BlockFi Bites the Dust, Hundreds of Thousands of Customer Assets Wiped Out

Crypto Firms in Bankruptcy Proceedings 

End of an Era

The Balance Sheet

Assets $256 million. Liabilities $1 to $10 billion. 

Fun Fact

 The SEC has a $30 million unsecured claim on BlockFi.

Inverse Cramer Strategy Yet Again 

The Wall Street Journal reports BlockFi Files for Bankruptcy as Latest Crypto Casualty

BlockFi, based in Jersey City, N.J., is only beginning to answer how its hundreds of thousands of customers will fare in an insolvency. The company’s top 10 creditors alone are owed close to $1.2 billion, according to its filings with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Trenton, N.J, with the total amount of liabilities likely to be much larger. 

The firm, founded in 2017 by Zac Prince and Flori Marquez and backed by Thiel Capital spinout Valar Ventures, lends money to customers using their cryptocurrency assets as collateral. Bain Capital, Tiger Global Management and a fund operated by the Winklevoss twins are also included among BlockFi’s equity investors, according to PitchBook Data Inc.

FTX, the largest crypto company to file for bankruptcy to date, has said in court papers that its 50 largest creditors are owed more than $3 billion, and its new managers are still assessing its total obligations to customers. Celsius Network LLC, a crypto lender that filed bankruptcy in July, listed $5.5 billion in total liabilities when it entered court protection, including more than $4.7 billion owed to its users. 

As of 2021, BlockFi had between $14 billion and $20 billion in customer deposits and had lent out $7.5 billion.

What Happened?

Q: How did this happen?
A: Lure customers with a promise 10% or more interest on pledged crypto, backed by nothing, then borrow against your own coin using inflated values of your coin as collateral. 

Interest is paid not in US dollars but in worthless tokens backed by nothing.  

The above Q&A is a general statement, not just BlockFi. 

Hoot of the Day

Here’s the hoot of the day and it typifies crypto in general: Bankrupt BlockFi said it will focus its attention on getting assets from bankrupt FTX. 

That will drain the final $256 million in customer deposits. Somehow I expect the SEC will be first in line if anything remains. 

Was the Crypto Bubble the Worst of Its Kind?

A Bloomberg writer attempts to make that case. I strongly disagree and take the other side of the debate.

For discussion, please see Was the Crypto Bubble the Worst of Its Kind?

Final Question

What are Ethereum, Bitcoin, and US dollars backed by? 

This post originated at MishTalk.Com.

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Thalamus
Thalamus
1 year ago
USDT will be next IMO. The alphabet agencies want chaos and will force USDT to collapse like FTX. Need more useful idi&@s like SBF to keep collapsing FED competitors.
John k
John k
1 year ago
Yes. Crypto and us$ are all not backed by anything.
But you must have $ to pay your taxes. Can’t pay with crypto, yen, euros or gold. Must have $. So $ will always be critically needed to those with us tax liabilities and therefore will have value to them.
Foreigners not trusting their own currency will likely want at least some $ in their mattress. But imo we will slowly move to balanced trade as the big guys like China and saudi allow their $ holdings to slowly decline even with their trade surpluses.
Siliconguy
Siliconguy
1 year ago
I can take US dollars to the grocery store and buy food. I can pay the electric bill with US dollars. I can pay my taxes with US dollars, in fact I’m required to do that. If the power goes out I can still use actual physical bills to buy things. That makes dollars useful.
The others are useless, especially when the power goes out.
LPCONGAS99
LPCONGAS99
1 year ago
Reply to  Siliconguy
and if you don’t mind, I would add unless crypto gets an Air Force with nuclear weapons and an unlimited military budget, it is almost worthless
RonJ
RonJ
1 year ago
“What are Ethereum, Bitcoin, and US dollars backed by?”
The Science (TM)
ColoradoAccountant
ColoradoAccountant
1 year ago
Reply to  RonJ
Faith.
RonJ
RonJ
1 year ago
The Science (TM) is also backed by faith.
Safe and effective.
8dots
8dots
1 year ago
The Dow 30 members are divided by weight. The higher the price the higher the weight. United-Health, UNH, is 11% of the weight, Goldman is 8%, AAPl is 3%.
The Dow don’t care about AAPL, The Dow definitely don’t care about the creeptos misery.
Maximus_Minimus
Maximus_Minimus
1 year ago
“The firm lends money to customers using their cryptocurrency assets as collateral. Bain Capital, Tiger Global Management and a fund operated by the Winklevoss twins are also included among BlockFi’s equity investors.”
“Smart money”
8dots
8dots
1 year ago
We don’t know where the dollar will go. What we know is that AAPL, our largest company, have one contractor doing 97% of the jobs. AAPL is susceptible to troubles. China built a wall around their own people and industries to destroy our economy. China and Iran will win against their protesters. We must produce advance industries and old industries using robots and automation. MFG jobs earn more money will support
the service sector.
SAKMAN
SAKMAN
1 year ago
Reply to  8dots
Agree 100%
SAKMAN
SAKMAN
1 year ago
Etherium is backed by Hopium
Bitcoin is backed by 1BTC = 1 BTC
USD is backed by the US military and the layers of enforcement created by the Executive Branch.
Maximus_Minimus
Maximus_Minimus
1 year ago
Reply to  SAKMAN
1 BTC = 16k KWh worth of electicity.
There must be some value in there somewhere.
JackWebb
JackWebb
1 year ago
1 BTC requires about 1,400 kWh to “mine.” Where I live, that’s $135 worth. We have the cheapest juice in America; in most places in the U.S., you could probably double that.
MarkraD
MarkraD
1 year ago
“1 BTC = 16k KWh worth of electicity.
There must be some value in there somewhere.”
My son played video games for hundreds of hours, used loads of electricity to earn colorful trinkets and gear, no value there.
.
ColoradoAccountant
ColoradoAccountant
1 year ago
The miners are filing bankruptc.y too. That could help the grid to power all those Teslas
Billy
Billy
1 year ago
My 1oz Gold coins can still buy a fine suit. The same purchasing power over the past 5,000 years.
I’m willing to bet that even a Chinese citizen who is forced to buy and sell in Digital RMB because of their Marxist control, can still receive a fine suit for an ounce of gold.
Lisa_Hooker
Lisa_Hooker
1 year ago
Reply to  Billy
All depends upon finding someone willing to exchange a functional and useful suit for a 1oz gold coin.
I have never seen a naked tailor.
TheWindowCleaner
TheWindowCleaner
1 year ago
The dollar is backed by the full faith of the US government and its productive capabilities and hence is safe so long as the government doesn’t end. Fiat is essentially perfectly ok so long as we don’t irradiate each other or allow some other chaos like the Trump idiocracy.
And of course if you want to resolve all of our major economic problems and usher in a mega-paradigm change in profit making economic systems you should drop your orthodoxies and mind filters and advocate for the new monetary and financial paradigm of Direct and Reciprocal Monetary Gifting. Do you want to be a Copernican or die as a Ptolemaic economic pundit and delay the greatest progressive moment in economic history. Dare to think outside of the box.
HippyDippy
HippyDippy
1 year ago
I’ll die free of all your labels.
Irondoor
Irondoor
1 year ago
Direct and Reciprocal GRIFTING.Fixed it.
Lisa_Hooker
Lisa_Hooker
1 year ago
No problem.
These things are simply reverting to their “intrinsic value.”
HippyDippy
HippyDippy
1 year ago
Reply to  Lisa_Hooker
So true.
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
1 year ago
Another helping of Alignable Doom:

TREND TRACKER | DATA INSIGHTS | RENT REPORT — Boston, MA, November 23, 2022: Due to high inflation, reduced consumer spending, higher rents and other economic pressures, U.S.-based small business owners’ rent problems just escalated to new heights nationally this month, based on Alignable’s November Rent Poll of 6,326 small business owners taken from 11/19/22 to 11/22/22.

Unfortunately, 41% of U.S.-based small business owners report that they could not pay their rent in full and on time in November, a new record for 2022. Making matters worse, this occurred during a quarter when more money should be coming in and rent delinquency rates should be decreasing. But so far this quarter, the opposite has been true.

Last month, rent delinquency rates increased seven percentage points from 30% in September to 37% in October. And now, in November, that rate is another four percentage points higher, reaching a new high across a variety of industries.

HippyDippy
HippyDippy
1 year ago
Reply to  Tony Bennett
41%? That’s a very scary number!
JackWebb
JackWebb
1 year ago
Reply to  HippyDippy
That number comes from an outfit called Alignable, which bills itself as a small business network but which is widely condemned as a spam / fraud scheme. In this case, they probably use PR Newswire to send this “survey” to media outlets, which republish it without ever checking anything. Call it reason #17,321 to be skeptical of anything in the media.
HippyDippy
HippyDippy
1 year ago
Reply to  JackWebb
So hilarious! I went to find the correct number, but all quoted alignable. But it’s probably close.
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
1 year ago
Reply to  JackWebb
Yeah, the reviews are bad. But BBB gives them an “A” fwiw. Does not necessarily mean survey bogus, however. Would need to look under the methodology hood.
Take with several grains (or more) of salt.
JackWebb
JackWebb
1 year ago
Reply to  Tony Bennett
BBB is worthless. Alignable is making up numbers, and the lazy media are happy to throw them out there. There is no support for the numbers, and no one should trust them. If 40% of small businesses couldn’t pay their rent, we’d have more than one source.
Christoball
Christoball
1 year ago
Reply to  JackWebb
The true source may soon stare us in the face with boarded up restaurants and shops. Some communities will keep up appearances but many will not.
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
1 year ago
Reply to  JackWebb
“Alignable is making up numbers”
Strong statement.
Prove it.
“If 40% of small businesses couldn’t pay their rent”
Two things. 1) In their survey. No representation for all of small business. 2)” In full and on time” does not equate to “couldn’t pay their rent”. They may well be able to pay partial rent or at a later date.
ColoradoAccountant
ColoradoAccountant
1 year ago
Reply to  Tony Bennett
Today’s news is Fauci is blaming Trump for destroying small businesses.
Zardoz
Zardoz
1 year ago
Last time it was derivatives, this time it’s crypto…
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
1 year ago
Reply to  Zardoz
Derivatives will get their day in the sun.
The dominos are falling.
NFTs / SPACs among the first. Now cryptos.
Lisa_Hooker
Lisa_Hooker
1 year ago
Reply to  Zardoz
Crypto derivatives? Or derivative cryptos?
ColoradoAccountant
ColoradoAccountant
1 year ago
Reply to  Zardoz
Good point.
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
1 year ago
“What are Ethereum, Bitcoin, and US dollars backed by?”
Is this a goldbug question?
$US backed by US taxpayer (and the brutish might of US government). Good enough for me in the fiat world we reside.
Doug78
Doug78
1 year ago
Reply to  Tony Bennett
The US dollar is backed by the taxing power of the Federal government which if you refuse to pay taxes you will soon see how powerful it is.
Matt3
Matt3
1 year ago
Reply to  Doug78
Yep! taxing power and the guns and prisons to enforce this.
Doug78
Doug78
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt3
Yep. If you stop paying rent you get kicked out. Same principle.
billybobjr
billybobjr
1 year ago
Reply to  Doug78
The US dollar is backed by the taxing power of the Federal government. If that is true then why
are we 31 trillion in debt why didn’t the government raise taxes to just make it balance out ?
Politically it would be suicide is why and we are probably past that point where they could actually
tax enough to shore anything up . Really I mean it would take the feds nearly ten years just putting
every penny to pay down the debt and not spend a penny on anything else . If the feds raised taxes
to just cover the current deficits it would probably cause the economy to contract and result in less revenues.
Doug78
Doug78
1 year ago
Reply to  billybobjr

If you are scared then you can go to gold and you won’t have to bitch about the deficit anymore.

billybobjr
billybobjr
1 year ago
Reply to  Doug78
Not bitching about the deficit just calling a scam a scam apparently math doesn’t work for you.
Doug78
Doug78
1 year ago
Reply to  billybobjr
As I said. If you do not trust the dollar then you have ample alternatives and if you do not use those alternatives then you are just bitching. Which one is it?
Irondoor
Irondoor
1 year ago
Reply to  billybobjr
Every man’s liability is another man’s asset. Plus interest. Uncle J Powell will print more liabilities to pay that interest, plus the interest on the new liability, plus……… Sounds like the crypto lending scam where you got paid in more crypto, not “real money”. I’ll take a barrel of oil, a bushel of wheat, a side of beef, etc.
Lisa_Hooker
Lisa_Hooker
1 year ago
Reply to  Tony Bennett
Not so much backed by US taxpayers as the ability of the US Congress to borrow from children.
HippyDippy
HippyDippy
1 year ago
Reply to  Lisa_Hooker
Let’s not forget the enormity of ignorance, with a heaping glob of cowardice of the tax cattle.
8dots
8dots
1 year ago
Reply to  Tony Bennett
bs. USD might rise in a sling shot up, testing the 120-122 level. AAPL systemic decline might drag NDX down. Our globalist savants don’t get it :
China built a wall around their own people and industries to destroy our economy. They want to win the war against US without firing a shot.
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
1 year ago
Reply to  8dots
I thought you already called a top in the $US?
120 has been my call for several years.
Rbm
Rbm
1 year ago
Reply to  8dots
My pondering is maybe china is locking cities down due to covid as a way of helping to crash our economy. Both xi and putin want to see us weaker
Captain Ahab
Captain Ahab
1 year ago
Reply to  Tony Bennett
Is this the same US government that cannot live within its means, and will likely borrow about $3 trillion in the next twelve months?
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
1 year ago
Reply to  Captain Ahab
And other developed countries doing better?
You need to realize there is nowhere to hide.
US better than everyone else (for now).
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
1 year ago
A canary coughing.
Credit Suisse at 52 week low today (down 65% for the year).
$750 billion balance sheet.
$9 billion market cap.
No worries … at all … of course, when the credit loss tsunami hits in 2023 …
JackWebb
JackWebb
1 year ago
Why is Bitcoin not trading at $3,000?
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
1 year ago
Reply to  JackWebb
Speaking of … Microstrategy (Michael Saylor) down 74% past year.
I rather enjoy watching the wings being pulled off.
Captain Ahab
Captain Ahab
1 year ago
Reply to  JackWebb
Is not $3 closer to its intrinsic value?
JackWebb
JackWebb
1 year ago
Reply to  Captain Ahab
$0 is the value but it’s holding in at $16,000.
Doug78
Doug78
1 year ago
Jim Cramer is a very valuable market oracle because he has the most useful property of being consistently wrong in his recommendations. Doing the opposite of what he does will consistently make you money and that consistency is probably why they pay him so well. An oracle who is always wrong is worth just as much as one who is always right.
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
1 year ago
Reply to  Doug78
CNBC is a cesspool.
It came out in 2008 / 2009 that cnbc was charging something like $50K for its hedge fund “guests” to come on air (and pump their position).
Not sure if they still do. Nor do I care.
Doug78
Doug78
1 year ago
Reply to  Tony Bennett
Every fund manager who appears on TV talks his book. It’s why they are there.
Lisa_Hooker
Lisa_Hooker
1 year ago
Reply to  Doug78
William S. Rukeyser on TV was different. Remember Bill Rukeyser? That was quite awhile ago. But for now you are absolutely right.
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
1 year ago
Reply to  Lisa_Hooker
He was very very good.
Martin Zweig was a guest on his show the Friday before Black Monday. What a call!
“I haven’t been looking for a bear market, per se,” Zweig said. “I’ve been really, in my own mind, looking for a crash.”
LostNOregon
LostNOregon
1 year ago
Reply to  Lisa_Hooker
Loved Rukeyser! Especially his “gremlins” report each week! He always had that little smile on his face, as he described (what we thought was) carnage on Wall Street.
Avery
Avery
1 year ago
Reply to  Lisa_Hooker
Absolutely a great one. Looked like George Washington’s face on the dollar bill.
Mish
Mish
1 year ago
Reply to  Doug78
It is very, very difficult to be either right or wrong about everything. Not even Cramer can do it.
But 80% is a remarkable success rate and I bet Cramer hits that.
Lisa_Hooker
Lisa_Hooker
1 year ago
Reply to  Mish
Yeah. Nothing goes to heck in a straight line.
HippyDippy
HippyDippy
1 year ago
Reply to  Doug78
When I was a stock broker, we would watch Cramer and Maria Bartasomething just for entertainment and for the little bullets we could use. Scammers, every last one.

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