Happy Friday!

We’ve only just shaken off the post-turkey slumber and are currently in a full sprint to join a four hour line outside the nearest Macy’s! It’s Black Friday, baby.

Fortunately for you, you don’t have to scroll Instagram aimlessly while waiting in line for deals, instead, you can catch up on this week’s crypto news right here with us. So, let’s get into it!

Espresso Shots From the Week

☕️ Genesis Global Explores Bankruptcy 🏦 ❌

Genesis Global Capital has hired an investment firm to explore restructuring options including possible bankruptcy.

The crypto lender is still trying to avoid bankruptcy, after it became clear it no longer had the liquidity necessary to meet withdrawals.

Genesis had repeatedly claimed it is not imminently filing for bankruptcy, despite halting customer redemptions in the wake of FTX’s collapse.

That halt subsequently hit Gemini Earn, a popular interest earning platform on the Gemini Exchange.

The fate of Genesis Global remains ominous as employees have been seen carting wheelbarrows of tulips out of the back of the office with, “the intention to use them as currency.”

☕️ FTX Bankruptcy Trial Begins 💰📉

This week brought us the beginning of what is sure to be yet another constant source of content for this esteemed newsletter: The FTX bankruptcy trial.

The trial began with a bang as FTX lawyers alluded to Sam Bankman-Fried’s unprecedented control over the company.

As much as some may wish for this entire FTX debacle to quietly go away - it seems that is unlikely to happen! FTX lawyers said this case is “a different sort of animal.”

At the moment, the FTX case is one of the biggest stories in Finance and Sam Bankman-Fried refuses to let it die.

Speaking of, stay tuned for Sam Bankman-Fried’s interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin next week at New York Times’ Dealbook summit! If we’re lucky, the interview may end with Sam Bankman-Fried finally getting arrested!

☕️ Elizabeth Warren Says Crypto Will “Ruin the Economy” 🤦‍♀️ 📝

Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal calling for significant crypto regulation, comparing crypto to its financial forebears.

“Crypto, like the subprime mortgages of 2008 and the penny stocks of a century earlier, flourishes in the regulatory gaps.”

As dramatic as the op-ed was, Warren’s call for regulation is a welcome one. It’s well past time for crypto to leave its wild west behind. Regulators need to act.

Senator Warren went on to claim that:

“Crypto has created new opportunities for money laundering. Terrorists, drug dealers, ransomware criminals, tax cheats and outlaw nations can hide their illegal activities by trading billions of dollars of cryptocurrencies with complete anonymity.”

This point does seem to miss the fact that terrorists, drug dealers, criminals, cheats and outlaws long predate crypto and will likely outlast society itself.

Spilling the Beans

BREAKING NEWS: Crypto is... Fine?

Even thinking it feels like tempting fate but despite the absolute worst month crypto has ever seen, things seem… fine. And that’s no small feat.

Let’s recap crypto’s no-good, very-bad month.

It began on November 2nd. At the time, Bitcoin was worth about $20,400.

That day CoinDesk released a report chronicling a rather strange phenomenon at Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda research.

It turned out that the multi-billion dollar company mainly consisted of FTX’s own token. Huh, that seems weird.

On November 6th, Bitcoin was worth about $21,300. That day Changpeng Zhao of Binance decided to liquidate Binance’s share of FTT token. And the walls came tumbling down.

On November 7th, Sam Bankman-Fried took to Twitter to assure the world: FTX is fine. Assets are fine. For the moment, people believed him as Bitcoin held steady above $20,000.

On November 8th, the shock of all shocks: Binance is acquiring FTX. The market is shaken and Bitcoin falls to $18,500.

On November 9th, Binance pulled out of the deal, citing due diligence. That day Bitcoin fell to a two-year-low beneath $16,000.

It’s now been over two weeks since it became clear that FTX would not survive this, and we’re still counting casualties with the falls of several other crypto giants.

But even with all of this bloodshed, Bitcoin has held surprisingly steady. As of this writing it’s above $16,000 and we feel more confident than ever that it’s not going away.

So what do we take away from this?

For one thing, the events of this month have made clear that even through the worst market conditions, crypto is here to stay.

So as we look back on these last few weeks and prepare to leave this month from hell behind us, it’s important to remember that crypto is in its infancy and growing something often requires breaking it first.

Before the fall of FTX, some might have believed an event like this would leave the industry in disrepair, and while it has certainly left a trail of damage, crypto is still kicking.

The fall of FTX may very well lead to crypto regulation, smarter and more cautious investing, and confidence that the underlying assets can survive even the most dire of conditions.

Meme of the Day

All of us last night.

The Last Sip

Thanksgiving is over, but you’re probably stuck at your parents’ house for the weekend. Here are the best ways to pass the time.

1. Talk to the family dog. It’s like a therapist that can’t ask you about your childhood. And most dogs only live like, thirteen years. Your secrets will die with them!

2. Let your dad show how he redid the hall bathroom. Extra points if you nod and compliment him on his tile choice.

3. You know that hometown dive bar we mentioned? The one those kids from high school populate? The ones who will never leave? It’s not Thanksgiving Eve, but nothing says you can’t go back to that bar again and again. Time moves differently in your hometown and it moves much faster when you’re drunk or hungover.

Stay Caffeinated,

Coffee & Crypto Team

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.