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Annotated: Sam Bankman-Fried's “FTX Pre-Mortem Overview”

mollywhite.net

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Re: Annotated: Sam Bankman-Fried's “FTX Pre-Mortem Overview”

#61

Post by TacticalCoder »

jasonhansel wrote: post #7

SBF also wrote a later post about FTX US's balance sheet: https://sambf.substack.com/p/ftx-us-balance-update-2023-01-1... Is that post at all accurate or is it even more lies?

Total lies: the current bankruptcy CEO says that balance sheet accounts for hundreds of millions in a company called LedgerX (IIRC, out of memory) which FTX.us acquired with... Money fraudulently siphoned from investors and customers.

So the money used to buy LedgerX (and which LedgerX still partially has) should at some point be seized.

FTX.us is insolvent too.

Re: Annotated: Sam Bankman-Fried's “FTX Pre-Mortem Overview”

#62

Post by baby-yoda »

bmitc wrote: post #5

Sam Bankman-Fried is something else. He seems to be incapable of stopping talking, both before and after this saga. He also seems just purely delusional. He's co-conspirators have readily plead guilty. He has a tough hill to climb. Regarding Sam Trabucco, why do we not hear anything about him in these proceedings? How is it possible that he wasn't involved given he just up and left in just August 2022? Why hasn't he…

Is Trabucco the Lou Pai[0] of this scandal? How much did he walk away with?

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Pai

Re: Annotated: Sam Bankman-Fried's “FTX Pre-Mortem Overview”

#63

Post by detrites »

Yizahi wrote: post #52
detrites wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There needs to be a differentiation between good and bad actors in this drama as opposed to the lazy and inaccurate idea of "the crypto grift". These recent billion-dollar grifts plaguing crypto have primarily been enabled by actors working steadfastly against all of crypto's core principles: decentralisation, secure your own money, no middle-man. These players are employing all of the same tactics enabled by the tra…

The only problem that even "good" actors in the tokenbro space usually take these principles: decentralisation, secure your own money, no middle-man, and then assign to them positive values from the: centralisation, entrust someone else to secure your money, employ a middle-man. When confronted on the any viability of any of the "good" principles, they inevitably mix and match "good" and "bad" principles and values a…

See, this is a fair criticism, and founded.

Note also how similar it is to FTX - it's bad actors pretending to champion principles they are actually working against, whether unwittingly or otherwise.

The part I would disagree on, is where you yourself seem to be uncertain, with a contradictory stance of labelling "bad" actors as "good".

Re: Annotated: Sam Bankman-Fried's “FTX Pre-Mortem Overview”

#64

Post by wmf »

timmytokyo wrote: post #14
stusmall wrote: post #6

Can he just gift wrap these statements with a little tag that says "To the prosecutors with love. Merry Xmas, SBF"

I'd love to know what his parents think of what he's doing. They're law professors at Stanford; they have to be aware of how utterly stupid this is, don't they?

His father is reportedly conflict-averse to the extreme and his mother wrote an article saying free will doesn't exist therefore people aren't responsible for their crimes.

Re: Annotated: Sam Bankman-Fried's “FTX Pre-Mortem Overview”

#65

Post by detrites »

wpietri wrote: post #53
detrites wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There needs to be a differentiation between good and bad actors in this drama as opposed to the lazy and inaccurate idea of "the crypto grift". These recent billion-dollar grifts plaguing crypto have primarily been enabled by actors working steadfastly against all of crypto's core principles: decentralisation, secure your own money, no middle-man. These players are employing all of the same tactics enabled by the tra…

I think there are a very small number of people who were interested in crypto from the get-go for what I'd consider good, socially positive reasons. To the extent that those people didn't cash in and are mad about how it turned out, I respect their pain. It's always hard to watch the beautiful dream get corrupted. It would have been a very interesting alternate timeline if those few pure souls were left to innovate q…

Maybe because the fruits of those few well-intentioned founders labours aren't blasted on the news 24/7 like SBF was, doesn't mean they don't exist?

I've seen people in parts of South America where the banking system can be completely unusable, using their phone to send and receive crypto payments cheaply and reliably, enabling them to safely transact with family. I've heard of this also happening in Africa.

Others, workers from Mexico for example, working in the US, are able to remit their small incomes back home for pennies instead of a 15% western union bite out of it.

It does have functions and utility that does work, and they are the same functions envisioned by the OG's.

Re: Annotated: Sam Bankman-Fried's “FTX Pre-Mortem Overview”

#66

Post by notahacker »

timmytokyo wrote: post #14
stusmall wrote: post #6

Can he just gift wrap these statements with a little tag that says "To the prosecutors with love. Merry Xmas, SBF"

I'd love to know what his parents think of what he's doing. They're law professors at Stanford; they have to be aware of how utterly stupid this is, don't they?

I imagine his parents, in addition to giving him standard "don't do public speeches about the bad things you've done" lawyer advice, probably also wouldn't have recommended he drop out of Jane Street, make large arbitrage bets on crypto, set up a exchange without proper controls and take money out of that to bet on other cryptos. He may or may not be on very good terms with them, but I don't think he's been following their advice on big decisions for a while...

Re: Annotated: Sam Bankman-Fried's “FTX Pre-Mortem Overview”

#67

Post by Fnoord »

ur-whale wrote: post #39
wpietri wrote: post #8

I am truly grateful for people like Molly White, David Gerard, and Amy Castor. As the crypto grift circus expanded and expanded, I just got worn out. There was so much to pay attention to as it metastasized. All those writers have been diligently following it for years with a critical eye, and all of them have taken a lot of heat for it. As the wheels come off, it's great to have their detailed insights.

> As the crypto grift circus expanded crypto != FTX

Tether isn't FTX either. And yet, both are scams.

Re: Annotated: Sam Bankman-Fried's “FTX Pre-Mortem Overview”

#68

Post by [deleted] »

notch656c wrote: post #60
lolinder wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The crypto grift isn't limited to FTX, it's nearly everywhere in crypto. My great-uncle (who's constantly trying to find the one big break that'll make him rich) was working on starting a crypto token before everything collapsed. He is in his seventies and knows nothing about tech or finance, but he knew crypto was the place for people who want to make quick cash. The whole industry has become a haven for grifters. T…

The government made this thing called "accredited investor" which is just code for not one of the poors. I wish it wasn't necessary for the poors to use crypto to moonshot on various grifts.

[deleted]

Re: Annotated: Sam Bankman-Fried's “FTX Pre-Mortem Overview”

#70

Post by SilasX »

wpietri wrote: post #59
doogerdog wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also use Molly White's write-ups to loosely follow the everlasting crypto train wreck. This particular one is amazingly concise and easy to read. I hope she keeps it up. There is no way I would have the energy to look up all of this on my own.

Agreed! And I should mention that Molly has a Substack: https://substack.com/profile/6775195-molly-white I pay her money because I am glad to have her pushing back against the tide of cash funding crypto promotion. The other two have Patreons that I also support: https://www.patreon.com/davidgerard/ https://www.patreon.com/amycastor/

Hold on there. If you're getting coverage like this, where someone comes and takes flattering photos of you, that's the kind of thing you get when you or your supports can fund a PR team to wrangle major journalists into covering you. I think she's fine on support.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/29/molly-w...

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/07/11/business/meet-molly-w...

https://www.protocol.com/fintech/molly-white-web3-crypto-ske...

Doesn't mean the criticisms aren't necessary or good, just speaking to the issue of whether you've found a shoestring operation, barely able to survive.

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