Molly White's Citation Needed

Keep up with the happenings in the tech world without all the boosterism. Cryptocurrency critic, technology researcher, and software engineer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_White_(writer)" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Molly White</a> publishes Citation Needed, a newsletter that features weekly explainers of developments in the cryptocurrency industry, with summaries of the latest disasters featured on her well-known project<i> </i><a href="https://web3isgoinggreat.com/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Web3 is Going Just Great</a>. She also does deep dives into important events in the broader technology industry, with added critical context that is too often missing.

Issue 98 – The world’s most corrupt crypto startup operation

Terra’s Do Kwon gets 15 years, crypto banks get the green light, and the Trump family’s crypto grift expands even as one of their treasury companies goes off the rails. Originally published on December 16, 2025.

12-17
35:28

Digital asset treasury companies are running out of steam

Convincing traders to pay $2 for $1 of bitcoin worked — for a while. As premiums evaporate, an unwind could be painful. Originally published on November 25, 2025.

11-25
10:05

Issue 97 – This is hardship

While slumping prices have some fearing it’s crypto winter again, Trump looks to Saudia Arabia and American retail crypto investors to fund the development of his next hotel. Originally published on November 19, 2025.

11-20
19:52

Issue 96 – Redefining solvency

Sam Bankman-Fried makes his case for a retrial and aspiring crypto banks hit roadblocks. Originally published on November 7, 2025.

11-08
19:11

Trump says he has “no idea” who he just pardoned

President Trump reacts to condemnations of his recent pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao by claiming he doesn’t know who he is. Originally published on November 3, 2025.

11-03
12:07

Issue 95 – The pardon was the payoff

Binance’s Changpeng Zhao earns a gold-plated pardon as other industry figures fund Trump’s $300 million ballroom. Originally published October 28, 2025.

10-29
36:48

Anatomy of a crypto collapse

October 2025 brought the most dramatic crypto flash crash of all time, but it was only a dress rehearsal for the systemic crisis the industry is building toward. Originally published on October 17, 2025.

10-17
17:46

Issue 94 – Backdoor deals

Trump is still corrupt, a core developer warns bitcoin won’t survive an upcoming code change, and crypto lenders are ratcheting up leverage like it’s 2022. Originally published on October 8, 2025.

10-09
38:11

Issue 93 – Undermining deregulation

Democratic lawmakers sound corruption alarms while crypto PACs gear up for the midterms. Originally published on September 25, 2025.

09-25
21:36

Prediction markets are booming. Oversight is barely there.

Prediction markets once lived on the academic fringe. Now they’re trading billions on politics, sports, and celebrity gossip — under rules never designed for retail gamblers. Originally published on September 16, 2025.

09-16
26:30

Issue 92 – The scam of all scams

The Trumps “debank” major customers from their “anti-debanking” cryptocurrency venture, and a CFTC nominee says the Winklevosses are blackballing him. Originally published on September 12, 2025.

09-12
28:47

Trump Jr.-advised prediction markets invite bets on president’s demise

President Trump’s deregulatory agenda emboldened prediction markets to push boundaries around permitted event contracts. Now sites advised by his son are allowing bets on his death. Originally published on September 2, 2025.

09-02
08:30

Issue 91 – GDP on the blockchain

The regulator set to take on primary crypto oversight is down to a single Commissioner, and new pro-crypto PACs focus on installing more Republicans in the midterms. Originally published on August 27, 2025.

08-27
28:48

As he builds US power, Justin Sun fights to control his story

A crypto billionaire who once feared arrest in the US is now a Trump business adviser and White House guest. His lawsuit against Bloomberg reveals what he doesn't want Americans to know about his crypto fortune. Originallly published on August 19, 2025.

08-19
26:06

Issue 90 – Crime szn bro

The Trump administration cracks down on software to limit surveillance of crypto transactions, while celebrating a “deregulatory blitz” tailored for its billionaire benefactors. Originally published on August 13, 2025.

08-14
37:03

Curate your own newspaper with RSS

Escape newsletter inbox chaos and algorithmic surveillance by building your own enshittification-proof newspaper from the writers you already read. Originally published on July 31, 2025.

07-31
14:45

The Tornado Cash case: When politics sabotage a prosecution

The Trump administration’s regulatory whiplash has left prosecutors scrambling with misattributed chat messages and questionable victim testimony. Originally published on July 28, 2025.

07-29
13:00

Issue 89 – Crypto wins in Washington with midnight calls, chocolate bars, and a $141 million threat

Trump stands to profit from a $2 billion bitcoin bet as the crypto industry pushes through bills aimed at bolstering the sector. Originally published on July 23, 2025.

07-23
20:28

Issue 88 – The stockchain

Crypto firms hope putting a blockchain veneer on traditional equities will allow them to sidestep lessons learned in the 1929 Wall Street crash, crypto firms look to become banks, and Congress celebrates crypto surveillance while claiming to outlaw it. Originally published on July 11, 2025.

07-11
31:43

Issue 87 – SO ORDERED

Trump’s crypto empire attracts more foreign millions, the FHFA pushes crypto on mortgage lenders, and Mamdani’s mayoral primary win makes billionaires sweat. Originally published on July 1, 2025.

07-01
23:53

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