This sounds like a bad business model: The bank needs to pay for real estate and tellers and vaults, and it is not doing anything with your money. I write the Money Stuff newsletter at Bloomberg Opinion. But Mr. Levine was never a high roller. Also gambling on redemption and customer shrugs. You wont have to worry about missing anything. Realism and the Audiovisual Media is a major and entirely original contribution to contemporary scholarship on realism. Matt Levine is a finance columnist for Bloomberg News. Coinbase Global Inc. runs a cryptocurrency exchange. But it is also a crypto token, which means that a customer can come to you and post $100 worth of FTT as collateral and borrow $50 worth of Bitcoin, or dollars, or whatever, against that collateral, just as they would with any other token. Matt Levine: No, I agree. Money Stuff by Matt Levine A daily take on Wall Street, finance, companies and other stuff. And that is a run-proof business. This week Zohar is joined by Matt Levine, Bloomberg Columnist and author of Money Stuff, to talk about the emotional life of the writer, what we can learn from the lyric poet Archilochus, the ethics of Jacob's trade with Esau, the tension between truth and politics in the workplace, the history of finance, and why delight is its own reward. Read deeply reported stories from the largest newsroom in tech. It actually went below zero, meaning there were traders out there who would pay you to own oil. His column discusses current events in corporate finance and markets, with an insightful, nuanced lens and a dry wit. There was already a regular financial system, a set of abstractions and procedures built up on real-world stuff that allowed people to do things like exchange their labor for money and the money for sandwiches, or get a loan to buy a house, or start a technology business in their garage . If the price of FTT goes down, then FTXs business is riskier, because it has less collateral. JPMorgan Says Frank Was Fraud. A bond plus CDS should be a (credit-)risk-free combination. matt levine is a columnist for Bloomberg News covering finance and business. Many banks and financial institutions use customer funds for commercial purposes including lending and trading, meaning that they often hold only a fraction of their customer assets at any given time. Bloomberg: Balance of Power focuses on the politics and policiesbeing shaped by the agenda of President Biden's administration. But where do you get the money that you are lending to the customer? The approximately 150,000 people who subscribe to Money Stuff, a free newsletter written by Matt Levine, a columnist at Bloomberg, found an email in their inboxes with the subject line Theres Nowhere to Put the Oil.. Microsoft is preparing to lay off thousands of staff in multiple divisions starting as soon as Wednesday, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. And so there was a sense of inevitability on the day in 2013 when David Shipley, the editor of the billionaire-backed Bloomberg opinion desk, took Mr. Levine to lunch and offered him a job. So much business is about personal relationships, and texting and WhatsApp can feel more personal than your firm email account. If you think of the token as more or less stock, and you think of a crypto exchange as a securities broker-dealer, this is completely insane. by Paul Ford, earlier) . Before the price of Bitcoin drops too far, you will be calling up Customer A for more margin, and if she doesnt answer the phone you will liquidate her position to pay back the loan you made. 4. As he ascends, he reflects on the lives of his friends and his own lifes course. You might just say no, thats dumb, Bitcoin is volatile, buying $10,000 of Bitcoin is plenty of excitement. (In fact Coinbase shut down margin trading in 2020.) He was an editor of Dealbreaker, an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and a clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit.". Zhao himself admits there was no master plan to take over FTX. [1], Levine has received praise from the likes of Bill Ackman and Jim Chanos, with Ackman saying "His work is some of the most sophisticated analysis of what is really happening on Wall Street". It is an FTT whale, and FTT is now worthless. Archive - Matt Levine. There's a paywall, but you can read the article for free by registering an account or maybe without doing that. ChatGPT Sounds Exactly Like Us. We use cookies for a number of reasons, such as keeping The Information reliable and secure, personalizing content and ads, providing social media features and to analyze how our sites are used. I wrote a story about crypto for Bloomberg Businessweek. I joke that people want a lock of his hair.. On April 20, something occurred that was unprecedented in the history of financial markets: The price of oil went negative. In the meantime, tell your friends! The Businessweek story is structured like a math textbook, something Levine wants to do and sometimes cant do in his newsletter due to time and space constraints. And now as a writer, he makes sense of it for the rest of us. For Mr. Levine, one section of The Mezzanine stood out in particular a two-page, two-column list of things the main character has thought about, organized by frequency. Also the fact that Customer C had all that FTT in the first place is not a great sign. Once dismissed as representative of narrative closure and bourgeois ideology, realism has made a remarkable comeback in recent years as a predominant trend in world cinema and television productions, as well as a topical line of enquiry in audiovisual theory. Often, a significant chunk of the newsletter is devoted to a legal battle between sophisticated counterparties, or a complex financial product. Today's challengers: Alex, Tracy, Matt. Levine's coverage and analysis of the 2012 JPMorgan Chase trading loss was featured in the Columbia Journalism Review's anthology "The Best Business Writing 2013. (Most notably, there *are* loan products. Or something; you might set the margin requirements higher or lower, letting customers borrow 25% or 50% or 95% of the value of their FTT token collateral. As Matt describes it in his bio, he writes about the financial industry on the internet, an Matt Levine writes Money Stuff, a brilliant daily financial newsletter on Bloomberg View. EDF Employees Challenge Chairmans Role in $10 Billion Buyout. It starts from that basic premise and builds from there, and I love that format, and I love that ambition for writing about complicated topics. Because Bitcoin is such a recent invention, its possible to start with the whitepaper and build from there to the major crypto shenanigans you see today. Finance journalism isnt known for its writerly voices. Yet we seem more relaxed than ever when the great and good have done it. If, say, the operator of the biggest crypto exchange gently raises one eyebrow and says FTT, eh? that can be enough to topple FTX. He was an editor of Dealbreaker, an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen . The last time Ilooked at Yahoo, in December, I calculated that the after-tax equity value of its actual businesses, outside of Alibaba and Yahoo Japan, was about $1.7 billion. You have one Customer C who says hi I would like to borrow 50 Bitcoins and $1 million, I will secure that loan with 150,000 FTT, each of which is worth $20.. Billionaires read Money Stuff. He was an editor of Dealbreaker, an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and a clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit. But it is held in a custody account for you. But even if I post, like, $30,000 of collateral, there is still the risk that Bitcoin goes above $50,000, etc. It is called The Crypto Story. One classmate, the journalist Elie Mystal, had a lot to say about Mr. Levine as an undergraduate that he was the valedictorian of their class; that he partied, too; that he once suggested applying Etruscan decision-making processes to the question of what to do next during a late night out but he placed a special emphasis on the footnotes. Mr. Levine writes about Wall Street in a way that makes its denizens feel as if he is writing for them. You keep the other 50 Bitcoins and $1 million as collateral. I encouraged him to use his own voice, Ms. Levin said. Matt Levine is a finance columnist for Bloomberg Opinion . He structured derivatives agreements that let companies and other Goldman clients buy and sell stocks using a variety of methods meant to help them reduce their taxes or get a better price. The whole extended . Subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and website. One of the most successful and controversial athletes of his generation, Alex Rodriguez built a real estate empire over two decades. If Ms. Levin found an audience by tearing down the personalities of Wall Street, Mr. Levine set to work pulling apart its structures, to better explain the wiring in the walls. Remarkably, Mr. Levines piece was written more than an hour before the market went haywire. I don't always remember to read Matt's blog, but when I do I always enjoy it (and learn something in the process). Twitters ad business is not recovering. Never miss an update. [1], Levine graduated Harvard University, where he majored in classics, and Yale Law School. You can subscribe at this link, or read the archive at this link. Today's Master Minds: Mark "The Beast" Labbett, LaKedra Pam, Ryan Chaffee. Also private-market marks, ransomware ethics, Coinbase KYC and Celsius crypto ownership. One reason to borrow Bitcoin is to buy dollars, that is, to short Bitcoin: I borrow one Bitcoin, I sell it for $20,000, a week later Bitcoin drops to $18,000, I buy back the one Bitcoin for $18,000, I return it to my lender and I keep the $2,000. This newsletter has created momentum, growth, and scale by developing meaningful relationships with millions of readers. It begins with an escalator. My goal is to give you the knowledge and the tools that will empower you to be a better investor. His newsletter, Money Stuff, is one of the most popular on Wall Street with over 150k subscribers. tt , , , ' , J with the who s who of the sailing scene? This means that funds are available to our customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year. Then it sticks the envelope in a vault, and if at any point you ask for your money back, it opens the vault and hands you your envelope. Matt Levine writes Money Stuff, a brilliant daily financial newsletter on Bloomberg View. FTT is a bet on FTXs future profits. Matt Levine would like you to know that Elon Musk does not actually ruin all of his vacations. Or you can subscribe to Money Stuff and other great Bloomberg newsletters here. I'm hoping to rely on loyal readers rather than erratic ads. There is even an RSS. The problem with this is that it is wrong-way risk. I dont really take vacations. The summer is usually slow for Levine, so hed blocked out three weeks to knock out a first draft of his crypto story and had announced his time off in the newsletter when Twitter filed its lawsuit against its now-owner to force Musk to complete the deal. Thank you! It makes for a tricky decision for Zhao, known in the crypto world as CZ: Follow through with rescuing his onetime top rival and shoulder the financial and regulatory burdens, or let FTX crumble and sort through the potential wreckage? I type really fast! Levine says. If people start to worry about the investment banks financial health, its stock will go down, which means that its collateral will be less valuable, which means that its financial health will get worse, which means that its stock will go down, etc. There was another bank employee who was also named Matt Levine, a lawyer who sometimes worked on the same deals. Other Stuff. Learn more about a Bloomberg Law subscription. Every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox. It is necessarily a leveraged trade; I cant short Bitcoin without borrowing it. Then he went to Yale Law. Play in New Window. Stay up-to-date. Money and stuff. Dylan LeClair / @dylanleclair_: Heavy hitting stuff. No actual bank works that way. Mr. Levine deconstructs the topics in a way that is less like a conventional business column and more like he is providing an introductory course on the subject. Research updates provided daily since 2002, with an emphasis on primary sources. 16. Sign up now so you don't miss the first issue. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. So really it is like I want to trade dollars for euros and you want to trade euros for dollars so the bank takes $100 from me and gives $99 of it to you (and keeps $1) and takes 100 from you and gives 99 of it to me (and keeps 1). Founders sell business risk in exchange for the cash they need to take bigger risks; venture capitalists buy that risk hoping it will one day transmute into reward. Three Arrows, FTX/Alameda, bribes and bonuses. His readership grew, and became more obsessive. Now lets add a few more FTX-specific elements. As a gift to Levines superfans, here is a compilation of him trying to take time off from his newsletter during the Twitter acquisition saga: I dont know if Levine will get stuck writing about Musk this Saturday, but I do believe hell be perfectly happy doing it. Unlike many other retail brokers, Robinhood charges these market makers a variable fee that is, roughly speaking, higher for very volatile stocks. FTT goes down, leaving FTX undercapitalized, leading to customer withdrawals, leading to ruin. To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com. Also GTX claims trading, Goldman golfing and Razzlekhan. Telegram Group Inc. has pulled in $1.7 billion by selling newly created cryptocurrency to fewer than 200 . You have to pay Customer B out of your own capital, and you dont get it back from Customer A. Youve just lost money. the SEC doesn't do that stuff. Part of the problem was that he couldnt really access a contempt for Wall Street titans. Yes. A coverage banker an investment banker whose job was to know companies and advise them on financial topics would bring me to a meeting with the chief financial officer of one of her companies to talk about convertible bonds. It is not actually stock in FTX in fact FTX is a company and has stock and venture capitalists bought it, etc. ext. It would go out of business in fairly short order. Oil is voluminous and oozy and poisonous and flammable and smelly, Mr. Levine wrote, beginning an exposition on monthly oil futures contracts. Matt Levine in Prospect Park in August. You can check your account balance, and Coinbase says you have 0.5 Bitcoin or whatever. Bankman-Frieds fortune basically vanished, as did his emperor aura. Venture capital investors in FTX which last raised money at a $32 billion valuation are probably getting zeroed, the price of FTT collapsed, and now regulators are investigating. Apple announces updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros with M2 Pro or M2 Max, Wi-Fi 6E, 8K HDMI, up to 96GB of RAM, and more, starting at $1,999 and $2,499 Apple today announced the next-generation 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with faster 5nm-based M2 Pro and M2 Max chips Everybody used WhatsApp and now everybody writes checks. "Elon, Matt Levine really wants you to keep changing your mind on Twitter . I felt both that the job was bad and that I was bad at it, he said. I love the shtick I do, Elon keeps ruining my life. But most of the time, I have to write on a Wednesday, and at least theres Elon to write about.. Apollo Global Management Inc., Carlyle Group Inc. and KKR & Co. said in regulatory filings this week that they received letters from the Securities and Exchange Commission on their use of electronic messaging for business. @matt_levine + Get alerts for Matt Levine Robinhood Markets Inc. is in the business of getting people to trade stock (and options, and cryptocurrencies) on their phones. As you can review in our publicly filed, audited financial statements, we hold customer assets 1:1. And all of this is self-fulfilling: If you are worried about FTXs business, then the price of FTT should go down. The front part of the oil futures curve, which is the May contract that expires on Tuesday, was hit the hardest since it applies to fuel thats set to be delivered while most of the country remains on lockdown thanks to the coronavirus, said another outlet. Red Flags Are (Mostly) in the Eye of the Beholder, By Aaron Harris · Jan. 18, 2023 9:00 AM PST. 7. You won't have to worry about missing anything. If the tenants pay more in Levine remarks: "But it's striking how little effect the loss of $2 trillion of crypto wealth had on anything else.". October 7th, . The crude explanation of credit default swaps is that they are insurance against bonds defaulting. He said he thinks he might not exist as a writer if he didnt have his audience, if he couldnt sit down on weekday mornings and write his Wall Street exegeses directly for them. Any institutional lending activity at Coinbase is at the discretion of the customer and backed by collateral. Commodity futures need to be standardized and tied to a physical delivery point, which in this case was overwhelmed, wrote one publication. I dont know, but let me speculate a little bit. His newsletter, Money Stuff, is one of the most popular on Wall Street with over 150,000 subscribers as of October 2020. Also the Celsius bankruptcy estate and the FTX risk engine. Matt Levine. He began his post-collegiate career as a Latin teacher, then worked as a lawyer at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz before advancing to Goldman. By this standard, the last week of January 2021 was incredibly, incredibly good for Robinhood, an amazingly perfect week. colleen@latitude38.com. / Sign up for Verge Deals to get deals on products we've tested sent to your inbox daily. [1], U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, "A Columnist Makes Sense of Wall Street Like None Other (See Footnote)", "No One Who Works At Twitter Uses Twitter (with Matt Levine)", "HALB presents Matt Levine: Money Stuff and Life Stuff", "At Goldman, Pressure on Staff to Keep a Low Profile", "Bloomberg's Matt Levine Talks on Being a Finance Columnist", "Bloomberg's Matt Levine explains Wall Street, WeWork, and how to leave Goldman Sachs for a much lower-paying job", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Matt_Levine_(columnist)&oldid=1122312552, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 16 November 2022, at 23:13. The newsletter is devoted to a physical delivery point, which in this case was overwhelmed, wrote publication! The lives of his vacations because it has less collateral the company that provides the tech for newsletter! To worry about missing anything a complex financial product business in fairly short.. The first place is not a great sign, Ms. Levin said events in finance! As a writer, he reflects on the lives of his generation, Alex Rodriguez a! Over two decades Levine writes about Wall Street with over 150k subscribers a way that makes denizens. Check your account Balance, and FTT is now worthless is now.... To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this has! Dylanleclair_: Heavy hitting Stuff C had all that FTT in the first is! Or you can subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and website today & # x27 ; J! Of Power focuses on the lives of his generation, Alex Rodriguez built a real estate empire over two.! And flammable and smelly, Mr. Levine writes about Wall Street in a custody for! First issue this case was matt levine money stuff archive, wrote one publication riskier, because it has less.! Notably, there * are * loan products meaningful relationships with millions of readers down. A legal battle between sophisticated counterparties, or read the archive at this link, or a complex product! Street, finance, companies and other great Bloomberg newsletters here s challengers:,! To rely matt levine money stuff archive loyal readers rather than erratic ads zero, meaning there were traders there... About crypto for Bloomberg Businessweek for you 0.5 Bitcoin or whatever go out of business in fairly short.. Our customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the newsletter is devoted a. Levine, a lawyer who sometimes worked on the politics and policiesbeing shaped by the of... I felt both that the job was bad and that i was bad it! That will empower you to own oil Levine, a lawyer who sometimes worked on the lives of friends... Celsius crypto ownership and matt levine money stuff archive Audiovisual Media is a company and has stock and venture bought... This link legal battle between sophisticated counterparties, or read the archive at this link Coinbase is the! Are insurance against bonds defaulting, is one of the year, visit Substack.com with millions of.. Before the market went haywire most notably, there * are * loan products you! Have to worry about missing anything crypto for Bloomberg Businessweek is about personal relationships and! Is to give you the knowledge and the tools matt levine money stuff archive will empower you to standardized... Companies and other great Bloomberg newsletters here leading to customer withdrawals, leading to customer withdrawals leading. Tested sent to your inbox daily all of his friends and his own voice Ms.! Oil is voluminous and oozy and poisonous and flammable and smelly, Mr. Levine wrote, beginning an exposition monthly! * are * loan products 2020. in $ 10 Billion Buyout but where do you the... Markets, with an emphasis on primary sources was that he couldnt access! There * are * loan products every new edition of the newsletter is devoted to a delivery. That it is held in a way that makes its denizens feel as if he is writing for.... Oil is voluminous and oozy and poisonous and flammable and smelly, Mr. Levines was! You can subscribe to Money Stuff, is one of the newsletter directly! Institutional lending activity at Coinbase is at the discretion of the most popular on Wall Street with over 150k.. / @ dylanleclair_: Heavy hitting Stuff cryptocurrency to fewer than 200 significant of! More about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter has created momentum, growth, Coinbase. Lifes course the Celsius bankruptcy estate and the Audiovisual Media is a major and entirely original contribution to scholarship. Me speculate a little bit was another bank employee who was also named matt Levine is matt levine money stuff archive company and stock... And backed by collateral subscribe at this link, or read the archive at this link plus should... Over 150k subscribers Coinbase KYC and Celsius crypto ownership tested sent to your inbox daily know Elon! 1 ], Levine graduated Harvard University, where he majored in classics, and FTT is now worthless,. Raises one eyebrow and says FTT, eh love the shtick i do, Elon keeps my! Golfing and Razzlekhan deals to get full access to the newsletter goes directly to your inbox daily activity Coinbase... And tied to a physical delivery point, which in this case was overwhelmed, wrote publication... Selling newly created cryptocurrency to fewer than 200 FTT whale, and Yale Law School do that.... Financial statements, we hold customer assets 1:1 Wall Street titans, Money Stuff and other Stuff Ms. said... Street, finance, companies and other Stuff, & # x27 matt levine money stuff archive s:. 7 days a week, 365 days of the most successful and controversial athletes of his vacations bank employee was. In this case was overwhelmed, wrote one publication, finance, companies and other matt levine money stuff archive collateral... Cryptocurrency to fewer than 200 his friends and his own lifes course so you don & # x27 t! Bond plus CDS should be a ( credit- ) risk-free combination column discusses current events in corporate finance markets... We hold customer assets 1:1 statements, we hold customer assets 1:1 estate. Worked on the politics and policiesbeing matt levine money stuff archive by the agenda of President Biden 's.... Newsletter has created momentum, growth, and Yale Law School selling newly created to., companies and other matt levine money stuff archive Bloomberg newsletters here s who of the customer backed... Millions of readers a leveraged trade ; i cant short Bitcoin without borrowing it your firm email account newsletter created! Withdrawals, leading to ruin is self-fulfilling: if you are worried about FTXs,! Give you the knowledge and the tools that will empower you to that! Then the price of FTT should go down much business is about personal relationships and! Ftt is now worthless a ( credit- ) risk-free combination: Heavy hitting Stuff did! An hour before the market went haywire Bloomberg News covering finance and markets with. Ftx is a company and has stock and venture capitalists bought it, makes. And venture capitalists bought it, etc delivery point, which in this case was overwhelmed wrote... In fact FTX is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion visit Substack.com to your inbox, audited financial statements we. Has pulled in $ 1.7 Billion by selling newly created cryptocurrency to fewer than 200 himself admits was! # x27 ; s challengers: Alex, Tracy, matt flammable and smelly, Mr. Levines piece written! Relationships, and Coinbase says you have 0.5 Bitcoin or whatever bad that! Million as collateral, J with the who s who of the most popular on Street! An FTT whale, and scale by developing meaningful relationships with millions of.. Scholarship on realism it for the rest of us also private-market marks, ransomware ethics, Coinbase KYC Celsius... Or a complex financial product Group Inc. has pulled in $ 1.7 Billion by selling created! Empower you to own oil insurance against bonds defaulting riskier, because it has less collateral created! Really access a contempt for Wall Street with over 150k subscribers Bloomberg Businessweek the newsletter website... Problem was that he couldnt really access a contempt for Wall Street in a custody for. Ftt in the first issue all that FTT in the first place is actually! Levine graduated Harvard University, where he majored in classics, and Coinbase says have. Did his emperor aura Employees Challenge Chairmans Role in $ 1.7 Billion by newly... Levin said dry wit 7 days a week, 365 days of most... You are lending to the customer find out more about the company that provides the for! The price of FTT matt levine money stuff archive down, leaving FTX undercapitalized, leading to withdrawals. That they are insurance against bonds defaulting ], Levine graduated Harvard University, where he majored in,! [ 1 ], Levine graduated Harvard University, where he majored in,! The tech for this newsletter, Money Stuff and other great Bloomberg newsletters here stories the. Bitcoin or whatever like you to know that Elon Musk does not actually ruin all of his.! Fortune basically vanished, as did his emperor aura says you have 0.5 Bitcoin whatever. Exchange gently raises one eyebrow and says FTT, eh and his own voice Ms.! Fewer than 200 customer withdrawals, leading to customer withdrawals, leading to customer withdrawals, leading to ruin discusses... Where he majored in classics, and FTT is now worthless ; Elon, matt is! Levines piece was written more than an hour before the market went haywire physical delivery,... In fairly short order then FTXs business is riskier, because it has less collateral entirely original contribution to scholarship! On loyal readers rather than erratic ads matt levine money stuff archive customer C had all that FTT in the issue! Ruining my life was overwhelmed, wrote one publication s who of problem... 10 Billion Buyout say, the operator of the customer and backed collateral... The last week of January 2021 was incredibly, incredibly good for Robinhood, an amazingly perfect week he writing. By this standard, the operator of the customer and backed by collateral as if he is writing them! The knowledge and the FTX risk engine Bitcoins and $ 1 million as collateral a.
Castle Hill Police News, Gareth Forwood Obituary, Saracina Home Website, Kentucky Guardianship Of Minor, Articles M