Comment by subradios | Hacker News Reader

Comment by subradios | Hacker News Reader

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What happened is that crypto is very cool. There's a not unwarranted perception amongst people in the United States at least that banking regulators are conspiring (or prospiring) to create the financial meltdowns we see, and give people with the right connections privileged seats at the table when it comes to markers.

This is, to some degree, true - Quant traders in finance work with data that is literally unavailable to regular traders or amateurs but when it comes to crypto sophisticated quants and Joe Bogsly are operating on a level playing field when it comes to access.

Additionally, countries that are not the United States have chronic bank instability problems that make the current crypto collapse look like a joke. Large percentages of bitcoin transactions are conducted in Vietnam.

When a new cool thing is happening, the next step to maturity and adoption is gift.

How many rent a bike startups have you seen in your city?

Same deal, not a terrible idea, pretty cool, people flock in but there will very likely only be one to three of those companies left standing.

> but when it comes to crypto sophisticated quants and Joe Bogsly are operating on a level playing field

Pretty sure Tether isn’t operating on a level field with Joe Schmoe.

You misunderstood what I am saying. I am suggesting that quants and financiers have no special, privileged access to information. You can make spooky suppositions about Tether fraud, but if millions of documents disclosed didn't reveal a fraud after the whole community pored over them - it's at least as good as any other financial product.

> if millions of documents disclosed didn't reveal a fraud after the whole community pored over them - it's at least as good as any other financial product

Every time Tether has disclosed anything, it’s been caught lying [1]. That anyone thinks Tether has anything close to standard financial disclosure, or is anything but a fraud, is a testament to the ongoing problem of mainstream American financial illiteracy.

[1] https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2021/attorney-general-james-...

That is not what I wrote. I wrote that the NY State courts made literal millions of these internal documents public. The community as a whole has had collectively more than a year to pore over them, with billions of dollars of risk including from major real hedge funds.

I did not say that these are "standard financial disclosures". I said that they were forced by the courts to reveal all this documentation and that so far, Tether has for the most part maintained its peg.

This should indicate to you that everyone from Wall St to Main St thinks that Tether is doing things "well enough".

Tether has issued multiple audit reports by independent accountants, and sure- they may be suspect but the way in which they are suspect is the same way every other company's financial are suspect - which, last I checked, didn't stop Lehman Bros.

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