Thoughts

Prosecutors have requested Alex Mashinsky, CEO of the collapsed Celsius cryptocurrency company, be sentenced to at least twenty years in prison for his "sustained, calculated campaign of deceit carried out over years, targeting ordinary people."

Prosecutors say that such a severe sentence is necessary not only for deterrence, but because despite his guilty plea, Mashinsky has not fully accepted responsibility for his actions.

Sentencing guidelines recommend a 30 year sentence, which is only because of the statutory cap resulting from his guilty plea agreement; otherwise the recommendation would be life. Mashinsky has argued he should be sentenced to no more than a year in prison. Sentencing will happen on May 8.

always a little weird to see in politicians' footnotes

happy baby!

few things i enjoy more than unwinding with a cozy fantasy novel, but as someone who is highly suggestible to vivid descriptions of cinnamon buns i’m beginning to worry they’re bad for my health

Looking forward to the full-throated condemnation of this letter by those who accused the Biden administration of pressuring social media firms to moderate COVID-19 and election fraud misinfo! Any second now...

Someone just spent $8 million on $TRUMP memecoins after the president announced that the top holders would be invited to join him at a private dinner at his DC golf club.

The purchases were funded by a Binance account, suggesting the wallet owner is not based in the US.

FBI: Americans aged 60 and older reported losing almost $3 billion to crypto fraud last year. In total, Americans reported being scammed out of around $9.3 billion via crypto, out of a total $16.6 billion in total reported losses that year.

The 60+ category reported $4.885 billion in total Internet crime-related losses to the FBI, and $2.839 billion of them involved crypto (58%).

Prosecutors have just submitted over 200 victim impact statements in advance of Alex Mashinsky's sentencing in the Celsius fraud case. I've purchased them on PACER to make them freely available on CourtListener.

The House Financial Services Republicans and the White House (now deleted) tagged either a hacked or fake account in their announcements that Paul Atkins was sworn in as SEC Chair. The "Atkins" account immediately started asking for crypto.

Meet our new SEC Chair, Paul Atkins. Who better for the role than a Project 2025 architect who blamed the FTX fraud on the US not being "accommodating" to blockchain technology?

@molly0xfff Who better to regulate financial markets than Paul Atkins, a Project 2025 architect who blamed the FTX fraud on the US not being "accommodating" to blockchain technology? #sec #trumpadministration #project2025 #paulatkins ♬ original sound - Molly White