Thoughts

Short thoughts, notes, links, and musings by . RSS

Zero Edge crypto casino founder Richard Kim has been charged with wire fraud and securities fraud after soliciting investments for his crypto casino and then gambling them away. He was arrested and released on bond.

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, ss.: THOMAS MCGUIRE, being duly sworn, deposes and says that he is a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and charges as follows: COUNT ONE (Wire Fraud) 1. From at least in or about March 2024 through at least in or about July 2024, in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere, RICHARD KIM, the defendant, knowingly having devised and intending to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud, and for obtaining money and property by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises, transmitted and caused to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, and television communication in interstate and foreign commerce, writings, signs, signals, pictures, and sounds, for the purpose of executing such scheme and artifice, to wit, KIM engaged in a scheme to misappropriate funds invested in the Zero Edge company, and sent and received, and caused others to send and receive, electronic communications or financial wires to and from the Southern District of New York and elsewhere, in furtherance of that scheme. (Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343 & 2.) COUNT TWO (Securities Fraud) 2. From at least in or about March 2024 through at least in or about July 2024, in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere, RICHARD KIM, the defendant, willfully and knowingly, directly and indirectly, by use of the means and instrumentalities of interstate commerce, and of the mails and of the facilities of national securities exchanges, used and employed, in connection with the purchase and sale of securities, manipulative and deceptive devices and contrivances, in violation of Title 17, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 240.10b-5, by: (a) employing devices, schemes and artifices to defraud; (b) making untrue statements of material facts and omitting to state material facts necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading; and (c) engaging in acts, practices and courses of business which operated and would operate as a fraud and deceit upon persons, to wit, KIM engaged in a scheme to defraud investors in the Zero Edge company by

US v. Kim

happy (almost) tax day, or as i like to call it, annual reconsidering whether self-employment is worth it day

those girls telling you to be a boss babe never tell you about the boss babe taxes

Yep. I saved hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month just from switching from Substack to self-hosted Ghost.

I pay a roughly flat $85/month now (~$75 for mailsending, $10 for hosting), vs. 10% of all my subscription income.

Here’s some napkin math for how expensive Substack is compared to its competitors:

Spreadsheet comparing pricing of newsletter platforms: 7% paid @ $5/mo Substack Ghost Pro Self-hosted Ghost* Beehiiv Buttondown Mailchimp** 10 subscribers (1 paid) $0.50 $9 $12 $43 $9 $20 50 subscribers (4 paid) $2 $9 $12 $43 $9 $20 100 subscribers (7 paid) $3.50 $9 $12 $43 $9 $20 250 subscribers (18 paid) $9 $9 $12 $43 $9 $20 500 subscribers (35 paid) $17.50 $9 $27 $43 $9 $20 1,000 subscribers (70 paid) $35 $15 $27 $43 $29 $45 5,000 subscribers (350 paid) $175 $65 $27 $78 $79 $100 10,000 subscribers (700 paid) $350 $99 $27 $96 $139 $135 25,000 subscribers (1,750 paid) $875 $165 $87 $149 $239 $310 50,000 subscribers (3,500 paid) $1,750 $315 $217 $219 $319 $450 100,000 subscribers (7,000 paid) $3,500 $565 $412 $290 - $800 * Assuming $12 hosting fees, but you can get this number down lower. Assumes ~weekly email sending. ** There may be additional fees to monetize MailChimp newsletters since it’s not built-in. This also assumes ~weekly email sending. Flat fees calculated based on cheapest plans. Also calculated based on annual billing, if month-to-month amounts differ.
"Former Substack creators say they're earning more on new platforms that offer larger shares of subscription revenue".
Alexander Lee in Digiday.
Former Substack writers who exited the platform in early 2024 are making more money on Beehiiv and Ghost thanks to their fixed pricing models.

If I light your house on fire and then douse the flames halfway through it burning down, I shouldn’t be praised for my firefighting skills

Crypto lobby: “Sure, Trump nixed the Crypto Enforcement Team, directed Major Fraud prosecutors to stop prosecuting crypto cases, and is trying to exempt crypto platforms from the BSA, but they wrote right here that they care about stopping crypto crime!”

Trump has directed the Department of Justice to stop pursuing crypto fraud, dismantling the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and ordering the Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit to cease cryptocurrency enforcement.

(Memo, archive link)