Here’s What SBF Said In The Scandalous, New Interview

GM Readers!📪 It's BitDegree Insider, and we bring you the important stuff.

⭐️Today's selection:

• 📞Revealing Talk With SBF
• 📉Euro Zone Inflation Eases
• 🌍Brazil Legalizes Crypto As A Payment Method
• 👌Selected Meme of The Day
• 📰Bite-Sized News

REVEALING TALK WITH SBF

A massive new interview with SBF dropped yesterday. Even though it was conducted on November 16, it's still a very revealing piece of information about the FTX affair.  

Tiffany Fong, a crypto enthusiast and YouTuber, has uploaded a phone call she had with the infamous SBF.

She reached out to him on Twitter, and... he responded. And it ended up in this bombshell-of-an-interview which revealed new spicy details.

Here's the key takeaways from it.

1. SBF DONATED HUGE AMOUNTS TO REPUBLICANS AS WELL AS DEMOCRATS.

Up until now, everyone knew that SBF was the second-largest donor to Democrats prior 2022 election. Turns out that's not the full picture. 

He donated around the same amount to Republicans as well.

But kept these donations 'in dark' in order to avoid media outrage. Here's a quote from him:

'All my Republican donations were dark <...> And the reason was not for regulatory reasons. It's just reporters freak the f-k out if you donated to a republican.'

So... Understanding that the media has a Democrat bias, and not disclosing your 'donations' to politicians because of that... 

Sounds like a sophisticated, and well-calculated way of avoiding the backlash, yet achieving political goals. 

2. SBF DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO CODE.

Tiffany Fong Then asked him about installing a backdoor to FTX which he then used to get away with stealing customers' money without warping the company's financial records.

'Wait, and this is something that I would be doing?' SBF asks in a surprised manner. 

Then he goes on to deny this simply because he doesn't know how to code. 

That's a convenient way of putting all of the emphasis on 'I don't know how to code', and distracting attention from 'I know people who know how to code'.

In the remainder of the interview, SBF presents himself as a down-to-earth and aware guy.

He opens up about his lawyers putting pressure on him for him being too outspoken or complaining about journalists asking about 'unimportant' details instead of the real deal.

But... He already has a reputation as a liar. These 'candid' moments don't redeem his image. 

Today SBF is going to show up in public as a speaker at New York Times DealBook Summit (We wrote about it here). The community will observe and react. 

And we'll let you know if something important happens.

TL;DR:  Citizen journalist Tiffany Fong published an interview she conducted with SBF on November 16. New details got revealed, thus further complicating the FTX mess. 🔥

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EURO ZONE INFLATION COOLS DOWN

November saw euro zone's inflation drop from 10.6% (as it was in October) to 10%. 

The follows similar updates from the US. 

When the US October's consumer price index (CPI) was announced to be 7.7%, it revealed that the inflation was lower than expected.

Important to keep in mind that euro zone's inflation data does not come from CPI. It's called the HICP (Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices).

It measures the 'harmonized' inflation among the different countries that form the euro zone. 

The trend is optimistic, but ECB (European Central Bank) decided to send a negative message to the crypto industry. They tweeted this:

Of course, the community responded by facepalming and saying that these bankers don't even try not to fit into the bankers' stereotype.

TL;DR: Euro zone's inflation is easing. The latest data shows it to have lowered to 10%. that's a 0.6% drop from the last month. 

BRAZIL UPDATES

Brazil has passed a law that will legalize crypto as a payment method.

This translates to it becoming legal to pay for goods and services in cryptocurrencies.

It will allow businesses to use airdrops as marketing tools. For example, airlines will be able to reward loyal customers with... tokens. 

This opens the door for new blockchain initiatives in the country, and sends a positive signal to the industry.

The President of the Republic must now sign the draft.

Then, A government agency will be created that will oversee compliance and regulation, and determine which coins are considered currencies and which are securities.

But there's more.

Governor of the Bank of Brazil, Roberto Campos Neto, presented the Central Bank of Brazil's Digital Currency concept. We're talking about a CBDC here. Central Bank Digital Currency.

The bank's idea is to integrate CBDC with both traditional and decentralised financial structures and institutions.

They are preparing a "super app" (wallet) in which users will be able to store stablecoins and the central bank's digital currency.

"Instead of multiple mobile apps from multiple banks, you will get a system that brings it all together in one place," said Neto.

Well. It sounds optimistic. But in reality... Centralized currency getting even more centralized via digital means... May become a recipe for dystopian disaster.

We've seen what's going on in China. You don't wanna create the possibility to have your savings taken away from you in a few clicks. 

TL;DR: Brazil has just passed a law that makes it legal to use crypto as your preferred payment method. Apart from that, A Central Bank Digital Currency project is gaining speed in Brazil as well.

SELECTED MEME OF THE DAY

BITE-SIZED NEWS

• Coinbase Wallet to Delist Cryptocurrencies XRP, BCH, ETC, and XLM. Starting January 2023.
• CrossTower Acquires Digital Asset Exchange BEQUANT. Better to be acquired than bankrupt.
• Bankrupt Crypto Exchange FTX is Set to Resume Payments to Employees. FTX's problems should not be FTX's employees problems.
• South Korean Prosecutors Issue Arrest Warrant for Terraform Labs Co-Founder. Do Kwon is still out there, eating popcorn, observing the FTX drama.