15th October 2025 > > Scammers & NYC.

tl;dr

The downing of a scamming enterprise gives a boost to the US BTC Strategic Reserve. NYC finally makes a substantive pro-crypto move, but it probably won’t last long.

Market Snap

Market Wrap

You won’t be surprised to hear that following Friday’s meltdown, spot ETF flows turned negative on Monday, flushing out speculative hands that make the mistake of buying high and selling low. Yesterday, flows recovered into positive territory, which is good sign of strength from real investors, in my opinion.

I see that open interest has gone down again. Perhaps the leveraged children are finally getting the message – technical analysis is mere snake oil, and leveraging positions on the back of snake oil is never going to work out well.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Feral scammers

According to the Japan Times:

“Chen Zhi, 38, who heads Phnom Penh-based Prince Group, was charged by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, with engaging in a wire-fraud conspiracy and operating a money-laundering scheme. Chen’s operation allegedly used forced-labor (sic) in Cambodia to emotionally manipulate thousands of victims in the U.S. and around the world, fattening their accounts and then draining them in a practice known as pig butchering.”

Not just a scammer, Zhi ran an operation which included imprisoning unsuspecting individuals in high security compounds, coercing them on pain of beating and torture if they did not participate in his immoral activities. Putting him away for life in a stinking rat and cockroach-infested cell is probably too good an outcome for his like.

The only other upside to this story is that because of this investigation the US has seized 127,271 BTC valued at around $14bn which will now form part of the US strategic BTC reserve. The US is a diamond hand (like all of us I hope) – those BTC will not be for sale any time soon.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – New York City

New York City Major Eric Adams has been an immense disappointment to date.

Elected on a pro-crypto platform to a position of authority in a city that had previously boasted loudly about its anti-crypto credentials, we have been waiting since 2022 for any substantive progress, of which there has been none to the best of my knowledge. It is true that he took his first three pay checks in BTC and ETH, though it isn’t clear whether he converted back to fiat at the time (I suspect he did). He announced some other crypto initiatives, but that was all guff and didn’t change anything.

Adams recently pulled out of his re-election campaign, mired as he is in some controversy which is not of interest to us. Now that he has time on his hands not worrying about the campaign, he has turned his mind to more pressing matters, and in particular the pro-crypto promises that he made to all of us.

Yesterday, Adams announced he had signed Executive Order 57 establishing the Office of Digital Assets and Blockchain:

Without wishing to sound churlish, one can’t help but think better late than never.

Former digital assets and blockchain policy advisor, Moises Rendon, has been appointed to lead the new organisation. Moises explains:

“Mayor Adams’ creation of this new office proves that the future is now for digital assets and blockchain in New York City. I am honored to lead the nation’s first municipal office dedicated to successfully and responsibly deploying these technologies."

What are his chances of success?

I wish it were otherwise, but not very high.

…

Polymarket is showing these odds for the next Mayor who will take the reins from January 1^st, 2026:

NYC being fiercely Democratic, this is a race between an extremist and a centrist, with Mamdani almost certainly becoming the next Mayor. Though mostly quiet on the topic of cryptos, he has criticised Cuomo’s support:

"Cuomo's connections to the crypto world are a conflict of interest. He's not just a candidate; he's a lobbyist for the crypto industry."

Personally, I have always thought it necessary that politicians take a stance on the issues of the day, but Mamdani clearly feels differently. Presumably he would describe Ed Miliband as a lobbyist for the renewables industry. You can agree or not with Miliband, but you must respect his stance, for he is a democratically elected politician, elevated to Cabinet status with a clear agenda. Mamdani is obviously confused about the role of politicians in our lives, which doesn’t bode well for NYC if he becomes Mayor.

Calling for tighter crypto regulation, Mamdani’s stance on other issues (let’s not discuss them here) marks him out as anti-crypto.

Do not be surprised if Executive Order 58 dis-establishes the Office of Digital Assets and Blockchain.