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Binance to acquire FTX

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Re: Binance to acquire FTX

#461

Post by jiveturkey »

ucha wrote: post #16

SBF said "We don't invest client assets (even in treasuries)". [0] He then says the purpose of the transaction with Binance is to "clear out the liquidity crunches". [1] How could there be a liquidity crunch if assets are not invested? You can't do a bank run on an entity that doesn't function as a bank and doesn't invest clients assets... Something is shifty. [0] https://twitter.com/sbf_ftx/status/158959828579870720…

Could be technically true?

They don't "invest" client assets, not even in treasuries, ie actual investments.

They "speculate" client assets, in tokens.

Re: Binance to acquire FTX

#462

Post by ballofrubber »

andirk wrote: post #433
jrumbut wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a terrifying definition of democracy, "you don't get a vote but there is an informal and non-binding channel to lodge complaints." That's not democratic at all!

Democracy can be defined as a popularity contest; democracy does not = good. When I and others say "democratized money", it's not to say it is identical to the definition of democracy as it pertains to a populous voting 1 person 1 vote. More like "money that is not controlled by a single source but rather as large a group as cares to participate who also have access to and knowledge of the tech".

Additionaly it's also different as in "the majority does not change my rules", they can be wrong in the long run and my rules become majority again.

Re: Binance to acquire FTX

#463

Post by lordnacho »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #297
guepe wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Matt Leving from Money Stuff discussed it today (!). If exchanges provide leverage products to customers, they become banks (providing leverage, through funding typically by other customer's deposit). So bank runs are possible.

> exchanges provide leverage products to customers Levine spoke about brokerages. When brokerages extend credit, they can be subject to run dynamics. Not exchanges.

What happens if an exchange extends credit?

There's a reason the perp exchanges have a fund, it's the capital that protects them from losing money on overleveraged customers. Or rather it's the rainy day fund that they lose out of when the delev happens.

Not sure this is related though, mechanics of today are not clear to me from what I've been able to find.

Re: Binance to acquire FTX

#464

Post by cmeacham98 »

beambot wrote: post #443
treis wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Banks say that they don't invest deposits?

In the Glass-Steagall sense, they probably shouldn't. Mixing commercial banking and investment banking was illegal from 1933-1999, and it is (arguably) one of the underlying factors in the 2008 financial crisis. Note: There's a difference between being a custodian of customers' investments (brokerage / commercial banking) versus proactively investing customer deposits (investment banking).

Going to need a _huge_ source on that claim. Investing customer funds is the primary way banks make their money, and has been that way essentially since the invention of banking.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional-reserve_banking:

"Fractional-reserve banking predates the existence of governmental monetary authorities"

Re: Binance to acquire FTX

#465

Post by nyolfen »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #285
majani wrote: post #216

I'm glad a big government supporter such as SBF is out of crypto leadership. Crypto is an anarchist experiment and it should remain that way

That experiment already failed to be honest. Cryptocurrencies were prophesized to get rid of banks. Instead exchanges reinvented banks with all the drawbacks and none of the benefits. Cryptocurrencies were supposed to be in wide circulation just like USD, eliminating the need for fiat on/off ramps. Instead we got these centralized corporations and endless KYC/AML surveillance with none of the regulation and governmen…

"too soon to say"

Re: Binance to acquire FTX

#466

Post by oldgradstudent »

danrocks wrote: post #419
kuratkull wrote: post #119

Binance was threatening to dump a huge amount of FTT tokens on the market. FTX has a big+vulnerable position in FTT. FTX asked Binance to sell them the tokens for a fixed price, so as not to crash the FTT token price. Binance declined - this was yesterday/today. Of course the price of FTT crashed today. And now Binance buys FTX to help them out... smells like Binance played 4D chess all along. https://decrypt.co/1136…

> FTX asked Binance to sell them the tokens for a fixed price, so as not to crash the FTT token price. Why would Binance decline this opportunity? If FTX, Binance, and the market knew FTT would just crash, it sounds like a given that Binance should take advantage of the fixed price instead of losing hundreds of millions of dollars "letting the market decide".

It depends on the fixed price offered by FTX.

If FTX could pay the current market price, then they could have absorbed whatever Binance sold on the open market.

They probably offered a deep discount.

Re: Binance to acquire FTX

#467

Post by nyolfen »

jrumbut wrote: post #393
ballofrubber wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arguably a lot of discussion is open to anyone (Bitcoin mailing list, Core github repo), where anyone is free to post their opinion on topics themselves. It is not democratic as in "you have a vote to force others to comply to the majority", but more a democratic in "you can try to convince enough people that the major chain becomes how you like it, while the others run a minority fork". People think "where the money…

This is a terrifying definition of democracy, "you don't get a vote but there is an informal and non-binding channel to lodge complaints." That's not democratic at all!

i urge you to compare this to any presently-existing monetary system or software project

Re: Binance to acquire FTX

#468

Post by ballofrubber »

jrumbut wrote: post #393
ballofrubber wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arguably a lot of discussion is open to anyone (Bitcoin mailing list, Core github repo), where anyone is free to post their opinion on topics themselves. It is not democratic as in "you have a vote to force others to comply to the majority", but more a democratic in "you can try to convince enough people that the major chain becomes how you like it, while the others run a minority fork". People think "where the money…

This is a terrifying definition of democracy, "you don't get a vote but there is an informal and non-binding channel to lodge complaints." That's not democratic at all!

It might not be "democratic", to me personally it seems fair as you are not forced to run the rules that are imposed by others. It might not be the wise decision, but the market will decide on the "better" rules.

Re: Binance to acquire FTX

#469

Post by pitt1980 »

cossatot wrote: post #440
pitt1980 wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Robert Caro books about Lyndon B Johnson detail his effort to force meme “LBJ” as a reference to him. (Mostly in terms of insisting various communications employees use it in press releases and what not). It seems he liked the iconography of it, especially in putting himself in similar company to FDR. Both his daughters have the LBJ initials, his wife is mostly known as Lady Bird Johnson (a nickname that predates…

OT: Are those books worth reading? I loved the Power Broker but the LBJ books are a whole lot to get through.

Short answer, yes.

Longer answer - from my prospective - I enjoyed the first book Path to Power the most, which revolves around LBJs early life up to becoming a US Representative. I thought it was very on par with the Power Broker. That an the Power Broker would probably be my first recommendation to an ambitious college kid who wants to know the real Politik of how the world works.

The next book Means of Assent was my least favorite of Caro’s books, but still highly enjoyable.

Master of the Senate and Passage of Power are both great. But sort of specific to LBJs spot in life. Great, but I’m not sure they sparked my thinking quite the way the Power Broker and Path to Power did.

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