Culture Wars/Current Controversies

The Crypto World Has a New Villain

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The crypto world has seen its share of surreal sagas over the past few years. Finance writer Kevin T. Dugan has chronicled some of them, including the crypto-based second act of the Winklevoss brothers (which went very wrong in 2022). Entangled with the twins’ story is that of billionaire Barry Silbert. He has lately drawn the ire of hundreds of thousands of retail investors who put their money with Gemini, the Winklevii’s crypto exchange. Silbert has emerged as an unexpected villain for trying to block a legal settlement that would make those mom-and-pop investors whole again, after more than a year of seeing their savings in limbo. New York Attorney General Letitia James is also not happy with Silbert, having filed a complaint against him alleging he defrauded investors. A tense court case will decide whether Silbert’s company or the little guys receive roughly $1 billion. And there are a lot of people rooting against him.

—Jebediah Reed, editor, Intelligencer

The Crypto World Has a New Villain Billionaire Barry Silbert is accused of defrauding thousands of people. Should he get to keep their money anyway?

Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photos: Getty
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