Unusual Whales

FTX Digital Markets assets frozen by Bahamas regulator

Per Bloomberg: FTX US, the American entity of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange, said trading may be halted on FTX US in a few days while FTX digital markets assets have been frozen by Bahamas regulators. “Please close down any positions you want to close down. Withdrawals are and will

Joe Biden Says Elon Musk's Technical Relationships is 'Worth Being Looked At'

Per NBC News US President Joe Biden was asked whether Elon Musk was a threat to national security. The President responded: "I think that Elon Musk's cooperation and/or technical relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at." The President clarified that he did

Sequoia Capital Marks Its $150M FTX Investment as $0, Clarifying It Is Not a Top 10 Position

Per CNBC Sequoia Capital is marking its $150 million investment in FTX as zero amid possibilities of bankruptcy. The venture capital firm said FTX is not a top-ten position in their fund. Sequoia said its $150 million cost basis accounts for less than 3% of the total fund. The firm

TikTok Slashed Ad Revenue Targets for 2022 by $2B—Forecast Now at $10B from Initial $12B

Per Bloomberg TikTok lowers its ad revenue targets for 2022 by $2 billion. This is because the platform competes intensely with giants from Google to Meta. The company slashed its 2022 forecast from $12 billion to $10 billion. ByteDance has postponed plans for an IPO as investors are getting more

Twitter Files Registration Paperwork to Process Payments

Per NYT After Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, he and his confidants have been brainstorming new ideas for the platform's business. Last week, they filed registration paperwork for it to process payments with the Treasury Department's FinCEN. On Wednesday, he shared how

Biden says will likely run again in 2024

Pesident Biden on Wednesday pointed to early 2023 for when to expect an official decision on if he will run for reelection, while stressing that he intends to run again. “I hope Jill and I get a little time to actually sneak away for a week around, between Christmas and

FTX Faces Liquidity Shortfall of Up to $8 Billion, Sam Bankman-Fried Told Investors

After Binance walked away from the FTX deal, leaked messages to WSJ shows SBF asking for up to $8 billion from investors given inability to fund withdrawals. Meanwhile, FTX is facing a regulatory probe over its handling of client funds and lending practices, according to Bloomberg. Binance signed a nonbinding

SEC investigating FTX

U.S. regulators are looking into whether FTX potentially mishandled customer funds on its platform, sources told Bloomberg. In addition to the liquidity crisis itself, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are investigating FTX’s relationship with its sister entity Alameda

The majority of FTX's legal and compliance team quit

The majority of FTX's legal and compliance team quit Tuesday, Semafor reported, citing people familiar with the matter. That could create a headache as the cryptocurrency exchange deals with a liquidity crisis and potential regulatory scrutiny. The Semafor story notes that FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried is an

Binance Unlikely To Take Over FTX.com

Per CoinDesk: Binance is unlikely to complete its proposed takeover of FTX after reviewing the cryptocurrency exchange's internal data and loan commitments, CoinDesk reported Wednesday. The companies have not yet publicly commented on the latest reports. Meanwhile, FTX is facing a regulatory probe over its handling of client

Mark Zuckerberg Confirmed 13% of Meta Staff Will Lose Their Jobs—Company to Lay Off Over 11,000 Employees

Per CNBC Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed in a letter to employees that 13% of Meta employees will lose their jobs. The company is letting go of 11,000 employees and will extend their hiring freeze through the first quarter. Meta shares spiked 4% in premarket trading. Investors were concerned about

CZ of Binance Shares Two Lessons From The FTX Situation, Saying They Will Publish Proof-Of-Reserves Soon

Per CoinTelegraph Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, or CZ, shares "two big lessons" to learn about the FTX saga. 1. Never use a token you created as collateral 2. Don't borrow if you run a crypto business. Don't use capital "efficiently". Have a

Coinbase CEO Assures Users They Have No Exposure to FTX, FTT, or Alameda

Per CoinTelegraph Amid FTX's and Alameda Research's liquidity crisis, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong took the opportunity to assure users they have no exposure to FTX, FTT, or Alameda. CEO said that the event happened because of risky business practices and that Coinbase always tried to be

Zoom App is Coming Soon to Tesla Vehicles

Per CBS News A Zoom executive announced at an annual conference that their apps would soon be available for all new Tesla models. The news was posted on the Drive Tesla Canada blog and was confirmed by a company spokesperson. Zoom's meeting group product manager Nitasha Wali shared

Missouri has voted to legalize cannabis

Residents of The Show Me State approved Amendment 3 to legalize recreational cannabis on Nov. 8. The Missouri Constitution will now be amended to allow for cannabis sales, possession, consumption, delivery, and manufacturing. Additionally, it automatically allows anyone convicted of a non-violent cannabis crime or offense to be release from

Maryland legalizes recreational marijuana

Recreational marijuana is set to become legal in Maryland after voters moved in favor of approving a ballot measure to change the state’s constitution to allow for the possession of small amounts of the drug, according to The Associated Press. With the passage of the ballot measure, adults who

Elon Musk Brings 1 Neuralink, 2 Boring Company, and 50 Tesla Employees to Twitter

Per CNBC Elon Musk has authorized numerous Tesla Autopilot software engineers and other employees to review Twitter's code. Musk is pulling together employees from his other businesses to work together on Twitter. The CEO got over 50 employees from Tesla, two from Boring Company, and one from Neuralink.

Americans are Sitting on a Collective $1.7 Trillion in Excess Savings Built Over the Pandemic

Per Axios A report by Axios said that collectively, Americans are sitting on $1.7 trillion in excess savings built over the pandemic. The article defined excess savings as extra cash reserves caused by pandemic-related factors. The second and third quartile of earners retained over 92% and 85% of excess

Jim Cramer Warns Against Buying in Large-Cap Tech Stocks—Says Amazon and Alphabet Aren't in Buy-the-Dip Situations

Per CNBC Jim Cramer said investors wanting to capitalize on the dip for large-cap tech stocks should be patient. The host of Mad Money said Amazon and Alphabet aren't in buy-the-dip situations. Cramer showed Carolyn Boroden's analysis of Alphabet, saying the stock still has a lot

Gilead Sciences' Kite Unit to Pause Advertising on Twitter as It Monitors How Community Standards Change

Per Reuters Gilead Sciences Inc said its Kite unit is pausing advertising on Twitter. The decision comes after Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform. Gilead said it was monitoring its advertising expenses and is waiting to understand better how community standards and content moderation

Elon Musk has discussed putting all of Twitter behind a paywall

Per the Verge: Musk has discussed putting the entire site behind a paywall, Platformer has learned. Meanwhile, the company is scrambling to lure back employees who it laid off mere hours ago, and some workers say the economics behind its soon-to-relaunch Twitter Blue subscription could actually lose the company money.

Twitter may have lost more than a million users since Elon Musk took over, per MIT

Per MIT Technology Review: The firm Bot Sentinel, which tracks inauthentic behavior on Twitter by analyzing more than 3.1 million accounts and their activity daily, believes that around 877,000 accounts were deactivated and a further 497,000 were suspended between October 27 and November 1. That’s more

Tyson Foods' CFO was arrested after getting drunk, breaking into a home, and falling asleep in a random woman's bed

Per NBCNews: The chief financial officer of Tyson Foods and son of the company's chairman was arrested in Arkansas over the weekend after he entered a random woman’s home while intoxicated and fell asleep in her bed, according to police. John R. Tyson, 32, was found asleep

Twitter user growth was at an all time high during Elon's first week as owner, per the Verge

Per the Verge: Twitter’s daily user growth hit “all-time highs” during the first full week of Elon Musk owning the platform, according to a company document obtained by The Verge. Since Musk’s dramatic takeover, Twitter’s monetizable daily user (mDAU) growth has accelerated to more than 20 percent,

Powerball Jackpot Climbs to Record $1.9 Billion: 24% Federal Tax on the Win is $456 Million

Per Reuters After nobody won the estimated $1.6 billion lottery, the US Powerball jackpot ballooned to $1.9 billion. The $1.9 billion is if winners choose to receive the prize as an annuity with 30 graduated payments over 29 years. The states with no lottery prizes state tax