What we’re reading (2/9)
“Hipster Couple Charged In $4.5 Billion Crypto Heist Is Even Weirder Than You Think” (Daily Beast). “Bitcoin. NFTs. A PPP loan. And a rapping tech entrepreneur. A New York City couple were arrested Tuesday morning by federal agents on charges of laundering some $4.5 billion stolen in a massive 2016 cryptocurrency exchange breach. As might be expected in 2022, the latest federal law enforcement takedown features the buzziest of buzz-worthy themes—as well as some pretty awful rap lyrics.”
“Business Rapper Was Bad At Bitcoin Laundering” (Matt Levine, Money Stuff). There is a strange debate about crypto and money laundering. Crypto skeptics will often say ‘Bitcoin is mostly useful for money laundering’; crypto proponents…will instead say ‘no, Bitcoin is useless for money laundering because it creates a permanent public record of all transactions and why would you want to launder money that way.’ You might think that a federal criminal indictment for $4.5 billion of Bitcoin money laundering would be vindication of the ‘Bitcoin is for money launderers’ side, but I want to tell you: No it is not! What allegedly happened here is that hackers stole $4.5 billion of Bitcoin from a crypto exchange (and stealing from exchanges absolutely is a major function of crypto), and then they had a horrible time laundering it.”
“Pelosi Buckles, Pushes Stock-Trading Ban” (Axios). “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is moving to ban stock trading on Capitol Hill, after having consistently opposed such a measure, Punchbowl News reports…Pelosi's imprimatur follows building momentum in both parties: Some progressive Democrats and MAGA Republicans have united on a proposal to ban sitting lawmakers from trading individual stocks, Axios reported last month.”
“Zillow: Our 2022 Housing Forecast Is Way Off—Home Prices Now Set To Spike 16%” (Fortune). “Back in December, the home listing site predicted that U.S. home values would climb 11% this year. Economists at Zillow now say that forecast is too conservative. Their latest forecast finds home prices are set to spike 16.4% between December 2021 and December 2022. If it comes to fruition, it would mark another brutal year for home shoppers.”
“SEC Seeks To Bolster Disclosure Rules For Private Equity And Hedge Funds” (Financial Times). “The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday voted in favour of a string of proposed rules that would require annual audits of private funds, ban certain fees that buyout shops charge and prohibit preferential terms for certain investors. The watchdog also advanced a proposal that would accelerate the time it takes for stock and bond trades to be finalised.”
