381–390 of 451 posts
This whole mess makes me wonder, what if they did everything right, with proper accounting and compliance practices etc.? Would we have ended up with a successful crypto business that would advance the whole field forward? Perhaps Coinbase is an example of that, though maybe not as well known due to less drama?
In a separate article Ray also said: “Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here,” And this is the same man who oversaw the liquidation of Enron. "Ray said he had found at FTX international, FTX US and Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research trading company “compromised systems integrity”, “faulty regulatory o…
[deleted]
SBF is a fraudster and criminal - he "loaned" 3.3 bullion from Almeda Research. It makes Enron seem like side show.
In a separate article Ray also said: “Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here,” And this is the same man who oversaw the liquidation of Enron. "Ray said he had found at FTX international, FTX US and Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research trading company “compromised systems integrity”, “faulty regulatory o…
Nassim Taleb said it: "Crypto is a gigantic construction built by maladjusted children." https://mobile.twitter.com/nntaleb/status/159059960483560652...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> FTX’s list of investors spans powerful and well-known investment firms: NEA, IVP, Iconiq Capital, Third Point Ventures, Tiger Global, Altimeter Capital Management, Lux Capital, Mayfield, Insight Partners, Sequoia Capital, SoftBank, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Ribbit Capital, Temasek Holdings, BlackRock and Thoma Bravo. - https://archive.ph/1tjP5 This is an extraordinary number of high-profile companies which eithe…
There's a third option: FOMO. They didn't want to look stupid later for failing to invest in case FTX turned out to be the next big thing, so they took a gamble.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if those other reasons simply were the guy's background and pedigree. Silicon Valley is no different than Wall Street in its obsession with having the "right" educational background, having the "right" parents, having the "right" connections and so on. So many doors in corporate hiring can be bypassed with "Went to MIT" and "Stanford parents" and I wonder if they can also be bypassed by founders looking for…
Don’t VC always say they invest in the founder not the company? It’s all about how that person makes them feel. Some argue that is why there is less diversity in VC funded companies.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> FTX’s list of investors spans powerful and well-known investment firms: NEA, IVP, Iconiq Capital, Third Point Ventures, Tiger Global, Altimeter Capital Management, Lux Capital, Mayfield, Insight Partners, Sequoia Capital, SoftBank, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Ribbit Capital, Temasek Holdings, BlackRock and Thoma Bravo. - https://archive.ph/1tjP5 This is an extraordinary number of high-profile companies which eithe…
There's a third option: FOMO. They didn't want to look stupid later for failing to invest in case FTX turned out to be the next big thing, so they took a gamble.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>The audit firm for the Dotcom Silo was Prager Metis, a firm with which I am not familiar and whose website indicates that they are the “first-ever CPA firm to officially open its Metaverse headquarters in the metaverse platform Decentraland.” You're not kidding.
mic drop, he doesn't even feel the need to explain the impact of this statement lmfao
Our History
Prager and Fenton has provided expert accounting and advisory services for over a century, focusing on the entertainment and music industry, professional practice firms, real estate groups, and private wealth individuals.
Prager Metis CPAs, was formed in January 2013 by the combination of Prager and Fenton LLP and Metis Group LLC—two highly-respected accounting firms who found their deep-rooted practices to be both philosophically and culturally complementary.
Founded in 1987, Metis Group is known for their “team approach” to creating financial security for their clients, and provides a full range of accounting and tax services including forensic accounting, business and strategic planning, and litigation support.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
At least one person seemed to know what they were talking about. Unfortunately the comment was flagged, which is interesting. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31738560 > Very different approach to Bryan Armstrong, who’s more of a Bitcoin “believer” The fact that you think this goes to show just how little you know about this ecosystem. And Bankman is the worst type of con-artist, he is going to use his billion(s)…
Sadly, reading that guy's posts, he is also clearly a lunatic. I guess it takes one to know one.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's at least one strong reason - VCs look at the person as much as the business. Crypto was filled with sleazy car-salesman "investor" types at the time Alameda Research was looking for funding. So when in came someone with a Jane Street background and not a single flashy Ferrari in their driveway, the dam broke on VCs finally being able to pour money into the crypto space on a decent looking founder.
Plus both his parents are professors at Stanford Law school. I can see VCs having a natural bias towards "it would be unlikely for someone with this pedigree to operate so completely outside the law".
There was a lot of money involved. There was a huge network of shell companies to hide it.
VCs, who are supposed to know what due diligence is, looked at some hilariously unprofessional books and said "We like the look of this."
Is it unreasonable to wonder what was going on?