Synthetic Reverse FUD | Financial Times

It seems someone isn't doing well with the whole Terra/Luna Omnishambles thing. At all. Check out what landed in our inbox this morning.

May 13, 2022
PRESS RELEASE

GAM Holding AG is not in negotiations with Terraform Labs for support
the Luna stablecoin

A press release purporting to be from GAM Holding was published at
11pm UK time on May 12th. There is no truth in the story and GAM did it
do not issue a press release. GAM has strict controls over the
Distribution of press releases and we investigate the source
this story and how it was published.

The fake "press release" was posted last night via AccessWire's pay-by-mail service with GAM's logo, a quote from CEO Peter Sanderson, and even a phone number to contact the company's flack. (FTAV tried calling it several times but unfortunately it didn't work). At pixel time it's still on the AccessWire site, but in case that changes, we're duplicating it below:

GAM Holding could be Terra's White Knight

Leading asset manager could save billions of dollars from UST

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND / ACCESSWIRE / May 12, 2022 /Leading asset manager GAM Holding AG is pleased to announce that it is negotiating with Terraform Labs (Terra) to support its Luna stablecoin (UST). GAM is expected to invest between $2 billion and $3 billion to absorb excess supply of UST during the current sell-off. The move aims to restore UST’s peg to the US dollar.

“Our interest in supporting UST reflects our interest in supporting a dynamic, innovative and resilient crypto market,” notes GAM CEO Peter Sanderson. "We believe strongly in Terra's ecosystem. Equally important, we believe in UST's algorithmic valuation approach. When investors have appropriate incentives, they naturally act in ways that maintain price stability. When black swan events impact markets, opportunities arise. We see opportunity in UST's recent activity and continue to see promise in Terra's broader strategy."

Predictably, the fake press release was immediately picked up by sales silos and a mix of notoriously unscrupulous crypto outlets Social media Accounts. Desperation is eternal, especially in the world of digital assets.

This is absolutely big news for #LUNA, #UST and the whole thing #Crypto Place!!!! We have to save #LUNA!!!! GAM Holding could be #Terra 's White Knight https://t.co/An3acCwtF0

— BitBookKeeper #CryptoTax #Accountants (@Bitbookkeepers) May 13, 2022

To the credit of the crypto brethren behind the release, there is an admirable lack of typos. The fake Sanderson quote has just the right tenor of the waffle. As connoisseurs of the fake press release, we can't help but admire one that's a bit neater than most. And GAM has a bit of a history when it comes to shady investments, so perhaps it seemed like a plausible candidate here.

But the idea that a struggling mid-sized Swiss asset manager would pump $3 billion into an already imploded algorithmic stablecoin shows how tragicomically stupid the whole saga has become.

As tragic as the collapse was undoubtedly for many people who have poured their life savings into magical internet money, they just need to realize that Terra/Luna is NGMI.

Read more:
Earth to Bloomberg – FTAV
Earth for Investors – FTAV
Sticky Fingerprints – FTAV