Gm. Everyone hates crypto again. Bullish!

FRESH POWDER

Looking at three funds that recently topped up their coffers.

CRYPTO

Funny Business At The Block

If you thought the former crypto mogul and fraudster SBF was just some mop-headed “vegan” idiot, then you are only half right.

That’s because it turns out the man is a dark-money-funneling supervillain. Basically, crypto Lex Luthor. His new villainous crimes?

Secretly funding crypto media site The Block and CEO Michael McCaffrey for the last two years... the most objective web3 outlet was well, not objective.

Loans on Loans

According to The Block, McCaffrey received three “loans” from SBF:

• The first was for $12 million and was used to buyout other Block investors.

• The second was for $15 million and was used to fund day-to-day operations.

• The third was for $16 million and was used by McCaffrey to buy a sweet crib in the Bahamas.

So, $43 million in loans in total. A lot of cheddar.

Both The Block and McCaffrey swear that nobody at the company knew besides him and that the loans did not impact their coverage on SBF, FTX, or Alameda.

Regardless of if they're telling the truth, McCaffrey is officially out as CEO.

At least he got a Bahamas mansion out of it.

I Want The Truth!

I’m going to be honest, something smells fishy here.

The Block is among the most respected crypto media sites. That makes these revelations so stunning, but it also makes claims of ignorance tough to believe.

I can talk myself into believing that most people at FTX didn’t know SBF was yoloing customer funds. I can’t talk myself into believing that none of the extremely smart journalists at The Block had no idea the CEO was $43 million in debt to SBF.

No journalist questioned where all the money was coming from? None of them wondered how their CEO afforded a Bahamas vacation home?

Come on now.

P.S. Sammy, if you’re reading this, hit my DMs. We can work something out. I don’t need $43 million, just a couple will do.

P.S.S. Jason worked at The Defiant for 6 months. Please let us know if you bribed them too and if so, he'd like a few million! Thanks!

— Steve Flanders (@SteveFlanders22)

QUICK HITS

Seed Round

Stat: $40 billion: The amount that TSMC is investing into an Arizona chip factory. The chip wars are in full effect.

Story we're watching: Meta and the FTC are now in a legal battle over Meta’s acquisition of VR workout app developer Within. Is anybody more excited than Meta for 2022 to end?

Rabbit hole: Language, Loneliness, and AI (Kyla Scanlon)

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON

• Airships may be making a comeback. This is really cool, but anytime I hear airships I think about that scene in Friends where Chandler tells everyone Ross got killed by a blimp.

• Giant VR robots are building railways in Japan. Can we get these guys to fix the damn streets in Philly?

• Tim Ferriss’s NFT collection, “The Legend of Cøckpunch” has done $5M+ in trading volume. If you think Ferriss lost his mind, Jason wrote a good article on why you should consider making more dumb jokes on the internet.

• NASA’s Artemis I mission is complete. Next goal is to get humans back on the moon by 2024, 63 years after Armstrong took that small step. Can we just go to Mars plz.

MONDAY MUSIC

Artist: Joji (Spotify)

Playlist: Garden Indie (Spotify)

Song: Too Much by Russ (Spotify)

LAYOFFS TRACKER

Notable layoffs this week:

TrueUp

Autobooks: 40 people (31.5%)

Amber Group: 400 people (40%)

Playtika: 500 people (13.5%)

FOUNDERS CORNER

The best resources we came across this weekend that will help you become a better founder, builder, or investor.

🇺🇸 Joshua Steinman, defense-tech founder and former national security advisor to the White House, gave me his reading list aka The Steinman Mentorship Program.

📕 I'm such a book nerd that Readwise gave me a 60 Days Free Link for friends. Get all your Kindle highlights turned into flashcards and exported into Notion, Evernote, etc.

🎙Rachel Braun, producer of This Week in Startups, asked Twitter for advice for 25-year-olds. Lot of wisdom in the Twitterverse.