Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme • Hacker News Board

Re: Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

#61

Post by InefficientRed » Thu, Jul 21, 2022, 4:27 PM UTC

The solution to the issues you identify, which are real, is to improve the equitabiliy of the US justice system and strengthen laws against insider trading.

> The least careful ones will just keep getting caught while the most careful reap the rewards and get away with it.

The clearance rate for homicide in the USA hovers somewhere between 50% and 70% most years, and the clearance rate for rape in the US is much lower at 32% in 2018.

> What insider trading really means is a middle class person profiting in a way the ruling class don't like. Apparently it's legal for Congress to insider trade. It's legal for CEOs to insider trade.

Wealth is probably also helpful if you want to get away with rape or murder.

Also, insider trading is bad.

Re: Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

#62

Post by rideontime » Thu, Jul 21, 2022, 4:27 PM UTC

Gee, if people will get away with crimes anyway, why bother making anything illegal?

Re: Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

#63

Post by ajross » Thu, Jul 21, 2022, 4:27 PM UTC

The accused was using their access within Coinbase to front run trades and announcements. That's not "middle class" trading under any reasonable definition and I can't imagine why you think it should be legal.

How would any market function if the market makers are allowed to cheat with impunity.

Re: Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

#64

Post by idiotsecant » Thu, Jul 21, 2022, 4:28 PM UTC

No, insider trading is clearly not 'a middle class person profiting in a way the ruling class don't like' - it's using information you have that most of the market doesn't in order to take money from them. The answer to wealthy people being able to get away with insider trading easier is not to throw the baby out with the bathwater and say that all insider trading is fine, it's to actually enforce insider trading laws. It's not some impossible task to do a better job enforcing those rules, it's just not popular with the people who (shocking) make money by exploiting this kind of information asymmetry. If we decided to make it a policy priority tomorrow, the problem would be much, much smaller.

Re: Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

#65

Post by nus07 » Thu, Jul 21, 2022, 4:28 PM UTC

Curious about what would have happened had the protagonist managed to board the flight to India and get there ? Would the SEC and Coinbase been able to extradite or do anything then ?

Re: Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

#66

Post by idiotsecant » Thu, Jul 21, 2022, 4:28 PM UTC

The victim of insider trading is everyone else participating in the market that is not insider trading. Which, given the widespread reliance on 401k's for most of our accumulated wealth, is all of us.

Re: Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

#67

Post by jonhohle » Thu, Jul 21, 2022, 4:29 PM UTC

Re: congress, I think there should be a public fund that mirrors the trades of reps and senators and a platform that enforces their trades happen concurrently with public funds. The Pelosi’s seem to have impeccable market timing that, I’m sure coincidentally, seems to correlate with policy votes.

Certainly, elected officials working for our best interest would want to share their success with their constituents.

Re: Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

#68

Post by pavlov » Thu, Jul 21, 2022, 4:29 PM UTC

The essence of the cryptocurrency narrative is laid bare here. Sure, maybe it looks like it’s scamming desperate people out of their life savings, but ignore that, really it’s just a middle class person profiting in a way that the ruling class doesn’t like! Why do you hate the middle class getting rich? You must be in league with the globalist bankers.

Re: Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

#69

Post by woodruffw » Thu, Jul 21, 2022, 4:29 PM UTC

A variation of this comment is made on HN whenever insider trading comes up, leaving me no recourse but to post the same response every time: insider trading is criminalized not least because it is corrosive to public trust in financial institutions.

Your examples (Congress, CEOs) demonstrate this: main street investors have overwhelmingly lost faith in those institutions over the last two generations. The solution isn't to race to the bottom; it's to make insider trading universally illegal.

Re: Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

#70

Post by c7DJTLrn » Thu, Jul 21, 2022, 4:29 PM UTC

Never said it should be legal. I said it was stupid as a concept.

The alternative is to reform the market so it's a level playing field for everyone regardless of what you know.