Why CBDCs are dividing opinion

One in three politicians in Congress received cash from FTX executives. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Market Activity Total Market Cap $991.29B (+0,14%) 24 Hour Volume $48.67B (+6.48%) Notable Movers[(ICP) $5.46]( (+6.86%) Notable Movers (DeFi)[(AAVE) $84.05]( (+3.25%) Bitcoin Dominance 41,26%[(+0,06%)]( Bitcoin Price[(BTC) $21,205.57 (+0.39%)]( Ethereum Price[(ETH) $1,575.15 (+0.88%)]( Cardano Price[(ADA) $0,3463 (-1.53%)]( Editor's Note FTX’s Missing Money in Numbers Remember how during a government hearing into the FTX collapse, bankruptcy CEO John J. Ray III noted that it would take weeks, if not months, to find all of FTX’s assets? Good news — after just about a month of bankruptcy proceedings, about $5.5 billion has already been found: $1.7 billion in cash, $300 million in securities, and $3.5 billion in crypto. Unfortunately, since some of that is in tokens like FTT (whose current value is not only way down, but whose small market cap may make it hard/impossible to sell without tanking the price even further). Also unfortunately, John J. Ray noted that the money they have found at both FTX and FTX US is still not enough to cover what they owe their customers. There’s another messy money number coming out of FTX beyond just the $5.5 billion found so far. For example, the number 196. According to a Coindesk report, there are 196 new Congress members (out of 535) who accepted money from either SBF or FTX. While many of these politicians have promised to donate the money, with the FTX bankruptcy case already starting to claw back many of Sam’s previous charitable donations, this just may lead to even messier clawbacks. Plus, John J. Ray still has another few billion to find — it’s like the world’s messiest and highest-stakes scavenger hunt! [Today’s Top Stories ]( Today’s Top Stories [Wednesday's CoinMarketRecap podcast!]( 🔥 Listen to all the day's top crypto stories while you're on the move with the CoinMarketRecap podcast. You can find us on [Apple Podcasts]( [Spotify]( and [Google Podcasts]( too! [FTX's new management warns of shortfalls…]( 💸 The total amount of assets recovered by FTX's new management has risen to $5.5 billion — a far cry from the $1 billion reported a month ago. However, executives are warning there's still a "substantial shortfall" in assets — meaning there are no guarantees that customers will be made whole. A "Herculean investigative effort" has also helped John Ray identify $4.6 billion in illiquid investments that were made by Sam Bankman-Fried and his inner circle. But there are fears that their value could end up being far less than what FTX paid. As work continues to untangle the financial mess that SBF left behind, efforts are also underway to claw back payments that were made to third parties before the collapse. […as Sam Bankman-Fried writes another blog post]( 😱 SBF may have just given even more ammo to prosecutors ahead of his criminal trial in October. In a new Substack, the embattled 30-year-old has accused FTX's law firm of making "extremely misleading" statements about the health of the exchange's U.S. arm. He once again argued that FTX US is fully solvent, meaning its customers could be made whole immediately. Bankman-Fried insists that this business had "at least $111 million, and likely around $400 million, of excess cash on top of what was required to match customer balances." It's become painfully clear that his successor as CEO doesn't see things that way. SBF's numbers-heavy post didn't touch on the topic of shortfalls at international-facing FTX.com. [Scale of FTX's politician donations uncovered]( 👀 A CoinDesk report suggests that a staggering 196 members of Congress received political donations from FTX executives. Given how 535 sit in the Senate and the House of Representatives — that's one in three of them. Beneficiaries include new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. The news outlet has asked each of them for information about what they've done with the money. Many have given the tainted cash to charity, but FTX's new management has warned that these funds will still need to be clawed back. Republicans and Democrats both benefited from these financial contributions, and there's little doubt they're causing huge headaches on Capitol Hill. [Central bank digital currencies divide opinion]( 👇 CBDCs have enjoyed a flurry of support from giants in business and banking — with the likes of IBM, Deloitte and the Bank of America declaring them as "the future of money." One Ukrainian politician has even declared that he'd like his salary to be paid in the form of a central bank digital currency. One BoA analyst warned countries that fail to embrace CBDCs "risk irrelevance over the longer term." But not everyone is drinking the Kool-Aid. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has questioned the need for a digital pound, warning U.K. politicians: "We have to be very clear what problem we are trying to solve here before we get carried away by the technology and the idea." [Apple 'ditches' plans to launch AR glasses]( ❌ Feverish excitement is growing as Apple plans to roll out a mixed-reality headset later this year. But a Bloomberg report suggests that a planned follow-up product — lightweight, augmented reality glasses — have now been abandoned because of technical issues. It was hoped the AR glasses could one day replace iPhones, with everything from notifications to map directions directly in the wearer's line of vision. Unfortunately, the battery has ended up becoming a pretty significant issue. Not only would attaching it to the glasses make the device way too heavy, and spark safety concerns, but there are doubts that they would deliver enough power to last for the whole day. Thanks for reading! Have a great day — more news tomorrow! [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [Telegram]( Written by Molly Zuckerman and Connor Sephton Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up here](. WANT MORE CRYPTO BITES? 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