Well... I just had a long long drive... and during these times, I am listening avidly to podcasts across a wide range of topics. Normally, I'm going in chronological order... but there are a few podcasts that get bumped to the top of the listening list. Mostly current affairs ones, and also cryptocurrency ones as well. After all, those topics are only really of much interest and use when you are listening to them at the time when things are actually happening!

So, on the cryptocurrency front... I have been a long time fan of Laura Shin's Unchained podcast for stable and level-headed interviews with people that aren't just crypto bros and hype machines. These interviews really get deep into the weeds about everything that could affect cryptocurrency... and she is able to get people from Federal Reserve governors through to Vitalik. So, a deep respect from traditional areas, as well as the newer pioneering sectors.... and with her background as a journalist, there is a bit more depth and "slowness" to the news and reporting... you know, for facts to emerge a bit first!

This particular recent broadcast was another slightly disturbing one about the possible effects of this past year on the Silvergate bank. Now, if you don't already know, Silvergate is one of the (if not THE) main go to bank for crypto exchanges and large investors that need to touch the fiat banking system. Well... before the the crypto-boom, they were a family run real-estate banking outfit that had roughly 40 million in custody from deposits.... and now, they are doing trillions in volume, and billions in custody.

... and one of the guests was the famed short-seller, Marc Cohodes, who is convinced that Silvergate is in serious trouble after one of their big customers (FTX) turned out to be rogue. Now, this isn't really a solvency issue... as there are serious regulations about that for banks. But this is more of a... are they crazily out of their depth issues, and are they actually able to manage that amount of deposits and volume? And it may well be that they might not be up to it... now, there isn't any suggestion that they were doing anything criminal... just that they might have been taken by a ride by more sophisticated people, and that they were completely out of their league.

There is the possibility of a detailed investigation by the US government into Silvergate about the FTX/Alameda thing... and despite the fact that they might not be directly culpable, there is the issue of HOW this was allowed to happen despite the checks that the bank was supposed to be performing. This could lead to seizure or other problems for the bank... but Marc Cohodes thinks that the longer term outlook is also BAD for Silvergate, in that they are going to be in a position where they are going to be hemorrhaging money and in danger of shutting down... and NO, they can't use customer deposits to prop themselves up!

Anyway, if this is the case, that might be a serious blow to the interface between the crypto and fiat worlds... and even if you are a full on crypto bull, this is still going to be a big problem.

On the counter side, there were the arguments that Silvergate was too important to the cryptocurrency industry with already built out APIs, and that they probably didn't do anything wrong, and that in September they had reported as okay. All of these seemed pretty flimsy arguments, in that Silvergate is definitely not TOO BIG to fail (and might be in the best interests of the government to allow to fail) and that everyone is a-ok until it isn't...

So... quite possibly things are not blowing over yet. Still sticking my head in for a bit longer... and Bittrex got a mention... probably should check what is left in there.

I can also be found cross-posting at:
Hive
Steem
Publish0x

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