Understandably, FTX is dominating the headlines in crypto circles right now. But it’s important not to lose sight of what’s going on at Twitter.
Elon Musk recently gave a brutal ultimatum to remaining staff at the social network: go “hardcore” and work long hours at high intensity, or leave and take three months’ severance.
Many have decided to leave — including Twitter’s head of crypto, Tess Rinearson. How can the tech giant be a hub for Web3 and digital assets without someone steering the ship?
The latest raft of departures come weeks after 50% of Twitter’s workforce was unceremoniously let go in a brutal round of job cuts.
But here’s the real danger: this mass exodus of talent has sparked fears that the social network is now critically understaffed. And if there’s a devastating glitch, those who remain may lack the technical knowhow to bring the site back online.
One insider recently claimed that there’s a 50% chance of a major outage during the World Cup — and a 90% chance of something going wrong that everyday users would notice.
Some Twitter users have already begun sharing links to their profiles on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn — seemingly preparing for the microblogging site to implode any day now.
And if the worst does come to pass, this could be disastrous for the high-profile crypto influencers who have spent years amassing millions of followers — and sharing their perspectives on how the market is looking.
If Twitter dies, where will Crypto Twitter go? Is there a place where enthusiasts would have an equally large platform — a place where their posts coexist alongside people who don’t really care for Bitcoin, NFTs or Web3?
The global town square is on fire. And unless Musk manages to pull back his $44 billion investment from the brink of oblivion, there could be disastrous consequences for the adoption of cryptocurrencies — and showing the public what it’s all about.
FTX owes $3.1 billion to its 50 biggest creditors. Their identities were redacted in documents filed on Saturday — and the largest creditor is $226 million out of pocket. Genesis has confirmed it’s caught up in the crypto contagion, with $174 million in funds locked within its FTX trading account. This aligns with a court document that shows the third-biggest creditor is owed $174,273,628. There are a couple of reasons why the exact identities of creditors isn’t publicly known. A motion has been filed to keep this information confidential so rival crypto firms cannot take advantage. But a bigger problem is this: FTX’s old management has been accused of failing to keep “appropriate books and records” — meaning it isn’t clear who is owed what.
With each passing day, new bombshells about what was going on inside FTX are coming to light. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that $420.69 million was raised from big-name investors in October 2021 — but $300 million went to Sam Bankman-Fried. As the newspaper notes, such cashouts are frowned upon “because they allow founders to reap profits before investors.” At the time, SBF described this as a repayment because he had spent $2.1 billion buying out Binance’s 15% stake in FTX. John Ray, who is now picking up the pieces at FTX, has criticized how the exchange was managed — with “the concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of inexperienced, unsophisticated and potentially compromised individuals.”
The head of Twitter’s cryptocurrency unit has left the social network, as the crisis engulfing the company goes from bad to worse. Tess Rinearson confirmed her departure with a salute emoji, which Twitter employees have been using whenever they resign. She’s not the only one who is out the door. Last week, Elon Musk had given remaining workers an ultimatum: commit to a “hardcore” culture that involves long hours, or leave and get paid three months of severance. Some estimates suggest that hundreds more have decided not to stay at the company — and there are now real fears that Twitter could break down, with remaining staff lacking the technical knowhow to resolve potentially fatal glitches.
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