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Farhan-Death’s Friend or Fiend?

“Farhan” a movie directed by Balaji Ramachandran, a talented third-year undergraduate student at MIT. The film features Tejas Dhingra in the lead role, who delivered a remarkable performance. The cinematography and editing were skillfully handled by Samarth Solanki, also a student at MIT. The cast includes other talented actors such as Anushri, Sai Dev, Rakshit, Aditya Naik, and Manan Kapoor. The script was written by Balaji Ramachandran himself with Nilimp Vats as assistant director and Ishan Parashar as the assistant cinematographer. Achal Ram handled all the drone shots. The theme of “Farhan” was composed by Sumeer. The crew comprises of Suchita, Akankshit, Ahana, Natasha, and Aditya, who contributed significantly to the film’s success. This article aims to provide an insight into the making of “Farhan,” a movie that showcases the immense potential of young minds in the field of filmmaking.

This movie is the perfect example of a psychological thriller, with just the right amount of witty and amusing elements to it. If you enjoyed watching the show You, this is the movie for you.

The premise of this movie is crystal clear from the prologue itself. The movie begins by introducing our main character, Farhan, as a professional suicide assistant with a 100% success rate. In this context, a 100% success rate means all of his customers were able to commit suicide after receiving a nudge from him.

In the movie, we see Farhan living a stress-free life having no feelings of guilt over his job. In fact, a case is to be made that he enjoys his job a little too much. In a drunken interaction, he even stated that he “kills people” for a living.

As the movie progresses, we see that circumstances in Farhan’s life change, leading him to feel guilty about what he has been doing in the name of work.

The movie makes use of natural lighting and aesthetic sceneries in its production. Angling the camera in a way that avoids glare while keeping the actors in focus. The songs used in the production are for the most part upbeat and provide a brilliant ambiance to the movie.

To understand and portray the guilt felt when ghosts from the past urge you to reflect on your actions is certainly not an easy task. The director managed to capture the essence of these feeling and portrayed it in a manner that resonates with the audience.

The comedic relief in this movie was provided in the form of the music used during the production. With a plethora of upbeat music and songs that we know well. Being shot in places that are familiar to students of Manipal, this movie has provided us with the opportunity of having area and ambiance familiarity.

The actors have done a tremendous job in portraying the different emotions at different stages of the movie. From sadness to finality, to guilt, to love. All emotions were presented to the audience in a neatly wrapped package.

The story makes use of light to give an idea of what to expect from the scene. The throbbing red and blue lights seem to signify fast transition scenes, while red is used for sad and surprising scenes. Blurry shots are used to take the movie experience to the next level.

The cumulation of all these aspects together makes for a pleasurable movie experience.




Crypto Bust—A Look Back at the Collapse of FTX

Cryptocurrency is a type of digital currency secured by cryptography which makes it impossible to forge or spend a second time. Cryptocurrencies are decentralized in nature and are based on blockchain technology—an online ledger which contains a list of transactions. It is almost impossible to forge transaction histories since the transactions have to be independently verified by each member of the network. Cryptocurrencies eliminate the need for an intermediary, such as a bank between two or more parties. Due to the presence of an online ledger, they leave a trail that law enforcement authorities can decode.

FTX (Futures Exchange) was a Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange started by Sam Bankman-Fried in 2019 which enabled customers to trade digital currencies for other digital currencies or traditional money, and vice versa. It mostly supported commonly traded cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Tether, Ethereum, etc. Users would deposit fiat money (any government-issued currency) into their FTX account and then use the money to buy and sell cryptocurrency.

When rumours spread about FTX’s financial condition and Alameda Research, its sister company, users frantically withdrew their money. FTX, being an exchange that connected two or more parties, was incompetent to handle mass withdrawals, since such institutions have mechanisms in place to recover the money and FTX was unable to do so.

A notable early investor was Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao. By 2021, FTX was worth $30 billion, second only to Binance. Changpeng Zhao’s relationship with FTX soon turned sour and he sold his stake back in 2021. His familiarity with the inner workings of FTX played a crucial role in FTX’s debacle.

FTT is a token used by FTX. Like many cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc. FTT has value, can be used while trading and is used during transactions. For a while, FTT was a massive source of wealth for FTX. Investors were won over by the idea of FTX offering rewards in exchange for ownership of the token, which included trading discounts and VIP status on the site. To support the value of FTT, FTX regularly repurchases and burns its tokens. It does so by purchasing FTX tokens with 33 percent fees generated on the platform.

As of September 2021, FTT hit an all-time high of $85 in exchange and as of 22 Dec. 2022, 1 FTT is worth $0.84. This is one of the greatest ever destructions of wealth. The sudden crash was caused due to FTX’s insolvency and its inability to return users’ funds.

Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange registered in the Cayman Islands. It offers crypto-to-crypto trading in more than 600 cryptocurrencies and virtual tokens such as Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ether, Litecoin, and Binance’s very own Binance Coin (BNB). Binance was started by Changpeng Zhao 2017, a developer who previously created high-frequency trading software. He wanted to create a platform that was independent of fiat currencies. Binance emerged during the crypto boom of 2017 and soared in popularity by offering a plethora of facilities, such as digital assets and innovation, including its blockchain. By 2018, the number of users increased from 2 million to 10 million.

People Involved in the FTX Collapse

Sam Bankman-Fried

Sam Bankman-Fried (Source: Reuters)

Son of two Stanford Law School professors, an alumnus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in Physics, Bankman-Fried founded FTX’s sister firm, Alameda Research in 2017. He founded FTX in 2019 and was its CEO until he resigned in November 2022. FTX rode a bull for crypto with a $32 billion valuation before its collapse. He was the man behind FTX securing investments from firms like Sequoia Capital and SoftBank.

He has also had a prominent presence on Capitol Hill as the second largest donor to the US Democratic Party politicians in recent years, has testified before US Congress about crypto, and also put forth his suggested draft of a potential framework calling for the regulation of the crypto industry.

Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested by Bahamian authorities who charged him with eight criminal offenses, including conspiracy and wire fraud against investors, and has been extradited to the United States. He concealed from investors the diversion of FTX customer funds to his crypto trading firm Alameda Research. When word spread that Alameda’s balance sheet was made of FTT’s, it sent the market into upheaval, and investors and users began withdrawing their money. Even after pausing withdrawals, they were unable to get Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao to throw them a lifeline. He later said that they had mishandled customer funds.

John Ray III, the current CEO of FTX, called it, “really old-fashioned embezzlement” while testifying in front of the House financial services committee. He told lawmakers that there is an excess of $7 billion in lost FTX funds from 7.6 million accounts, out of which 2.7 million were based in the US, while providing information on the company’s internal investigation. There was no corporate oversight. The owners, businesses, and senior management had virtual control of all accounts and could move money or assets if they desired, undetected by customers.

Caroline Ellison

Caroline Ellison. (Source: Twitter)

She was the CEO of Alameda Research as of its collapse. She joined Alameda in 2018, was a co-CEO with Sam Trambucco in October 2021, and became its sole CEO in August 2022. She is the daughter of two academics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

She is a maths whiz who loves Harry Potter and fringe political philosophy. She was a maths major at Stanford. After graduating, she became a trader at Jane Street, where she met Bankman-Fried. He convinced her to join Alameda Research and by the end of 2018, he moved Alameda’s headquarters from Berkeley to Hong Kong.

She, along with FTX co-founder Gary Wang was charged with a multiyear scheme to defraud investors in FTX. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, she was directed by Sam Bankman Fried to manipulate the financials of the crypto-trading firm.

Timeline

FTX decided to help BlockFi from going bankrupt in May of 2022. When a series of crypto collapses took place, it triggered a wave of bankruptcy among Celsius, BlockFi, and Voyager. FTX helping BlockFi cemented FTX as one of the strongest players in the crypto world.

November 2, 2022

The leaked balance sheet by CoinDesk from Alameda Research displayed a suspicious relationship between the trading firm and FTX. A large amount of the trading firm’s assets was held in FTX native token FTT. At the time FTT token was worth $25.50.

This triggered the beginning of the end for FTX.

Tweet from Binance announcing liquidation of FTT. (Source: Twitter)

November 6, 2022

Changpeng Zhao announced the following:

Due to this, the token’s price began to fluctuate instantaneously, dropping to 10% and dipping below $22.

FTX Token plummets after Binance withdrawal (Source: CoinDesk)

November 8, 2022

Changpeng Zhao revealed that Binance has entered into a non-binding agreement to purchase FTX.

The very next day, Federal agencies begin their investigation into FTX. The same day, a Binance spokesperson declared “As a result of corporate due diligence, as well as the latest news reports regarding mishandled customer funds and alleged US agency investigations, we have decided that we will not pursue the potential acquisition of FTX.com.”

November 10, 2022

The following was released and implemented:

Statement from the Securities Commission of The Bahamas announcing freezing of FTX’s assets. (Source: Twitter)

November 11, 2022

FTX, FTX.us, Alameda, and other subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy in the USA. Sam Bankman-Fried resigned as CEO, opening space for John J. Ray III, a lawyer who helped run disgraced energy company Enron post-bankruptcy.

November 12, 2022

It was reported that around $1 billion in FTX customer funds were unaccounted for. After Sam Bankman-Fried had moved $10 billion from FTX to Alameda Research, a large chunk of that sum ($1 to 2 billion) had vanished.

November 15, 2022

A class action lawsuit was filed against FTX in Florida.

November 16, 2022

It was announced that the hearings will take place in December.

On the very next day, the new CEO of FTX said, “Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here. From compromised systems integrity and faulty regulatory oversight abroad to the concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of inexperienced, unsophisticated, and potentially compromised individuals, this situation is unprecedented.”

November 22, 2022

Specifics of the finances behind Sam Bankman-Fried’s empire begin to emerge as bankruptcy proceedings moved forward.

December 12, 2022

Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas. The arrest followed receipt of formal notification from the United States that it has filed charges against Sam Bankman-Fried and was likely to request his extradition.

December 13, 2022

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Sam Bankman-Fried with eight criminal charges, which includes defrauding investors, money laundering, and conspiracy.

Sam Bankman-Fried is arrested in The Bahamas (Source: Business Insider)

December 21, 2022

Sam Bankman-Fried was extradited to the United States.

December 23, 2022

Sam Bankman Fried released on $250 million bail as he awaits trial.

Fluctuations in Cryptocurrency and FTX Impact

For a while, cryptocurrency has been struggling to convince investors, regulators, and customers of its trustworthiness. The fall of FTX has helped accelerate the two-faced persona of cryptocurrency.

When the cryptocurrency market suffered losses worth $2 trillion in 2022, FTX came with monetary lifeboats to help several collapsing firms. A ripple effect of this loss: lenders such as Genesis and BlockFi have announced pauses in operations. The rapid fall of FTX made it clear that regulation is needed to protect investors and reduce crimes in the cryptocurrency market if any.

FTX’s collapse came in the wake of months of losses in the cryptocurrency market which was set off by a catastrophic crash that triggered a massive pullback from crypto assets. This crash pushed many cryptocurrency exchanges into bankruptcy. Bitcoin has been trading for less than $17,000, down from $75,000 a year ago.

Charley Cooper, managing director of blockchain company R3 and a crypto visionary said “The original idea behind cryptocurrency was to rewrite the rules of finance on a global basis but we are now in a more centralized industry than banking.”

Investors of FTX

At the time of the collapse, FTX had total funding of $1.8 billion, 6 acquisitions, 21 investments, and 3 diversity investments. In the year 2019, the total money raised was $8 million having the lead investor as Race Capital. In 2021, they raised a huge amount in two separate increments. The first one was $1 billion with Sequoia Capital. The second was $420.7 million with Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Sequoia Capital. In the year 2022, SoftBank Vision Fund and Temasek Holdings raised $400 million.

Law Enforcement Intervention

The US Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had already been investigating the cryptocurrency exchange before its collapse, according to the Wall Street Journal. The investigation was focused on the exchange’s US branch.

Hacking of FTX

A few days after FTX declared bankruptcy, a hacker stole almost $400M worth of crypto from FTX. Sam Bankman-Fried is estimated to have lost more than $15 billion in less than a week. It is said that the authorities know the identity of this hacker, but are keeping it under wraps.

Future of FTX

The downfall of FTX has raised questions on whether cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency exchanges should be regulated to protect investors and users. FTX’s downfall could lead to a domino effect, where its borrowers could go down, taking the investors down as well. Companies and organizations liquidating their assets or declaring bankruptcy is also a possibility.

This situation could be an opportunity in disguise for Binance, the leading cryptocurrency exchange. However, users might be wary of switching between cryptocurrency exchanges due to the current situation. They might keep their existing crypto tokens in a cold wallet till the market stabilizes.

Talking about the future of FTX, Prashant Kumar, CEO of weTrade, said, “The fallout between Binance and FTX has larger ramifications for the entire crypto market. As we have been seeing, cryptocurrencies across the globe have seen losses. However, the incident has brought up the need for regulations in the sector. The step taken by Binance to launch an industry recovery fund to help projects during a liquidity crunch is a positive step in that direction.”

The collapse of a single cryptocurrency exchange has thrown the emerging industry into a crisis that will set it years back. This was once a medium where two parties could safely trade digital currencies and FTX’s fall from power and grace has left investors, executives, enthusiasts, and users questioning the future of the industry.

[Featured Image Credits: Getty Images]




Sitting down with The Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri

Dr G. Satheesh Reddy is the Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri. A proponent of indigenization, he guides the development of significant programmes on missiles and strategic systems, fighter aircraft and unmanned aerial defence systems, underwater systems, radar systems, strategic materials, and armaments among other futuristic technologies. The MIT Post had the fortune to interact with and interview Satheesh Sir about his expert experience and in-exhaustive knowledge in the scientific domain.

Under your tenure as the Chairman of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), various indigenous projects like the fourth-generation TEJAS and DRDO-Ghatak were integrated.
In comparison with our imports, where do these indigenous projects stand, sir?

Most of the latest technologies in the aeronautical sector have come a long way.  A lot of things have been developed in the country.  Academia and accreditations have come up with many innovative solutions and systems. Lots of infrastructure has come into the country like wind tunnel testing, and so on. The government has planned an order for 83 TEJAS jets which has given a major boost to the indigenous aeronautics industry today. The industry plays a major role in the supply chain of the various parts and subsystems. In the coming aircrafts, the indigenous content will be very high and now, the country is poised to make state-of-the-art five-plus generation aircrafts. The country is already working on the design and is in the R&D phase of the design.

Project Shakti 2019 or the Anti-SAT programme was also undertaken with your wise guidance. While planning for the entire project, how did you monitor the entire programme so that the debris would not fall on the Earth or not collide with the satellites orbiting around the lower orbit?

Lots of studies, simulations, and analyses have gone into the study. The site chosen was the lower side of the lower orbit. We have also seen the impact angle at which the impact of the physical collision occurs. We have seen the angles at which the distortion improves and doesn’t go higher in altitude. Whatever debris is generated dies down quickly. There is barely any debris in space this way. Many countries have done this safely and so have we.

The Russia-Ukrainian war is a significant stressor for the Government since our nation’s Defence sector was virtually on tip-toes and both of our partners, that is, the Western Front and the Russian Front are at war with each other. During such times, does it seem like a stressor for you as a strategic advisor?

I’m a scientific adviser, with more emphasis on technology and this is more inclined towards international affairs and related parameters.

As a scientific advisor, does your expertise extend to the definition of the Defence Budget appointed to the Defence sector in a fiscal year?

As a scientific adviser, you are finalizing the technology, the research, and the designs that have to be completed, the weapons, the systems, and the tools being developed also come under your purview. So you also make a road map on that on the technologies and the areas in which the systems will be set. Naturally, inter-institutional departments work very well to take care of the allocation work that needs to happen.

There are brilliant establishments like iDEX that empower the youth to invest and come up with projects in the Defence sector. However, post inception, we have heard that it takes nearly thirty years, on average, to implement the idea as in the case of Tejas. Is there a system that helps in cutting off the thirty-year phase that goes into finalising and applying it?

It does not take thirty years to finalise an idea. In thirty years, the idea does not remain valid at all. It takes a maximum of one to two years to finalise an idea, depending on the complexity of the system. If the armed forces need it urgently, the delay is even lesser. Once the prototype is seen by the Department of Production, the Department of Science and Technology, and the Armed Forces, it is taken to the next level. From there, the product is brought to life and thereupon only minor arrangements are necessary.

You are one of the only people in the last hundred years to be nominated as a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society of London and its American equivalent. How does that make you feel about the entire aeronautical domain and how can it be expanded further in India?

This shows that the ecosystem method in the aerospace department of the country is defined by what is required by the public in the country. If a country is coming up with a lot of technologies, systems, and research and is recognized in the name of a person, we need to note that the achievements are not in the name of a person but for the whole country. So, India has been taking the leading role in the aeronautics sector.




TechTatva’22—Conglomerate

Quandary|The Post Staff

This event witnessed talented individuals defending their companies in times of crisis. The event challenged the mental boundaries and problem-solving skills of future entrepreneurs, tackling all the minor and major crises a company can face. On the final day of Tech Tatva, seven students: Khushi Jain, Desna Deepti Singh, Mridu Bhardwaj, Kirti Kedia, Safwan Baig, Aneesh Singh, Ruchira Garai; came together to organise an event that made use of the techniques used by Model United Nations (MUN), but in a business management scenario. Imagine a hall full of 19 groups, all having to solve a different crisis being thrown at them.

Judged by the associate professor Dr. Raghavendra Holla and professor Dr. Alapati Vittaleswar. This event consisted of 3 different sections: Conventional Banks, Islamic Banks, OTT, and Theatre. Each section consists of 5-6 companies, and each company consists of 3-4 members. Out of these 19 groups, 5 performed exceptionally well and were crowned winners. The first position was bagged by the Kuwait Finance House from the Islamic Banks section (Members: Samata Mehta, Sayam Zaman, and Nenad Gowda). Second position by INOX from the Theatre section (Members: Zubeir and Shaan). Third position by HDFC Bank from the Conventional Banks section (Members: Chinmay Pawase, Satyajit, Dhruv Bajaj, and Harshit Hansraj). Fourth position by the Al Rayan Bank from the Islamic Banks section (Members: Arpit Baj, Siddharth Prakash, Ashish Konaje, Archit Singh). The fifth position was bagged by Netflix from the OTT section (Member: Vasista). Through out-of-the-box thinking and employing creative solutions, the winning teams stood out and beat the competition. It was a very close call, with teams giving each other tough competition. The event turned out to be a great learning opportunity for everyone present.




To Infinity and Beyond—SATCON 2022

On 4th November 2022, the team behind Parikshit Student Satellite organized SATCON 2022 to discuss satellite technology and give a tour of their workshop. Parikshit Student Satellite is a group of passionate undergraduates designing and building a low-cost 2U class nanosatellite. They aim at using their satellite for thermal imaging of the Indian Subcontinent, being launched by ISRO in 2023. They discussed the subsystems that go into making the satellite and briefed about the work they do. The tour was presided by Tanushka Choudhary, Akash Kumar Singh, Ojas Ashwini Ravindra, and Chinmay Marathey.

Member from Parikshit conducting the talk [Credits: Pranav K]

The seven subsystems discussed by the team were:

  • Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem: Once the satellite is out of the PSLV, it launches into orbit tumbling at high angular velocities, the job of ADCS is to bring the satellite to stability and maintain its orbit and orientation to fulfil payload requirements.
  • Communication and Ground Station Subsystem: COMMS is responsible for providing a robust link between the satellite and the ground station. The Parikshit Ground Station (PAGOS) is built to receive the beacon and payload data from the satellite.
  • Electrical Power Subsystem: They are responsible for harnessing, conditioning, storing, and distributing power onboard the satellite. They also deal with the design of PCBs for the testing of the modules of the satellite.
  • On-board Data Handling Subsystem: The On-board Data Handling Subsystem (ODHS) is the brain of the satellite. ODHS is responsible for developing drivers, integrating modules, and scheduling processes using a Real-Time Operating System (RTOS). It ensures proper links between the PCBs and controls the system’s data flow.
  • Payload: The payload subsystem deals with the final objective of the satellite mission. Images captured by the thermal camera are processed and analysed. Research is underway regarding a novel passive deorbiting technique.
  • Structures, Thermal, and Mechanisms Subsystem: They are responsible for the final assembly of the satellite. They also ensure that the satellite can persist launch loads, survive radiation, deal with extreme temperature conditions, etc.
  • Management: Management deals with all the back-end operations of the team. They also deal with the development of the website and social media platforms while handling administrative and PR relations.

The Parikshit team explaining their subsystems [Credits: Pranav K]

The tour of the workshop began with a basic introduction to the program and then moved on to the first stop—the Parikshit Ground Station. The next stop in this tour was the actual working area, the place where the magic happens. A place where the whole architecture of the satellite takes place. From ideas to mathematical calculations. The complete plan for its execution took place in this room.

Parikshit’s primary goal is simple, to make a satellite that will dramatically bring down the total cost of construction. With an expected launch date towards the end of 2023, this satellite is being made to orbit the earth for 8 to 12 months. To ensure that the purpose of this satellite is completed, the satellite will be installed with two payloads. The primary payload will be the Thermal Energy Camera and the secondary payload is the Electro Dynamic Tether. The Electro Dynamic Tether is wrapped by a conducting wire. This wire will ensure that the satellite will lose its orbit once its lifespan is up so that the space waste will be reduced. The tour also included the Signal Generator and Oscilloscope, used to test the components and generate the signals.

Finally, they discussed the role of emerging technologies in the space industry and the percentage of companies and associations making use of these technologies.

  • Miniaturized satellites: used by 24% of the associations
  • Advanced space manufacturing: used by 22% of the companies
  • Advanced communications: used by 10%
  • Space traffic and transportation management: used by 9%
  • Smart propulsion: used by 7%
  • Space-based activity management: used by 7%
  • Space mission: used by 7%
  • Space mining: used by 6%
  • LEO satellites: used by 4%
  • Space data: used by 4%

A few of the major applications of these new technologies discussed during this presentation were tracking climate change, disaster monitoring, military, and defense. According to the presenters, the event might not have turned out the way they expected, but, in the end, it was all worth it.

Featured Image credits: IEEE Spectrum