Scam Economy Matt Binder

Leo Schwartz, reporter at Fortune, joins Scam Economy with Matt Binder to discuss Worldcoin, the project that wants to scan the eyeballs of everyone in the world and give them cryptocurrency in return. Why do they want your biometric data? To create an identity network to prove you're a real human, of course! Who is behind Worldcoin? OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Leo and Matt discuss the details of the project, how one Altman project supposedly creates the problem that the other claims to solve, the snag the project hit regarding its cryptocurrency, and much more!

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Check out Leo's piece on Worldcoin: https://fortune.com/crypto/2023/03/21/sam-altman-orb-scan-eyeballs-ai-bot-worldcoin/
Other sources: https://web3isgoinggreat.com/?id=sam-altmans-worldcoin-project-incentivizes-a-black-market-for-biometric-data-taken-from-people-in-developing-nations

It's a DOOMED / Scam Economy crossover episode! Host Matt Binder breaks down what he's been so busy with over the past few weeks: a series of reports on Twitter that drove Elon Musk to gift/punish him with the Twitter Blue checkmark of shame. Matt breaks down what Twitter Blue is, why it's so controversial, how Elon Musk marketed the roll out and caused his own mess, the removal of the legacy verified checkmarks, @dril and the #BlockTheBlue campaign, celebrities having Twitter Blue subscriptions being force upon them, why Twitter may be DOOMED, how Musk's version of Twitter is the perfect encapsulation of the tech SCAM ECONOMY, and much more! (Episode from the 5/2/23 livestream show.) Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/mattbinder

In honor of the indictment and arrest of Trump Card NFT founder Donald J. Trump, Scam Economy takes a look at four of the (other) biggest crypto founders who recently got in trouble with the law. Host of CBC's The Naked Emperor, writer Jacob Silverman joins Matt Binder to break down the crimes and recent charges filed against Terra / Luna founder Do Kwon, TRON's Justin Sun, Binance founder CZ, and, of course, FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried.

Check out The Naked Emperor, Jacob Silverman's 4-part mini-series podcast for CBC: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/1353/episode/d20230403

Visit: http://www.scameconomy.com

Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/mattbinder

Additional sources for the episode:
https://fortune.com/crypto/2023/03/31/cz-native-crypto-binance-recovery-fund-corporate-wallets/
https://www.reuters.com/legal/sec-sues-justin-sun-others-over-illegal-crypto-sales-2023-03-22/
https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/03/23/do-kwon-now-faces-criminal-fraud-charges/
https://www.theverge.com/c/22947663/the-many-escapes-of-justin-sun

What happens when one of the biggest cryptocurrency mining companies in the world sets up shop in your small rural American town? Jacky Sawicky, founder of the Concerned Citizens for Navarro County and a member of the NCAC: National Coalition Against CryptoMining, joins Scam Economy with Matt Binder to tell us exactly what happened when Riot Platforms brought their Bitcoin mining operation to her Texas town. Jackie breaks down how it went occurred, the sweetheart backroom deals that went on between the mining company and local and state government, how the crypto mining company has affected the locals, the unbelievable way in which crypto mining companies make most of their money (and it's not from mining crypto), how this is a widespread problem happening throughout the U.S., what's being done about it, and much, much more.

Visit: http://www.ScamEconomy.com

Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/mattbinder

Sources:
https://www.riotplatforms.com/investors/sec-filings/annual-reports
https://gizmodo.com/texas-bitcoin-bitcoin-mining-ercot-riot-blockchain-1849367067/amp
https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-mining-execs-make-serious-bank-versus-other-industries
https://beincrypto.com/riot-blockchain-rebrands-amid-miner-capitulations/
https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-is-becoming-a-bitcoin-mining-capital-can-the-grid-handle-it/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-05/texas-s-crypto-mining-boom-is-starting-to-look-more-like-a-bust?leadSource=uverify%20wall
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a42011194/crypto-mine-noise-murphy/

Edward Ongweso Jr., writer of the Tech Bubble newsletter and co-host of This Machine Kills podcast, joins Scam Economy with Matt Binder to discuss the collapse of the tech industry's favorite financial institution, Silicon Valley Bank. Edward and Matt break down what this means, how it happen, what sparked the bank run by tech founders and VCs, what SVB's investments were, how the bank fell right around the same time two crypto-friendly banks Silvergate and Signature Bank also failed, how the VCs like David Sacks and Jason Calacanis threw a tantrum demanding a government bailout for the tech industry, and more.

Read Edward's piece in Slate, The Incredible Tantrum Venture Capitalists Threw Over Silicon Valley Bank: https://slate.com/technology/2023/03/silicon-valley-bank-rescue-venture-capital-calacanis-sacks-ackman-tantrum.html

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Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/mattbinder

Bennett Tomlin of Crypto Critics Corner and Protos joins Scam Economy with Matt Binder to discuss what a horrible years it's already been for crypto. Bennett and Matt focus on two specific areas that have hit cryptocurrency exchanges hard: traditional banking ending their relationships with crypto and the regulatory crackdowns on crypto staking. The two discuss how FTX's collapse kicked off many of these issues, Silvergate and Signature Bank, two of the banks deep in crypto, the SEC crackdown on Kraken's staking program, and much more! Plus Matt and Bennett discuss the future of what crypto skeptic media looks like...

Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/mattbinder

Visit: ScamEconomy.com