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From the Fyre Festival to FTX, the Bahamas just can’t catch a break.

by Apocryphon 4y ago

Animats 4y ago
(deleted - bad info)
- Apocryphon 4y ago
  Guess he should’ve bought/built his own island first.
- fuzzfactor 4y ago
  Davis is the Prime Minister. Salame is an FTX executive.
coldpie 4y ago
I can't read the article, but the subhead says, "Island nation encouraged crypto companies to set up shop," and later, "In April, the Bahamas prime minister appeared with FTX executives at a ceremonial groundbreaking on the new land [purchased by FTX]." If you're actively inviting scammers to play a big role in your economy, I guess it's tough for me to feel too much sympathy when you get scammed.
- more_corn 4y ago
  It’s interesting that we’re all here talking about an article we can’t read.
- colpabar 4y ago
  Is it tough to feel sympathy for the ordinary bahamiams who had nothing to do with this who are going to suffer the actual consequences of all this? As for the government, I see two possibilities: either they were paid off, or they were scammed too.
  - rospaya 4y ago
    > As for the government, I see two possibilities: either they were paid off, or they were scammed too. Or they're just idiots that won't have to deal with the consequences, which is usually the case.
    - colpabar 4y ago
      I know. But I can't be completely cynical in all my comments here.
  - JustLurking2022 4y ago
    Did they elect that government?
  - giarc 4y ago
    Every VC company in the valley was scammed. FTX was seen as the pinnacle of exchanges.
    - largepeepee 4y ago
      The VC model is also pretty stupid or at least not worth trusting that they did due diligence. They pretty much just threw money at everything that moves in SV and hope they become real companies. Their months of background research? "He graduated from an ivy league school and is rich, he must trustworthy"
  - onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
    > Is it tough to feel sympathy for the ordinary bahamiams who had nothing to do with this who are going to suffer the actual consequences of all this? What consequences? That FTX is no longer able to steal money from people and spend it into the Bahamas economy? No, I don't feel bad about that at all.
- gruez 4y ago
  >If you're actively inviting scammers to play a big role in your economy, I guess it's tough for me to feel too much sympathy when you get scammed. Did they knowingly invite scammers, or did they invite people who later turned out to be scammers? There's a huge difference between the two.
  - luckylion 4y ago
    I guess they didn't knowingly invite scammers, they just provided the regulatory and banking environment to enable scammers and profited from it.
    - rvnx 4y ago
      Bahamas is one of the large international center. So politics are well aware of what is crypto. The politicians in Bahamas cannot even remotely consider that crypto is a scam because it would open the possibility that they get charged by whoever is a victim (e.g. in the US). They will put the blame on FTX and that they are victim, but the problem is not only FTX, it's crypto and greed.
      - luckylion 4y ago
        Oh, sure, I mean, a significant part of the Bahamas' economy is based on tax evasion, sidestepping financial regulations, and creating out-of-reach entities for large-scale scams. They know it, their customers know, everyone else knows it. But neither they nor their customers can say so, because that's the name of the game.
    - matkoniecz 4y ago
      "provided the regulatory and banking environment to enable scammers" sounds like "knowingly invite scammers" to me.
  - thrown1212 4y ago
    It’s a don’t ask don’t tell policy. The rivers of money tend to wash over objections. The culpability should be the same, but there’s enough cover that people will say things like you just did, with a straight face.
- gumby 4y ago
  A company I'm on the board of responded to a proposal from the government of the Bahamas to change their currency system to full digital with the central bank implemented in software rather than a bunch of people. The project team included some economics professors as well as software developers and some cryptographers (i.e. real definition of "crypto"). As far as I know the Bahamas just dropped the idea.
matkoniecz 4y ago
Given that Bahamas help rich people and companies to evade taxes, my sympathy to negative consequences of that are limited.
- pupppet 4y ago
  Exactly. Where's my tiny violin.
  - beepbooptheory 4y ago
    This is all very interesting. Why is that people in countries generally south of the equator have more collective agency in their state's affairs than those in the north? I only ask because whenever people talk on here about politics in America or Europe, people don't have a hard time accepting that the state would be against the interests of individuals, but whenever its about some country in Africa or South America, the focus is much more on the country as a whole as like a rational individual.
    - therealcamino 4y ago
      Huh? Who is talking about countries south of the equator?
    - matkoniecz 4y ago
      1) note that I mentioned Bahamas, not people living there. To be more specific, I have a lot sympathy toward people that oppose Bahamas policy of making their economy scam-based and fraud-based. 2) I also have limited sympathy to Russia for consequences of their invasions (much larger toward Russians who at least tried to leave Russia or did anything at all) 3) The same applies to disastrous smog-related stupidity in my own country, Poland
    - michaericalribo 4y ago
      Bahamas are not south of the equator*, they’re adjacent to Florida * or even very close to it
oliveshell 4y ago
If we’re talking about the Bahamas being unable to catch a break, there should be mention of the nasty direct hit they took from hurricane Dorian in 2019, from which some areas are still recovering. The storm basically sat still over Grand Bahama for 24 hours as a Category 5 storm with up to 185mph sustained winds: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_Hurricane_Dorian_in_The_Bahamas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_Hurricane_Dorian_in...

From the Fyre Festival to FTX, the Bahamas just can’t catch a break.

Animats 4y ago

(deleted - bad info)

Apocryphon 4y ago
Guess he should’ve bought/built his own island first.
fuzzfactor 4y ago
Davis is the Prime Minister. Salame is an FTX executive.

coldpie 4y ago

I can't read the article, but the subhead says, "Island nation encouraged crypto companies to set up shop," and later, "In April, the Bahamas prime minister appeared with FTX executives at a ceremonial groundbreaking on the new land [purchased by FTX]." If you're actively inviting scammers to play a big role in your economy, I guess it's tough for me to feel too much sympathy when you get scammed.

more_corn 4y ago
It’s interesting that we’re all here talking about an article we can’t read.
colpabar 4y ago
Is it tough to feel sympathy for the ordinary bahamiams who had nothing to do with this who are going to suffer the actual consequences of all this? As for the government, I see two possibilities: either they were paid off, or they were scammed too.
- rospaya 4y ago
  > As for the government, I see two possibilities: either they were paid off, or they were scammed too. Or they're just idiots that won't have to deal with the consequences, which is usually the case.
  - colpabar 4y ago
    I know. But I can't be completely cynical in all my comments here.
- JustLurking2022 4y ago
  Did they elect that government?
- giarc 4y ago
  Every VC company in the valley was scammed. FTX was seen as the pinnacle of exchanges.
  - largepeepee 4y ago
    The VC model is also pretty stupid or at least not worth trusting that they did due diligence. They pretty much just threw money at everything that moves in SV and hope they become real companies. Their months of background research? "He graduated from an ivy league school and is rich, he must trustworthy"
- onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
  > Is it tough to feel sympathy for the ordinary bahamiams who had nothing to do with this who are going to suffer the actual consequences of all this? What consequences? That FTX is no longer able to steal money from people and spend it into the Bahamas economy? No, I don't feel bad about that at all.
gruez 4y ago
>If you're actively inviting scammers to play a big role in your economy, I guess it's tough for me to feel too much sympathy when you get scammed. Did they knowingly invite scammers, or did they invite people who later turned out to be scammers? There's a huge difference between the two.
- luckylion 4y ago
  I guess they didn't knowingly invite scammers, they just provided the regulatory and banking environment to enable scammers and profited from it.
  - rvnx 4y ago
    Bahamas is one of the large international center. So politics are well aware of what is crypto. The politicians in Bahamas cannot even remotely consider that crypto is a scam because it would open the possibility that they get charged by whoever is a victim (e.g. in the US). They will put the blame on FTX and that they are victim, but the problem is not only FTX, it's crypto and greed.
    - luckylion 4y ago
      Oh, sure, I mean, a significant part of the Bahamas' economy is based on tax evasion, sidestepping financial regulations, and creating out-of-reach entities for large-scale scams. They know it, their customers know, everyone else knows it. But neither they nor their customers can say so, because that's the name of the game.
  - matkoniecz 4y ago
    "provided the regulatory and banking environment to enable scammers" sounds like "knowingly invite scammers" to me.
- thrown1212 4y ago
  It’s a don’t ask don’t tell policy. The rivers of money tend to wash over objections. The culpability should be the same, but there’s enough cover that people will say things like you just did, with a straight face.
gumby 4y ago
A company I'm on the board of responded to a proposal from the government of the Bahamas to change their currency system to full digital with the central bank implemented in software rather than a bunch of people. The project team included some economics professors as well as software developers and some cryptographers (i.e. real definition of "crypto"). As far as I know the Bahamas just dropped the idea.

matkoniecz 4y ago

Given that Bahamas help rich people and companies to evade taxes, my sympathy to negative consequences of that are limited.

pupppet 4y ago
Exactly. Where's my tiny violin.
- beepbooptheory 4y ago
  This is all very interesting. Why is that people in countries generally south of the equator have more collective agency in their state's affairs than those in the north? I only ask because whenever people talk on here about politics in America or Europe, people don't have a hard time accepting that the state would be against the interests of individuals, but whenever its about some country in Africa or South America, the focus is much more on the country as a whole as like a rational individual.
  - therealcamino 4y ago
    Huh? Who is talking about countries south of the equator?
  - matkoniecz 4y ago
    1) note that I mentioned Bahamas, not people living there. To be more specific, I have a lot sympathy toward people that oppose Bahamas policy of making their economy scam-based and fraud-based. 2) I also have limited sympathy to Russia for consequences of their invasions (much larger toward Russians who at least tried to leave Russia or did anything at all) 3) The same applies to disastrous smog-related stupidity in my own country, Poland
  - michaericalribo 4y ago
    Bahamas are not south of the equator*, they’re adjacent to Florida * or even very close to it

oliveshell 4y ago

If we’re talking about the Bahamas being unable to catch a break, there should be mention of the nasty direct hit they took from hurricane Dorian in 2019, from which some areas are still recovering. The storm basically sat still over Grand Bahama for 24 hours as a Category 5 storm with up to 185mph sustained winds: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_Hurricane_Dorian_in_The_Bahamas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_Hurricane_Dorian_in...