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Former US SEC attorney: 'Get out of crypto platforms now'

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Re: Former US SEC attorney: 'Get out of crypto platforms now'

#51
post #42
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's not entirely correct. Crime is a major application but by far the largest use case for crypto is "investing" (gambling) in crypto.

Given that almost all of that is violates securities laws, this still fits.

I don’t know, I’m relatively certain securities laws do not affect me.

Re: Former US SEC attorney: 'Get out of crypto platforms now'

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well you don't seem to have any other examples of things that can't be done with fiat

You comment this as many major central banks are conducting trial / rollout plans for CBDC. I prefer the decentralized side of cryptocurrency where the rules, censorship, and supply is transparent and limited.

Banks work fine now for payments. The only real advantage of crypto over CBDC is that you can more easily sell drugs and guns. No one is losing their bank account for donating to Donald Trump

Re: Former US SEC attorney: 'Get out of crypto platforms now'

#53

With crypto trading platforms, the SEC lacks any sort of oversight and access — and has scant ability to detect, investigate and deter fraudulent conduct. As a result, the crypto marketplace operates without much supervision Isn't that the main idea of a decentralized currency? No doubt this has/does/will harbor criminal activity, but it will also foster the ability to exchange goods and services without third partie…

I wonder if the SEC knows how to use a blockchain explorer? That claim is made false from a simple glance at one.

They do. The SEC pays competitively and there are a lot of crypto adept people who feel there is also a case for regulation in the space.

Re: Former US SEC attorney: 'Get out of crypto platforms now'

#54
post #6

If you don't hold your own keys privately and offline then you don't really own any crypto. At best you own a share in a dicey exchange that may go under at any time (due to regulation, fraud or whatever else).

An exchange is basically a bank without the regulations and consumer protections of real banks. It also defeats the purpose of crypto. It's the worst of both worlds.

And then they wonder why regular consumers aren't fleeing banks to start using crypto for everything.

I've yet to see cryptocurrencies actually solve a problem that your everyday average person has when buying groceries or going out to eat.

They just make things more difficult and confusing, and all these attempts to alleviate that just lead us straight to "banks, but worse".

Re: Former US SEC attorney: 'Get out of crypto platforms now'

#55

John Reed Stark is their expert? https://twitter.com/JohnReedStark/status/1670457201943511040 "The only killer app for crypto that seems tangible is its excellent use to orchestrate global crimes." The bias is abundant, it's well known this guy hates crypto.

Other than crime the only other use-case I've seen for crypto is for getting money into Russia because the sanctions mean my English teacher friend in Vladivostok can't use normal banks to accept payments for the online distance teaching thing he does. But I could oversimplify this to "bypassing international sanctions" which might be a crime? Crypto mainly seems to be useful to people who can't or won't use normal banks, and those people are mostly criminals. People in Russia prefer bitcoin over rubles (even before the sanctions) but that's more an indictment of the ruble than an endorsement of bitcoin.

What am I missing here? What are the cool things bitcoin does that something like visa cannot? I've read Satoshi's paper and Vitalik Buterin's book. I want crypto to work, and I'm really searching hard for a problem crypto solves for which we don't already have a better solution.

Re: Former US SEC attorney: 'Get out of crypto platforms now'

#56

John Reed Stark is their expert? https://twitter.com/JohnReedStark/status/1670457201943511040 "The only killer app for crypto that seems tangible is its excellent use to orchestrate global crimes." The bias is abundant, it's well known this guy hates crypto.

opinions on the merits aren't necessarily important in assessing the behavior of a regulatory agency

crypto can hypothetically be every bit a brilliant new wheel paradigm as the marketers would suggest (it isn't, but whatever) and that won't stop entities with legal authority to eviscerate all current corporate entities associated with it from doing so (they are).

ya'll wanna believe that binance and coinbase can fight the massive legal assault on their business practices and come out on top simply by virtue of the nobility of the crypto ideal, go right ahead

Re: Former US SEC attorney: 'Get out of crypto platforms now'

#58
Three highly speculative predictions:

1. The courts are more likely than not to rule that many crypto-assets -- but not all -- should be regulated as investments. It won't be fun for a lot of crypto traders.

2. Over time, the usual giant financial institutions are bound to become the dominant market makers in crypto-assets. In all likelihood, one of them will end up buying Coinbase. Those giant financial institutions already know how to comply with regulatory bureaucracies worldwide, efficiently, at scale. Rinky-dink exchanges lacking the machinery for large-scale efficient compliance will not be able to compete and go out of business.

3. Bitcoin, which the SEC considers a commodity (it's explicitly excluded from the lawsuits), is bound to become even more dominant in terms of market capitalization. The longer Bitcoin survives, the more it will get adopted and integrated into the world's financial fabric, e.g., as a store of value. If this sounds far-fetched, consider that many smart and smart-sounding people have predicted Bitcoin's demise, and so far their arguments have been proven wrong: https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoin-obituaries/ .

We sure live in interesting times!

Re: Former US SEC attorney: 'Get out of crypto platforms now'

#59

John Reed Stark is their expert? https://twitter.com/JohnReedStark/status/1670457201943511040 "The only killer app for crypto that seems tangible is its excellent use to orchestrate global crimes." The bias is abundant, it's well known this guy hates crypto.

Do we expect experts to not have informed opinions? You may disagree with his conclusions but I believe we want expert witnesses to tell us what they think. As a former crypto-optimist I think this is a totally reasonable conclusion to make about crypto given a decade of evidence.

Re: Former US SEC attorney: 'Get out of crypto platforms now'

#60

With crypto trading platforms, the SEC lacks any sort of oversight and access — and has scant ability to detect, investigate and deter fraudulent conduct. As a result, the crypto marketplace operates without much supervision Isn't that the main idea of a decentralized currency? No doubt this has/does/will harbor criminal activity, but it will also foster the ability to exchange goods and services without third partie…

Sure - and the question is - do we as a society want to allow that, do we think it's worth the tradeoffs? Five years ago I think the answer was still "wait and see", I think it's reasonable by now to say "actually, no, it's not worth it".
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