SafeMoon falls 31% in five hours after filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy
The token of decentralized finance protocol SafeMoon (SFM) has fallen 31% in five hours after the company filed for bankruptcy.
Safemoon officially applied for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, also known as “liquidation bankruptcy,” in a Dec. 14 filing to the United States Bankruptcy Court in the District of Utah. The voluntary petition was filed by attorney Mark Rose, with Chief Judge Joel T. Marker assigned to the case.
A screenshot of a letter to employees purportedly written by the firm’s chief restructuring officer surfaced on Reddit, explaining that its bankruptcy run was why it was no longer able to pay employee wages prior to the filing.
“You will need to file a claim in the bankruptcy court for your unpaid wages,” the document read.
The latest blow comes only a month after the United States securities regulator charged SafeMoon, its founder Kyle Nagy, CEO John Karony, and CTO Thomas Smith in November for violating securities laws in what the regulator described as “a massive fraudulent scheme.”
The cryptocurrency fell from $0.000065 on Dec. 14 at 8:24pm UTC to $0.000045 over a five-hour period after the news, according to CoinGecko. It did, however rebounded back to $0.000061 in a rapid-fire 10 minute span.
SMF fell 31% immediately following the bankruptcy filing before regaining slightly. SFM is currently changing hands for $0.00005729. The token is down 98.2% from its highest price of $0.0033 on Jan. 5, 2022, and its once $1 billion market cap has now tumbled to $34.5 million.
Several former SafeMoon supporters expressed frustration on Reddit in reflection of the bankruptcy, alleging they were rug-pulled by the SafeMoon developers.
“The fact of the matter is, everyone has been scammed by the SafeMoon developers, including the mods that supported and trusted SafeMoon,” said Reddit user Jtenka.
Another Reddit user, “anonyamon42069,” said: “Never wanna even talk about how bad we all got scammed and especially the money I lost. To the idiots that still think SafeMoon has a chance and will ‘go to the moon’: seek help.”
Related: SafeMoon hacker’s use of centralized exchanges could help law enforcement — Match Systems
Santiago Melgarejo, a former nonfungible token analyst and sales specialist for SafeMoon, said in reflection that the “warning signs were there” all along, notably when many of the employees were abruptly fired despite many of them working a month without pay.
Recently learned about SafeMoon’s bankruptcy filing, and my thoughts are with my ex-colleagues who’ve been unpaid for a month, and the holders facing frustration and anger.
Reflecting back, the warning signs were there – notably, when many of us were abruptly fired over several…
— Santi (@Santi_NFT) December 14, 2023
SafeMoon was also exploited in March, resulting in a net loss of $8.9 million.
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Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, marks their 50th birthday amid a year of rising institutional and geopolitical adoption of the world’s first cryptocurrency.
The identity of Nakamoto remains one of the biggest mysteries in crypto, with speculation ranging from cryptographers like Adam Back and Nick Szabo to broader theories involving government intelligence agencies.
While Nakamoto’s identity remains anonymous, the Bitcoin (BTC) creator is believed to have turned 50 on April 5 based on details shared in the past.
According to archived data from his P2P Foundation profile, Nakamoto once claimed to be a 37-year-old man living in Japan and listed his birthdate as April 5, 1975.
Source: Web.archive.org
Nakamoto’s anonymity has played a vital role in maintaining the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network, which has no central authority or leadership.
The Bitcoin wallet associated with Nakamoto, which holds over 1 million BTC, has laid dormant for more than 16 years despite BTC rising from $0 to an all-time high above $109,000 in January.
Satoshi Nakamoto statue in Lugano, Switzerland. Source: Cointelegraph
Nakamoto’s 50th birthday comes nearly a month after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, marking the first major step toward integrating Bitcoin into the US financial system.
Related: Bitcoin at 16: From experiment to trillion-dollar asset
Nakamoto’s legacy: a “cornerstone of economic sovereignty”
“At 50, Nakamoto’s legacy is no longer just code; it’s a cornerstone of economic sovereignty,” according to Anndy Lian, author and intergovernmental blockchain expert.
“Bitcoin’s reserve status signals trust in its scarcity and resilience,” Lian told Cointelegraph, adding:
“What’s fascinating is the timing. Fifty feels symbolic — half a century of life, mirrored by Bitcoin’s journey from a white paper to a trillion-dollar asset. Nakamoto’s vision of trustless, peer-to-peer money has outgrown its cypherpunk roots, entering the halls of power.”
However, lingering questions about Nakamoto remain unanswered, including whether they still hold the keys to their wallet, which is “a fortune now tied to US policy,” Lian said.
Related: Bitcoin’s next catalyst: End of $36T US debt ceiling suspension
Is Satoshi Nakamoto wealthier than Bill Gates?
In February, Arkham Intelligence published findings that attribute 1.096 million BTC — then valued at more than $108 billion — to Nakamoto. That would place him above Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on the global wealth rankings, according to data shared by Coinbase director Conor Grogan.
Satoshi’s new addresses. Source: Conor Grogan
If accurate, this would make Nakamoto the world’s 16th richest person.
Despite the growing interest in Nakamoto’s identity and holdings, his early decision to remain anonymous and inactive has helped preserve Bitcoin’s decentralized ethos — a principle that continues to define the cryptocurrency to this day.
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The United States stock market lost more in value over the April 4 trading day than the entire cryptocurrency market is worth, as fears over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to ramp up.
On April 4, the US stock market lost $3.25 trillion — around $570 billion more than the entire crypto market’s $2.68 trillion valuation at the time of publication.
Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market”
Among the Magnificent-7 stocks, Tesla (TSLA) led the losses on the day with a 10.42% drop, followed by Nvidia (NVDA) down 7.36% and Apple (AAPL) falling 7.29%, according to TradingView data.
The significant decline across the board signals that the Nasdaq 100 is now “in a bear market” after falling 6% across the trading day, trading resource account The Kobeissi Letter said in an April 4 X post. This is the largest daily decline since March 16, 2020.
“US stocks have now erased a massive -$11 TRILLION since February 19 with recession odds ABOVE 60%,” it added. The Kobessi Letter said Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement was “historic” and if the tariffs continue, a recession will be “impossible to avoid.”
Source: Anthony Scaramucci
On April 2, Trump signed an executive order establishing reciprocal tariffs on trading partners and a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries.
Trump said the reciprocal tariffs will be roughly half the rate US trading partners impose on American goods.
Related: Bitcoin bulls defend $80K support as ‘World War 3 of trade wars’ crushes US stocks
Meanwhile, the crypto industry has pointed out that while the stock market continues to decline, Bitcoin (BTC) remains stronger than most expected.
Crypto trader Plan Markus pointed out in an April 4 X post that while the entire stock market “is tanking,” Bitcoin is holding.
Source: Jeff Dorman
Even some crypto skeptics have pointed out the contrast between Bitcoin’s performance and the US stock market during the recent period of macro uncertainty.
Stock market commentator Dividend Hero told his 203,200 X followers that he has “hated on Bitcoin in the past, but seeing it not tank while the stock market does is very interesting to me.”
Meanwhile, technical trader Urkel said Bitcoin “doesn’t appear to care one bit about tariff wars and markets tanking.” Bitcoin is trading at $83,749 at the time of publication, down 0.16% over the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap data.
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