Who’s snitching on the big crypto group chat?

How much is that group chat in the window? | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge I have been somewhat unsure of what to make about The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times’ reports about text messages, sent on Signal, between rivals Changpeng “CZ” Zhao and Sam Bankman-Fried around the time FTX went up in smoke. That’s because I am not entirely sure who leaked them or who stands to benefit. But I’m pretty sure someone leaked to both of those outlets because the reports went up within hours of each other. So someone wants everyone to know about this! Because I don’t understand what’s going on, I’m going to walk through these two stories, which are the same in broad brushstrokes, suggesting that the sourcing was similar. (As longtime readers know, reidentifying anonymous sources is one of my favorite games, though... Continue reading…