👀LBRY Ends, LBRY Lives

GM Readers. Your daily dose of BitDegree insights is ready 👀

Today’s selection:

• 📖LBRY Closes Its Doors

• 📜New Pages in the SBF Book

• 📰Bite-Sized News

• 👌Selected Meme of The Day

LBRY ENDS, LBRY CONTINUES

Every journey comes to its end. Well, probably. At least some of them do. One of them just did. It was the journey of LBRY Inc., the blockchain company that’s responsible for creation of Odysee, the DeFi alternative for YouTube.

In a sad farewell letter, addressed to the crypto community, LBRY Inc. has shared their final message. Citing insurmountable debts, totaling 'several million dollars,' the company has made the decision to cease its operations.

The statement from LBRY Inc. sounded like this:

'LBRY Inc. must come to an end; there is no escaping this fact. It has lost a legal battle with the federal government, accrued several million dollars in debts, and is committed to shutting down.'

Acknowledging the unwavering support they received, LBRY added their gratitude in a post dated October 19, which emphasized their commitment to the cause of online freedom.

The saga leading to this conclusion began when LBRY initially announced its intention to wind down operations in July following an adverse judgment by the SEC on July 11. The SEC initially sought a penalty of $22 million, but eventually reduced it to $111,000, recognizing that the company was financially crippled.

In a surprising twist, the LBRY community rejoiced in September when they appeared to reverse their decision by filing an appeal against the regulator. However, in their most recent statement, LBRY confirmed that they will no longer pursue their appeal against the SEC.

Furthermore, LBRY Inc. disclosed that all its executives, employees, and board members have resigned from their positions and are now solely focused on meeting any remaining legal obligations.

Reflecting on the journey, the former CEO, Jeremy Kauffman, shared his thoughts in an October 19 post, marked LBRY’s eight-year presence by saying:

'It wasn't a happy ending, but it was a happy journey.'

It's worth noting that LBRY's blockchain, being open-source and decentralized, will continue to operate as long as mining continues. This provides a glimmer of hope for the LBRY community, despite the company's closure.

Odysee, which boasted 5.3 million unique monthly users from January to April of this year, continues to serve as a decentralized social media platform.

TL;DR: LBRY Inc., the creators of Odysee, a DeFi alternative to YouTube, has sadly ended its journey due to insurmountable debts and legal battles with the SEC. Despite a brief glimmer of hope, the company has now closed its operations, leaving its open-source blockchain to carry on, while Odysee continues as a decentralized social media platform with a substantial user base.

SBF UPDATE

Alright, what happened on the SBF front?

Former FTX general counsel, Can Sun, testified on October 19 during Sam Bankman-Fried's criminal trial, revealing that he had been unaware of FTX's mixing of funds with Alameda Research. Sun stated that he only learned about Alameda's exemption from the liquidation engine system in August 2022, which allowed them to bypass the system designed to liquidate unprofitable trades.

Upon discovering the issue, Sun worked on a plan to address it, proposing a delayed-liquidation mechanism to replace the non-exemption for Alameda's account. The plan also intended to extend this mechanism to other market makers on FTX, with plans to inform customers and regulators. However, the plan was reportedly obstructed by other FTX departments and never implemented.

Sun also acknowledged that he had relied on Bankman-Fried's statements about segregating customer funds when formulating the company's terms of service and responding to regulatory inquiries. FTX's terms of service stated that digital and fiat assets in users' accounts were not the property of FTX Trading, despite evidence of commingling between sister companies.

Additionally, Sun shared a spreadsheet during his testimony, outlining loans from Alameda to Bankman-Fried, Gary Wang, Ryan Salame, and Nishad Singh, totaling $2.1 billion across 35 loans. These loans were used to finance various venture investments by FTX, although the process lacked transparency, it was legally permissible at the time, according to Sun.

Prosecutors alleged that the spreadsheet did not account for millions of dollars transferred to Salame and Bankman-Fried, a fact of which Sun claimed he had no knowledge.

Well, it looks like even the Sun doesn’t shine when it comes to SBF town.

TL;DR: In the ongoing trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, former FTX counsel Can Sun testified about his unawareness of FTX's fund mixing with Alameda Research and their exemption from the liquidation engine system. Sun's plan to address the issue was thwarted, and he relied on Bankman-Fried's statements about segregating customer funds for FTX's terms of service, despite evidence of fund commingling.

BITE-SIZED NEWS

• Aptos Returns to Functionality After Sudden Five-Hour Transaction Outage. Aptos Network experienced a five-hour outage that forced the transactions to halt.

• Senators and House Members Jointly Address Crypto Terrorism Concerns. The letter included signatures from well-known crypto skeptics

• Luxury Carmaker Ferrari to Accept Bitcoin, Ether, and USDC Payments in the US. The luxury carmaker plans to expand this feature to Europe by 2024.

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Disclaimer: This newsletter is strictly educational. None of this information is intended to be financial advice. Always do your research and act responsibly with your profits.