.”

In a message pinned to the top of the FTX US trading page, the firm alerted users, “Trading may be halted on FTX US in a few days. Please close down any positions you want to close down. Withdrawals are and will remain open.”

• Bahamas regulator freezes FTX assets

According to a Cointelegraph article, the Bahamas Securities Commission has now frozen the assets of FTX Digital Markets (FDM) and “related parties”. FTX is headquartered in the Bahamas. Because, of course it is.

It also suspended FTX’s registration in the country and the Bahamian Supreme Court has appointed a provisional liquidator.

• FTX is actively seeking bailouts. Is Justin Sun its white knight? 

FTX and Alameda are facing the prospect of bankruptcy with an alleged hole of somewhere between US$8-10 billion.

According to a Reuters article, the firm is “scrambling to raise about US$9.4 billion from investors and rivals, a source said on Thursday, as Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried urgently seeks to save the cryptocurrency exchange that has been buffeted by a rush of customer withdrawals”.

The multi-billionaire founder of the cryptocurrency TRON (TRX), Justin Sun, has reportedly been looking at ways to help SBF and FTX.

Here is one way, supposedly:

Fluid story, and this may only be an initial part of some sort of TRON-based solution, however, it has been met with scepticism, with another prominent crypto-media source, Crypto Briefing, describing the TRON-token-ecosystem-based withdrawal scheme as “highly suspicious”.

Essentially, FTX has been enabling users to withdraw funds with the stipulation they buy select tokens from the TRON network. Er, what? And these tokens are “trading at a steep mark-up on FTX compared to other platforms” Crypto Briefing explains, adding: “Some suspect FTX may be trying to arbitrage its way into plugging the $9.4 billion hole in its balance sheet”.

 

The whole thing just gets more bonkers by the minute. Let’s move on to some price action.

 

Top 10 overview

With the overall crypto market cap at US$918 billion, up 11.6% since this time yesterday, here’s the current state of play among top 10 tokens – according to CoinGecko.

Okay, so it’s a pretty incredible bounce this, given all that’s still playing out with cascading crypto empires.

Lots of daily winners here and if you’ve been trading around in this crazy market right now, then you’re braver than this columnist.

Polygon’s MATIC token is the biggest gainer over the past 24 hours. It took one of the biggest top 10 dives over the past 48 hours, but it’s had so much positive adoption news just lately and many in the industry view this one as a long-term, crypto-major stayer. Not financial advice, of course.

(Puts hand to ear) Just in, our sources tell us there’s now some more good news for MATIC holders:

 

Uppers and downers: 11–100

Sweeping a market-cap range of about US$6.3 billion to about US$306 million in the rest of the top 100, let’s find some of the biggest 24-hour gainers and losers at press time. (Stats accurate at time of publishing, based on CoinGecko.com data.)

DAILY PUMPERS

• Chiliz (CHZ), (market cap: US$1.17 billion) +38%

• Lido DAO (LDO), (mc: US$893 million) +30%

• FTX (FTT), (mc: US$469 million) +28%

• Maker (MKR), (mc: US$793 million) +25%

• Evmos (EVMOS), (mc: US$524 million) +22%

• Aptos (APT), (mc: US$661 million) +24%

 

DAILY SLUMPERS

• WhiteBIT Token (WBT), (market cap: US$746 million) -3%

• LEO Token (LEO), (mc: US$3.76 billion) -2%

 

 

Around the blocks

A selection of randomness and pertinence that stuck with us on our morning moves through the Crypto Twitterverse…

In other news, NFT Fest Australia is coming soon (Nov 23-24 in Melbourne’s St Kilda) and it should be a huge event. We’ll be aiming to cover this in more detail soon.

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