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SBF would have scammed with anything instrument, only the media and gov wants you to believe it had anything to do with crypto

maxbond 4y ago
If people will run scams in crypto the same as they'll run scams in tradfi - shouldn't they be regulated the same, too?
- jdminhbg 4y ago
  Well they’re being arrested and sent to jail, so that’s a form of regulation.
  - tiahura 4y ago
    Not for the crypto though. For ripping off the investors. Neither the SEC nor the CFTC have authority to regulate crypto.
timmytokyo 4y ago
Cryptocurrency is, in many ways, especially useful for fraud. It's relatively anonymous, which makes transactions between individuals more difficult to track. It's unregulated, so there are fewer safeguards against fraud. It's complex, so scammers are able to prey on more people who don't fully understand it. And it's unprotected, in the sense that consumers usually have no recourse in the event that they are scammed. Can traditional financial instruments (like cash, securities or commodities) be used for fraud? Absolutely. But it's not as easy.
- vgatherps 4y ago
  > It's unregulated, so there are fewer safeguards against fraud I work in traditional finance and this imo is a major reason why - the GP is right in that nothing about the fraud was crypto related. But today you could never run an equities brokerage with such absurd lack of anything related to operational competence and customer protections.
lolinder 4y ago
If the atmosphere around crypto makes it easy to scam lots of people out of lots of money (which it does), then I think it's absolutely fair to make this story about crypto, if only so that otherwise-naive people who hear the news will think twice before investing in the next big scam. It's not necessarily that the technology inherently lends itself to scams, but the culture around it absolutely does. A startlingly large percentage of the biggest players in crypto have turned out to be scams, this isn't a one-off thing.

maxbond 4y ago

If people will run scams in crypto the same as they'll run scams in tradfi - shouldn't they be regulated the same, too?

jdminhbg 4y ago
Well they’re being arrested and sent to jail, so that’s a form of regulation.
- tiahura 4y ago
  Not for the crypto though. For ripping off the investors. Neither the SEC nor the CFTC have authority to regulate crypto.

timmytokyo 4y ago

Cryptocurrency is, in many ways, especially useful for fraud. It's relatively anonymous, which makes transactions between individuals more difficult to track. It's unregulated, so there are fewer safeguards against fraud. It's complex, so scammers are able to prey on more people who don't fully understand it. And it's unprotected, in the sense that consumers usually have no recourse in the event that they are scammed. Can traditional financial instruments (like cash, securities or commodities) be used for fraud? Absolutely. But it's not as easy.

vgatherps 4y ago
> It's unregulated, so there are fewer safeguards against fraud I work in traditional finance and this imo is a major reason why - the GP is right in that nothing about the fraud was crypto related. But today you could never run an equities brokerage with such absurd lack of anything related to operational competence and customer protections.

lolinder 4y ago

If the atmosphere around crypto makes it easy to scam lots of people out of lots of money (which it does), then I think it's absolutely fair to make this story about crypto, if only so that otherwise-naive people who hear the news will think twice before investing in the next big scam. It's not necessarily that the technology inherently lends itself to scams, but the culture around it absolutely does. A startlingly large percentage of the biggest players in crypto have turned out to be scams, this isn't a one-off thing.