Is Crypto.com’s CRO Coin the Next Domino To Fall Now That FTX Is in Regulatory Crosshairs and Sam Bankman-Fried and the CEO of Alameda Are on the Run?

Rohail Saleem •
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FTX Crypto.com CRO

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

These violent delights have violent ends. Shakespeare was, of course, not referring to the contagion that has now enveloped the entire crypto sphere, even though this quote from Romeo and Juliet is an apt description of the leverage-induced mayhem that so frequently hammers this nascent sector. Now that the FTX saga is in its final and ignominious conflagration stage, the search continues for the next domino to fall as margin calls and the devastating evaporation of collateral in the DeFi space continue to resonate across hellish frequencies. Here, some suspect that Crypto.com’s CRO token is worth keeping an eye on.

Even though we might start sounding like a broken record, a brief recap of the FTX saga and all of its gory details remains justified for now. FTX’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), ran a Ponzi scheme to the benefit of Alameda Research, the trading arm of his once-sprawling crypto empire. In essence, FTX transferred its native FTT tokens to Alameda at dirt-cheap prices while, at the same time, the exchange inflated FTT’s value by utilizing a part of its revenues to burn a fraction of the token’s circulating supply. Alameda then used its FTT tokens as collateral to borrow client funds from FTX, which were then used to place leveraged bets. This gig ended once Alameda’s exposure to the FTT token became public knowledge, prompting Binance to start dumping its own FTT stash, collapsing the token’s price in the process. This resulted in a bank run as clients tried to exit the Ponzi scheme-promoting exchange, eventually resulting in FTX declaring bankruptcy on Friday.

Related Story FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) Is Heading to Jeffrey Epstein’s Prison

FTX is now officially under investigation by the Bahamian authorities as well as the SEC in the US. Meanwhile, FTX experienced a troubling $600 million hack recently. Fingers were again pointed toward SBF, for he had allegedly built “backdoors” in FTX’s book-keeping system to secretly siphon off client funds for the benefit of Alameda Research. While it is as yet unclear whether the backdoors contributed to the hack, such vulnerabilities are never a good option.

Meanwhile, rumors continue to circulate as to SBF’s current location. Some say he has been detained in the Bahamas, while others contend that FTX’s founder has fled to Argentina. Other reports indicate that the CEO of Alameda Research is attempting to flee to Dubai.

As the entire crypto world remains focused on the FTX saga and the fate of its once-high-flying founder, some have already begun the arduous task of flagging the next collateral damage to emerge from this conflagration. Here, Bitcoin Magazine’s Dylan LeClair has penned an interesting thread on Twitter, indicating that Crypto.com’s CRO coin might be the next “big thing” to go under. Specifically, LeClair cites CRO’s tumbling prices, up to 5 percent yield that the entity offers on Bitcoin and 8.5 percent on USDC, which means that the entity is likely liquidating some CRO coins to fund these elevated yields, and, finally, the likelihood of a balance sheet hole given that Crypto.com holds plenty of low-quality assets, including a $500 million Shiba Inu (SHIB) stake.

@Lookonchain has also come to the same conclusion - be wary of Crypto.com.

As if things were not precarious enough, it seems that exchanges are using stealth lending to bolster each other’s proof-of-reserve declarations. This increases the prospects of a crypto-wide bank run that will decimate the utility in this sphere.

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