March 6, 2023 • 17 mins
It’s been three months since one of the most influential crypto exchanges collapsed into bankruptcy. FTX’s demise brought with it a wave of financial uncertainty and distress in the crypto industry. But it also had an effect on the small islands where the crypto exchange had established its headquarters: the island nation of the Bahamas.
This is not the Caribbean’s first financial crisis. History suggests it won’t be the last. But it is perhaps one of the highest profile losses, and potentially the most damaging. It comes as islands in the region try to diversify away from tourism revenue.
The Bahamas had high hopes that an ambitious financial sector would achieve that. But crypto was a big part of that game plan, and now it’s gone.
Can the Bahamas fill the gap left in its financial sector? Can the nation still be a hub for digital assets? Bloomberg’s Katanga Johnson joins this episode.
Subscribe to the Bloomberg Crypto Newsletter at https://bloom.bg/cryptonewsletter
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
I'm Stacy Marie Ishmel, Managing editor of Crypto for Bloomberg News,
and this is Bloomberg Crypto, a daily Bloomberg ihod podcast.
It's Monday, March sixth. It's been three months since one
(00:27):
of the most influential crypto exchanges in the world collapsed
into bankruptcy. Ftx's demise brought with it a wave of
financial uncertainty and frankly distress in the crypto industry, and
it also had a very significant effect on the small
islands where the crypto exchange had established its headquarters, the
island nation of the Bahamas. To be clear, this is
(00:48):
not the Caribbean's first financial crisis, and history suggests it
won't be the last. But it is perhaps one of
the highest profile losses experience to date, and potentially the
most damaging so far. And it comes just as islands
in the region try to diversify away from tourism revenue.
The Bahamas had high hopes that an ambitious financial sector
(01:10):
would help it achieve its goals. Crypto was a big
part of that game plan, and now FTX has gone.
Can the Bahamas fill the gap left in its financial sector?
Will the nations still be a hub for digital assets.
Bloomberg's Katanga Johnson has been reporting all about this, and
he joins me, now, Katanga, welcome to the podcast. It's
(01:34):
so good to be here. I'm kind of happy that
you're still talking to me because I feel like the
last time I called you, then you were like in
a place for a very long time, perhaps unexpectedly. This
is one of the downsides of saying yes to the
crypto team. Chaotic things happened. What happened exactly. What happened
in the Bahamas was essentially a nation's attempt to rebrand
(01:57):
itself not just as the long standing financial haven that
welcomed banks and insurance companies and realtors and all sorts
of other institutions, but one that could welcome new entrants
to the financial industry with a set of rules, albeit
rules that were still immature, that still needed room to grow.
(02:21):
But it was an opportunity. Right, you have the perfect
company that made its way to the shores, as well
as the set of regulation that preceded the company's arrival.
That company, of course, was FTX right and the Behaman government,
financial professionals and the regulatory from clients space as well
as everyday Behamans who many of who might have spent
(02:43):
some time like learning about crypto because they were exposed
to it in the United States, or others who were
just hopeful that maybe this could be the new frontier finance.
A lot of people welcomed it for different reasons, and
what happened was this, essentially, as people described to me
during my seven almost eight weeks there, there was a
lot of hope put into FTX, its promises, its investments
(03:05):
as being a part of the future, and then realistically
sort of a reckoning with realizing that, oh, the right
checks and balance is to make sure that this company
could thrive and could be successful. Essentially, we're not We're
not quite there. Why was it so important to the
Bahamas to try to attract companies like FTX in the
(03:27):
first place. There is this long standing understanding of the
Bahamas being a financial paradise, and I think over time
over the last perhaps we can say from the last
financial crisis and the ways in which they may or
may not have been tie ups with companies that were
headquartered there, the country was trying to change its reputation
to become a more stringent financial haven. If you will,
or more like tax friendly rather than just being a
(03:49):
tax haven, if you will. That subtle change meant that
the regulations that the dear Act your Last Sets and
Regulated Entities Act, Regulated Exchanges Act rather that Act was
meant to be this sort of premier unveiling of how
they were over the past decade serious about changing its
reputation in the marketplace as well as a race to
(04:11):
the finish. Larger industrialized nations like the US, of course
hadn't quite come to a consensus about whether there was
a need for regulations entirely, and of course other nations
were also attempting to ready their own regulations, and I
think the Bahamas caught wind of that and thought we're
we're going to be first, and was successful in that regard.
As you say, you mentioned the DARE Act, right the
(04:31):
Digital Assets and Registered Exchanges. When was that introduced and
what was it designed to really achieve? The DARE Act
was introduced in twenty twenty, and essentially it was designed
to be just a bare bones framework to show that
the Bahamas was willing to welcome what would be a
(04:52):
sort of an exchange, a dialogue between registered you know,
digital asset providers and crypto companies in thinking through like, so,
here are the regulations in response to this, how do
you cryptocompany X y Z plan to help enhance this
suite of regulations and show that with regulations you can
(05:12):
do what's right. Essentially, that you can be innovative and
you can make commitments and carry on carry on in
that way. And we had an opportunity to speak to
the Chair of the Security Commission of the Bahamas, Christina
who Role, who described it as robust, but essentially it
was it was still very much immature. That is to say,
it needed room to grow, and that's only possible when
(05:34):
faced with certain risks. The derect though, she made clear,
and others came well before FDx started to court the Bahamas,
and it really was away for the country to sort
of race to the finish in trying to beat out
its counterparts in the region. But essentially it was meant
to be a suite of regulations that would, over time,
(05:55):
with the regulators sort of inspections and examinations of the
companies that would fall under it, help improve it helped
him get better. In fact, there was already a preparation
this year that started, I guess last year to sort
of enhance it. There's a draft, there's a mock up
of an amendment to it. And that was what the
country pointed to as showing that it was already starting
(06:15):
to take into account, not just FTX, but other I
think they were at the time, maybe eight there were
a registered That number of course fluctuates depending on a
company's standing, but they were hoping to make it better
and make it robust. But they made it clear that
it was the welcoming post, but it would only be
fortified over time. When you were there and you know,
talking to folks who had either non Bankmen Freed no
(06:37):
and other folks from FTX or had been affected by
the collapse because they had local employees. For instance, what
was the sentiment of the people who were trying to
figure out what had happened when the company said that
they had gotten approval to allow withdrawals for clients in
the Bahamas. That approval, they described was really an exchange
between the regulator and the company, and I think Bankmen
(06:59):
Freed sent the email on behalf of the company to
say that if you do not respond to this request,
and this would have been the Thursday before the major withdrawals,
if you will, or into the midnight of Friday morning
that Friday morning, November twelfth. If I'm not mistaken, this
exchange just said that if you don't respond to this note,
then we will carry on with this plan to allow
clients in the Bahamas to withdraw because we don't want to.
(07:22):
And I think the language was spoke to the fact
that the sentiment was we don't want to piss off
the Behaman government or in any way ruin the relationship
we have with our clients and the people here. But
that wasn't a direct nod by the regulator, to be
fair of them saying yes, you can allow that. But
the understanding I think at the time, though before this
was made public, was that is bankman freed in cahoots
(07:43):
with the Behaming government or with the regulator or both.
Did clients in the Bahamas get special privileges that clients
all around the country, part of me, all around the
United States, all around certain parts of Asia and elsewhere
didn't get? And if so, why is that? We now
know what that exchange looked like. But at the time
it was a point of contention. There were reports of
(08:04):
people flying in on private jets trying to bribe those
clients in the Bahamas to help other clients, these global
clients sort of like offload or you know, withdraw their funds.
There were even discussions about whether certain banks were involved
in allowing that during that particular window. But I think
that confusion, that lack of clarity, particularly around those withdrawals,
(08:25):
is still a sore point for a lot of people
who feel as if they were short changed. Even if,
like if we take what explanations bank man Freed is
given around the decision making about mismanaging funds, people, still
that particular window of time is still a sore point
for a lot of people on the ground. Up next,
you'll hear more from Bloomberg report to Katanga Johnson on
what's happening with the Bahamas post FTX. We'll be right
(08:48):
back now. When you went to the Bahamas, and you know,
I remember we were like, hey, can you go to
the apartment, Hey, can you find can you find the jail? Hey?
(09:09):
It was just this like wackable of assignments. What things
like stood out to you in terms of the first
few days, particularly before he was officially arrested and then afterwards,
like as people as it was sort of sinking in
for more and more people in the island that this
was real and happening. It was remarkable that the layman,
(09:32):
the everyday Bahamian really did communicate to me at least
that they thought, oh, this is all some big misunderstanding.
It can be the case this person is truly hiding
after being so public and engaged in the community. Right,
former employees had it, you know, they were singing a
different tone. The people were cautious in talking to me,
but generally the consensus was, whatever the issue was here,
(09:53):
there must be an explanation around where the funds are.
So even if even if there's a concern about whether
Sam's complying or not or what happened, that there must
be some bigger explanation. And I think as I look back,
it really speaks to the fact that what had gone
on was in fully communicated to staff at a certain level,
(10:14):
even among the compliance staff that were on the ground,
many of whom were Behamian. The company made a lot
of good faith efforts in terms of and there've been
reports about this. Right people would talk about the sort
of parties they hosted and how people were invited to
attend those parties at a staff level, and they were
so extravagant. People were recounted the ways in which many
(10:34):
of the employees might have left like really good civil
servant jobs, or left their jobs at other financial stitutions
and like double their salary by working there, or you know,
people would describe knowing that, oh, here was the beginning
of what seemed to be a company that I think
up to sixty of the say one hundred and twenty
staff members were Behamians, or there was like equity in
that way, and they were well paid and they were
(10:57):
able to expense meals or grocery in the life. These
are the kinds of things people described, and they would
they would describe it in a way to say that
it's a company that puts a value on its staff,
and its reputation in this way is unlike other financial institutions.
So it's it's that the novelty of crypto almost makes
it seem cool and exciting, not just because of the
(11:17):
product itself, but because of the culture. So they felt
taken care of. People felt taken care of indeed, and
they felt that because of that, whatever was happening with
respect to these withdrawals and the funds. It could all
be explained. But that quickly changed, didn't it, especially among
people who didn't There were even people in the Bahamas
(11:39):
who didn't benefit from being able to withdraw their funds,
and those people were the most adamant that something didn't
quite smell right, as they'd say, and people would even
point to some signals from the Crypto Bahamas conference that
took place months prior, but didn't quite understand what it was.
They too, were perplexed given what they knew about the
company and its culture, what they knew about the cast
(12:00):
of characters at the highest level, and what was happening now.
You reported on the jail and the detention conditions that
bankun Freed was in. Was there any perception in the
Bahamas after he was arrested that he was also getting
kind of a different tier of I don't know, cozy
custody than might have been afforded to local residents. But
(12:23):
the onset it seemed that he would be treated like
everyone else the night he was arrested, but that quickly
changed the next day when he appeared at his arrayment,
hearing one distinct moment that comes to mind is that
the hearing it started on time he appeared, and before
he was even able to introduce himself, there was a
question about whether his nights stay was pleasing or suitable
(12:46):
for him, and the judge, the presiding judge, so that question,
like you know, sort of mind is blown. Was your
stay in prison, okay, sir? Your stay in prison okay?
Just you know, just for that evening before we even
get to the heart of the matter. And and then
there was this pause, you know, even described meeting certain
medicine for his ADHD for I think perhaps other conditions
(13:06):
that might have included insomnia and then his allergies, and
one of them was prescribed that I think the other
two were not. The ADHD was prescription was for dropping
out the allergy and the insomnia prescription. And the hearing
was held. There was a recess called for about an
hour hour and a half so that his family members
who were with him could be accompanied by police to
(13:26):
drive across town maybe thirty minutes away maybe last right,
if you're in a police murdicate or caravan to get
his medicine so that he can be able to take
it before it starts and that's in many ways a
basic human right. But it stands in stark contrast to
the prison in the Bahamas, where of course there have
been complaints even as high as the US government sort
(13:48):
of criticizing the country in some ways for the conditions
of the prison, and people kind of pointed out how
his treatment was much different even though there were these
allegations against him at this point, you know, weeks into
the initial news breaking would have gone. So that was
one interesting tidbit. Over the course of the next week
or so, with various hearings, however, things did what one
(14:09):
might have expected with that sort of initial theatrics, though
at the end of the day didn't didn't he his
you know, Baer request was denied, and right, it seems
now like it was all just a funny, funny joke
to to sort of start the day. What an interesting
time now, I find because I am from an island
in the Caribbean, Trinidad, that most people think they understand
(14:31):
would have like extremely narrow, you know, definitions of like
this is what this island was like, this is what
Trinidadian is like, this is what the Caribbean is like.
What for you was the most common misconception about the
Bahamas or about the people in the Bahamas are about
regulators that you had to attempt to dispel in the
(14:51):
process of your reporting on this story, states Marie. Like you,
I am also from a nation in the West Indies,
I'm from the Bahamas, which made the story so exciting,
you know, But first informist. I see myself as a
remember the press, as someone who is pursuing truth, and
I went in with that particular like understanding of what
I was doing and tried to engage with people, even
people I knew, in the same way. One observation I made, though,
(15:15):
was that in some ways you may think of the
Bahamas as a place that's sleepy and quiet, and that
people are not as informed of maybe their risks of
dancing with the devil, if you will, right, sort of
not taking seriously what could go wrong when you're courting
such a novel, you know, engaging in such a novel
industry and going further than even again, as we established, right,
(15:37):
even the US went in terms of codifying regulations around
around crypto. I think it kind of shows, and this
is the nation's fiftieth year of independence, it kind of
shows that the nation's ready to be bold and sort
of take off the training wheels, and that comes with
a big risk. And this hopefully is a learning lesson.
But the way I see it, based on just the
dozens of people I spoke to and continued to engage with,
(15:58):
I think it's turning out to be that this might
have been the best thing that ever happened to the
Mohammas to help it mature in a way that it
had hoped it would. By even welcoming FDx to begin with, Katanga,
has been such a pleasure having you on the show.
Thank you so much for joining us, Thanks for having me.
That was Bloomberg Reporto Katanga Johnson. You can find more
of his reporting on the Bloomberg Terminal and on Bloomberg
dot com, and of course, be sure to check out
(16:19):
our twice weekly crypto newsletter, Bloomberg Crypto. This is Bloomberg Crypto,
a daily podcast from Bloomberg and iHeartRadio. For more shows
from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts. Send us your comments, questions or
(16:40):
suggestions for the show to Crypto at Bloomberg dot net.
The supervising producer of Bloomberg Crypto is Vicky Vergalina. Our
senior producer is Janet Babin. Our producers are Mohammed Faroup
and Sharon Barrero. Our associate producers are Ty Butler and
Moses on Desto wonder Ad is our engineer. Original music
(17:02):
by Leo Sidron. I'm Stacy Mariagemaal. We'll be back tomorrow
I'm Stacy Marie Ishmel, Managing editor of Crypto for Bloomberg News,
and this is Bloomberg Crypto, a daily Bloomberg ihod podcast.
It's Monday, March sixth. It's been three months since one
(00:27):
of the most influential crypto exchanges in the world collapsed
into bankruptcy. Ftx's demise brought with it a wave of
financial uncertainty and frankly distress in the crypto industry, and
it also had a very significant effect on the small
islands where the crypto exchange had established its headquarters, the
island nation of the Bahamas. To be clear, this is
(00:48):
not the Caribbean's first financial crisis, and history suggests it
won't be the last. But it is perhaps one of
the highest profile losses experience to date, and potentially the
most damaging so far. And it comes just as islands
in the region try to diversify away from tourism revenue.
The Bahamas had high hopes that an ambitious financial sector
(01:10):
would help it achieve its goals. Crypto was a big
part of that game plan, and now FTX has gone.
Can the Bahamas fill the gap left in its financial sector?
Will the nations still be a hub for digital assets.
Bloomberg's Katanga Johnson has been reporting all about this, and
he joins me, now, Katanga, welcome to the podcast. It's
(01:34):
so good to be here. I'm kind of happy that
you're still talking to me because I feel like the
last time I called you, then you were like in
a place for a very long time, perhaps unexpectedly. This
is one of the downsides of saying yes to the
crypto team. Chaotic things happened. What happened exactly. What happened
in the Bahamas was essentially a nation's attempt to rebrand
(01:57):
itself not just as the long standing financial haven that
welcomed banks and insurance companies and realtors and all sorts
of other institutions, but one that could welcome new entrants
to the financial industry with a set of rules, albeit
rules that were still immature, that still needed room to grow.
(02:21):
But it was an opportunity. Right, you have the perfect
company that made its way to the shores, as well
as the set of regulation that preceded the company's arrival.
That company, of course, was FTX right and the Behaman government,
financial professionals and the regulatory from clients space as well
as everyday Behamans who many of who might have spent
(02:43):
some time like learning about crypto because they were exposed
to it in the United States, or others who were
just hopeful that maybe this could be the new frontier finance.
A lot of people welcomed it for different reasons, and
what happened was this, essentially, as people described to me
during my seven almost eight weeks there, there was a
lot of hope put into FTX, its promises, its investments
(03:05):
as being a part of the future, and then realistically
sort of a reckoning with realizing that, oh, the right
checks and balance is to make sure that this company
could thrive and could be successful. Essentially, we're not We're
not quite there. Why was it so important to the
Bahamas to try to attract companies like FTX in the
(03:27):
first place. There is this long standing understanding of the
Bahamas being a financial paradise, and I think over time
over the last perhaps we can say from the last
financial crisis and the ways in which they may or
may not have been tie ups with companies that were
headquartered there, the country was trying to change its reputation
to become a more stringent financial haven. If you will,
or more like tax friendly rather than just being a
(03:49):
tax haven, if you will. That subtle change meant that
the regulations that the dear Act your Last Sets and
Regulated Entities Act, Regulated Exchanges Act rather that Act was
meant to be this sort of premier unveiling of how
they were over the past decade serious about changing its
reputation in the marketplace as well as a race to
(04:11):
the finish. Larger industrialized nations like the US, of course
hadn't quite come to a consensus about whether there was
a need for regulations entirely, and of course other nations
were also attempting to ready their own regulations, and I
think the Bahamas caught wind of that and thought we're
we're going to be first, and was successful in that regard.
As you say, you mentioned the DARE Act, right the
(04:31):
Digital Assets and Registered Exchanges. When was that introduced and
what was it designed to really achieve? The DARE Act
was introduced in twenty twenty, and essentially it was designed
to be just a bare bones framework to show that
the Bahamas was willing to welcome what would be a
(04:52):
sort of an exchange, a dialogue between registered you know,
digital asset providers and crypto companies in thinking through like, so,
here are the regulations in response to this, how do
you cryptocompany X y Z plan to help enhance this
suite of regulations and show that with regulations you can
(05:12):
do what's right. Essentially, that you can be innovative and
you can make commitments and carry on carry on in
that way. And we had an opportunity to speak to
the Chair of the Security Commission of the Bahamas, Christina
who Role, who described it as robust, but essentially it
was it was still very much immature. That is to say,
it needed room to grow, and that's only possible when
(05:34):
faced with certain risks. The derect though, she made clear,
and others came well before FDx started to court the Bahamas,
and it really was away for the country to sort
of race to the finish in trying to beat out
its counterparts in the region. But essentially it was meant
to be a suite of regulations that would, over time,
(05:55):
with the regulators sort of inspections and examinations of the
companies that would fall under it, help improve it helped
him get better. In fact, there was already a preparation
this year that started, I guess last year to sort
of enhance it. There's a draft, there's a mock up
of an amendment to it. And that was what the
country pointed to as showing that it was already starting
(06:15):
to take into account, not just FTX, but other I
think they were at the time, maybe eight there were
a registered That number of course fluctuates depending on a
company's standing, but they were hoping to make it better
and make it robust. But they made it clear that
it was the welcoming post, but it would only be
fortified over time. When you were there and you know,
talking to folks who had either non Bankmen Freed no
(06:37):
and other folks from FTX or had been affected by
the collapse because they had local employees. For instance, what
was the sentiment of the people who were trying to
figure out what had happened when the company said that
they had gotten approval to allow withdrawals for clients in
the Bahamas. That approval, they described was really an exchange
between the regulator and the company, and I think Bankmen
(06:59):
Freed sent the email on behalf of the company to
say that if you do not respond to this request,
and this would have been the Thursday before the major withdrawals,
if you will, or into the midnight of Friday morning
that Friday morning, November twelfth. If I'm not mistaken, this
exchange just said that if you don't respond to this note,
then we will carry on with this plan to allow
clients in the Bahamas to withdraw because we don't want to.
(07:22):
And I think the language was spoke to the fact
that the sentiment was we don't want to piss off
the Behaman government or in any way ruin the relationship
we have with our clients and the people here. But
that wasn't a direct nod by the regulator, to be
fair of them saying yes, you can allow that. But
the understanding I think at the time, though before this
was made public, was that is bankman freed in cahoots
(07:43):
with the Behaming government or with the regulator or both.
Did clients in the Bahamas get special privileges that clients
all around the country, part of me, all around the
United States, all around certain parts of Asia and elsewhere
didn't get? And if so, why is that? We now
know what that exchange looked like. But at the time
it was a point of contention. There were reports of
(08:04):
people flying in on private jets trying to bribe those
clients in the Bahamas to help other clients, these global
clients sort of like offload or you know, withdraw their funds.
There were even discussions about whether certain banks were involved
in allowing that during that particular window. But I think
that confusion, that lack of clarity, particularly around those withdrawals,
(08:25):
is still a sore point for a lot of people
who feel as if they were short changed. Even if,
like if we take what explanations bank man Freed is
given around the decision making about mismanaging funds, people, still
that particular window of time is still a sore point
for a lot of people on the ground. Up next,
you'll hear more from Bloomberg report to Katanga Johnson on
what's happening with the Bahamas post FTX. We'll be right
(08:48):
back now. When you went to the Bahamas, and you know,
I remember we were like, hey, can you go to
the apartment, Hey, can you find can you find the jail? Hey?
(09:09):
It was just this like wackable of assignments. What things
like stood out to you in terms of the first
few days, particularly before he was officially arrested and then afterwards,
like as people as it was sort of sinking in
for more and more people in the island that this
was real and happening. It was remarkable that the layman,
(09:32):
the everyday Bahamian really did communicate to me at least
that they thought, oh, this is all some big misunderstanding.
It can be the case this person is truly hiding
after being so public and engaged in the community. Right,
former employees had it, you know, they were singing a
different tone. The people were cautious in talking to me,
but generally the consensus was, whatever the issue was here,
(09:53):
there must be an explanation around where the funds are.
So even if even if there's a concern about whether
Sam's complying or not or what happened, that there must
be some bigger explanation. And I think as I look back,
it really speaks to the fact that what had gone
on was in fully communicated to staff at a certain level,
(10:14):
even among the compliance staff that were on the ground,
many of whom were Behamian. The company made a lot
of good faith efforts in terms of and there've been
reports about this. Right people would talk about the sort
of parties they hosted and how people were invited to
attend those parties at a staff level, and they were
so extravagant. People were recounted the ways in which many
(10:34):
of the employees might have left like really good civil
servant jobs, or left their jobs at other financial stitutions
and like double their salary by working there, or you know,
people would describe knowing that, oh, here was the beginning
of what seemed to be a company that I think
up to sixty of the say one hundred and twenty
staff members were Behamians, or there was like equity in
that way, and they were well paid and they were
(10:57):
able to expense meals or grocery in the life. These
are the kinds of things people described, and they would
they would describe it in a way to say that
it's a company that puts a value on its staff,
and its reputation in this way is unlike other financial institutions.
So it's it's that the novelty of crypto almost makes
it seem cool and exciting, not just because of the
(11:17):
product itself, but because of the culture. So they felt
taken care of. People felt taken care of indeed, and
they felt that because of that, whatever was happening with
respect to these withdrawals and the funds. It could all
be explained. But that quickly changed, didn't it, especially among
people who didn't There were even people in the Bahamas
(11:39):
who didn't benefit from being able to withdraw their funds,
and those people were the most adamant that something didn't
quite smell right, as they'd say, and people would even
point to some signals from the Crypto Bahamas conference that
took place months prior, but didn't quite understand what it was.
They too, were perplexed given what they knew about the
company and its culture, what they knew about the cast
(12:00):
of characters at the highest level, and what was happening now.
You reported on the jail and the detention conditions that
bankun Freed was in. Was there any perception in the
Bahamas after he was arrested that he was also getting
kind of a different tier of I don't know, cozy
custody than might have been afforded to local residents. But
(12:23):
the onset it seemed that he would be treated like
everyone else the night he was arrested, but that quickly
changed the next day when he appeared at his arrayment,
hearing one distinct moment that comes to mind is that
the hearing it started on time he appeared, and before
he was even able to introduce himself, there was a
question about whether his nights stay was pleasing or suitable
(12:46):
for him, and the judge, the presiding judge, so that question,
like you know, sort of mind is blown. Was your
stay in prison, okay, sir? Your stay in prison okay?
Just you know, just for that evening before we even
get to the heart of the matter. And and then
there was this pause, you know, even described meeting certain
medicine for his ADHD for I think perhaps other conditions
(13:06):
that might have included insomnia and then his allergies, and
one of them was prescribed that I think the other
two were not. The ADHD was prescription was for dropping
out the allergy and the insomnia prescription. And the hearing
was held. There was a recess called for about an
hour hour and a half so that his family members
who were with him could be accompanied by police to
(13:26):
drive across town maybe thirty minutes away maybe last right,
if you're in a police murdicate or caravan to get
his medicine so that he can be able to take
it before it starts and that's in many ways a
basic human right. But it stands in stark contrast to
the prison in the Bahamas, where of course there have
been complaints even as high as the US government sort
(13:48):
of criticizing the country in some ways for the conditions
of the prison, and people kind of pointed out how
his treatment was much different even though there were these
allegations against him at this point, you know, weeks into
the initial news breaking would have gone. So that was
one interesting tidbit. Over the course of the next week
or so, with various hearings, however, things did what one
(14:09):
might have expected with that sort of initial theatrics, though
at the end of the day didn't didn't he his
you know, Baer request was denied, and right, it seems
now like it was all just a funny, funny joke
to to sort of start the day. What an interesting
time now, I find because I am from an island
in the Caribbean, Trinidad, that most people think they understand
(14:31):
would have like extremely narrow, you know, definitions of like
this is what this island was like, this is what
Trinidadian is like, this is what the Caribbean is like.
What for you was the most common misconception about the
Bahamas or about the people in the Bahamas are about
regulators that you had to attempt to dispel in the
(14:51):
process of your reporting on this story, states Marie. Like you,
I am also from a nation in the West Indies,
I'm from the Bahamas, which made the story so exciting,
you know, But first informist. I see myself as a
remember the press, as someone who is pursuing truth, and
I went in with that particular like understanding of what
I was doing and tried to engage with people, even
people I knew, in the same way. One observation I made, though,
(15:15):
was that in some ways you may think of the
Bahamas as a place that's sleepy and quiet, and that
people are not as informed of maybe their risks of
dancing with the devil, if you will, right, sort of
not taking seriously what could go wrong when you're courting
such a novel, you know, engaging in such a novel
industry and going further than even again, as we established, right,
(15:37):
even the US went in terms of codifying regulations around
around crypto. I think it kind of shows, and this
is the nation's fiftieth year of independence, it kind of
shows that the nation's ready to be bold and sort
of take off the training wheels, and that comes with
a big risk. And this hopefully is a learning lesson.
But the way I see it, based on just the
dozens of people I spoke to and continued to engage with,
(15:58):
I think it's turning out to be that this might
have been the best thing that ever happened to the
Mohammas to help it mature in a way that it
had hoped it would. By even welcoming FDx to begin with, Katanga,
has been such a pleasure having you on the show.
Thank you so much for joining us, Thanks for having me.
That was Bloomberg Reporto Katanga Johnson. You can find more
of his reporting on the Bloomberg Terminal and on Bloomberg
dot com, and of course, be sure to check out
(16:19):
our twice weekly crypto newsletter, Bloomberg Crypto. This is Bloomberg Crypto,
a daily podcast from Bloomberg and iHeartRadio. For more shows
from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts. Send us your comments, questions or
(16:40):
suggestions for the show to Crypto at Bloomberg dot net.
The supervising producer of Bloomberg Crypto is Vicky Vergalina. Our
senior producer is Janet Babin. Our producers are Mohammed Faroup
and Sharon Barrero. Our associate producers are Ty Butler and
Moses on Desto wonder Ad is our engineer. Original music
(17:02):
by Leo Sidron. I'm Stacy Mariagemaal. We'll be back tomorrow
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