Davos

‘I thought SBF was the Mark Zuckerberg of crypto,’ says Anthony Scaramucci

Anthony Scaramucci said blockchain “skepticism is usually born from a lack of knowledge,” while sharing his crypto holdings of Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and Algorand.

In a candid interview with Cointelegraph at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Anthony Scaramucci, cofounder of SkyBridge Capital, lambasted Sam Bankman-Fried and shed light on his crypto portfolio.

Scaramucci trusted the former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) of FTX, which imploded in late 2021. Scaramucci said in a panel preceding the interview that the “Ninth circle of hell” is reserved for SBF. He added further color to the comments in discussion with Cointelegraph:

“I actually thought he was the Mark Zuckerberg of crypto. I didn’t realize he was the Bernie Madoff. And that’s something I have to own. And so I own it.”

The “Mooch” as he is known, explained he’s happy to speak about his mistakes in trusting SBF. “I like speaking about it because if I can prevent somebody else from having a calamity like that, just from learning from us, that’s worth it to me,” he explained.

Scaramucci is currently working at clawing back his company’s share that FTX lost. He is confident that the 30% stake that FTX Ventures acquired would be returned sometime in 2023.

The Cointelegraph team is reporting live from Davos.

Speaking with Gareth Jenkinson, senior reporter at Cointelegraph, Scaramucci also divulged his crypto portfolio:

“I started marking Bitcoin investments in 2020. We then started buying Ethereum in the early part of 2021. We have some Solana, we have something called Algorand, which is a smaller layer one, but it’s got very good technology.”

SkyBridge Capital’s investments in crypto may come as a surprise to a thought leader who once tweeted he “could care less” about Bitcoin (BTC). Indeed, since Scaramucci first tweeted about Bitcoin one decade ago in 2013, the currency is up over 1,000%.

@onlyonewowwow @obsoletedogma for the record, I don’t know what a #bitcoin is and could careless. Caveat Emptor

— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) April 12, 2013

Scaramucci concluded he had made many mistakes during his Bitcoin and crypto journey. It took him many years and interactions with leaders in the space, such as the Winklevoss twins, before he invested. He shared that “Skepticism is usually born from a lack of knowledge.”

“The more homework you do on the blockchain, the more you understand how the blockchain is going to be a very big part of our future.”

The Mooch is now a regular commentator on the crypto space, and recently shared 2023 price predictions for Bitcoin in the six-figure territory. The “mainstream” is yet to really get to grips with the blockchain, he shred

Ultimately, as more and more people begin to understand the importance of transacting with one another without a third party, the Bitcoin and blockchain space will take flight:

“When you understand the magnitude of that, it will be a wonderful layering mechanism that will lead to great economic efficiency and innovation. So that’s why I’m in the space.”

According to Scaramucci, there is still plenty of room for growth in the Bitcoin, blockchain and crypto markets.

‘I thought SBF was the Mark Zuckerberg of crypto,’ says Anthony Scaramucci

The SkyBridge Capital co-founder said blockchain “skepticism is usually born from a lack of knowledge,” while sharing that his crypto holdings include Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and Algorand.

In a candid interview with Cointelegraph at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Anthony Scaramucci, co-founder of SkyBridge Capital, lambasted Sam Bankman-Fried and shed light on his crypto portfolio.

Scaramucci said he had trusted the former FTX CEO, whose crypto exchange imploded in late 2022. Scaramucci said during a panel preceding the interview that the “ninth circle of hell” is reserved for SBF. He added further color to his comments in his discussion with Cointelegraph:

“I actually thought he was the Mark Zuckerberg of crypto. I didn’t realize he was the Bernie Madoff. And that’s something I have to own. And so I own it.”

The “Mooch,” as he is known, explained he’s happy to speak about his mistakes in trusting SBF. “I like speaking about it because if I can prevent somebody else from having a calamity like that, just from learning from us, that’s worth it to me,” he explained.

Scaramucci is currently working at clawing back his company’s share that FTX lost. He is confident that the 30% stake that FTX Ventures acquired would be returned sometime in 2023.

Speaking with Gareth Jenkinson, senior reporter at Cointelegraph, Scaramucci also divulged his crypto portfolio:

“I started marking Bitcoin investments in 2020. We then started buying Ethereum in the early part of 2021. We have some Solana, we have something called Algorand, which is a smaller layer one, but it’s got very good technology.”

@onlyonewowwow @obsoletedogma for the record, I don't know what a #bitcoin is and could careless. Caveat Emptor

— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) April 12, 2013

Scaramucci concluded he had made many mistakes during his Bitcoin and crypto journey. It took him many years and interactions with leaders in the space, such as the Winklevoss twins, before he invested. He shared that “skepticism is usually born from a lack of knowledge,” adding:

“The more homework you do on the blockchain, the more you understand how the blockchain is going to be a very big part of our future.”

The Mooch is now a regular commentator on the crypto space, and recently shared 2023 price predictions for Bitcoin in the six-figure territory. The “mainstream” has yet to really come to grips with blockchain technology, he said.

Ultimately, as more and more people begin to understand the importance of transacting with one another without a third party, the Bitcoin and blockchain space will take flight:

“When you understand the magnitude of that, it will be a wonderful layering mechanism that will lead to great economic efficiency and innovation. So that’s why I’m in the space.”

According to Scaramucci, there is still plenty of room for growth in the Bitcoin, blockchain and crypto markets.

Cointelegraph heads to Davos for World Economic Forum

Cointelegraph will be on the ground as prominent figures from the cryptocurrency and blockchain space converge on Davos during the World Economic Forum.

As the World Economic Forum brings global leaders together to tackle global issues, a number of cryptocurrency and blockchain events will create a vibrant sideshow in the snowy ski destination in the Swiss Alps.

Cointelegraph will be on the ground to cover the World Economic Forum (WEF) as well as a host of blockchain-focused events taking place. Key members from global governments, businesses and civil society converge on the town annually for the WEF conference, but cryptocurrency and blockchain events are beginning to make their mark during the exclusive event.

The official WEF agenda for 2023 has made provision for cryptocurrency and blockchain as talking points featuring during the week-long conference. A session titled “Finding the Right Balance for Crypto” on Jan. 19 at 3:00 pm CET will explore the “boom and bust” in crypto markets in 2022, and is set to consider the creation of “robust regulation” of cryptocurrencies while ensuring “positive macroeconomic and societal outcomes.”

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse features in the session alongside the Netherlands central bank president Klaas Knot, the European Commission’s Mairead McGuinness, and Omar Sultan Al Olama, the UAE’s Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications.

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire will head up a session on Tokenized Economies on Jan. 17 at 4:15 pm CET, delving into which industries could see the biggest influence from tokenization.

The metaverse is another topic that is set to be covered during WEF. A session titled ‘Deployment in the Industrial Metaverse’ is scheduled for Jan. 19 at 9:00 am CET. Meanwhile, Meta’s chief product officer Chris Cox headlines a panel discussion, “A New Reality: Building the Metaverse,” which will unpack an estimated $180 billion in investment into the sector and its potential development driven by research, innovation, investment, and policy. This session is scheduled for Jan. 18 at 3:00 pm CET.

WEF is also tapping into the metaverse through its own 3D offering, allowing delegates to create avatars to explore different immersive environments.

Cointelegraph’s editor-in-chief, Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr, will attend WEF for the publication and is scheduled to moderate a number of panels at events during the week.

This includes a session during GBBC’s #BlockchainCentral Davos 2023 titled Interoperability and Climate Change on Jan. 17 at 1:40 pm CET. Cornèr will also lead a panel on Liquidity in Climate Markets & Discovering a Global Carbon Price at Hedera Haus on Jan. 16 at 3:35 pm CET.

A panel at Greek House on Jan. 17 at 9:30 am CET will see Cornèr drive a conversation around “The emergence of Breakthrough Technologies: new ways to mobilize finance for Sustainable Investments.”

Cointelegraph journalist Gareth Jenkinson will be covering GBBC’s #BlockchainCentral Davos 2023 and CV Labs’ Blockchain Hub Davos. Jenkinson is also set to moderate a session titled “Reports of Decentralized Finance Demise Are Greatly Exaggerated… DeFi 2.0 is Coming!” at Blockchain Hub on 17 Jan. 17 at 3:30 pm CET, as well as a panel on “The Future of the Metaverse” at GBBC on Jan. 18 at 5:20 pm CET.

A host of influential industry participants from the cryptocurrency and blockchain space are set to feature prominently at different events including the likes of AVA Labs CEO & co-founder Emin Gün Sirer, SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci, and Cambridge Analytica whistleblower and data protection advocate Brittany Kaiser.

Bitcoin at the WEF: What did the world’s elite think of crypto?

In a Cointelegraph video, the world’s elite and some crypto believers rub shoulders to share their views on crypto.

Cointelegraph introduces “Crypto Street,” a series of spontaneous conversations with strangers on the street to educate, entertain and take a temperature check on the world’s relationship with crypto.

The first episode comes from the gates of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. Cointelegraph reporter Joseph Hall attempted to speak with the world’s elite where he was rejected, ridiculed, and ignored before stumbling across crypto believers among the WEF attendees.

Sporting a Cointelegraph sweatshirt with the loudest Bitcoin (BTC) logo, Hall asked passersby to guess what was print represented. Some WEF-goers refused to talk on camera while others claimed ignorance.

“That’s not Bentley, it’s Bugatti!” One passerby at the World Economic Forum joked. That, or they genuinely believed that the Bitcoin logo is a luxury car brand.

The shoot then moves to the blockchain streets of Davos, where cryptocurrency companies outweigh the tradfi presence. Irina Heaver, a crypto lawyer and Bitcoin believer told Cointelegraph that Bitcoin is “freedom.” She explained that for her family:

“When the Soviet Union Collapsed, they were left absolute penniless — so did millions of other people […] If they could have some of that (Bitcoin) can you imagine how their families would be better off?”

Heaver also explained that more and more Russians transact with Bitcoin and crypto, reflecting the growing popularity of cryptocurrency in the country. WEF attendees from India, where crypto education is weak at best, explained that the “younger generation is a lot more curious about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.”

“Some rethinking and action need to happen to make it [crypto] more sustainable.”

The International Monetary Fund is close friends with the WEF, and it consistently pushes for central bank digital currencies as well as moving cryptocurrencies away from proof-of-work blockchains to less energy-intensive proof-of-stake blockchains.

There’s also a cameo from Nas Daily, the Youtuber and Bitcoin HODLer who lost $200,000 on Bitcoin to date. He appears on camera and exclaims, “I lost so much money.”

Finally, there’s also a Golden Retriever who holds his tongue regarding Dogecoin (DOGE) price predictions for 2022, and an acapella rendition of Nina Simone by up-and-coming vocalist, Evan Klassen. Incidentally, Klassen is signing at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar this year; will he croon a crypto tune?

Digital assets still make a lot of sense, says Codex co-founder

In a Davos interview, Codex’s Alex Gordon-Brander talked about the Ethereum launch, Codex’s liquidity specialties and solving real-world problems with crypto.

Co-founder and chief evangelist officer for Codex Alex Gordon-Brander spoke to Cointelegraph about his Bitcoin story, the real-world use cases for crypto and the economic downturn during a World Economic Forum interview in Davos, Switzerland.

Standing curbside in front of Davos’ “Crypto House” at dusk, where Gordon-Brander had just finished demonstrating Codex’s capabilities during a crypto panel, the co-founder shared an upbeat outlook on crypto.

A long-serving crypto enthusiast and trad-fi veteran, Gordon-Brander, told Cointelegraph he was exploring digital and energy-backed currencies prior to discovering Bitcoin (BTC). He researched a “distributed currency based on renewable energy credits and governments,” but he concedes it was “super complicated.”

Around the time, a friend shared a Bitcoin idea with Gordon-Brander, but like most people that first hear about Bitcoin — especially so early on — Gordon-Brander thought it’s “probably not going to work.”

He tried to get hold of some satoshis, but his employer at the time, Bridgewater Associates — founded by former Bitcoin basher turned Bitcoin bull Ray Dalio — “couldn’t handle the compliance.” Fast forward to 2015, the year the Ethereum network launched, and Gordon-Brander realized that the cryptocurrency space had legs.

“I’d been really intrigued by Bitcoin but the idea of a programmable currency — the idea of a world computer and an interoperable financial system — blew me away,” he said.

From 2015 onwards, Gordon-Brander assisted in the launch of a crypto exchange and participated in the initial coin offering boom before joining Codex Labs.

Although interest among investors in decentralized applications (DApps) is swelling such as those keen to acquire their first Ether (ETH), there is still “a lot of Bitcoin first” interest from institutions. Finally, while the bear market price action drags on, there is hope for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies:

“As a secular trend bet, digital assets still make a lot of sense.”

Ultimately, Gordon-Brander explains that there has been an awakening regarding crypto finance and the role it can play in solving real-world problems, from “ordinary people realizing that their money in the bank was no longer safe if their government doesn’t like their politics,” to tackling climate change:

“The world is in a much better place with this technology than it would be without it.”

His former boss at Bridgewater, Ray Dalio, now recommends a small allocation to Bitcoin and the optimism that crypto brought to the WEF was hard to ignore.

‘CBDCs are the natural evolution,’ says HyperLedger director Barbosa

In an interview filmed during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Daniela Barbosa gives the floor to enterprise blockchains and the future of currencies.

For Daniela Barbosa — general manager of blockchain, healthcare and identity at the Linux Foundation and executive director of Hyperledger — digital currencies and cryptocurrencies have made it among the big banks at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

In an interview with Cointelegraph shot against the backdrop of the Swiss Alps, Barbosa explained that in the few years she has attended the WEF, the presence of cryptocurrency companies has steadily grown. What’s more, we should not be afraid of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

“CBDCs are [a]natural evolution of digital dollars and digital currencies.”

While the WEF saw calls from some bankers for a CBDC rollout to slow down, Barbosa explained that a CBDC could be with us in this decade.

Hyperledger’s work overlaps that of CBDCs, particularly in light of a partnership with the Digital Dollar Project. The nonprofit organization seeks to further the research into a U.S. CBDC. The key to CBDC implementation, however, is in succeeding with “privacy-preserving methods.”

An advocate for digital identity, privacy and “having control of your data,” Barbosa also shared the story of how she got into Bitcoin while living in San Francisco and working for Dow Jones in the mid-2010s.

“I did go to a [Bitcoin] meetup once and I was older than everybody else and also female—and I thought, maybe this is not for me?”

Fortunately, Barbosa kept abreast of Bitcoin and the market when time allowed before joining HyperLedger, an enterprise blockchain solutions-based company, in 2016.

While blockchains can sometimes be touted as a catch-all solution, Barbosa explained that sometimes blockchains are not the ideal situation and “should not be used.” Many blockchain use cases in 2016 and 2017, for example, wanted the “media to pay attention.” In 2022, a blockchain works when:

“You want to use a distributed ledger when you have multi parties that are working together—you don’t want to have to create another middle layer than helps disintermediate all the assets going around.”

HyperLedger now covers everything from pharmaceuticals to finance while its blockchain solutions tackle climate change.

Crypto knocking on the WEF’s door: The view from Davos

A look back on the week that was the World Economic Forum and how crypto might have stolen the show.

The spectacle that is the World Economic Forum (WEF) came to a close in Davos, Switzerland on Friday, May 27. Nearly 3,000 people from over 110 countries took planes, trains and helicopters to the highest town in Europe to lobby leaders and push and query the WEF agenda.

And, while the war in Ukraine took center stage during the WEF, climate change played the hero and economic recovery was the damsel in distress. Meanwhile, blockchain and cryptocurrency featured as — at the very least — a supporting role.

As Soramitsu CEO Makoto Takemiya described during a Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) panel taking place on the WEF promenade, the industry bigwigs and “financial elites” amassed in Davos. The WEF 2022 had “barbarians” at the gate in the form of crypto and blockchain enthusiasts.

This was the first in-person WEF since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the presence of blockchain companies many participants was large. All down the Davos boulevard, shops and cafes temporarily transformed into showrooms for corporations and big business while the crypto companies stuck out.

Alex Fazel, chief partnership officer at Swissborg told Cointelegraph that “back at WEF 2018, there was only one major pro-crypto event and numerous other talks were stressing the dark sides of crypto.”

In 2022, world leaders and monetary disruptors rubbed shoulders at the Crypto House, the Blockchain Hub, Polkadot Hub, LAN Space, the NFT Shop, GBBC Central and the Filecoin Foundation — which had converted a former Catholic church into a crypto conference hall. Conspicuous at best, crypto was hard to miss.

*Map of the Davos blockchain locations for the WEF.*

Even the WEF itself now features a dedicated website for blockchain technology. Plus, bankers openly discussed digital currencies during a panel on the WEF main stage. In a video interview with Cointelegraph in Davos, Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple Labs, explained that while crypto used to be a dirty word, the trendline is now “positive.” Garlinghouse told Cointelegraph that the “presence of crypto is dramatically different.

Swissborg’s Fazel summed up the bubbling crypto sentiment as newbies and nocoiners (those yet to invest in crypto), took their first steps into the space. “There was more attendance at the Web3 pavillions than Web2 like Meta:”

“During WEF 2022, on top of dozens of crypto conferences, events and parties, the crypto space occupied between 10–20% of the entire promenade across the private sector, excluding the governmental pavillions.”

Ultimately, when the CEO of MasterCard features on a blockchain panel perched next to Bank for International Settlements researchers and crypto enthusiasts to openly debate the demise of SWIFT, as well as the dawn of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), it’s clear that digital currencies have made the mainstream.

For Thierry Aryz Ruiz, CEO of AgAu, blockchain as a focal point of the WEF goes without saying: The issue revolves around how the world’s elite manages the innovation. Ruiz told Cointelegraph, “with CBDCs and increasing regulation, we may see darker applications of Blockchain as a tool of control.”

Daniela Barbosa, general manager at Hyperledger and a WEF veteran, agrees with Ruiz. The WEF is certainly smitten with blockchain technology. However, she also posits that we shouldn’t be “scared” of CBDCs. Barbosa decodes the sentiment in an upcoming Cointelegraph Youtube interview. Subscribe here.

*Daniela Barbosa, general manager of Hyperledger, speaking to Cointelegraph.*

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) are hatched out of a desire to separate money from the state — not embolden fiat money. Yet, the WEF, blockchain and crypto are increasingly entangled. Ruiz expanded on the point: “Great minds bump into each other, genuinely with good intentions” at the WEF. In view of looming regulatory concerns, however, he shares “they can also pave the road to hell if left unchallenged.” Ruiz signals a note of caution:

“The pandemic has evidenced that too often, people sacrifice their freedom in exchange for a false sense of security. We shall never forget that such a trade likely results in the loss of both.”

On regulation, during a decentralized finance (DeFi) panel discussion moderated by Cointelegraph, Sam Yim, 1inch network adviser and former banker, explained that regulation is a speeding train. “Either you climb onboard or you step out of the way.” For good or bad, regulation of the crypto space is coming.

On the upside, regulation may reassure the curious and the coy about the rigidity and longevity of the space. Indeed, for some WEF attendees, it was the first time they interacted with crypto. At the Cointelegraph farewell party held in partnership with Polygon, Davos coin stole the show. Partygoers could spend Davos coins at the bar, enjoying a “seamless checkout experience,” thanks to a pilot project pioneered by Ammer technologies.

Whether regulation impedes or stimulates growth, the theme that Bitcoin and crypto is for everyone permeated through. In an all-women panel hosted by Cointelegraph editor-in-cheift Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr, questions such as “Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, who remains pseudonymous, could very well be a woman” were raised.

For some WEF attendees, proximity to power and to the regulators attending the WEF could gain the upper hand. Nas Daily, Youtuber, social media influencer and a recent crypto convert, told Cointelegraph that he wanted to be at the WEF to be close to regulators.

“The true influencers are here. They’re not on your Instagram newsfeed,” he told Cointelegraph. He shared his Bitcoin investment strategy with Cointelegraph which began in March — taking his Youtube channel along for the ride.

In all, whether crypto is the “barbarians” at the gate, a future tool for the WEF’s disposal or a means for economic empowerment for all, the view from Davos is that crypto is here to stay. When the WEF returns to its usual wintry service in January 2023, regulation will likely be the burning issue. The question is, what face will it wear?