Latest / Connecting the Dots / Crypto Pressure, Platform Reality Checks, and Markets Slide

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Crypto Pressure, Platform Reality Checks, and Markets Slide · Connecting the Dots

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  Today's tech news moves fast, but understanding
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  it shouldn't be hard. That's why Snarfl Solutions
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  Group brings you Connecting the Dots, where we
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  break down what's happening in tech and why it
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  matters to you. Now, let's dive in with your
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  hosts. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to
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  Connecting the Dots. I'm Alex. And I'm Morgan.
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  It is Wednesday, February 4th, 2026, and we are
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  live from the Snarfl Solutions Group studios
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  right here in Sacramento. We have quite a show
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  lined up for you today. We're going to be looking
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  at a market that is just seeing red everywhere.
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  And then a really fascinating story about the
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  rise of what I'm starting to call the digital
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  police. Right. And to top it off, a moment of
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  radical honesty from the gaming world that I
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  think we could use a lot more of across the tech
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  industry. Definitely. It really is a mixed bag
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  today. You've got the financial volatility, the
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  high stakes crime fighting, and then these big
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  software overhauls. It's a lot. But before we
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  dive into all that, let's let's talk about the
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  world outside the studio window. It is a messy
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  one out there. If you're tuning in from the central
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  Appalachians or, you know, the mid -Atlantic,
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  you're probably already sick of this weather.
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  Oh, yeah. A wintry mix all day. So please drive
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  safe. And for everyone down in the southeast
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  or along the Gulf Coast, keep that umbrella handy.
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  Looks like rain and thunderstorms are on the
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  menu. And snow for the northern plains and Great
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  Lakes, of course. Of course. But here in Sacramento,
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  we started with some pretty thick fog this morning.
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  It was a little ominous on the drive -in, I have
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  to say. It was, but it's burning off now. We're
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  looking at a sunny high of 66 degrees later today.
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  Perfect, just perfect California winter weather.
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  But, you know, while our weather is clearing
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  up, the financial markets are still looking pretty
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  cloudy. Yeah, yesterday was a tough day on Wall
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  Street. The Dow Jones closed down just a bit,
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  maybe... 0 .24%. Right, but the S &P 500 took
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  a much bigger hit. It dropped nearly 1%. And
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  the big story, and this is really the lead domino
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  for our first segment today, is Bitcoin. It has
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  been a roller coaster, just some serious volatility,
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  and today it's opening around $75 ,657 after
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  a really rough couple of days. It's shaky ground.
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  And, you know, navigating this kind of news cycle,
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  it takes a lot of mental energy, which actually
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  brings us to how we're powering through this
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  All right. Let's get into the morning star. That's
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  our SNARFL Tech article report. We've got three
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  big stories connecting the dots today and we
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  have to start with the money. Let's do it. So
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  first up, Bitcoin has taken a tumble. On Tuesday,
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  it broke below that $73 ,000 mark. That is the
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  lowest price we have seen since, what, November
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  2024. That's right. It dipped as low as $72 ,884
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  at one point. And while it has bounced back a
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  little this morning, the overall feeling is nervous.
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  Yeah, we were looking at a report from Alex Thorne
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  over at Dalaxy and his analysis points to some
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  Real structural weakness here. He's warning that
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  we could even see a drop below 60 ,000. And what
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  really stands out to me is the reason why. For
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  years, the whole narrative has been that Bitcoin
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  is digital gold, right? The hedge. Exactly. It's
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  supposed to be a hedge against currency debasement.
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  When the dollar looks weak or inflation is scary,
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  Bitcoin is supposed to go up. Right. But that
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  correlation is just... It's breaking down right
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  now. Actual gold, the metal is surging. It's
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  doing exactly what a head should do. Meanwhile,
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  Bitcoin is sliding. Thorne points out that it's
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  failing to act as that safety net in the cycle.
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  And for those who are into the technical analysis,
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  the charts look pretty precarious. They do. Thorne
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  suggests it might test the 200 -week moving average.
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  And just for our listeners who aren't glued to
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  trading screens, that's a massive long -term
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  indicator. It's basically the average price over
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  the last four years. Right now, that's sitting
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  around $58 ,000. $58 ,000. That is a critical
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  support level. If it breaks below that, well,
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  that signals the long -term trend might be flipping
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  from positive to negative. But here's the part
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  where we really need to connect the dots for
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  everyone, even if you don't own a single Satoshi.
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  This is the so -what factor. You might be sitting
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  there thinking, I don't have a crypto wallet.
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  This crash is just noise to me. But if you have
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  a 401k, a pension, any standard stock portfolio.
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  You are likely exposed to this. We saw it so
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  clearly yesterday. This isn't just hitting the
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  crypto exchanges. It's dragging down major fintech
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  stocks. I mean, look at PayPal. PayPal is the
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  perfect example. They collapsed nearly 20 % yesterday.
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  20%. Closed around $42. Now, to be fair, they
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  also had an earnings miss, so it wasn't only
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  crypto. True. But the negative sentiment in the
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  crypto market acts like a multiplier. When Bitcoin
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  is down, investors get spooked about anything
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  related to digital payments. And it wasn't just
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  PayPal. Galaxy Digital tanked about 19 .5%. Coinbase,
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  the biggest exchange in the U .S., dropped around
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  6%. These companies are major parts of growth
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  or tech ETS now. So if you own a mutual fund
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  that tracks the tech sector, your portfolio took
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  a hit yesterday because Bitcoin went down. The
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  markets are all linked now. It's really incredible
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  to see. It shows crypto isn't this little isolated
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  casino in the corner of the Internet anymore.
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  Not at all. It's woven right into the fabric
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  of the financial system. It is. But we shouldn't
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  be all doom and gloom. If we look at the on -chain
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  data, which is basically watching the actual
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  movement of coins on the network, there is a
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  silver lining. Okay, what's the good news? The
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  data shows that long -term profit -taking is
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  finally slowing down. So the people who bought
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  Bitcoin years ago and have been selling to cash
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  out... Exactly. They seem to be running out of
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  steam. The selling pressure from the old guard
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  is letting up. So if we do hit that $58 ,000
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  mark, that 200 -week average... It might not
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  be a total disaster. A lot of analysts, including
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  Thorne, are suggesting that if it hits that level,
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  it could actually be a very strong entry point
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  for long -term investors. Historically, that
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  line has been a floor, not a ceiling. So patience
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  is the name of the game. That's it. Markets flush
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  out the weak hands before they recover. It's
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  a tale as old as time, just with new technology.
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  Speaking of new tech and flushing out bad actors.
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  Let's pivot to our second story. This one is
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  to me even more fascinating than the price action
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  the rise of the crypto cops Yes, this is a huge
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  story about a company called TRM labs. They're
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  a startup and They specialize in blockchain intelligence
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  Basically, they help law enforcement and companies
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  track down crypto crime. And business is good.
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  Business is very good. They just raised $70 million
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  in a Series C funding round. That officially
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  pushes their valuation to $1 billion. We have
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  a new unicorn in this table. A unicorn with a
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  badge. I like that. But what's most telling here
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  is who is giving them the money. Right. It's
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  not just niche crypto VCs. The round was led
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  by blockchain capital, sure, but you also have
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  Goldman Sachs. Citi Ventures. That is a massive
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  signal. When Goldman and Citi are investing in
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  crypto tracking, it tells you that Wall Street
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  sees compliance and safety as the biggest growth
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  sector in the industry. It validates the whole
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  asset class. Banks won't touch crypto if they
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  think it's just for criminals. By funding TRM,
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  they're basically paying to build the police
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  force that makes the neighborhood safe for their
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  institutional money. And they need that police
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  force because the bad guys are getting incredibly
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  sophisticated. We were reading quotes from Ari
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  Redboard, an executive at TRM. He did not mince
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  words. No. He called AI -enabled fraud a civilization
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  -level threat. Which sounds like hyperbole, right?
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  Like something from a movie. But then you see
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  the stats. AI -enabled scams have increased by
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  500%. 500%. That's just, that's terrifying. It
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  is. We're talking defakes of CEOs ordering wire
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  transfers, automated phishing scripts. The barrier
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  to entry for being a cyber criminal has never
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  been lower because AI does all the heavy lifting.
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  But TRM is actively stopping it. The case studies
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  in this report, they read like a true crime thriller.
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  Let's talk about Operation LusoCoin. This was
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  a massive operation down in Brazil, a money -longering
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  scheme moving about 50 billion Ries. That's roughly
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  9 billion US dollars. 9 billion dollars. That
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  is staggering. It's a fortune. And they were
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  using crypto to hide it. TRM Labs provided the
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  software that let Brazilian authorities trace
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  those transactions through the whole blockchain
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  maze. And the result wasn't just digital. They
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  seized luxury cars, properties, jewels. They
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  dismantled the entire physical operation. And
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  that really busts that old myth, you know, that
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  crypto is anonymous and perfect for crime. Exactly.
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  It's the opposite. The blockchain is a public
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  ledger. It records everything forever. If you
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  have the right tools, you can trace money in
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  a way you actually can't with cash. Cash leaves
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  no trail. Crypto leaves a permanent one and it's
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  not just white -collar crime this next case This
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  one really shook me the Grinder gang in the UK.
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  This is a truly disturbing one Yeah criminals
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  were using fake profiles on the dating app Gringer
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  to lure victims to a meeting thinking they were
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  going on a date exactly and when they arrived
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  they were assaulted held captive and Forced to
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  transfer their crypto holdings. That's just horrific
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  weaponizing press and technology in the worst
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  possible way It's nightmare fuel, but here's
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  the twist Because they stole crypto, TRM Labs
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  was able to trace the funds from the victim's
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  wallets straight to the criminal's accounts.
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  So the very thing they stole became the evidence
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  that locked them up? Correct. The gang members
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  got over 78 years of combined prison time. Without
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  that blockchain analysis, it would have been
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  so much harder to prove. And there was a similar
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  case here in the U .S., right? Yes, a ringleader
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  named Remy St. Felix. He was doing home invasions,
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  targeting high net worth individuals, forcing
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  them to empty their crypto accounts. TRM tracked
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  the money he was sentenced to 47 years. It really
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  reframes the whole narrative. The police of the
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  blockchain are becoming just as valuable as the
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  currency itself. It's the maturation of the industry.
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  You can't have mass adoption without mass safety.
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  And TRM Labs hitting a billion dollar valuation
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  proves safety is now a premium product. Speaking
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  of maturing and fixing broken systems, let's
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  move to our third story. This one is for the
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  gamers, but the business lesson applies to everyone.
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  We're talking about Epic Games. Specifically,
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  the Epic Games Store. If you play Fortnite or
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  really any PC games, you've probably used their
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  launcher. And for years, the consensus has been,
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  well, negative is an understatement. People hated
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  it. It was slow. It was clunky. just missing
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  basic features. But in a move you almost never
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  see, Stephen Allison, the VP at Epic Games Store,
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  did an interview and just dropped the PR spin.
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  He did. He admitted, quote, the launcher sucks.
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  I love that. Not we're facing optimization headwinds,
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  just it sucks. It's so refreshing. He acknowledged
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  it's slow, lacks social features like profiles
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  and chat, everything gamers have been saying
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  for years. So the obvious question is. Why? Epic
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  makes billions from Fortnite. They have the resources.
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  Why was their store so bad for so long? Alison
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  actually gave a really insightful answer. He
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  explained that when they launched, their entire
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  focus was on developers, not players. Right,
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  the famous 88 -12 revenue split. Exactly. Steam
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  takes 30%. Epic said, we'll only take 12, leaving
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  88 % for the creators. To make that work, they
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  had to pour all their engineering talent into
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  the backend. the seller side of the marketplace.
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  Which makes sense as a business strategy to get
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  games on the platform, but it meant the buyer
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  experience the launch we all use was neglected.
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  It was a trade -off, but now they're pivoting.
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  Allison said they're pulling the guts out of
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  the software and rebuilding it from scratch.
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  So when do we see the results? Promising a fix
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  is one thing. They're on tight timeline. He said
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  we should see significant speed improvements
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  by May or June of this year. So just a few months.
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  And what about the social stuff? Because for
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  me, that's the biggest miss. I want to see what
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  my friends are playing. That's coming in Q2 as
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  well. They're rolling out community spaces, avatars,
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  and cross -platform chat. They're basically trying
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  to turn the store into a social network, like
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  Steam. There is also a mention of a forum -type
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  experience later in the year, which feels like
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  a bit of a throwback. It does, but I think it's
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  smart. Discord is great for real -time chat,
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  but it's terrible for archiving information.
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  Old school forums were amazing for strategy guides
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  and deep discussions. It all connects back to
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  the theme of the day, really. You can burn cash
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  and chase growth for a while, but eventually
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  you have to build a product that actually works.
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  You have to mature. That's the through line.
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  And admitting it sucks is the first step. It
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  builds trust. I think gamers will be much more
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  willing to give them a second chance because
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  of that honesty. Absolutely. Transparency goes
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  a very long way. Well, before we wrap up and
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  You can find them at scony .com. So let's recap
• 14:40
  the dots we've connected today. It's been a wide
• 14:42
  -ranging conversation. First, the markets. Bitcoin
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  has slid to its 2024 lows, dragging giants like
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  PayPal and Coinbase down with it. It's painful,
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  but the data suggests we might be nearing the
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  end of the profit -taking phase. Second, the
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  Wild West of crypto is officially being tamed.
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  TRM Labs is a new unicorn backed by Wall Street,
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  using AI to track down billions in laundered
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  money and put violent criminals behind bars.
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  And finally, Epic Games is growing up. They're
• 15:14
  admitting their launcher sucks and promising
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  a faster, more social experience by this summer.
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  Which leaves us with a thought to chew on. We
• 15:21
  often romanticize the early days of tech, the
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  chaos, the breaking things, but are we entering
• 15:26
  a phase that's actually better? A phase where
• 15:28
  the tech is stable, users are protected, and
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  companies are accountable. It might be less exciting
• 15:34
  than the boom times, but it's definitely more
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  sustainable. I think so, too. Well, that is it
• 15:38
  for us today. Thank you so much for tuning in
• 15:39
  to Connecting the Dots. We're here to help at
• 15:41
  Snarful, so reach out on our website if you have
• 15:43
  any more questions. Have a great Wednesday, everyone.
• 15:48
  That's a wrap on today's top stories. Remember,
• 15:52
  tech doesn't have to be complicated, and we're
• 15:54
  here to help connect the dots. If you've got
• 15:56
  questions or want to learn more, visit us at
• 15:59
  snarful .com. Thanks for listening, and we'll
• 16:02
  catch you next time.