FTX debacle was “assassination by Twitter” | AI Art Is ART | Was The Intercept's DHS bombshell a dud?
A Factland jury this week weighed in on the FTX collapse. As it imploded from its perch as the second largest crypto exchange in the world - worth an estimated $32B to for all practical purposes zero in a matter of hours - many people latched onto a conspiracy theory: Binance, the world No. 1 crypto exchange, had engineered the equivalent of a bank run to kill off its chief competition. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao denies it and briefly entertained a bailout before walking away for good. In the midst of the catastrophe FTX says it is continuing to work on getting burned customers their money back. Whatever you think, this story is far from over.
Meanwhile, defenders of AI art threw down the gauntlet, with the publication of a passionate video manifesto posted on Twitter by @bl_artclub, calling out false media narratives portraying AI artists as art thieves, derivative and not worthy of the title. At the time this newsletter was sent out, Factlanders had staked 800 $FACT tokens on both sides, and a jury was called to consider the arguments but no verdict had yet been delivered. You can watch or join this fascinating debate as it continues to unfold on Factland's beta demo dApp: AI Art is “Art”
Read on to catch up with the latest.
This Week's Verdicts
FTX debacle was “assassination by Twitter”
TRUE - 300 $FACT staked
From Axios’s Dan Primack: Over the weekend crypto exchange Binance, one of FTX's original investors, announced via Twitter that it would sell its holdings in FTT, a token used for trading on FTX, on the open market. Alameda Research, a crypto trading firm also founded by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, said it would defend FTT at $22. But other investors quickly lost confidence — perhaps wondering if Binance knew something they didn't — with FTT soon breaking below $22 and then entering a tailspin. One theory: Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) recognized that his tweets could cause the crypto equivalent of a bank run, allowing him to either buy FTX on the cheap or just let it bleed out. Either way, a major rival vanquished. Or, as one source put it to me yesterday, this was "an assassination by Twitter."
See the evidence here.
If you have $16B in personal net worth and it goes to $1B in a couple days it doesn’t really change your life that much
FALSE - 200 $FACT staked|
Sam Bankman-Fried apparently lost 94% of his wealth with the wipe out of FTX but still has about $1B left over. This likely won’t affect his day-to-day living expense budget at all.
See the evidence here.
The Department of Homeland Security is policing disinformation on social media
FALSE - 700 $FACT staked
The Intercept this week published an extensive report purportedly documenting DHS plans to coordinate directly with social media platforms to moderate posts that might undermine the US government, for example, attempts to manipulate elections.
See the evidence here.
Elon Musk gets too much credit for Tesla
FALSE - 1138 $FACT staked
@StephenKing: Kudos to Elon Musk, who has begun a revolution in how the world drives and who has incredible visionary talents. I got an early Tesla and traded for another one. Wonderful cars (no autopilot for me, thanks). That said, when it comes to Twitter...
See the evidence here.
Julian Assange is a journalist entitled to press freedom protections
FALSE - 266 $FACT staked
The Wikileaks founder is facing extradition to the US to face espionage charges. From the Freedom of the Press Foundation: Even if you don’t consider him a “journalist,” much of the activity described in the charges against him is common newsgathering practices. A successful conviction would potentially make receiving classified information, asking for sources for more information, and publishing certain types of classified information a crime. Journalists, of course, engage in all these activities regularly.
See the evidence here.
Nikolai Muchgian, 29-yr old #stablecoin innovator, was murdered
FALSE - 600 $FACT staked
@omnicraig on Twitter: Nikolai Muchgian, 29-yr old #stablecoin innovator, #BitShares contributor, $DAI architect/@MakerDAO co-founder has died in San Juan #PuertoRico, five days after #MakerDAO community approves custodian partnership with @Coinbase Rest In Peace, Nikolai 😞🙏🏼
See the evidence here.
Xi Jinping just announced China plans to take over Taiwan
TRUE - 601 $FACT staked
@JackPosobiec: BREAKING: Xi Jinping opens CCP summit by announcing full control of Hong Kong has been achieved, that Taiwan is next
See the evidence here.
New claims every week
Factland is an experimental approach to misinformation, using Web 3 technology to create a trustless, decentralized fact checking layer for the Internet. Anyone can upload a claim, place a stake on whether it is true or false and submit evidence to support their opinion. If a claim is disputed, a random sample anonymous jury is assembled to review the facts, and issue a verdict and rewards to participants.
Factland does not pretend to represent the final word or truth of the matter, just the opinion of the people reviewing the case. If you disagree, you can appeal and have a decision reconsidered (this feature is not yet live, bear with us during our beta phase!)
To learn more, visit us at Factland.org, follow @FactlandDAO on Twitter, and meet the core team and community on Discord.
Thanks for your interest!
The Factland team