Michael Saylor’s a fan, but Frisby says bull run needs a new guru: X Hall of Flame
Dominic Frisby recalls meeting MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor for the first time at a crypto event. What started off as an awe-struck moment became confusing after things took an unexpected turn.
“I saw Michael Saylor there. I was like, ‘Wow, that’s him!’” he tells Magazine. But it was Saylor who quickly came over and introduced himself before Frisby had a chance:
“He just came up to me and said, ‘I’ve seen some of your videos, and I really like your work and what you’re doing. Would you like to come over to dinner?’”
Frisby explains he was thrilled to be hanging with the OG Bitcoin maxi in Saylor’s house, which is “much nicer” than his own.
“Every time I watch a Michael Saylor video, I get orange pilled. The guy is so clever,” he declares.
It’s something of a mutual admiration society, with Saylor frequently sharing Frisby’s television appearances discussing Bitcoin.
Frisby is not just a Bitcoiner and has his fingers in a bunch of different pies, including cracking jokes on stage as a respected comedian, writing books and hosting TV shows.
With a modest 32,300 followers on Twitter — some way behind Saylor’s massive 3.1 million — he’s still making a name for himself and can often be heard talking about Bitcoin on radio stations like BBC 5.
Oh, and ever heard of hit U.K. show Money Pit? Well, Frisby was the face of it. He admits he has a knack for juggling multiple balls at once.
“I’m a bit of a jack of all trades, and I just tend to go and do whatever interests me in any given moment.”
Frisby can also boast of having penned one of the very first credible books on Bitcoin, Bitcoin: The Future of Money, published by Unbound back in 2014.
“I think it was the first book on Bitcoin from a recognized publisher,” he declares.
Despite his admiration for Saylor, he thinks the next generation needs its own Bitcoin champion.
“I think Roger Ver was a brilliant evangelist for Bitcoin. Saylor was a brilliant evangelist for Bitcoin. But when the next bull market happens, we need a new evangelist. We need to find some new narratives to propel the story.”
And even though he’s a self-proclaimed Bitcoin maximalist, he admits he’s got a small bag of Ether tucked away, even if that’s more an investment in Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin than the actual network itself.
“My portfolio is probably over 90% Bitcoin, and I’ve got some Ethereum. That guy [Vitalik] Buterin, he’s obviously really clever. And I sort of think by investing in Ethereum, you’re effectively investing in Vitalik.”
What led to Twitter fame?
Frisby admits that his Twitter is a bit all over the place, a bit of a “hopscotch.”
He acknowledges that things might be better for him if he just focused on ranting about one topic.
“If I just tweeted about crypto all day long, I would probably have a much bigger following than I do.”
His followers spiked in 2021 when Frisby and a group of others went to well-known landmarks in the United Kingdom and beamed messages onto them.
“I was involved in this thing where we got a projector. And we went round projecting slogans on public buildings,” he explains.
Frisby decided to project the message “Bitcoin fixes this” on the Bank of England.
What type of content can people expect?
Frisby’s tweets are all over the place – one day it’s Bitcoin, the next it’s CBDCs, and then he throws in some comedy or drops a new music video.
His latest project is a parody song and music video on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
Titled “Programmable money,” Frisby plays the chairman of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab. He starts off chanting “CBDC” and then goes “these monitor every purchase you make, every transaction or decision you make.”
“It cost me a few thousand quid, and I had to call in a lot of favors. Yeah, I mean you can see it’s an expensive video.”
It looks like it’s paying off, getting shoutouts from well-known economist Lyn Alden and the famous Bitcoin podcaster Peter McCormack.
Read also
What content do you enjoy?
Frisby is a Bitcoin maxi for all the “wrong reasons.”
“I just don’t have the time to study all these other coins, and I’m in various WhatsApp groups and stuff and Telegram chats, and I just can’t keep up with this new coin and that new coin. I just don’t have the time or the energy.”
He rattles off a few of his favorite commentators, like Lyn Alden, Peter McCormack, GiGi, Bitcoin entrepreneur Robert Breedlove and Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream.
Predictions?
By the sound of it, Frisby’s been thrown the prediction ball before:
“Do you want me to give you a headline stupid prediction that will get loads of clicks because I’ve said Bitcoin’s going to half a million dollars, or do you want me to give you a realistic one that in three years’ time people go, ‘You got that prediction right!’”
Obviously, we want the prediction that gets lots of clicks, but we’ll take what we can get.
Frisby’s prediction seems pretty reasonable for the upcoming cycle, suggesting we might hit an average price between $70,000 and $100,000.
But it could shoot up to a whopping $250,000 during this cycle. Maybe we should put that in the headline?
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Lawyers representing Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of the crypto platform Celsius facing a criminal indictment in the United States, have lost a motion to drop two charges related to commodities fraud and manipulating the price of the Celsius (CEL) token.
In a Nov. 8 filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge John Koeltl ruled that Mashinsky’s legal team’s arguments to have the charges dismissed were “either moot or without merit.” The judge denied the motion to dismiss the two charges, leaving seven counts on the indictment for the former Celsius CEO’s trial, scheduled to begin in January 2025.
Source: SDNY
The former Celsius CEO’s lawyers claimed that the securities and commodities fraud charges were inconsistent, as prosecutors alleged the platform’s Earn Program was treated as a security while the Bitcoin (BTC) deposited by investors were commodities. Mashinsky also claimed that he lacked “fair warning” that allegedly manipulating the price of CEL (CEL) was a criminal charge.
The motion to dismiss the two charges filed in January included a request for Judge Koeltl not to allow information on Celsius’ bankruptcy to be included in the criminal case. The judge declined to decide on the motion on Nov. 8, suggesting he would respond to motions in limine or at trial.
Questions about FTX for jurors
Following the Nov. 8 order, Mashinsky’s lawyers also requested they be allowed to ask prospective jurors questions about their knowledge of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX. According to the legal team, there will “undoubtedly” be testimony about FTX at trial, and the exchange was “toxic in the cryptocurrency world.”
Related: Celsius token surges 300% a month after $2.5B payment to creditors
Authorities arrested and charged Mashinsky with seven felony counts in July 2023. He pleaded not guilty and has been free to travel with restrictions on a $40 million bond.
Former Celsius chief revenue officer Roni Cohen-Pavon, indicted alongside Mashinsky, also faces charges for “illicitly” manipulating the CEL price. Cohen-Pavon initially pleaded not guilty but later changed his plea to guilty. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 11.
Magazine: ‘Less flashy’ Mashinsky set for less jail time than SBF: Inner City Press, X Hall of Flame
Alameda Research filed a lawsuit against Aleksandr Ivanov, founder of Waves, as part of its ongoing legal strategy to recover crypto assets.
The trading arm of the bankrupt FTX exchange is aiming to recoup at least $90 million of digital assets from Waves, according to a Nov. 11 court filing.
In March 2022, Alameda Research deposited $80 million worth of USDt (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) to the Waves-based decentralized liquidity protocol, Vires.Finance.
The court filing alleges that Ivanov artificially inflated the value of Waves (WAVES) tokens. According to the complaint:
“Ivanov secretly orchestrated a series of transactions that inflated artificially the value of WAVES, while at the same time siphoning funds from Vires. As the fraudulent scheme began to be uncovered, WAVES lost substantial market capitalization—losing over 95% of its value—and Vires users were saddled with $530 million in losses.”
Alameda Research, court filing. Source: US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware
FTX filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11, 2022, causing over $8.9 billion in losses for its users and investors. The period after the collapse of the FTX exchange and its 130 subsidiaries was one of the darkest times in crypto history.
Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas on Dec. 12, 2022, after United States prosecutors filed criminal charges against him. He was extradited to the US in January 2023. Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison on March 28.
Related: History of Crypto: The future of crypto exchanges, regulatory battles, and governance
FTX and Alameda’s “aggressive legal strategy” highlights financial issues
Alameda’s recent lawsuit is part of a wider effort to recoup funds from multiple entities.
Alameda and the FTX estate have sued over 20 entities this year as part of an “aggressive legal strategy” that underscores their financial challenges, according to blockchain expert and author Anndy Lian.
He told Cointelegraph:
“In my view, the allegations against Ivanov point to possible misconduct, such as inflating the WAVES token’s value and misdirecting funds. If these claims are validated, they underscore the ongoing challenges of transparency and accountability within the crypto industry.”
For stakeholders, these legal actions are vital for potentially reclaiming lost assets,” Lian added, noting that the FTX case may set a precedent for future crypto regulations.
Related: Republican Senate majority signals more ‘pro-crypto Congress’
Post-FTX crypto industry needs education before regulation — Former Biden adviser
The crypto industry needs to prioritize education, not just regulation, to avoid the next FTX-like meltdown, according to Moe Vela, former senior adviser to US President Joe Biden and senior adviser to Unicoin.
Financial education, especially regarding risk management, should be the fundamental concern of the crypto industry, Vela told Cointelegraph in an exclusive interview:
“Education is the fundamental key to empowerment. […] We will not have equality in any form until we have economic parity. We’re not going to have economic parity until we teach people to be, instead of unsophisticated at anything, sophisticated, and that comes through education.”
Moe Vela Interview for Cointelegraph
The senior adviser’s comments came a week after FTX’s new amended proposal was released on May 7. The proposal promised “billions in compensation” for the users and creditors of the bankrupt exchange who had been unable to access their funds since November 2022.
Magazine: Microsoft set to vote on Bitcoin, Peter Todd hiding, and more: Hodler’s Digest, Oct. 20–26
The Coinbase-backed crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto has expanded to Australia as part of a broader move to push for regulatory clarity and crypto-friendly policy in the country.
Tom Duff Gordon, vice president of international policy at Coinbase, said the overarching goal of the new offshoot of Stand With Crypto is to bring political attention to the myriad use cases of blockchain and encourage “sensible” legislation for crypto firms operating in Australia.
Stand With Crypto expands to Australia
“We want to change the narrative from crypto just being related to fraud and scams. We want to show people the good use cases, and I think if we have that from a bottom-up grassroots movement as well as top-down advocacy, I think we can raise the profile crypto in Australia,” Duff Gordon said.
Tom Duff Gordon speaking at the Stand With Crypto launch event. Source: Cointelegraph
Speaking at the event, Simon Kennedy, a member of the Australian House of Representatives, said the crypto industry could expect to see support from the Liberal Party in the lead-up to the country’s federal election in late 2025.
“I think you will see the Liberal Party be a big supporter of this sector. I hope it will be bipartisan, but you will see it from us,” Kennedy said.
Australian crypto advocates push for clarity
Coinbase Australia managing director John O’Loghlen told Cointelegraph that Stand With Crypto would help take up the mantle of assisting regulators in crafting reasonable policy and helping to make crypto a priority in the Australian regulatory landscape.
“It’s really concerning without the clarity of regulation and necessary signposting, a lot of top talent and young human capital are going to look to start their careers elsewhere,” said O’Loghlen.
A lack of clarity and slow progress around crypto policy development is a common pain point cited by many national crypto industry leaders.
In September, Swyftx CEO Jason Titman told Cointelegraph that many investors and would-be entrepreneurs are “sitting on the sidelines” until regulations around the market are clearer.“We’ve also been asking for guidance on … basic lexicon and glossary of terminology that would fit into existing regulation, particularly under ASIC’s purview of digital native terminologies,” Titman said.
“When you look back to the Howey Act and other tests that are enforced overseas, some of this regulation is 80 to 90 years old and relates to market an orange grove and refers to asset classes and technologies that are quite removed from modern-day Australia,” added O’Loghlen.
Related: After US election wins, the crypto industry looks to the 2026 midterms
Crypto advocates push for clarity
Stand With Crypto launched in Canada on July 12, following a similar rollout in the United Kingdom in May.
In the United States, Stand With Crypto lists the pro and anti-crypto statements many prospective candidates for federal, state and local offices have made.
Most recently, it focused much of its efforts on encouraging users to support crypto-friendly candidates in the US elections. The advocacy group reported that more than 280 pro-crypto candidates running for the US House of Representatives and Senate won seats in the 2024 elections.
Over 270 Crypto-friendly candidates won a seat in the House and Senate in the 2024 US elections. Source: Stand With Crypto
Industry advocates say that the new Congress and a crypto-friendly US president could help push through pro-crypto legislation like the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, which is slated for a vote in the Senate after passing in the House.
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