Sushi and the Founding Murder
readthegeneralist.com
readthegeneralist.com
Firstly an account of the creation of SushiSwap that doesn't say a word about how the founding team was from Band protocol, an established project with deep ties to the shitcoin-roulette Binance and friends, is deeply incomplete. It's those connections that gave it traction, to list the token on centralized exchanges early and pump the price, making early holders rich. Only way, way after that, a community formed and started actually building some cool stuff.
Secondly, without the cartels to make Nomi return the funds, the project would have ended after that episode. I'm not sure advising people to associate themselves with money laundering groups is a good idea.
Thirdly, have a look at who took the project after Nomi sold (SBF), and the multisig key holders that replaced the original team. 1/3 of them are serial parasites that voted for themselves with their own tokens. By then there were already a few more organic community members that could've done a better job stewarding the project.
Be careful when you venture in this world people. It's never a bad idea to stay anon. The established players are extremely, extremely rich, they don't pull any punches, and can bend the public opinion almost at will.
Also, not sure where money laundering and the cartels come in- I’ve never heard this claim before and there’s no evidence at all.
As for why SBF got control(along with a few others), SBF was the biggest critic of Nomi’s leadership and arguably after the rugpull, you needed a name as weighty and trustworthy as SBF’s to really turn it around- and I think he did a good job.
Also SBF let the community have reins on if after navigating the roughest patches, so again- don’t see the issue there either.
I am a crypto pro and I am often asked by friends and acquaintances, "What should I buy?", "What is the hot coin?" etc.
The answer is what you say in traditional finance - "Buy the market!" - not "Immediately invest all your money in out-of-the-money options and junk bonds!"
What I recommend is 50% BTC and 50% ETH, and dollar-cost-average some very insignificant amount every month. Don't put anything in you can't 100% lose.
I think people on HN recoil with crypto because it's very easy for uninformed people to invest a lot of money in scams, while theoretically a similar-stage scam in traditional finance would only be open to accredited investors.
My counterpoint is that you need to be very technically adept to use something more advanced than Coinbase, and even Coinbase is not exactly easy for a non-technical person. The people investing in the most risky, extreme edges of crypto are overwhelmingly aware that this is extraordinarily risky.
If you think early-stage investing has ever been a safe game, you are sorely mistaken.