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The SEC has told us it wants to sue us over Lend. We don’t know why

blog.coinbase.com

251–260 of 454 posts

Re: The SEC has told us it wants to sue us over Lend. We don’t know why

#251

Its called a f**ing bond. Its probably the largest and most important piece of the global securities market. Coinbase is shocked that their bond-in-a-trenchcoat is going to be regulated like a bond? I don't think there's any confusion at all to anyone remotely familiar with finance why it would be regulated this way. Crypto likes to rebrand decades old ideas and pretend they're new to confuse people who don't know be…

I agree. They are not a bank. That's all there is to it really...

Re: The SEC has told us it wants to sue us over Lend. We don’t know why

#252
post #185

Maybe they should have asked Brett Redfearn (former SEC director working at Coinbase) about the SECs reasoning. He left Coinbase in July? I guess the revolving door corruption failed (and/or he figured out where the wind is blowing)... This is really all too transparent and obvious. A risk-free investment with 4% APY. What-aboutism about other exchanges (which are unregulated and off-shore). Not "understanding" the p…

As a kid I made over 4% APY interest on my savings account. Risk free. Yes, I realize their are important differences here but I don't think that getting a 4% risk-free return should be seen as an "obvious" problem.

Inflation and growth was higher back then. My guess is that most of the growth is simply happening outside the developed world.

It's somehow in human nature to not share work. The bean counters will tell you how stupid it is to manufacture in the US and that you should move absolutely everything to Asia.

Re: The SEC has told us it wants to sue us over Lend. We don’t know why

#253

Very simple, this will compete aggressively with traditional banks which threatens their hegemony so it must be stopped.

Yea financial things are “very simple”. Coinbase is in the wrong and got called out, “very simple”.

Re: The SEC has told us it wants to sue us over Lend. We don’t know why

#254
post #50

From the Coinbase page about Lend: >Lend your crypto to earn 4% APY >Your principal is guaranteed This definitely seems fishy. I don't see how this is possible unless if their position isn't levered. However, if they aren't levered, then why can't they just lend USDC themselves?

It appears that Coinbase was going to achieve that 4% interest on USDC in Lend via Compound [1], which is a DeFi protocol they helped launch a few years ago [2]. However, it is not clear why they said "Your principal is guaranteed" , since they didn't say how, and that is a pretty big claim. I'm guessing, since they didn't really specify, but assets lent in Compound (and other DeFi protocols) are generally over-colla…

Compound isn’t subject to impermanent loss. It’s a lending protocol, not an exchange protocol.

Re: The SEC has told us it wants to sue us over Lend. We don’t know why

#255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, OP is saying that on a fundamental level, there isn't a difference (between LEND and a savings account), except that Coinbase is not a federally regulated FDIC insured bank. Metaphorically, Coinbase just went to the police department and explained in great detail their intention to sell hard liquor without a liquor license. Under sworn testimony, they explained... ' you see, we are just providing the same prod…

And it worked! Reading this and reading HN comments I realize I don't want the SEC involved in this. Crypto is more & more bringing to the front of the conversation about how protection should be the default but having the ability to opt out is the choice individuals should have. FDIC is a perfect example! There are accounts I know and would expect that but there are times I'm willing to waive that for compensation.…

FDIC was put in place after The Great Depression, in order to prevent another Great Depression. There is no opt out because when large numbers of people make risky investments without planning for the consequences, it affects the entire economy.

Re: The SEC has told us it wants to sue us over Lend. We don’t know why

#256
post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As in, the interest you might earn on a savings account? The rule is basically: "If you're giving someone else money in the hope of getting more money back later, it's a security UNLESS it fits into a list of exceptions, or if it meets the criteria to be added as a new exception." So a savings account would absolutely be a security, unless it fits into one of the recognised exceptions. One of those exceptions is the…

This is such a good explanation. It made me understand that this is all about protecting the customers investment, and, if nobody is protecting it, then it would have to be the SEC who does it, but they can only do this if it is a security. If it isn't a security which has to be protected by the SEC -- like Coinbase is claiming -- then who is protecting it? This appears to be what the SEC wants to have answered. Coin…

Which should be a choice for all US residents to participate in, residents who can also go lose their money at casinos if they wanted, but are literally barred from participating in positive expected value financial systems.

Just like Texas abortion laws, this is not enforced against the US resident, it is against the service providers, which has allowed this framework to persist for 70 years.

Re: The SEC has told us it wants to sue us over Lend. We don’t know why

#257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, and this line pretty much sums it up: > Customers won’t be “investing” in the program, but rather lending the USDC they hold on Coinbase’s platform in connection with their existing relationship. "Give me money for a fixed period of time and I'll pay a guaranteed return on your principal. No, it's not an "investment", you're just lending it in connection with our existing relationship!"

I'm not an expert here but I read their argument as they don't expect this lending to be regulated as "investment" because the capital is not in theory at risk. So it's more like a savings account than an investment account. That's the impression I got from the article, but reading other comments in the thread it doesn't seem like that's an at all relevant definition of the term!

They try to make it sound like they didn't expect Lend to be treated like an investment, but it's clear that's a load of bullshit. If they didn't think the lending program was a security, they wouldn't have gone to the SEC about it.

Re: The SEC has told us it wants to sue us over Lend. We don’t know why

#258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because the two things are not related or even comparable. I do use OSS and I want open banking. What I do not want is that lots of people lose money due to fraud or high volatility.

> I want open banking ... What I do not want is that lots of people lose money due to fraud or high volatility That's a bit like saying you want open source without the bugs, drama, forks or the ability for people to see the code you're publishing. Things come with tradeoffs. Open banking comes with the tradeoff that fraud and loosing your funds become easier, but it also means that it's easier for people without acc…

No, that is not what open banking is about at all. It just means that your financial data is not held in a prison by your banking provider. It means you have control over who you share that data with so that you can get value added services using your data.

Re: The SEC has told us it wants to sue us over Lend. We don’t know why

#259

Seems to be gone from the internet. Can't find it in archive.today or archive.org either. reddit comment thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/pk2rjl/coin... Which points to a tweet thread from Brian Armstrong of Coinbase that is still there for now.... https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/14354409980546539... unrolled (and probably will still be there even if tweets deleted?) https://threadr…

Which from that tweet thread from Brian Armstrong:

> Ok - seems strange, how can lending be a security?

I mean, in general, loans can definitely be considered securities sometimes, this is a thing? As you can easily find out googling? Either this is disingenuous, or the business has really bad legal/accounting advice.

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