Molly White - Citation Needed

Crypto recaps

Issue 95 – The pardon was the payoff

Binance’s Changpeng Zhao earns a gold-plated pardon as other industry figures fund Trump’s $300 million ballroom

A crashing bitcoin price chart, Trump pumping his fist, and a screenshot of the portion of Trump’s post announcing a 100% tariff increase on China

Newsletter

Anatomy of a crypto meltdown

October 2025 brought the most dramatic crypto flash crash of all time, but it was only a dress rehearsal for the systemic crisis the industry is building toward.

The UAE’s chair of the sovereign wealth fund, Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, sits with President Trump in the Oval Office

Crypto recaps

Issue 94 – Backdoor deals

Trump is still corrupt, a core developer warns bitcoin won’t survive an upcoming code change, and crypto lenders are ratcheting up leverage like it’s 2022.

David Sacks, Donald Trump, and Bo Hines pose for a photo in the Oval Office. Trump is seated at the Resolute Desk, the others stand to either side.

Newsletter

Issue 93 – Undermining deregulation

Democratic lawmakers sound corruption alarms while crypto PACs gear up for the midterms

A person uses their phone to place a bet on a Polymarket market on the NYC mayoral race

Prediction markets are booming. Oversight is barely there.

Prediction markets once lived on the academic fringe. Now they’re trading billions on politics, sports, and celebrity gossip — under rules never designed for retail gamblers.

Tweet by Bruno Skvorc: I just got a reply from @worldlibertyfi . TLDR is, they stole my money, and because it's the @POTUS family, I can't do anything about it...

Crypto recaps

Issue 92 – The scam of all scams

The Trumps “debank” major customers from their “anti-debanking” cryptocurrency venture, and a CFTC nominee says the Winklevosses are blackballing him

A photo of Donald Trump Jr. gesturing with his arms out, superimposed over a Polymarket prediction market on “Trump out as President”

Trump Jr.-advised prediction markets invite bets on president’s demise

President Trump’s deregulatory agenda emboldened prediction markets to push boundaries around permitted event contracts. Now sites advised by his son are allowing bets on his death.

Howard Lutnick speaking at a Cabinet meeting, with subtitles about putting “GDP on the blockchain”

Crypto recaps

Issue 91 – GDP on the blockchain

The regulator set to take on primary crypto oversight is down to a single Commissioner, and new pro-crypto PACs focus on installing more Republicans in the midterms

A photograph of Justin Sun, superimposed over a gavel and an image of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index entry

As he builds US power, Justin Sun fights to control his story

A crypto billionaire who once feared arrest in the US is now a Trump business adviser and White House guest. His lawsuit against Bloomberg reveals what he doesn't want Americans to know about his crypto fortune.

Screenshot of I Think You Should Leave episode, where the focus group man states “Oh my God, he admit it!”

Crypto recaps

Issue 90 – Crime szn bro

The Trump administration cracks down on software to limit surveillance of crypto transactions, while celebrating a “deregulatory blitz” tailored for its billionaire benefactors

A grid of articles from the “Subscriptions” tab of my RSS reader

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Roman Storm, overlaid over a photo of a tornado

The Tornado Cash case: When politics sabotage a prosecution

The Trump administration’s regulatory whiplash has left prosecutors scrambling with misattributed chat messages and questionable victim testimony

A blue vending machine with branding that reads “Crypto is like a bar of chocolate” in the foreground, with the Capitol building behind

Crypto recaps

Issue 89 – Crypto wins in Washington with midnight calls, chocolate bars, and a $141 million threat

Trump stands to profit from a $2 billion bitcoin bet as the crypto industry pushes through bills aimed at bolstering the sector

A stock trader on the floor of the NYSE in 1963, photoshopped to show him holding up a large physical “bitcoin”

Crypto recaps

Issue 88 – The stockchain

Crypto firms hope putting a blockchain veneer on traditional equities will allow them to sidestep lessons learned in the 1929 Wall Street crash, crypto firms look to become banks, and Congress celebrates crypto surveillance while claiming to outlaw it

Portrait of Bill Pulte, superimposed with his “SO ORDERED” tweet about crypto and mortgages

Crypto recaps

Issue 87 – SO ORDERED

Trump’s crypto empire attracts more foreign millions, the FHFA pushes crypto on mortgage lenders, and Mamdani’s mayoral primary win makes billionaires sweat

Crypto recaps

Issue 86 – State power sponsored by Coinbase

The GENIUS Act passes the Senate after explicit threats to Democrats from the crypto lobby, and shady crypto billionaire Justin Sun cozies up even closer to the Trump family