Trader swaps 131K stablecoins for $0 during USDR depeg
The USDR stablecoin depegged on Oct. 11 after users requested over 10 million stablecoins in redemptions. Despite being 100% backed, the majority of its assets were illiquid, tokenized real estate properties. This led to the coin’s depegging from the dollar and its decline to $0.53.
This surely represented a bad day for the USDR team and everyone holding the stablecoin, but one particular trader appears to have had a worse day than some. During the USDR depegging crisis, a trader appears to have swapped 131,350 USDR for exactly 0 USD Coin. That’s a complete loss of investment and a contender for “worst-case-scenario” when it comes to panic-selling.
One unlucky trader swapped 131K stablecoins for $0 during the recent USDR depeg. Caroline Ellison, the star witness in the Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried criminal trial, testified that the former FTX CEO tried to use identities linked to Thai sex workers to unfreeze funds before bribing Chinese officials for millions, as well as claiming he considered selling FTX equity to the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.
Due to the decoupling of the stablecoin USDR, this guy accidentally swapped 131,350 $USDR for 0 $USDC while panic selling $USDR.
And a MEV bot successfully arbitraged $107K.https://t.co/FHOJtaGcSDhttps://t.co/IYtoqar29N pic.twitter.com/USLF1qkVDK
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) October 12, 2023
Ellison testimony: SBF bribed Chinese officials for $150 million to unfreeze funds
Ellison, SBF’s former romantic partner and former CEO of Alameda Research, claimed in her courtroom testimony that SBF bribed Chinese officials for millions of dollars to unfreeze funds locked in local exchanges.
Ellison said there was $1 billion in funds locked up in China and that to access them, Alameda paid a $150 million bribe to Chinese government officials.
AUSA: How much was frozen in China?
Ellison: $1 billion. Sam wanted to find ways to address it.
AUSA: How were they unfrozen?
Ellison: Alameda paid a bribe to Chinese government officials
SBF: Objection, move to strike.
Judge Kaplan: I will strike that— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) October 11, 2023
The funds, which belonged to Alameda Research, were frozen on the cryptocurrency exchanges Huobi and OKX following a 2021 money laundering probe opened by Chinese authorities.
Ellison testified that Bankman-Fried ordered her and other FTX employees to delete all related messages sent via the encrypted messaging app Signal.
However, before bribing Chinese officials, Ellison said they attempted to hire a local lawyer in China who could help with negotiations with the government.
After attempts with lawyers were unsuccessful, Ellison claimed that Bankman-Fried attempted to use wallets of “other people’s accounts” to unsuccessfully access the funds. This included what turned out to be Thai sex workers.
DeFi not yet a “meaningful risk” to stability — EU market regulator
(DeFi is not yet a meaningful risk to financial stability — but does need monitoring, says the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
In an Oct. 11 report, the regulator laid out the benefits and risks of DeFi but ultimately concluded it’s not currently a threat due to its small size and lack of correlation with other financial markets.
“Crypto-assets markets, including DeFi, do not represent meaningful risks to financial stability at this point, mainly because of their relatively small size and limited contagion channels between crypto and traditional financial markets.”
The ESMA said the crypto market is about the same size as the European Union’s 12th-largest bank or just over 3% of the total assets held by EU banks.
The regulator claimed the crypto market blow-up in 2022, which saw multiple crypto firms and projects collapse, had “no meaningful impact on traditional markets.”
Despite investor DeFi exposure being small due to its “highly speculative nature,” there are still risks to investor protection, which ESMA warned may turn into systemic risks if DeFi gains traction or becomes more connected with traditional markets.
SBF considered selling FTX equity to Saudi crown prince, says Caroline Ellison
SBF considered asking for an investment from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in an attempt to raise equity for FTX, according to courtroom testimony from Ellison.
One more Caroline Ellison courtroom sketch.
This one featuring SBF himself! https://t.co/q3O6xqxEhl pic.twitter.com/cQJbj5V1H7
— Ariel Givner, Esq. (@GivnerAriel) October 11, 2023
This testimony came during day six of the SBF’s criminal trial on Oct. 11. Ellison reportedly testified that she and the defendant discussed methods by which the two could hedge their investments in 2022. According to Ellison, the potential investment by Mohammed bin Salman was one of the notes mentioned in one of their online journals titled “Things Sam is Freaking Out About.”
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
