美国国家公共电台 NPR--Cryptocurrency exchange FTX files for bankruptcy

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX files for bankruptcy¹

Transcript²

One of the world's largest crypto exchanges has filed for bankruptcy. Facing a liquidity³ crunch⁴, FTX stopped withdrawals⁵, and one of its rivals declined to step in to help.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The cryptocurrency giant FTX has filed for bankruptcy. Just recently, it was a popular trading site valued at $30 billion. Now its CEO has resigned, and the company has imploded⁶, with big economic implications that could spread beyond crypto. NPR's David Gura is here with all the details. Hey, David.

DAVID GURA, BYLINE⁷: Hey, Rachel.

MARTIN: All right. So first, tell me about this bankruptcy filing. What do we know?

GURA: Yeah. So about a week after the first signs of trouble, FTX - which has been a huge player in the world of crypto, really one of the largest crypto exchanges, with a big international presence - filed for bankruptcy protection in Delaware, along with 130 affiliated⁸ companies. It had this very charismatic founder⁹ and CEO named Sam Bankman-Fried. He was, until recently, a billionaire many times over. Well, this morning, FTX says he's resigned. He now faces a lot of legal and regulatory scrutiny¹⁰. And the backstory here - again, this goes back just a few days - is there were rumors¹¹ and reports FTX was not fully¹² solvent¹³. And after another crypto billionaire, one of Sam Bankman-Fried's rivals, publicly withdrew his assets from FTX. There was panic, basically a run on FTX, which halted withdrawals. And, Rachel, what we've learned since is much of the substance of those rumors and reports was real.

MARTIN: Wow. So what does this mean for crypto? I mean, is it all just smoke and mirrors, David?

GURA: Well, to be determined¹⁴, but first and foremost, it's very likely FTX's customers are going to lose their money. The company's new CEO says in a statement his goal is to maximize recoveries for shareholders¹⁵. But a prominent venture capital firm that invested in FTX says it's written that investment down to zero. It sees it as worthless. And the fallout from this is going to extend far beyond FTX. Lee Reiners runs the Duke Financial Economics Center.

LEE REINERS: The crypto economy is tightly interconnected, right? FTX's failure hasn't happened in a vacuum. I mean, over the past year, we've been in what's known as the crypto winter. We've seen a number of high-profile failures.

GURA: In fact, FTX stepped in to try to prevent some of those failures during this downturn, during this crypto winter, which Reiners says is turning into a crypto ice age. Now there are questions about what happens to deals Sam Bankman-Fried made to bail¹⁶ out and to buy out rival companies. And all this uncertainty¹⁷ has just added more volatility¹⁸ to an already very volatile¹⁹ asset. Bitcoin is down about 75% from a year ago, when it hit its all-time high.

MARTIN: OK, so this has obviously rocked the world of crypto. But, I mean, the economy's all connected, right? So how likely is this to be felt beyond crypto in the broader economy?

GURA: Well, it seems unlikely this is going to be another Lehman moment, as some have suggested, meaning a crisis like we saw back in 2008 with the investment bank Lehman Brothers that contributed to the global financial crisis. Lee Reiners at Duke says there's no evidence it will be. So, for instance, Rachel, this has not dragged down the stock market substantially.

REINERS: It hasn't spilled into the traditional financial system and threatened financial stability. And we should view that as a policy success.

GURA: Reiners says there's still a pretty stark²⁰ divide between crypto and the traditional finance system, and the value of crypto is tiny relative to, say, the value of stocks. But this is raising alarm again, Rachel, about how little regulation there is in crypto, how little protection there is. Remember; there's no lender of last resort in crypto, no government agency that's standing²¹ by to bail out this company or its customers.

MARTIN: So is Sam Bankman-Fried saying anything?

GURA: He's apologized in a very long Twitter thread. He's staying on to help with the transition to new leadership. But the situation here is dire²². FTX's U.S. platform issued a short warning it may halt trading in the coming days. We don't know how the Chapter 11 filing is going to affect that right now. And we're going to hear more from politicians and regulators in the U.S., but also around the world, including in the Bahamas, where FTX is headquartered. Regulators there have taken steps already to freeze the firm's assets.

MARTIN: NPR's David Gura. We appreciate you, David. Thanks.

GURA: Thanks, Rachel.

1 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 liquidity   

n.流动性，偿债能力，流动资产

参考例句：

• The bank has progressively increased its liquidity.银行逐渐地增加其流动资产。
• The demand for and the supply of credit is closely linked to changes in liquidity.信用的供求和流动资金的变化有密切关系。

4 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

5 withdrawals   

n.收回，取回，撤回( withdrawal的名词复数 )；撤退，撤走；收回[取回，撤回，撤退，撤走]的实例；推出（组织），提走（存款），戒除毒瘾，对说过的话收回，孤僻

参考例句：

• He has made several withdrawals from his bank account. 他从银行账户上提了几次款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It is not the bank's policy to deduct interest on withdrawals. 提款需扣除利息这并非是本银行的政策。 来自辞典例句

6 imploded   

v.（使）向心聚爆( implode的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The economies of Brazil and Russia imploded in 1998. 巴西与俄罗斯的经济在1998年宣告破裂。 来自互联网
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

7 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

8 affiliated   

adj. 附属的, 有关连的

参考例句：

• The hospital is affiliated with the local university. 这家医院附属于当地大学。
• All affiliated members can vote. 所有隶属成员都有投票权。

9 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

10 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

11 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

13 solvent   

n.溶剂；adj.有偿付能力的

参考例句：

• Gasoline is a solvent liquid which removes grease spots.汽油是一种能去掉油污的有溶解力的液体。
• A bankrupt company is not solvent.一个破产的公司是没有偿还债务的能力的。

14 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

15 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

16 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

17 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

18 volatility   

n.挥发性，挥发度，轻快，（性格）反复无常

参考例句：

• That was one reason why volatility was so low last year.这也是去年波动性如此低的原因之一。
• Yet because volatility remained low for so long,disaster myopia prevailed.然而，由于相当长的时间里波动性小，灾难短视就获胜了。

19 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

20 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

21 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

22 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。