FTX’s developing problem and its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried have drawn praise from blockchain specialists and citizen journalists, according to Coinbase CEO and co-founder Brian Armstrong.
In a tweet from November 16 that has been retweeted more than 9,000 times as of this writing, Coinbase CEO, Armstrong, made the claim that average people, rather than the traditional media, had learned about many of the developments connected to the liquidity crisis and FTX’s subsequent bankruptcy filing.
Armstrong, the Coinbase CEO, commented on a recent “puff story” in the New York Times, calling it “feels like a turning point for citizen journalism and loss of trust in MSM” (mainstream media).
Crypto Twitter users have also expressed their strong disapproval of the post, with Polygon Studios CEO Ryan Wyatt accusing Bankman-Fried of committing “major crimes” and doing “a disservice to all of those harmed” in a tweet directed at the author.
Since purchasing the social media platform in October, Elon Musk has tweeted numerous times about the growth of citizen journalism.
Blockchain tracker Whale Alert announced on November 5 that slightly under 23 million FTX Token, or around 17% of the circulating supply and valued at $584.8 million at the time, have been shifted onto Binance as an illustration of the growth of blockchain analysis and citizen journalism.
This incident turned out to be one of the early warning indications of the liquidity crisis at FTX; nonetheless, the NYT did not cover this story until 8 November.
Coinbase CEO Highlights Blockchain Analytics Efforts
Blockchain researchers were also the first to report the FTX hack, with Twitter users meticulously monitoring the transfers of money to various wallets and concluding it was a hack hours before FTX made its formal disclosure. The Coinbase CEO made sure to applaud them as well.
With figures like Musk, BankToTheFuture CEO Simon Dixon, and internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom who have joined, Twitter Spaces has also become the home of “The Roundtable Show,” a gathering of members of the crypto community hosted by Mario Nawfal that has been providing live updates and commentary on the FTX saga as it develops with 891,499 viewers tuning in.
Twitter has been helpful in breaking news and insight on the FTX issue on numerous occasions, but it has also been the home of a fair share of conspiracies and flat-out fake information.
Speculation that Bankman-Fried was using the recently posted tweets to remove previous, potentially damning ones spread like wildfire on the social media platform as a result of his recent cryptic Twitter thread, which was eventually disproved.
Twitter users suggested Bankman-Fried was fleeing to Argentina on November 12 based on his private jet’s departure from The Bahamas. He denied this, and a source later told local media that Bankman-Fried was being watched over by Bahamian officials.