NYT deep-ish dive on the world's largest cryptocurrency driven marketplace for drugs, weapons, #moneylaundering services, slaves, etc: #HuioneGuarantee in Camboida.
* NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/23/world/asia/cambodia-money-laundering-huione.html
* no paywall: https://archive.ph/CGkoc
more great reporting from Jason Mikula on the #a16z / #MarcAndreessen backed financial disaster known as Synapse, the middleman behind Yotta and others that lost track of (and maybe lost) most of their customers’ money.
Andreessen’s desire to eliminate the #CFPB for “terrorizing” #fintech companies like Synapse suggests a desire to keep backing companies that will strip mine the wallets of uneducated consumers.
Seen also: Evolve Bank & Trust (a bank popular with players like #FTX and #GeorgeSantos), #VoyagerDigital (a crypto company backed by #MarcCuban that incinerated user deposits in 2022), and #MetropolitanCommercialBank (#MCB), a NY institution beloved by the far right in Israel.
https://fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/p/regulators-should-conduct-material
@JessTheUnstill interesting fact: the #Synapse partner bank where all these issues are stemming from, Evolve Bank & Trust, has a bunch of fun properties:
1. Issuer of the #FTX debit card
2. Used by George Santos and Andy Ogles to store campaign funds
3. Banking partner of #PrimeTrust, the Nevada crypto custody company that collapsed in 2023
4. Banking partner of #BlockFi, one of the crypto "banks" that went down with the good ship FTX.
5. Recently hacked by Russians
6. Recently hit with a major fed enforcement action
Also Synapse was backed in a big way by Trump loving #a16z and Marc Andreessen.
Some more details:
https://fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/p/evolve-hit-with-fed-enforcement-action
