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Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud

reuters.com

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Re: Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud

#251

Post by phyro »

codetrotter wrote: post #68
Forgeties79 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get what you’re trying to say, but honestly? All this does is hurt the reputation of crypto further. It’s yet another headline about crypto scams/ponzi scheme/etc. projected to an audience that is weary of being easily scammed out of money they believe to be safer elsewhere. No one who is skeptical or on the fence about crypto is going to see this headline and go “oh good! They must be catching the bad guys, so now…

> All this does is hurt the reputation of crypto further. There is exactly one legitimate “crypto”, and it is named Bitcoin. All else ranges from speculative promises about future possibilities (smart contracts etc) to straight up scams. Don’t let the people abusing the name of “crypto” detract from the greatness that was the invention of Bitcoin.

People tend to forget Bitcoin is a monetary experiment where nobody controls the printer and the total supply over time converges to a certain value. There's no good reason not to try a different model of supply e.g. a supply function that emulates a clock. An asset like this could be named TIME and a coin could represent a second that passed in real life. Valuing time as money would make for an interesting experiment.

Re: Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud

#252

Post by InitialLastName »

nkrisc wrote: post #54
bravoetch wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cash. That's why you have to declare it when you move it around in large amounts.

Cash has a transaction cost: you need to physically present it.

At scale, you also need to verify it, count it, exchange it, and move it around.

Re: Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud

#253

Post by rubyron »

FreshStart wrote: post #192

Okay, now that I have your attention, how about a new sort of crypto investment. Let me pitch you.. A privatized prison just for crypto scammers and bros. They could be the almost free hb1-labour, but with alot more entrepreneural spirit. Get coders, managers and advertisers at very reasonable prices. Payable even bitcoin or montero.

Could heat the place with GPUs.

Re: Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud

#254

Post by sleepybrett »

angry_albatross wrote: post #46
elforce002 wrote: post #37

And now "crypto" bros are moving to AI. The never ending story.

AI is not in the same category in my book. Both may be overhyped in some ways, but blockchain technology was fundamentally a bad idea with no legitimate use cases.

Sure but that doesn't stop the managerial and engineering tiers of those businesses to jump ship to the new hype technology.

The managers didn't know shit but sales in the first place, sell coins or ai no difference. The engineers, just another new tech to learn.

Re: Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud

#255

Post by hattmall »

okwubodu wrote: post #248
majormajor wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The physical collectibles market is over a century old for baseball cards. So far the SEC hasn't stepped in for places trading baseball cards, magic cards, pokemon cards, sneakers, etc. So the burden of proof seems to be on the claim that they're the same, or that it's a meaningful analogy. But hey, let's look at the this case - the accused did the following: * created their own token (ok, so they aren't just a card…

To be clear, I think Celsius committed actual fraud. I just want to talk about one particular point here. > So the burden of proof seems to be on the claim that they're the same, or that it's a meaningful analogy. I have a pair of “Dear Summer” Off-White x Nike Dunk Lows, the last collection released while Virgil Abloh was alive. The SNKRs (Nike) app randomly selected active users for the chance to purchase them; nec…

Except there actually are people who really do want the shoes not for resale. And that is a legitimate driver of value and it is a very limited market.

Re: Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud

#256

Post by bertil »

I haven’t followed crypto very closely, but I noticed a few names. I’ve read the headlines for the last few weeks. It seems like most prominent players are now in legal trouble, enough to force them to cease operations.

Who are the most prominent players who are operating?

Re: Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud

#257

Post by Natuerich »

legitster wrote: post #69

Let's say I run a swap meet for people to buy and sell Pokémon cards. There are lots of scammers out there, but I promise people they are going to get good prices. And I even offer to buy cards off of people at good prices to drum up interest. Tomorrow, the SEC decides that Pokémon cards are securities (far-fetched, but work with me here) Suddenly, anyone buying and selling them becomes a criminal. I tell people via…

I find it far fetched that those experts didn't knew they are acting as a type of bank and wouldn't talk to a lawyer upfront.

I did clarify things with a lawyer for a very small company.

They accepted the risk, they lost.

Re: Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud

#258

Post by kayodelycaon »

nkuttler wrote: post #232
kayodelycaon wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The one legitimate use case of using blockchain for decentralized digital currency ends up being used by everyone who can’t transfer funds using normal routes. So most of the people using it are either bad actors or speculators Kind of like Tor. Bad actors ruin all kinds of things. People who only see technology will only go on to repeat the mistakes of the past because they lack the necessary domain knowledge to kno…

> So most of the people using it are either bad actors or speculators "bad actors" according to their government, which could mean people who simply want the right to vote, or to live free from oppression, secret police, etc.

Indeed, what about all of the decent and moral people using digital currency for such reasons?

Across all of them? A very low percentage. Fraud and speculation is left, right, and center.

Unfortunately, only a few, like Bitcoin, can justify their existence on moral grounds. Hopefully the concept doesn’t get banned completely.

Re: Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud

#260

Post by Outright0133 »

legitster wrote: post #79
toomuchtodo wrote: post #4

"Somebody is lying. Either the bank is lying or Celsius is lying.” - Alex Mashinsky EDIT: omg at the almost $5B settlement https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/13/former-celsius-ceo-arrested-... ("The FTC also announced a $4.7 billion settlement against the exchange, which will not be paid until creditors and investors have been repaid in bankruptcy proceedings.")

The FTC determined that the exchange is guilty of defrauding investors because Celsius defrauded customers . And the remediation is that investors get their money back. Kind of weird when you think about it. But it's a good reminder that the goal of the FTC is to protect investors.

Just oligarchy things.
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