FBI Sells Bitcoin, Barry Silbert, and Obama Stooge Permits Bitcoin Futures ETFs
By: Sebs Solomon—October 22, 2021
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) just made the decision to permit the first US Bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund or ETF to begin trading through the New York Stock Exchange. What does that mean? It means that bets on Bitcoin price fluctuations are allowed — through ETFs based on futures via Wall Street. ETFs are baskets of securities that can be bought and sold through a broker or the stock market. ETF structures enable “investors to short markets, gain leverage, and avoid short-term capital gains taxes.” A bitcoin futures ETF allows investors to trade bitcoin without having to go through the crypto exchanges and markets. It allows them to trade through the traditional channels and avoid issues like custody of cryptocurrencies—tell me again how this is “counter economics?” This allows investors to buy into the ETF without going through the complicated process of trading bitcoin itself. Furthermore, bitcoin ETFs let investors short sell shares of the ETF if they predict the price will go down — which cannot be done in the regular crypto market. This is basically legalized crime or just simply “business as usual.”
I suggest anyone trying to understand market manipulation and shorting watch the movie The Big Short, which does decent job at explaining what happened leading up to the 2008 housing market crash — which was a result of an excessive amount of high-risk subprime loans (that were never going to be paid back) being bundled (junk bonds) and traded in derivatives markets. Basically, the people who saw that the housing market was going to crash ended up betting against, or shorting, the mortgage-backed securities and making a fortune. This may have enriched a few hedge funds, but, as many are aware, it had a devastating effect on most people who either lost their homes or lost pensions that were invested in this market.
Now that bitcoin will officially be speculated on in the New York Stock Exchange, in the futures market through ETFs (which allow investors to short markets) — what happened with the housing market crash, can just as easily happen with Bitcoin.
Gary Gensler, Grayscale, and SEC+FedRAMP
Michael Sonnenshein, CEO of Grayscale Investments, took issue with Gary Gensler and the SEC granting ETFs based on Bitcoin Futures rather than the cryptocurrency itself. ProShares (which filed earliest) was granted a tremendous advantage when the SEC approved ProShares’ Bitcoin ETF called BITO—which does not “invest in Bitcoin itself but rather in futures contracts, a kind of financial derivative for the cryptocurrency.” Unlike Gensler, the previous SEC Chair, Jay Clayton, was against Bitcoin ETFs because he believed they could be susceptible to market manipulation (this does not mean I endorse Clayton in any way, they are all spooks). In 2017, the SEC even rejected a proposal for bitcoin ETFs that was filed by the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust.
When I looked further into ProShares, I discovered that one of the co-founders is Louis Mayberg, who also happens to be the CEO of CyLogic Inc—a cloud platform that provides high level cybersecurity for enterprises and strictly aligns with FedRAMP High authorization requirements. The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, or FedRAMP, secures cloud services for the federal government (sets the standard). Obtaining a FedRAMP High authorization is described as one of the most rigorous ‘software-as-a-service’ certifications in the world—FedRAMP is controlled by the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, and General Services Administration. To put it into context, Amazon is also FedRAMP certified as of 2019.
I suppose what I am trying to say is, it’s not surprising that ProShares has gained this advantage from the SEC, considering one of its co-founders is the CEO of CyLogic, a FedRAMP certified company that provides cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity in a variety of sectors: banking, insurance, healthcare, law firms, energy, aerospace & defense, manufacturing, and federal, state, & local governments.
Grayscale Investments—which is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG) was founded by Barry Silbert. In 2020, Silbert was named #18 in Cointelgraph’s list of 100 most influential people in the Blockchain space. Interestingly, in 2021, Silbert was named #5 in Cointelgraph’s list. That’s quite the jump. Additionally, Gary Gensler, of the SEC, was named #19 in the 2021 list of most influential people in blockchain. A side note; since the futures are considered securities instead of commodities, they can be governed “under the Investment Companies Act of 1940, giving the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission [CFTC] additional control and oversight over the markets in which it operates.” Furthermore, Gensler served as chairman of the CFTC under Obama—and in March 2021, the CFTC and SEC released a joint Enforcement Priorities document where they asserted they will be more enforcement-focused than the prior administration.
Basically, Gary Gensler is just another Obama era stooge who has been resurrected from the neoliberal crypt in order to serve under the abomination that is the Biden administration. Wonderful.
Who is Barry Silbert?
Barry Silbert purchased much of his Bitcoin from the FBI when they were selling confiscated Bitcoin in 2013 — it was part of the civil forfeiture connected to Ross Ulbricht’s Silk Road. Amazing how the price of a single bitcoin was about $270 on the day of the auction in 2013 — a single Bitcoin is worth more than $60,000 today (October 2021). At that time, in 2013, Silbert won the bidding for 48,000 bitcoins, which is worth almost 3billion dollars today. According to mainstream news, the story was leaked to the public because the US Marshals sent out an email about the auction and one of the recipients showed the email to someone from CoinDesk, a crypto news publication — which has since been acquired by Silbert’s Digital Currency Group (oh, the irony). Silbert once told CNBC he believes:
The vast majority of tokens will go to zero in the following years but that Bitcoin will remain strong as a “digital gold” despite a slow technical progress.
Although Silbert is just one person, his words carry a lot of weight because he is one of the biggest players in the crypto space. Silbert has also made contributions to PACs in Foreign & Defense Policy—such as, Free Syra PAC, New Cuba PAC, and Pro-Africa PAC. — *Thank you Jack Sith for finding these*— All of these PACs are associated with “pro-democracy” or George Soros-type organizations that funnel money to countries targeted by NATO for regime change or other big business interests. There may be real opposition groups in those countries, but the intention of those types of shady organizations (funding opposition groups) is to further global capital interests—nothing else.
To Conclude
Many of us are already aware of the corruption that runs rampant with fiat currency and the fact that it is backed by blood spilled from the overt militarism that keeps the dollar afloat; so, I am not here advocating for the monetary structure to remain the way it is now. However, that does not mean that I will blindly endorse Bitcoin, Ethereum, or any other cryptocurrency for the simple fact that it’s “not the petrodollar.” And I am not judging anyone who chooses to engage in this space to make money, I get it, go ahead and get yours, homie. What does bother me, though, is the people who try to advocate for cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, as though it is some revolutionary tool that will liberate the masses because that is simply, NOT TRUE. The currency is completely captured by the banking oligarchs and the plebs do not have control in how the overlords choose to speculate with it.
So, please (I’m talking to you—Bitcoin hustlers in the alternative media space) stop giving your audience half truths just because you invested in the currency long before and it “worked out” for you.
I am sure many of you mean well and maybe some of you don’t even know about the dark forces at play here, but I beg you to please do your research before leading sheep to slaughter. I have been quiet and I have been kind in addressing most of you, don’t make me get mean. Just joking. Seriously though, do you really think the real problem is the currency or through which medium it’s used? First of all, digitizing all transactions (whether with cryptocurrencies or with CBDCs) is going to create a surveillance apparatus that many of us cannot even conceive of right now because, I assure you, it will be dystopia times infinity.
Imagine all of the current most powerful and corrupt cretins with the ethics of George W. Bush or Dick Cheney, having the ability to control your movement in real-time through geofencing (facilitated through the digital wallets tied to these cryptocurrencies or CBDCs). Didn’t pay your taxes? They’ll take it out of your digital wallet without your permission. Didn’t take your tenth booster shot? Tough luck, you won’t be able to buy groceries because access to your digital wallet is suspended until you have digital proof of compliance. Post something on social media they don’t like? They’ll freeze your digital wallet and block you from accessing your own money until you take it down. Think about that the next time you post a snarky comment about Obama or Nancy Pelosi. Obviously, I am being hyperbolic to make a point, but those examples are not as far-fetched as you might think.
Peace and Blessings
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