I’m running out of time!
There’s only a few days before Thanksgiving, and the McRib is gone forever. Heaven help me!
It’s Thursday, and I’m back on the air with Mark Starling, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week’s hot and fresh tech news: FTX implosion results in $32 billion wipeout, more Twitter drama because Will can’t help himself, and Mr. Beast tops the YouTube charts. Plus…Artemis I! You can listen to me and Mark Starling point and laugh at all things tech every Thursday at 643 am ET live on the radio or the iHeartRadio app.
FTX IMPLOSION CAUSES RECORD $32 BILLION LOSS
8. 16. 32. It’s crazy how those numbers lineup to powers of two. What are those numbers? $8 billion was the run on deposits cryptoexchange FTX account holders withdrew from the platform in a number of hours. 16 is the size of Sam Bankman-Fried’s personal wealth at its height during FTX’s run. $32 billion, 32 billion dollars is the amount of value lost within a day after Binance walked away from a deal to purchase FTX’s non-US operations. As we reported last week, Binance walked away from a deal to purchase FTX prompting users to withdraw assets in their accounts. FTX was propped up by a Sam Bankman-Fried hedge fund called Alameda Capital which filed bankruptcy, a day after Binance’s exit, last Friday. Experts are calling this the end of crypto. For my own play money fund, all of my holdings are down in the toilet since the beginning of the year and the currencies have furthered their slide.
BLUE CHECKS, GRAY CHECKS, TWITTER SEVERANCE CHECKS
I was told off last week. A reader emailed me and said I’ve spent way too much time on Twitter’s drama, and all I’ve done is boost is profile. Nay, I say. After firing half of its staff, rushing out a fake verification scheme, turning off half of Twitter’s software services, and calling out his own engineers publicly on Twitter, Elon Musk has laid down the edict to his employees, “commit to a ‘hardcore’ Twitter, or git.” It seems like Musk is bringing his legendary, 80 hour plus work week insanity made famous at Tesla to Twitter. It’s been hard to figure whether or not he’s trolling himself, or if this is his management style. One thing’s for sure he hasn’t read a management handbook.
MR. BEAST WINS TOP SPOT IN YOUTUBE SUBSCRIBER COUNT
Yesterday, YouTube sensation, Mr. Beast surpassed PewDiePie as the reigning champion of YouTube subscriptions. 112 million people, including my 15 year old kid, have subscribed to Mr. Beast’s philanthropic and cash giveaway channel. PewDiePie was the first YouTuber to gain 100 million subscribers in 2019 by commentating on his own video game experiences. Mr. Beast has launched a digital movement featuring philanthropic pursuits like community meal delivery as well as stunts like 1-day popup Beast Burgers shops. I’ve watched a little of his content, and I get it, but I don’t get it.
BONUS
In huge news! Artemis I successfully launched yesterday at 1:04am Eastern Time. The mission is to last 25 days with a retrieval on Earth. Artemis I’s ride was hitched on the brand new SLS rocket system. The SLS is the world’s most powerful rocket to fly a successful mission at 8.8 million pounds of thrust. This is the rocket that will take humans beyond the Moon to Mars.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving and Take Care!