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Insider Trading at Coinbase

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Re: Insider Trading at Coinbase

#201

Crypto fans want deregulated finance. Crypto fans get mad when deregulated finance is comically unfair. You really can’t make this up. Embrace this. It’s exactly what crypto is all about.

This is a strawman. It also paints “crypto fans”, as some monolithic group that all think the same way. I am a crypto fan and do not “want deregulated finance”. It is not “exactly what crypto is all about”. I think most in the space would actually like to see more sensible regulation.

I think "crypto people" are tired of things being a constant state of flux and just want governing bodies to make some kind of decisions. People really want to know what the rules are so they can make more informed decisions.

Re: Insider Trading at Coinbase

#203
post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is the expected cycle of business long term. 1. Entrepreneur notices an opportunity to avoid overzealous regulations and provide better value to customers 2. Everyone wants a piece of the action, bad actors start to move in and updated regulation is required 3. New regulations get out of hand and start to become extremely costly to comply with (see banks) 4. New entrepreneur comes along with a novel way…

I cannot think of a single previous business cycle that was driven by this dynamic. Can you give some historical examples? This strategy seems unique to the most recent generation of capitalists (sharing economy, crypto stuff, etc).

The 2008 bubble was largely driven by the deregulation of financial instruments (and non-regulation of new instruments) in the late 1990 and early 2000.

Re: Insider Trading at Coinbase

#205
post #184

Crypto fans want deregulated finance. Crypto fans get mad when deregulated finance is comically unfair. You really can’t make this up. Embrace this. It’s exactly what crypto is all about.

I think us zealots have been clear on this from the start: centralized, custodial exchanges are not crypto. Please come down on them HARD.

[deleted]

Re: Insider Trading at Coinbase

#206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Accredited investor rules was an example of not having a even playing field. The market is not open to everyone which contributes to unfair outcomes. I'd welcome reforms to transparency as well there, as lack of transparency also contributes to unfair outcomes (the company can exploit investors).

The accredited investor rules are in place to protect people who can’t bear the losses from an extremely adversarial financial system. I promise you that even if you get rid of the rules, people with a few thousand dollars to spend still would not have access to the best investments.

I believe that every financial transaction has the potential to be adversarial, there are many ways outside of investing that the poor are disproportionately exploited (lotteries, debt interest). I think the libertarian perspective is that we shouldn't have protections that prevent people from making personal choices that result in harm to themselves, but only from harming others. I think that transparency for the companies seeking investment, or education of the investors themselves are better ways to restrict investment. Net worth/Income is not a fair criteria.

Re: Insider Trading at Coinbase

#207

Crypto fans want deregulated finance. Crypto fans get mad when deregulated finance is comically unfair. You really can’t make this up. Embrace this. It’s exactly what crypto is all about.

You’re conflating everyone in a massive group.

Americans want abortion rights then they pass laws against abortion. Can’t make this up!

Developers want open source then they make closed source products. Can’t make this up!

Re: Insider Trading at Coinbase

#208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're an exchange. Cold Storage is not their job. It isn't much of an exchange if I have to wait 8 hours to put in a sell order.

I wonder what your statement would be if a hacker compromised the hot wallet and drained all of the funds?

I would expect them to have insurance against theft like everywhere else I store money.

Re: Insider Trading at Coinbase

#209

I just consider Coinbase and it ilk as "safe" places for cryptocurrency. I don't think of them as ethical in the same way I'd think of an account at TDAmeritrade, Schwab, etc. Traditional brokerage houses have regulations forcing them to play fair, and reporting structures to enforce it. Crypto exchanges are trying to convince the world they are a more secure place for your coins. Better IT security and highly funded…

I appreciate your sentiment, but I want to point out that your belief that "Traditional brokerage houses have regulations forcing them to play fair" and believing that there are adequate "reporting structures to enforce it" is a great example of the moral hazard that exists in the market today.

I agree that law and regulation plays an important role in the market, but as the market has advanced and become increasingly more complex than previous models, I do not believe Law and regulation has kept up.

The GME fiasco and the resulting litigation is a good example of these problems. And before anyone says this is proof the rules in place work - I'd like to point out that our online brokerage infrastructure and market structure has been around since the early 2000's. It's quite difficult to say what has not been surfaced and recognized. And no, despite the nature of the trade itself, no one should discredit the lawsuit as illegitimate. https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2021/01/29/gamestop-lawsuits-hi...

The absurdity and extreme nature of the GME case shows tells me that there are outstanding issues throughout this value chain. And the belief that our system of rules adequately handles this just because the rules exist is a strong indicator of the moral hazard that prevades our market culture.

Re: Insider Trading at Coinbase

#210
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Marginally, but nowhere near to the extent that the price will change when the insider infortmation becomes public (unless I'm doing something crazy, like buying all available stock at any price below what I think the price will be).

In a world where insider trading is legal, why would you stick to small time trades?

Because you don't want others to notice what you're doing, obviously. If the CEO of X is buying massive amounts of X stock, people will start assuming they have inside information, and the price will go up. If the CEO of X bought a few shares at market price every day, that will be less likely to alert anyone, and they will be able to continue buying at very low prices.
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