4 ms·

But are we really talking about "assets" here?

• lazide 4y ago
  Good luck finding a solid definition of that term that excludes them without excluding a whole class of other, more traditionally recognized stuff. Tokens, etc. are easiest to think of as securities (aka stock) generally, albeit securities in a more abstract thing than a company.
  • dudeinhawaii 4y ago
    It feels like you're stretching here. If I cut squares of paper and call them Ponzi Coins and then mark them in my books as 100 Million in assets, well, I'm stretching that definition. I've also created more "assets" than the average crypto coin. Maybe it's as simple as adding a word, fake. The coins are fake assets. Otherwise, the words lose all meaning in the context of finance (assets and liabilities).
    • lazide 4y ago
      Except many are tradable on a market, just like securities and other assets. Also; stock in private companies is often not tradeable at all, but no accountant is going to call those fake. There are multiple ways of plausibly pricing assets. None are generally accepted that would let someone just make up a ridiculous valuation and stand up to any scrutiny, but people can always do what they want until the auditors show up anyway.
      • cykros 4y ago
        At the very least, a bank can look at stock in a private company, and before accepting it as collateral, demand to see cash flow and income statements, and perform its own valuations based on revenue, earnings (if they exist), debt to equity ratios, and things of that nature. With a token, pretty sure the analysis on that level becomes "so you just made these up?" Now, whether or not this is how banks act in practice is another question. It is, perhaps, how they should act if they're being conservative, but it is likely that others will swoop in and often enough grab that interest for themselves. And in the rate environment we've been in until very recently, those are likely the banks that have managed to survive in many cases.
    • JamesianP 4y ago
      How about various forms of IP? They're just intangible rights. They give you a certain monopoly, which is one (admittedly odd perhaps) way of describing a cryptocurrency (or anything encrypted when only you have the key). The fundamentals for your ponzi coins are so bad they might as well be worth zero, so why would that insignificant value difference matter anyway?
      • JLuterek 4y ago
        IP is valued on it's ability to generate revenue. This is why the patent on swinging sideways in a playground is worthless, but the patent on the telephone was extremely valuable. Crypto tokens are unable to generate revenue.