Crypto Kingpins
Once upon a time, there were two titans of the crypto industry: Sam Bankman-Fried, the child of Stanford professors and founder of FTX, and Changpeng Zhao, the nomadic founder of Binance. The pair were the faces of crypto, generating billion-dollar fortunes comparable to the likes of Elon Musk and Bill Gates. That is, until their rivalry threatened to burn the entire industry to the ground.For years, the pair had waged a cold war as Sam fought to unseat Zhao, or CZ, and dominate the industry. Then, last year, CZ fired a warning shot: one that would send FTX into...
Episodes
Introducing Mission K-Pop
Caty Szeto is a woman with a dream: to become a K-Pop superstar. The 23-year-old Asian American is traveling from her home in LA to South Korea’s capital Seoul to attend a K-Pop academy. There she’ll do hardcore training in singing, dancing…
Introducing...Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer - Episode 1
A deadly bioterror attack shook the U.S. and triggered one of the FBI’s most complex investigations. Aftermath takes you inside the high-stakes hunt for the Anthrax killer and the investigative breakthrough that cracked the case.Episode 1: …
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Introducing - Homegrown: OKC
Homegrown: OKC dives into a case of domestic terrorism from the past that’s really a warning about the future. Back in 1995, there was a disaster that should have prepared us for January 6th and the political violence that we’re seeing toda…
Bonus #2: CZ Pleads Guilty - The End of the Road for the Crypto Kingpins?
As another kingpin falls, what’s next for crypto? At the start of November, Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted. After weeks of complex testimony, the jury took just four hours to find him guilty of defrauding customers and investors out of bil…
Bonus #1: Courtroom Bombshells - An Update from Sam Bankman-Fried’s Trial
“He is somebody who likes double or nothing coin flips – and this is basically his last coin flip.”Since kicking off on October 3, the trial of Sam Bankman-Fried has generated headlines around the world. It’s produced hours of witness testi…
Episode 6: Kill Shot
With FTX’s debts spiraling and Alameda’s books a blackhole, Sam needs to bring in more cash fast to keep the two companies afloat. But CZ has been biding his time — and he’s done tolerating Sam’s backstabbing. When CoinDesk publishes an exp…
Episode 5: The Island Cowboy
Life’s a beach for Sam — he moves FTX to the Bahamas just as China starts cracking down on crypto and lands a jaw-dropping $200 million funding deal with Sequoia Capital. He attracts the backing of Wall Street financier and one-time Trump W…
Episode 4: Coming to America
Sam spends hundreds of millions to buy name recognition and political influence for FTX in the U.S. — and suddenly his upstart crypto exchange is everywhere, from the Miami Heat’s arena to the halls of Congress. Football stars, models, and …
Episode 3: The Wild East
Sam moves Alameda Research’s headquarters from Berkeley to Hong Kong to take advantage of the unregulated crypto market there. Caroline comes along for the ride, struggling to manage the stress of he r new job. Sam pitches investors on a ne…
Episode 2: Money and a Hat
Starting his career at a secretive Wall Street firm, Sam learns to gamble and is praised for taking big risks. He embraces Effective Altruism, a movement aimed at doing “the most good,” and starts “earning to give” big donations to charity.…
Episode 1: Silicon Valley Nerds
Two cryptocurrency titans, Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, and Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, the founder of Binance, face off in an epic struggle for the soul of crypto – a battle that will result in eight felony charges and a $3…
Introducing: Crypto Kingpins
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