Reality check: some of the world’s richest critics of crypto are secretly buying a lot of it.

Hey, world elite, pick a lane!

Get ready to blow the lid off some of the richest duplicity in today’s deep dive.

Espresso Shots

☕️ Coinbase Recovers! 🪙 📈

Since Coinbase’s initial 13% drop in stock price amidst the SEC’s suit, it appears Coinbase is starting to recoup its losses.

As of yesterday, Coinbase stock was back up 13%, essentially brushing the dirt off its shoulders.

And as Coinbase swiftly recovered, CEO Brian Armstrong took to CNBC to decry the SEC and the entire situation.

“This isn’t good for America,” said Armstrong in the CNBC interview. “It’s not good for the industry, obviously. And now we need to get clarity from the courts.”

Hey, listen here, Coinbase, if Robert Downey Jr. can do a Muppet Christmas special high on heroin and then bounce back to play Ironman in 11 Marvel movies, you can come back from anything.

☕️ Bitcoin Boat Rocked by SEC Cases 🛥 🪨

Though Coinbase has apparently been well-equipped to weather this storm, the SEC cases against Binance and Coinbase have done some damage to the price of Bitcoin.

As regulatory pressure against crypto has increased this week, Bitcoin price took a drop as $106 million worth of Bitcoin longs were liquidated.

Bitcoin had a truly precipitous drop on Monday, falling from roughly $27,121 on Sunday to roughly $25,750, a 5% loss. Ethereum suffered a similar but less substantial drop of at least 3.5%.

Bitcoin has since stabilized back to roughly $26,245 (as of Wednesday), with Ethereum following a similar curve. Safe to say it takes more than two days of SEC cases to ruffle crypto’s feathers.

“Changpeng-who?” said Ethereum and Bitcoin, ashing their cigarettes without looking up from their matching copies of People magazine.

☕️ Do-Kwon’s Political Ties 🏛 🪢 

The Montenegrin Prime Minister Dritan Abazović claims that the Co-Founder and CEO of Singapore-based Terraform Labs Do-Kwon became intimately familiar with the Europe Now movement and its leader, Milojko Spajic, during Do-Kwon’s tenure in Montenegro.

The Prime Minister is alleging that Do-Kwon offered financial backing for “Europe Now,” and was quick to blame Molojko Spajic for aligning his political movement with international criminals.

But Spajic claims to be no fan of Do-Kwon. "Do Kwon is a fraudster who defrauded millions of people, including my friends and the company I worked for, when we invested in this project in early 2018,” said Spajic in a local publication called Vijesti, referring to Terra Labs.

Spajic took it even further, admitting that he took a “special satisfaction” in reporting Do-Kwon to Montenegrin authorities earlier this year.

This may have been a harsh, political experience for Do-Kwon, but hopefully, these lessons will be instrumental when Do-Kwon is deciding how best to navigate social life in prison.

Spilling the Beans

What Elites Won't Tell You About Crypto 🧠 💰

We’re accustomed to tolerating a certain volume of ruling class duplicity — and sometimes we can’t even complain when their transparently contradictory behaviors are shoved down our throats.

That’s the nature of hierarchy. And it’s nothing new.

When Henry VIII started making radical changes to the constitution and challenging the Pope’s hold over his country, the people of England just nodded agreeably and pretended that all of these changes weren’t really about creating the noble institution of divorce.

And now, when America’s billionaires donate paltry fractions of their fortunes to green initiatives or climate research, we’re supposed to look the other way when the factories that generate those fortunes send roiling pillars of smoke into our ozone.

From a certain point of view, we literally breathe the daily hypocrisies of the world’s wealthiest.

But when it comes to crypto, we have to draw a hard line.

In a general sense, the old guard of finance is already participating in crypto, whether they like it or not.

Warren Buffet and other financial titans like him may publicly decry crypto as a “scam” or “rat poison” while their savvy team of financial advisors no doubt are already holding some crypto.

But when we see truly audacious, blatant displays of crypto duplicity, we feel obligated to call “bullshit.”

And there’s no greater fit for this case in crypto than Cory Klippsten.

Klippsten believes that crypto is a scam and everyone should know it.

And he feels this way… while running a Bitcoin company.

Klippsten owns Swan Bitcoin, a company that provides Bitcoin investment advice to wealthy families and investment firms.

Some might say that Klippsten is doing god’s work, engaging in the noble practice of helping the rich get richer.

But Cory Klippsten is much more than just another Bitcoin bull. In fact, he somehow falls into an entirely new category of Bitcoin evangelist.

It’s one thing to believe in Bitcoin, it’s another thing entirely to believe that the rest of crypto is trash and Bitcoin is the one true religion.

Other than BTC, Klippsten firmly believes that crypto has no future.

“The only future for non-Bitcoin crypto is to seek to be co-opted by banks and governments and become part of the existing system,” said Klippsten in a New York Times report. “Bitcoin is actually outside the system.”

Here’s a perfect example of the fascinating doublespeak going on in Klippsten’s head. Check out this Twitter ad for Swan Bitcoin.

If we’re going to play devil’s advocate, Ethereum and Bitcoin boast a certain utility that isn’t matched by every crypto.

But Klippsten’s outlook is akin to telling the public that all vegetables are poisonous while simultaneously pumping your broccoli farm in the same breath.

Crypto’s controversial, so we’re content to let a lot of the criticisms go, it really just rolls off our back at this point.

Plus, Klippsten is right, Bitcoin is the future, but it’s not the only cryptocurrency that’s going to get there.

When it comes to the condescension of the rich, we’d suggest the old adage: “believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.”

Or in this case, just ignore this guy, keep reading your favorite newsletter, and we’ll find more patsies to bash along the way.

We’ll keep you warm as we stoke the fires in our bully engine and keep those coals burning hot.

Meme of the Day

Oh Bitcoin maxi’s… You frustrate us, but we still love you. ❤️ 

Crypto 101

Longs: We mentioned Bitcoin “longs” at the top of this newsletter and though most people are familiar with “shorts,” you’re not going to hear “longs” quite as often.

A “short” or “shorting” stock or crypto implies borrowing shares from a broker and immediately selling, with the aim that the price will drop shortly after.

A “long” on the other hand is where you buy or take a position on an asset with the belief that the price will rise over time. Then at some point in the future, you hopefully sell that asset for a profit. It’s simple, buy and HODL.

The Last Sip

Outside of the realm of crypto, we’ve compiled our list of history’s top three biggest liars and hypocrites.

3. JFK. Despite speaking out against violence and trying to end the Vietnam War, John F. Kennedy was a lifetime member of the NRA. And as the NRA famously says, “Guns don’t kill people, the second shooter on the grassy knoll kills people.”

2. H.P. Lovecraft. Almost as famous as Lovecraft’s tales of undersea monsters and faceless gods were his radical race theories. Lovecraft simultaneously hated and was terrified by the Irish, black people, and just about every kind of immigrant. Though Lovecraft was not purely of English descent, as he’d have us all believe, but actually part Welsh, another ethnicity that lacks universal love.

1. Robert Oppenheimer. When he gazed at the devastation of the first successful atomic bomb blast, Oppenheimer quoted Vishnu in the Bhagavad Gita, stating: “Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds.” And despite the regretful subtext of that claim, Oppenheimer failed to destroy a single world, just those two cities in Japan.

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.☕️ What Elites Won't Tell You About Crypto 🧠 💰