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It seems daunting, but I think you can reduce it to an engineering problem by asking "how can I trick the system into overvaluing my portfolio?" From there you

It seems daunting, but I think you can reduce it to an engineering problem by asking "how can I trick the system into overvaluing my portfolio?" From there you "just" need to figure out a way to stack a chain of asset transformations to bamboozle the flash loan process into giving you too much money. I say "just" because it's obviously not a simple process, and there's no guarantee that you'd ever find a flaw in the system where it makes some incorrect assumption of value, but this person did, and was able to exploit it to great success.

jollybean 5y ago
The problem is the system is incredibly complex and adds no value to anything, and opens up tons of risk. It's one thing for crypto to be a fun thing where people can day trade on made up numbers, arguably harming 'no one', but when major transactions get problematic, then it's a huge source of pain. Civil and legal lawsuits galore. It demonstrates that net-net crypto is a value destroyer and is just a bad distraction. The moment we try to regulate it (and we would have to do this if we wanted to normalized it and make it usable in the commons), then 'all the fun' would be drained out of the bubble as it boils down to just regular banking, more or less. It's like an intellectual 'Chinese Finger Trap' for smart people with a bit of money to burn, that has negative externalizes. If it's going to be 'money' then regulate it as money, and watch it the Tower collapse under the weight of it's own complexity.
- brendoelfrendo 5y ago
  I don't disagree, for the most part. Part of the "fun" of crypto and de-fi is getting to re-invent financial engineering concepts that have been regulated into non-existence by the traditional financial system. I just don't see a space for everyone to be happy: if we want crypto to be currency 2.0, it needs to be as unfun as possible, and then you get back to regular banking. If we want crypto to be fun, then we're never going to escape this cycle of "hype and fomo sees people chasing the next coin" to "lots of money went poof" and "someone got rich by making someone else poor."
  - jollybean 5y ago
    Exactly yes. There might be a little bit of a happy place, above where the boring banks hold on to their systematic control of the system, but a little below where crypto is now with some regulation. But I feel by the time crypto is useful, that will mostly have converged and 'regular fintech' will provide most of the opportunity.

jollybean 5y ago

The problem is the system is incredibly complex and adds no value to anything, and opens up tons of risk. It's one thing for crypto to be a fun thing where people can day trade on made up numbers, arguably harming 'no one', but when major transactions get problematic, then it's a huge source of pain. Civil and legal lawsuits galore. It demonstrates that net-net crypto is a value destroyer and is just a bad distraction. The moment we try to regulate it (and we would have to do this if we wanted to normalized it and make it usable in the commons), then 'all the fun' would be drained out of the bubble as it boils down to just regular banking, more or less. It's like an intellectual 'Chinese Finger Trap' for smart people with a bit of money to burn, that has negative externalizes. If it's going to be 'money' then regulate it as money, and watch it the Tower collapse under the weight of it's own complexity.

brendoelfrendo 5y ago
I don't disagree, for the most part. Part of the "fun" of crypto and de-fi is getting to re-invent financial engineering concepts that have been regulated into non-existence by the traditional financial system. I just don't see a space for everyone to be happy: if we want crypto to be currency 2.0, it needs to be as unfun as possible, and then you get back to regular banking. If we want crypto to be fun, then we're never going to escape this cycle of "hype and fomo sees people chasing the next coin" to "lots of money went poof" and "someone got rich by making someone else poor."
- jollybean 5y ago
  Exactly yes. There might be a little bit of a happy place, above where the boring banks hold on to their systematic control of the system, but a little below where crypto is now with some regulation. But I feel by the time crypto is useful, that will mostly have converged and 'regular fintech' will provide most of the opportunity.