The prosecution in the FTX trial did an interesting thing. They seemingly front-loaded their case with strategy 4 below.

When presenting one's case (in anything, not just a court case), there are a few options:

1. OREO strategy - Start out crusty (a topic that's hard and bitter), then come with something sweet and soft, then come back crusty in the end. Essentially, bad news, good, then bad. (Note: this is the preferred strategy when you want to come hard and leave hard, but still show a little bit of "I care, I get it, I'm real" in the middle.)
2. Ham sandwich strategy - Start with some soft white bread, then stack in the meat, then cushion things in the end with some more Wonderbread. Opposite of #1, this is good news, bad, then good again. (Note: this is the preferred strategy for an effective complaint letter...butter them up, complain and offer a solution, butter them again.)
3. Roadmap strategy - Start strong and lay out the map of where you're going, then begin to piece in the details, and finally end with a roadmap revisit of where we've been. (Note: This is a variation of the Sandwich strategy and is likely the best, go-to strategy for trial lawyers trying to lay things out for a clueless jury.)
4. Mike Tyson / Big Sluggers strategy - Bring everything you've got first and go for a first round, first inning knock out. Tyson is credited with a version (see https://quoteinvestigator.com/2021/08/25/plans-hit/) of, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." Quote aside, if you go back and watch Tyson coming up as a kid in the heavyweight ranks, he brought EVERYTHING he had fast and furious, launching bomb-haymakers within seconds, and most opponents were down and out within a minute or two. Go back and watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kknVfOJZ1w0. His plan was to eliminate the opponent's plan before his opponent even knew what happened. That's this strategy...bring the heavy stuff early. Being a baseball guy, I like this analogy of this strategy even better...a manager has three sluggers, three legit homerun hitters. So, he decides to place his three heavy hitters in the one-two-three spots in his nine person lineup. The thought: hit a homerun or two early and it'll be over at the start. (Just like Mike Tyson.)

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/crrdlx/23wXNkbXd3rRjK294CyEaHotfNDCX3nkjShMhoHEdTMwkVrWmgkTgDFCLRzzPrjfLaUQX.png

However, despite the prosecution going with strategy 4 and putting their sluggers Ellison, Wang, and Singh up front, I think the most damning testimony did not come from one of the first three Mike Tyson haymaker swingers, or not from one of the first three home run sluggers in the lineup, it came from a nerd. It came from someone batting like 7th in the 9 person batting order.

Peter Easton is an academic, or is effectively an accountant, with Notre Dame. He's able to get dig into info and get geeky with data and graphs. I initially felt the most damning evidence would be that Sam Bankman-Fried took customer funds and used them over at struggling Alameda. This would mean he violated the user agreement...illegal, but not particularly dramatic. It is, essentially, moving one set of numbers into another column on the spreadsheet. And, frankly, that plan of using customer monies to buttress Alameda just might have worked had Alameda's investments panned out. Also, it could perhaps have been argued that using those funds wasn't an actual violation of the terms of service. (I've not read the terms, don't care to, and things like this can always be argued anyway. In the least, things can be muddled in semantics and interpretations.)

Back to Easton, he laid out what's nothing more than stealing. Bankman-Fried took customer money to buy stuff for himself. He bought:
- Orchid penthouse
- Gemini apartment
- Old Fort Bay apartment
- VAT, a gift to mommy and daddy whose names were placed on the deed
- curried favor with politicians (AKA, "political donations", AKA, "bribes")
- a $20 million gift to his brother's charity

Easton showed that mommy (a lawyer) suggested her son had better use an FTX employee's name (Singh) when sending money to her super PAC. One of the defense's likely strategies is to show that Bankman-Fried lacked criminal intent. He was good-hearted, well-intentioned, maybe a little disorganized and creating things on-the-go, but never consciously trying to do things illegal. Well, mommy knows otherwise and so did he. In a murder trial, the difference between first and second degree is that murder 1 has both malice and deliberation. Malice: intent to do harm, deliberation: you knew it was wrong and covered it up. The note from the mother and Bankman-Fried's compliance certainly suggests they both knew what they were doing was wrong and they were trying to cover it up. Regarding malice, I imagine the defense will try to sell the idea that, due to effective altruism, their was no ill intent. To me, knowingly stealing, buying expensive things for ones self, but justifying it with a vague idea of one day repaying with good just doesn't fly.

Easton showed that these stealings were apparently documented with on chain data, which to me, is about as strong as it gets. It's really simple, he invited people to deposit money, promised the money was safe, then took the money and used it for the things listed above. It's called stealing.

Read this for details: https://unchainedcrypto.com/trial-day-11-how-ftx-spent-9-billion-of-its-customers-money/

https://linktr.ee/crrdlx


I made this gif last year...
https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/crrdlx/Enypwc4yP2XiUKG6UDAPe5fFiXoiyBdLERHwXprUB3woTRqsjahUa9isroWHYBaB5zY.gif

Hard to believe Oct.31 will be 15 years for The whitepaper.

Source: https://peakd.com/cryptocurrency/@crrdlx/happy-bitcoin-day


Trying nostrudel


Thorndike would be proud.


You can't hold back the tide. Free people demand free money and simply don't care what government alphabet agency bureaucrats have to say about it.

So, when Gensler succumbs to the fact that his anti-bitcoin world view is over, he decides to explain bitcoin ETFs as if no one knows what they are. He can't bring himself to say "ETF" or "exchange traded fund," but goes with "product" instead. That's okay, admission is the first step. #bitcoin

https://twitter.com/3TGMCrypto/status/1714707405391474927?t=ZD8fTbFDqyP11xrhKbG_yQ&s=19


Running shipyard

I'm trying out shipyard.pub right now.
So far, I'm liking the "focused writing" feature, which is this...no distractions.
Also, the "drafts" ability is terrific and the "schedule" posts time and date could be useful as well.

:)

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/crrdlx/23swXdEGLakKkJWUJ2dCK6QwitqZYgCAgdq3YemqzGhvDdTigYxY2VDHCrESCnaNRq6H2.gif


I like how the hoop on the left is facing the wrong way. Great for dunking from the hillside! :)


Kind of of why I made Satoshi Bitcoin Converter. It still shows dollar equivalent, but also shows BTC unit equivalents or decimals.  https://sbc-v7.on.fleek.co/


I wrote this due to #bitcoin #recursive inscription #ordinals. Then a couple of days ago, #BitVM may have changed everything. ""Any computable function can be verified on Bitcoin." That's a very powerful sentence.
https://peakd.com/hive/@crrdlx/recursive-inscriptions-part-3-of-3-future-possibilities


I put this out last month predicting how the #FTX #SBF trial will go. Incompetence, ignorance, and good intentions really isn't a defense ultimately. Figure it'll come down to the pic. #bitcoin

https://image.nostr.build/f4ca4a6c590b076bbf5d8377c315705544eb00b52e4ec8b44949a516679c6410.jpg


Bitkenstan ep47 - Start somewhere.
Bitkenstan is the webcomic that became the world’s first NFTcomic on #bitcoin, #cryptocurrency, #blockchain, and #life. View all episodes on the playlist at bitkenstan.com
https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/bitkenstan/EoH4HUi6bYuPVv1LsbPzA6NjhpYfHtdZgmvjDB7zWxv28haVauxYoHJ2QfsZWULcrCx.gif
$boost #zapathon


Bitkenstan ep46 - Forces.
Bitkenstan is the webcomic that became the world’s first NFTcomic on #bitcoin, #cryptocurrency, #blockchain, and #life. View all episodes on the playlist at bitkenstan.com
https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/bitkenstan/EoKCbRTNvPJKVMuSVTZpEPqE2e3HGVSBaNM9pprawo9aSEe3BnFmPYWvQSHFC9UZ8N6.gif
$boost


Bitkenstan ep45 - A new office.
Bitkenstan is the webcomic that became the world’s first NFTcomic on #bitcoin, #cryptocurrency, #blockchain, and #life. View all episodes on the playlist at bitkenstan.com
https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/bitkenstan/n0GLIjsA-bitkenstan_45.gif
$boost


so we just add $boost to a note? like a shitcoin?


Whoops, I mean Bok Tower.


Bol Tower gardens?


Bitkenstan ep44 - Bossy bosses.
Bitkenstan is the webcomic that became the world’s first NFTcomic on #bitcoin, #cryptocurrency, #blockchain, and #life. View all episodes on the playlist at bitkenstan.com
https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/bitkenstan/CSMHMfNO-bitkenstan_44.gif


Bitkenstan ep43 - I'm queasy.
Bitkenstan is the webcomic that became the world’s first NFTcomic on #bitcoin, #cryptocurrency, #blockchain, and #life. View all episodes on the playlist at bitkenstan.com
https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/bitkenstan/vFJwOOmj-bitkenstan_43.gif


Sad, but I think this is how the FTX defenses will go:

https://void.cat/d/BZastyEbjrTh9KQnsKfB3M.webp

#ftx #bitcoin


Bitkenstan ep42 - You okay?
Bitkenstan is the webcomic that became the world’s first NFTcomic on #bitcoin, #cryptocurrency, #blockchain, and #life. View all episodes on the playlist at bitkenstan.com
https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/bitkenstan/G1Y71T90-bitkenstan_42.gif


Bitkenstan ep41 - Best laid schemes.
Bitkenstan is the webcomic that became the world’s first NFTcomic on #bitcoin, #cryptocurrency, #blockchain, and #life. View all episodes on the playlist at https://bitkenstan.com

https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/bitkenstan/gcek2Mun-bitkenstan_41.gif


True and wise words indeed. For context, see page 23 of "Kicking the Hornet's Nest."
pdf:
https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmUhY2xKDLQSnxoePE1R94NdDTjuNuYgKv2cXUdW9gxGQL
all file types: https://peakd.com/@crrdlx/satoshi