“@matt_levine goes deep on crypto” is self-recommending but in case you want another recommendation I have read every word of this and it is just as wonderful as you would expect. bloomberg.com/features/2022-…
A short 🧵 just to whet your appetite… One thing that shines through in this piece is that although it’s a very nerdy dive into financial technology, it’s also a moral essay.

I wrote this morning about specific performance, and why Elon Musk can't just walk away from the Twitter deal while paying a $1 billion termination fee. A 🧵:
axios.com/2022/05/14/the… First, yes, the termination fee is a real thing. If Elon walks away, it applies. But there's *also* an explicit section on specific performance, which means, Elon can't just walk away; a judge can force him to go through with the agreed acquisition.

I'm super happy that @artdetective has written this story about BOGO ("buy one, give one") and its discontents. It's a great little corner of the contemporary art world to delve into. So let's delve! news.artnet.com/news-pro/bogo-… The way it works is simple: If you're a collector wanting to buy a primary work by a hot artist, the way you get to the front of the queue is by promising to simultaneously buy a second work to gift to a museum.

I think people have misunderstood something important about blockchain and money laundering in the wake of the Dutch/Razzlekhan arrests. Which is that it was mostly normal TradFi AML that made it hard for them to launder their BTC, rather than inherent blockchain transparency. They could *own* BTC no problem. They could create new wallets and transfer the BTC from wallet to wallet no problem. They could even tumble the BTC and get new BTC that weren't easily traceable back to the original heist. They just couldn't convert that BTC to USD.

It's time for another 🧵about promoted tweets from @MasterworksIO. You might recall we've talked about these things in the past, when the company was using made-up returns on actual paintings to promote its product.

https://twitter.com/felixsalmon/status/1389035348869754883

I would HIGHLY recommend that @mfriedenberg and @aagalloni take a significant minority investment in the new @Justin_B_Smith @benyt venture, and give them free desk space in Reuters bureaus around the world, for reasons I glossed here, in 2018. vox.com/2018/3/16/1712… @mfriedenberg @aagalloni @Justin_B_Smith @benyt The value exchange could be enormous on both sides. The Smiths need a plan for what they're going to do when they're sued in any one of dozens of jurisdictions; Reuters can be very helpful there.

I have this theory that professionals can only communicate in 2 directions, which is why it’s very rare to see union leaders in the press. A short 🧵…

https://twitter.com/TheStalwart/status/1453701077124141056

CEOs communicate down, to their employees, and also out, to the world. They’re generally the main spokesperson for the company.

Trying to work out what this could be. “A successful enforcement action, as well as two related actions, by a U.S. federal regulator and a foreign regulator.” In the amount of about $1b-$2b. cftc.gov/PressRoom/Pres… I mean, if the CFTC is going to put out blind-item press releases, of course we’re all going to start guessing

I have a story out this morning about the staggering amount of unemployment fraud that has happened over the past year — as much as $400b. A quick 🧵:
axios.com/pandemic-unemp… First, yes, this data comes from security companies with skin in the game — ID.me and LexisNexis. Also, crime statistics are always fuzzy. There's nothing here that's precise. On the other hand, government sources aren't disputing these numbers.

I’m genuinely interested: Who is the man on the left, and what does the $2.1m number refer to?

Ed Ruscha’s “Hurting the Word Radio #2” was bought directly from the artist in the early 70s by Joan & Jack Quinn, for much less than $2.1m; they sold it for $52m. cc @MasterworksIO who might be able to shed some light on this

My free idea for Substack: Allow people to pay for emails they’ve read and enjoyed, rather than forcing them to only pay for emails that haven’t even been written yet. A subscription is a big commitment. But when I read a great email like @CaseyNewton’s yesterday, I would love to pay him a buck or two to say “thank you for doing that reporting, this was great.”

Where can I find the download link if I want to download the 21,069 x 21,069 Beeple that just sold for $69 million? Is that possible? Found it! Here it is: ipfsgateway.makersplace.com/ipfs/QmXkxpwAH…

It really is an interesting artwork. For one thing, at least one of the Everydays is duplicated:

Here’s @andrewrsorkin on Friedman and stakeholder capitalism. His choice of words here — “making” stedda “growing” — is an important sleight of hand that often undergirds my debates with @Three_Guineas on this subject. nytimes.com/2020/09/11/bus… Hotels are some of the longest-running businesses in the world. So let’s consider a hotel that has been run by the same family for 250 years. Its owners need to *make* money, sure. They’re rich capitalists. But they don’t need to *increase* their profits every year.

These are two wildly different things, @nathanielpopper. How can you conflate them? nytimes.com/2020/07/08/tec… @nathanielpopper If you’re dividing revenue by average account size, then obviously mostly what you’re measuring is the number of accounts, not revenue per account or per dollar.

This "Catherine the Great" story in Tatler just broke my mind so I am going to have to tweetstorm it sorry This is the lede. Um wat?

I really don't think I'm exaggerating when I said that today, more than any other day, marks the end of the world as we knew it. (thread) I was in Piccadilly Circus at 11pm London time, when the UK officially left the EU. The big billboard was a huge sign saying "London is Open". But who were they trying to kid.

My theory about the Teen Vogue / Facebook fiasco is that it was a classic corporate cock-up on both sides. (1/5) On the FB side, one part of the company decided to sponsor the Teen Vogue conference, and buys a package that includes website sponcon. So they say "here, write an article about these women," make the necessary introductions, and are then promptly forgotten. (2/5)

Really interesting @gavinfranc piece on vax and anti-vaxx. A short thread of things that jumped out at me:
nybooks.com/articles/2019/… @gavinfranc 1. Parents who haven’t vaccinated their kids are well aware of the opprobrium directed towards them. This gives them incentives to lie and to be reluctant to visit the ER. Making matters even worse.