11 ms·

Crypto cash markets are “beyond our expertise”, says CFTC Commissioner Stump

29 points by cinquemb 5y ago

isodev 5y ago
It’s probably one of the most irresponsible things humans have came up with. Let’s hope nobody gets hurt in the aftermath.
- ohazi 5y ago
  We skipped AGI and invented a paperclip maximizer directly instead.
- teekert 5y ago
  It's very nice that you can concluded this without blinking. Meanwhile there are people that died in concentration camps, vaporized in atomic blasts or got burned for being a witch. While right here we have some people potentially loosing some disposable income while others get rich.
- Ekaros 5y ago
  How many are spending their rent money or food money on this? Probably not that many. I really won't be too sad of idiots lifesavings or pensions. They want to gamble, let them gamble. It is not that different from stock market currently...
  - knownjorbist 5y ago
    ~4% of "the great resignation" this year attribute leaving their jobs(and the workforce, or seeking another job) to crypto, and proportionally more among the lowest income. This isn't necessarily a bad thing either IMO. These people generally don't get any other breaks in life.
    - azth 5y ago
      Do you mean they resigned because they made bank off of crypto?
      - knownjorbist 5y ago
        "resigned" is not the term people in this echelon use. Literally just leaving their job for another one, but now they have some breathing room.
crumpled 5y ago
The quote in the article says "... historically been beyond our expertise."
- beebmam 5y ago
  Yes, this is a good point. The title is a lie, I've flagged it for this purpose. "Historically been beyond our expertise" is not "is beyond our expertise".
  - unobatbayar 5y ago
    The article itself has the title of "is beyond our expertise", flagging for this is a bit too much?
    - beebmam 5y ago
      That's why the article itself deserves flagging here on hacker news, the article's title itself is a lie
      - unobatbayar 5y ago
        Oh, I see! How do we flag articles on HN?
- OJFord 5y ago
  It also doesn't specify crypto (just 'cash markets' - which was new to me, apparently means spots) so combined with 'historically' I'm not even sure she doesn't simply mean 'futures are our expertise', crypto or not?
randomhodler84 5y ago
Nobody outside this space knows what’s going on. Even a vast majority in it don’t know. It’s the most bananas thing I’ve ever seen. Probably in our lives. But it’s kinda expected, we just went through a situation worse than the worst thing that happened last century. Times, they are always a changing. I grew up to value a dollar. And I see people selling jpegs for more than an average person makes in a lifetime. I’ve seen thousands of assets manifest from the ether. I’ve seen billions of real honest to goodness dollars being tokenized and bounced through a dozen jurisdictions, and disappear into hundreds of thousands of places protected by naught but a very large integer. And We have barely scratched the surface.
- knownjorbist 5y ago
  It's insane how quickly things are moving now. The last year has felt like a decade. So many building blocks are in place now that I don't think we'll see another "crypto winter" quite like the last one.
  - brazzy 5y ago
    It seems quite certain that we'll se a "crypto apocalypse" instead, given how many of those "building blocks" consist of outright fraud and market manipulation.
    - knownjorbist 5y ago
      Do you have any examples of this besides Tether?
      - beebmam 5y ago
        Nano/Raiblocks
        capableweb 5y ago
        Nano doesn't even show up in the top 100 list of cryptocurrencies, I don't think it can cause any sort of impact even if it disappeared overnight. Remember that Bitcoin still has ~45% of market, Ethereum around 20%, and the rest of them share what's left over. For a "crypto apocalypse" to happen, something needs to happen with the majority of top 100 cryptocurrencies.
lottin 5y ago
I don't know if it's beyond anybody's expertise, but I think one of the greatest mysteries in economics is how Tether is able to hold a 1-to-1 peg to the US dollar, considering it's not redeemable for dollars (according to Tether's own terms and conditions). Apparently people just buy Tethers for 1 dollar a piece and expect that the peg will hold. And surprisingly it does.
jayzalowitz 5y ago
"Historically"

29 points by cinquemb 5y ago

It’s probably one of the most irresponsible things humans have came up with. Let’s hope nobody gets hurt in the aftermath.

ohazi 5y ago
We skipped AGI and invented a paperclip maximizer directly instead.
teekert 5y ago
It's very nice that you can concluded this without blinking. Meanwhile there are people that died in concentration camps, vaporized in atomic blasts or got burned for being a witch. While right here we have some people potentially loosing some disposable income while others get rich.
Ekaros 5y ago
How many are spending their rent money or food money on this? Probably not that many. I really won't be too sad of idiots lifesavings or pensions. They want to gamble, let them gamble. It is not that different from stock market currently...
- knownjorbist 5y ago
  ~4% of "the great resignation" this year attribute leaving their jobs(and the workforce, or seeking another job) to crypto, and proportionally more among the lowest income. This isn't necessarily a bad thing either IMO. These people generally don't get any other breaks in life.
  - azth 5y ago
    Do you mean they resigned because they made bank off of crypto?
    - knownjorbist 5y ago
      "resigned" is not the term people in this echelon use. Literally just leaving their job for another one, but now they have some breathing room.

crumpled 5y ago

The quote in the article says "... historically been beyond our expertise."

beebmam 5y ago
Yes, this is a good point. The title is a lie, I've flagged it for this purpose. "Historically been beyond our expertise" is not "is beyond our expertise".
- unobatbayar 5y ago
  The article itself has the title of "is beyond our expertise", flagging for this is a bit too much?
  - beebmam 5y ago
    That's why the article itself deserves flagging here on hacker news, the article's title itself is a lie
    - unobatbayar 5y ago
      Oh, I see! How do we flag articles on HN?
OJFord 5y ago
It also doesn't specify crypto (just 'cash markets' - which was new to me, apparently means spots) so combined with 'historically' I'm not even sure she doesn't simply mean 'futures are our expertise', crypto or not?

randomhodler84 5y ago

Nobody outside this space knows what’s going on. Even a vast majority in it don’t know. It’s the most bananas thing I’ve ever seen. Probably in our lives. But it’s kinda expected, we just went through a situation worse than the worst thing that happened last century. Times, they are always a changing. I grew up to value a dollar. And I see people selling jpegs for more than an average person makes in a lifetime. I’ve seen thousands of assets manifest from the ether. I’ve seen billions of real honest to goodness dollars being tokenized and bounced through a dozen jurisdictions, and disappear into hundreds of thousands of places protected by naught but a very large integer. And We have barely scratched the surface.

knownjorbist 5y ago
It's insane how quickly things are moving now. The last year has felt like a decade. So many building blocks are in place now that I don't think we'll see another "crypto winter" quite like the last one.
- brazzy 5y ago
  It seems quite certain that we'll se a "crypto apocalypse" instead, given how many of those "building blocks" consist of outright fraud and market manipulation.
  - knownjorbist 5y ago
    Do you have any examples of this besides Tether?
    - beebmam 5y ago
      Nano/Raiblocks
      - capableweb 5y ago
        Nano doesn't even show up in the top 100 list of cryptocurrencies, I don't think it can cause any sort of impact even if it disappeared overnight. Remember that Bitcoin still has ~45% of market, Ethereum around 20%, and the rest of them share what's left over. For a "crypto apocalypse" to happen, something needs to happen with the majority of top 100 cryptocurrencies.

lottin 5y ago

I don't know if it's beyond anybody's expertise, but I think one of the greatest mysteries in economics is how Tether is able to hold a 1-to-1 peg to the US dollar, considering it's not redeemable for dollars (according to Tether's own terms and conditions). Apparently people just buy Tethers for 1 dollar a piece and expect that the peg will hold. And surprisingly it does.

jayzalowitz 5y ago

"Historically"