10 episodes
Crypto Kingpins USG Audio
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- True Crime
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4.8 • 33 Ratings
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Once upon a time, there were two titans of the crypto industry: Sam Bankman-Fried, the child of Stanford professors and founder of FTX, and Changpeng Zhao, the nomadic founder of Binance. The pair were the faces of crypto, generating billion-dollar fortunes comparable to the likes of Elon Musk and Bill Gates. That is, until their rivalry threatened to burn the entire industry to the ground.
For years, the pair had waged a cold war as Sam fought to unseat Zhao, or CZ, and dominate the industry. Then, last year, CZ fired a warning shot: one that would send FTX into a downward spiral, and reveal what prosecutors describe as a staggering $8bn fraud at the heart of Sam’s empire. Now, as Sam potentially faces decades in prison, journalist Tom Wright has been investigating the hidden origins of his feud with CZ – starting with a key witness: CZ himself.
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Episode 1: Silicon Valley Nerds
A story about what happens — and who gets hurt — when you see everything as a game.
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Episode 2: Money and a Hat
Welcome to crypto: like Wall Street on steroids.
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Episode 3: The Wild East
Hong Kong, the perfect launch pad to make it big in crypto.
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Episode 4: Coming to America
Big influence comes with a cost. So where exactly is Sam getting all this cash?
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Episode 5: The Island Cowboy
In the Bahamas, the life of FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried is about to take a surreal turn.
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Episode 6: Kill Shot
“You're just a dumb lawyer. If you were smart, you'd be a Bitcoin billionaire.”
Customer Reviews
Outstanding!
Loved the podcast!
Interesting but seems conflicted
This is a very interesting podcast with what appears to be good reporting. However, there is one line in one of the episodes regarding the narrator and his connection to CZ (the Binance Founder). The individual says, without much clarification, that he speaks regularly to this day to CZ. This alone is enough to call into question some of the reporting about Sam Bankman-Fried, in comparison to coverage of Binance and CZ. There seems to be more than a bit of armchair, psychology, being employed, when discussing SBF and his veganism polyamorous, and other matters that seem intended more as a smear campaign than as journalism. There is no mention of the problems with finance, or the fact that it like FTX is also engaged in what may in the end also amount to a sophisticated Ponzi Scheme.
Simply SUPERB
From the reporting to the writing, the narration, and even the background music, this is storytelling at its best—and what a story. Kudos!