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A third huge crypto firm is about to croak

Hum de hum:

Massive crypto lender Genesis Global Trading Inc. laid off 30% of its staff and is considering filing for bankruptcy, according to people familiar with the matter, the latest sign of financial turmoil at the crypto lender.

It's not Binance, but it's the third of the top ten crypto firms to go belly up in the past six months (along with FTX and Three Arrows). And our upcoming recession is likely to expose the weaknesses of a bunch of other crypto exchanges that otherwise might have been able to keep their problems hidden from view with a little sleight of hand.

Think about this: has there ever been another industry that's seen three of its top ten firms die over the course of just half a year? I'm not saying there isn't. I just can't think of one.

26 thoughts on “A third huge crypto firm is about to croak

    1. AnnieDunkin

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  1. cld

    The cryptid coin that was based on not knowing where George Santos was turned out to be worthless, and, also, that turned out to be his real name, so they should sue him.

  2. raoul

    Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns and Merrill Lynch ceased to exist as separate entities (plus others) in the spate of six months in 2008.

    1. FMias

      You can profitably refer to Kevin's note "Think about this: has there ever been another industry that's seen three of its top ten firms die over the course of just half a year"

      Add in that the banks there are American only and Bear Sterns was certainly not a top ten bank globally. A leading investment bank but not a top ten overall.

        1. ScentOfViolets

          You might he interested in Cyril Kornbluth's short story "Dominoes", sadly available in collections and anthologies. Yes, it's a proverb about financial shenanigans.

        2. illilillili

          It was the scheduled resetting of the interest rate on adjustable rate mortgages that triggered the 2008 crisis. Lehman Brothers was just the first investment bank to die.

    2. middleoftheroaddem

      While directionally correct, Lehman's assets were purchased (pennies on the dollar( by Barclays, Bear Stearns was purchased by JP Morgan (also huge discount) and Merrill was purchased by B of A (discount but not nearly as signiant as the aforementioned two)

  3. D_Ohrk_E1

    Think about this: has there ever been another industry that's seen three of its top ten firms die over the course of just half a year?

    2008 mortgage-financial crisis.

    1. edutabacman

      I'm not sure of their global rankings, but US car manufacturers are probably among the top 10... had they not been bailed out by the state in 2008 they would have gone bankrupt

      1. golack

        Chrysler went bankrupt and was bought out, hence Stellantis.
        GM went bankrupt and was restructured.
        This happened because of the Obama administration and Congress stepping in--else they would have just gone under.

        Ford had just secured financing just prior to the markets blowing up, and did not have to declare bankruptcy. However it supported the bail out of GM and Chrysler. If either GM or Chrysler just went under, it would have eventually killed off supply chains in the US and finally car manufacturing. If Obama didn't save the car industry then, we wouldn't have Tesla, or Rivian, or whatever EV start up now.

        1. memyselfandi

          Ford did not participate in the final stage of the bailouts. It did participate in the first waves and would have gone bankrupt without them.

  4. lawnorder

    "has there ever been another industry that's seen three of its top ten firms die over the course of just half a year?"

    Investment banking in 2008 certainly came close.

  5. clawback

    Big personal computer companies came and went quickly until IBM took over, operating system companies came and went until Microsoft took over, search engine companies came and went before Google, social media companies came and went before Facebook, and on and on.

    Come on. This in itself means nothing. The reason crypto will fail is just because it's stupid and has no practical applications apart from criminal ones.

        1. different_name

          What are you talking about? IBM is huge. They bought Red Hat not too long ago, and are quietly taking control of the direction of Linux.

          People focus on the PC market, but that's an increasingly marginal part of the IT landscape.

          1. clawback

            If you're paying any attention to the context you know that I was referring to their presence in the personal computer industry, of which they have none. Yeah, I know they're still big in services.

            And no, they're certainly not taking control of the direction of Linux, which is still very much under the control of Linus and the other dedicated developers.

      1. memyselfandi

        A130billion dollar capitalized company and member of the S&P 100. Still one of the biggest computer services company which was always its biggest product line.

  6. ScentOfViolets

    The only practical use I can think of is interstellar slower-than-light commerce between worlds. And even at that, maybe just the blockchain part.

  7. illilillili

    I'm sure Tulip growers once had the same problem. The .com meltdown is similar but probably requires a careful definition of "industry". The Great Recession was similar, but the melt downs occurred by failing companies getting taken over. The big difference this time is no one wants to take over a bitcoin exchange, and they aren't central enough for the government to do "whatever it takes".

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