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Binance is trying to calm investors, but its finances remain a mystery

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191–200 of 280 posts

Re: Binance is trying to calm investors, but its finances remain a mystery

#192
post #176

One thing to be aware of with Binance. As far as I understand, most of the transactions occur on their own ethereum-compatible-but-not-quite-ethereum chain called the "Binance Smart Chain". While having these sidechains can improve scalability and reduce costs (they are just another form of sharding), this presumably introduces an additional point of potential failure compared with regular centralised exchanges: not…

How is this kind of sidechain any better than just having your transactions recorded in a boring old private SQL database? The Axie Infinity hack suggests that these private chains are the worst of all worlds: they're effectively controlled by a single entity, but also far more susceptible to hacks than a well-understood traditional database. The blockchain part seems to be a pure marketing decoy that's worse than us…

Your question is just "what is the purpose of the blockchain" but with more words.

Re: Binance is trying to calm investors, but its finances remain a mystery

#193
post #71

This YouTuber (Sasha Yanshin) did a scrutiny of the errors or omissions made with the different wallet checks in the report. This is the most detailed tear down I've been able to find so far on the Internet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42VnEndJ9mo

Even though I would like to casually watch a video on Binance but I am going to pass on that channel. That channel is defined by red backgrounds, down arrows and fire. I firmly believe that one should be open to every opinion as long as they have a built a good framework aka BS detector. I feel like this video is not going to be a casual watch for me and I am definitely not invested in Binance that much to fact check…

That is an unfortunate side effect of the way YT is running its feed system and ad revenue sharing. A good amount of YT vid thumbnails have turned into clickbait.

Re: Binance is trying to calm investors, but its finances remain a mystery

#194
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As for 3), we really need to avoid the narrative that these people are idiots or stupid. They are sharks - intentionally malevolent people who have defrauded millions of people. SBF's current defense is that he was too naive and unaware of what was happening at FTX. Obviously its a lie - but we shouldn't help these people spread it.

I think his defense is sort of: 1. We had a busted accounting system 2. Early on in FTX people had to route dollars via Alameda because banking is hard 3. We accidentally credited those dollars both to Ftx and Alameda 4. Each side thought they had billions to spend / lose (their VC and related spend was WILD), and suddenly, oops!!!!!! I suspect there's a grain of truth to this, in that steps 1-4 did actually happen t…

SBF recently said that both the FTX & Alameda/FTX Trading accounts were the same. People who signed up for just storage were exposed to the same risks as the trading degenerates. When everything collapsed, the trading degenerates could withdraw using the very same money that regular FTX users had put money in.

It's fraud, from the beginning.

Re: Binance is trying to calm investors, but its finances remain a mystery

#196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was wondering this myself and it looks like they were +$3B profitable in 2021? A wild ride but it doesn't necessarily sound fatal.

Those times will never come again.

No post body was provided.

Re: Binance is trying to calm investors, but its finances remain a mystery

#197

South African affiliate - oh dear - let's just the accounting profession in South Africa is generally found to be wanting after several scandals they missed out on or were complicit in.

Compared to say USA ?

Enron is about the only one I heard of out of the US - here we had several big-name corporate failures and the lead auditor partner who were complicit in one major banking fraud case (he got "loans" from the bank like the FTX CEO who loaned him and others billions)

KPMG is being sued for R863m for that one - it seems the quality of work, oversight and ethics of some are severely lacking in these firms.

Re: Binance is trying to calm investors, but its finances remain a mystery

#198
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-justice-dept-is-split-...

WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Splits between U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors are delaying the conclusion of a long-running criminal investigation into the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, four people familiar with the matter have told Reuters.

The investigation began in 2018 and is focused on Binance's compliance with U.S. anti-money laundering laws and sanctions, these people said. Some of the at least half dozen federal prosecutors involved in the case believe the evidence already gathered justifies moving aggressively against the exchange and filing criminal charges against individual executives including founder Changpeng Zhao, said two of the sources. Others have argued taking time to review more evidence, the sources said.

Re: Binance is trying to calm investors, but its finances remain a mystery

#199
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this kind of sidechain any better than just having your transactions recorded in a boring old private SQL database? The Axie Infinity hack suggests that these private chains are the worst of all worlds: they're effectively controlled by a single entity, but also far more susceptible to hacks than a well-understood traditional database. The blockchain part seems to be a pure marketing decoy that's worse than us…

Your question is just "what is the purpose of the blockchain" but with more words.

Yes…?

Re: Binance is trying to calm investors, but its finances remain a mystery

#200

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-justice-dept-is-split-... WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Splits between U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors are delaying the conclusion of a long-running criminal investigation into the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, four people familiar with the matter have told Reuters. The investigation began in 2018 and is focused on Binance's compliance with U.S. anti-mo…

Oh dear - house of cards.
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