3 ms·
> Illegality of market manipulation. Perhaps it is true that Avraham committed illegal market manipulation (or some other violation of the law).... Let us remem
by nl 4y ago
> Illegality of market manipulation. Perhaps it is true that Avraham committed illegal market manipulation (or some other violation of the law).... Let us remember that Mango Markets is an unlicensed derivatives exchange run by a team of US citizens who also held an ICO for their protocol token, which likely qualifies as an illegal security ー do we really want to be tallying up legal infractions in this situation?... Almost everything in decentralized finance is illegal on multiple levels and we are all operating on very shaky ground here.
What a absolutely stupid argument.
Mango Markets ICO didn't allow US citizens to buy tokens, so it wouldn't be regulated as a security - so it is legal. But even so it's pretty easy to argue that the security itself should be legal if certain education requirements about risk are met.
That's a very different class of offense to bald market manipulation for profit.
> Furthermore, if there is any core ethos of crypto, it is one of independence from the authority of the state.
So this piece argues. Personally, I'm all for regulation of financial markets - as someone on HN mentioned "crypto seems to be speedrunning the history of financial regulation".
- wmf 4y agoI don't think it's legal for secondary markets (e.g. Kraken) to allow Americans to trade ICO tokens either. Basically no ICOs have ever been done legally.
- nl 4y agoDepends on the token type. There's a distinction between governance tokens (~= securities) and utility tokens (~= coin|currency|value store|something). Utility tokens don't fall under the Howey test so are ok to trade: https://www.blockchain-council.org/blockchain/security-tokens-vs-utility-tokens-a-concise-guide/ https://www.blockchain-council.org/blockchain/security-token...
- wmf 4y agoRealistically, there are virtually no utility tokens.
- seanhunter 4y ago100% agree. "He might have done market manipulation, but it was on an exchange that might have also done some(unrelated) illegal thing earlier, so ....". That's just not how laws and regulations work at all. I don't have a particular axe to grind here. In the markets I worked in, what he did would have 100% been market manipulation but as I have argued elsewhere he may successfully be able to claim normal market practise here idk. It would be risky because I don't think it's been tested in the courts before. From my perspective crypto markets should be regulated in the exact same way as conventional markets because regulations are needed for the exact same reasons. The idea that you can just say "code is law" and pretend that laws don't exist seems unlikely to be true. Also while I respect his decision to make losses from depositors whole, I'm not sure that would change much if a regulator did decide to try an enforcement action here.
- nl 4y ago> while I respect his decision to make losses from depositors whole, Noting that he only made this offer after he had been named on Twitter.
- betwixthewires 4y agoThis is some paper thin armor you're hiding behind. Everyone knows how the game is played. Turn on your VPN and you're in. There is no real attempt to stop Americans from buying. Again, this is the wild west. Rules for the and not for me deserves merciless mockery and derision.
- nl 4y agoKYC is a real and increasing barrier to this.