The former FTX founder took the stand in a pre-trial hearing, revealing how he might fare under cross-examination in the actual trial.

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news. This week, the four discuss Bitcoin’s price surge over the past week amid growing optimism that a spot BTC exchange traded fund would win regulatory approval, an erroneous Wall Street Journal story about crypto funding to the terrorist group Hamas and AI, and crypto illiteracy among leading U.S. lawmakers.

James Seyffart, market analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, and Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management, feel quite certain a spot Bitcoin ETF will launch in the next few months.

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news. This week, the four discuss – and disagree about – Uniswap’s new fees, SBF trial week 3, and DCG potentially being taken out by the NY Attorney General.

Sam Enzer, a partner at the law firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel, told Laura that compelling evidence from Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle had increased the difficulty for the fallen FTX CEO to convince a jury of his innocence. Former FTX head engineer Nishad Singh said that he became suicidal after understanding the full magnitude of FTX’s misuse of customer funds, while ex-chief legal counsel Can Sun helped show how SBF allegedly lied to lawyers.

Former FTX General Counsel Can Sun took the stand, revealing that Sam Bankman-Fried had asked him to find legal justifications for FTX's $7 billion deficit.

On day 11 of the SBF Trial a mix of financial experts and technical witnesses testified, including a notable testimony from accounting professor Peter Easton. His analysis revealed a staggering gap between FTX's liabilities and assets. However, the day was not without controversy as the judge questioned the relevance of some witnesses.

On day 10 of the SBF Trial, the defense aimed to undermine the credibility of ex-FTX head engineer Nishad Singh, who on Monday testified against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Meanwhile, FBI Agent Richard Busick exposed Bankman-Fried's connections to high-profile politicians.

On day nine of the SBF Trial, FTX head of engineering Nishad Singh took the stand again detailing the crypto exchange giant’s alleged financial mismanagement and former CEO and Sam Bankman-Fried’s bullying management style and seeming indifference to his company’s mushrooming debt.

Samson Enzer, partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, and Greg Strong, partner at DLX Law, dissect the second week of the criminal trial of Sam Bankman-Fried. At this point, the prosecution’s star witness, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, has testified, as well as another prominent insider, co-founder Gary Wang. But both Enzer and Strong believe that it’s already over for the defense, but agree that the only thing that could turn it around is testimony from SBF himself—but that runs the risk of the defendant significantly increasing his sentence.

Zac Prince, former CEO of BlockFi, testified about the risks of lending to Alameda. The defense tried to use his testimony to raise questions about whether Alameda's lenders, like BlockFi, were at fault for their irresponsible lending practices, but didn’t succeed.

The second week of Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial is underway, bringing emotional testimony from SBF’s ex-girlfriend and former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, along with some surprising stories about alleged bribes to Chinese officials and discussion about reaching out to the Saudi Crown Prince for help. Ari Redbord, Global Head of Policy at TRM Labs, discusses why the question of who was actually in charge is so critical to the case, the defense’s strategy to discredit Caroline Ellison, and why sidebars in the courtroom can get so heated.

The defense failed to gain traction during Caroline Ellison's cross-examination, repeating questions previously asked and further frustrating the judge. Still, shocking new facts came to light, such as that, around the time that Alameda had “borrowed” $14 billion of FTX customer money, Sam Bankman-Fried told Ellison he wanted to make a big investment in messaging platform Telegram.

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and chop it up about the latest news. This week, the crew is joined by Gabriel Shapiro, general counsel at Delphi Labs, to talk about the key points in the criminal trial of Sam Bankman-Fried and his lackluster defense strategy so far. They also delve into Michael Lewis’ book and his depictions of SBF’s “lore and backstory,” and discuss how SBF’s “quirks of character” may have actually enticed investors.

On the most emotional day of the trial, Caroline Ellison breaks down while revealing the desperate financial maneuvers orchestrated by Sam Bankman-Fried. Her testimony also included dramatic references to allegedly bribing Chinese government officials, creating accounts using the IDs of Thai prostitutes, and an attempt to raise money by selling FTX shares to a Saudi prince.

Reporting from inside the courtroom, Laura covers Caroline Ellison's testimony about her relationship with Sam Bankman-Fried, which seemed to set up a potential showdown in which the former lovers may blame each other for Alameda using FTX customer funds. In its cross-examination of Gary Wang, the defense finally mounted a more coherent defense after a first week in which it largely floundered.

The first week of the criminal trial of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has come to a close, with his former friends and FTX colleagues Adam Yedidia and Gary Wang delivering powerful testimonies that are forming the foundations for the prosecution’s arguments — arguments that the defense may have a difficult time surmounting. Sam Enzer, partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, and Brian Klein, partner at Waymaker, discuss Alameda’s special privileges coded into the FTX software, the reason why a scorched FTX customer may have been chosen as the first witness, and why upcoming key witnesses are going to be a “real problem” for the defense.

Laura reports on the testimony of Gary Wang on Thursday, who described Alameda’s special privileges that were programmed into FTX’s code as early as July 2019, a few months after the exchange launched.

The blockbuster trial of Sam Bankman-Fried wrapped up its third day, with multiple witnesses, including former FTX software developer Adam Yedidia, Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang, and FTX cofounder Gary Wang, taking the witness stand. Joshua Ashley Klayman, Senior Counsel, U.S. Head of FinTech and Head of Blockchain & Digital Assets at Linklaters, discusses the main takeaways from the trial so far, the surprising testimonies given by former close associates of SBF, and how the prosecution and defense plan to paint a picture of who SBF is to the jury.

Laura reports on the testimony of three witnesses on Thursday, including one who declared that “FTX defrauded all of its customers” and another stating that he had committed financial crimes at the direction of Sam Bankman-Fried.

Laura reports on the opening statements of the prosecution and defense, which painted a portrait of Sam Bankman-Fried as power-hungry and discussed how he allegedly managed to fumble customer funds.

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news. This week, they discuss the wildest claims in Michael Lewis’ new book on Sam Bankman-Fried, debate whether SBF’s effective altruism was ever genuine, and whether Ethereum should enshrine more features onto its protocol.

Laura reports on a noticeably composed Bankman-Fried and delves into the jury de-selection process, revealing potential jurors with surprising crypto ties. The government's stance on a plea deal is finally clarified, and a long list of potential witnesses from the crypto world is unveiled.

The high-stakes trial of Sam Bankman-Fried is set to begin on October 3, and the FTX founder and former CEO will have to answer for his role in the cryptocurrency exchange’s downfall, which led to billions in losses. Both the prosecution and defense are currently preparing for what is set to be a significant milestone for the crypto industry. Kayvan Sadeghi, partner at Jenner & Block and Sam Enzer, partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, discuss the differences between a civil and criminal trial, what the jury selection process might look like, and what arguments the prosecution and defense might use to support their cases.

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news. This week, the group sits down to discuss why U.S. crypto conferences are quieter than they have been in the past, which DeFi metrics are still useful for measuring a changing market, and advice for NFT founders on how to continue to innovate.