Crypto Farmer Skydives Without Parachute, Dies

ABF Newswire: December 28, 2025

Quick watercolor color studies of a sunset skydive with one figure falling without a parachute. I need a lot of practice mixing and blending colors.

Image Credit: My Id and Ego.

Look at me trying to practice color studies. Fun. Obviously, I need a lot of practice mixing and blending colors. The reference picture I chose isn't helping me. No, it is not. I picked one with a fuzzy horizon that blends between the sky and ground and ocean. Stop being stupid and lazy. Plan the composition better. I... I know. Impatient. Yes. I know I am.

MIAMI, FLORIDA. December 28, 2025 (ABF Newswire) – Wealthy cypto exchange executive and self-proclaimed "crypto farmer" died on impact with the Earth when he dropped out of a plane with no parachute.

Doug Costen was on the flight for his first solo jump. "He was there one minute and then not," quipped Doug to reporters. "It's a shame to waste a jump on such a beautiful sunset."

Sean Dallion, one of the skydiving instructors jumping that day, shared "Gorgeous sunset dive today. If the bit of stock I own in that dead dude's company gets a bump from the news, it'll make may day even better." Already buoyed by the quelled investigation, Wall Street further rewarded the deceased's company on news of the sudden leadership change. The stock closed up +1.3% today.

The deceased had been quietly funding a network of crypto-friendly state legislators who were pushing to classify digital asset platforms as "financial technology infrastructure". This designation would exempt them from the same consumer protection laws that govern regular banks. So, when the deceased's platform lost $340 million in customer deposits through a series of bad bets, those customers had no FDIC protection, no legal recourse, and no meaningful path to getting their money back. Most of them were ordinary people who had been targeted by the platform's social media ads, which used algorithmic micro-targeting to find financially anxious users and serve them testimonials from fake "everyday investors" who had gotten rich on crypto.

Charcoal and light wash of a couple of skydivers at sunset, one without a parachute.

Image Credit: My Id & Ego.

It's difficult to stop adding stuff, isn't it? I don't know if the oil pencil helped, and the dual wash on the mountains is excessive. Keep trying stuff. I was excited to paint a watercolor of a sunset skydive in a future attempt, and then I couldn't help but add the yellow sun with a brush pen. Don't fuss. Let what I did be what I did and learn from it.