FTX, "Who is watching the Watchmen?"

[Pavel Mosko]

1) I find the FTX scandal very amusing, especially that many Democrats love to talk about regulating stocks, business, people "paying their fair share" etc. but can be in bed with one of the biggest abusers of the system and this guy seems to have gotten really far by being a big Democratic fund doner and seemed to use the promise of much, much greater donations to get the benefit of the doubt before the wheels fell off of his operation. Not only this but the FTX founder was one of the major advisors to regulating such people that they sought counsel from.


2) It also is amusing that this entrepreneur went out of his way to exploit woke language to get the best coverage from the press, liberal politicians, and liberals on social media (A point he also later admitted too in some of his personal online correspondence). This kind of thing reminds me of
some pet areas of mine in psychology, such as: social psychology, neurolinguistic programming, and the power of framing various topics.


3) Besides this I also found it amusing that House Representative Maxine Waters (who took a photo with him that was soon deleted off her web sites and social media accounts soon after the scandal broke) tried to spin this as a Bipartisan scandal when it is really a mostly Democratic one. So far, we only know of one Republican took money the FTX Crypto currency founder. I suspect if you actually audit the money of who gets what the money going to even that candidate is going to be very low compared to all the money going to Democratic candidates.


(And if you don't know what I'm talking about... go Google FTX, not posting any links lest I miss something forbidden in the TOS, nor do I want to take the time to vet content when people can just google something themselves)

 

[DaisyDay]

Sam Bankkman Fried, CEO of FTX, gave heavily to Democrats. Ryan Salame, CEO of FTX marketing, gave heavily to the GOP. They were hoping to either stave off crypto-regulation or be the ones to write them.

U.S. Regulators May Face Scrutiny Over FTX Links

FTX's ties to regulatory figures—especially those who have received donations or jobs from its principal executives—have raised suspicions.

cryptobriefing.com

 

[Tskjesusfreak]

I use to play the crypto game back in 2015 or so, looking back I'm glad that I didn't make much money off of it because I would lose my soul in the process because I had a decent chance to make over $100K if I hold cryptocurrencies for a bit.

Know I'm just going to stick my money in a boring Money Market Account and just let Jesus take care of me.

 

[rambot]

To be clear: The money donated to politicians WASN'T the scandal, right? I mean big donations go to ALL members of Congress so I fail to see how donations in this sense, were at all scandalous.

Unless the whole scandal is the fact that someone INVOLVED in a scandal donated money to Democrats. Yes, he and his organization are slimey, but were the donations themselves? Is there proof of that?


I'm not following this issue that closely so open for clarity.

 

[Gene2memE]

The pace and scale of change in financial markets, and particularly in cryptocurrency, outstrips the ability of watchdogs to monitor and regulators to pass regulations.

The SEC is down 1800 staff from where it was five years ago, and probably needs nearly 3000 more staff to make it effective. That's a 66% increase in manpower.

The US financial regulatory system needs a funding boost AND a major overhaul. It's too fragmented, with too many overlapping areas of control leaving too many grey areas.

Ideally, there are seven or eight bodies that would be rolled together into a sort of DHS for the financial sector. Then take the money saved from the reshuffle and expand their workforces and oversight / enforcement power.

 

[grasping the after wind]

To be clear: The money donated to politicians WASN'T the scandal, right? I mean big donations go to ALL members of Congress so I fail to see how donations in this sense, were at all scandalous.

Unless the whole scandal is the fact that someone INVOLVED in a scandal donated money to Democrats. Yes, he and his organization are slimey, but were the donations themselves? Is there proof of that?


I'm not following this issue that closely so open for clarity.

There seems to be some suspicion that some of the multi billions in aid going to Ukraine was funneled back to the campaigns of US politician's through FTX. We know Ukraine was invested in FTX and we know money sent to Ukraine was for military and civilian supplies to help them conduct their defensive war with Russia. We do not know if there was collusion between US politicians and the government of Ukraine to kick back some of that aid money in a quid pro quo. So, it is possible that money donated to politicians might be the bigger scandal if those suspicions turned out to be borne out by facts. Sometimes we find that people's suspicions are unwarranted and sometimes we find out that where there is smoke there is also fire.

 

[Hans Blaster]

There seems to be some suspicion that some of the multi billions in aid going to Ukraine was funneled back to the campaigns of US politician's through FTX. We know Ukraine was invested in FTX and we know money sent to Ukraine was for military and civilian supplies to help them conduct their defensive war with Russia. We do not know if there was collusion between US politicians and the government of Ukraine to kick back some of that aid money in a quid pro quo. So, it is possible that money donated to politicians might be the bigger scandal if those suspicions turned out to be borne out by facts. Sometimes we find that people's suspicions are unwarranted and sometimes we find out that where there is smoke there is also fire.

As far as I can tell, this notion *only* started circulating *after* the FTX fraud became known. It only exists in "meme" form and I suspect it originates in the Putinist corners of the web as anti-Ukraine propaganda. It is largely the product of 1+1+1 = 7. So let's look at the actual facts.

1. FTX and Ukraine: FTX set up a "Donate crypto to Ukraine" button for their customers. Did the money make it to Ukraine? I don't know. Given the level fraud at FTX that may have also been stolen.

2. FTX and the Dems: As noted above, the CEO of FTX gave large amounts to Dem campaigns and super-PACs. This was not a secret and he was very vocal about it. The first I heard of this guy was from Dems chattering (on Twitter) about how this crypto-billionaire was going to give the Dems $1B for the 2024 campaign. I didn't learn his name until I learned of the fraud.

3. The US is providing multi-billion dollar aide to Ukraine: It is important to the nature of this story that the vast majority of US aid to Ukraine is in the form of "stuff". Most of it is US weapons shipped to Ukraine. Other parts of the military aid have been to purchase equipment from other countries that gets shipped to Ukraine. (Often Soviet/Russian equipment like MiG fighter jets or tanks.) There certainly is enough economic aid for an effective skim, but I have seen almost no claims of aid theft and none that were credible.


In short, the "circle of graft and corruption" meme is unfounded junk and probably anti-Ukraine propaganda.

 

[grasping the after wind]

As far as I can tell, this notion *only* started circulating *after* the FTX fraud became known. It only exists in "meme" form and I suspect it originates in the Putinist corners of the web as anti-Ukraine propaganda. It is largely the product of 1+1+1 = 7. So let's look at the actual facts.

1. FTX and Ukraine: FTX set up a "Donate crypto to Ukraine" button for their customers. Did the money make it to Ukraine? I don't know. Given the level fraud at FTX that may have also been stolen.

2. FTX and the Dems: As noted above, the CEO of FTX gave large amounts to Dem campaigns and super-PACs. This was not a secret and he was very vocal about it. The first I heard of this guy was from Dems chattering (on Twitter) about how this crypto-billionaire was going to give the Dems $1B for the 2024 campaign. I didn't learn his name until I learned of the fraud.

3. The US is providing multi-billion dollar aide to Ukraine: It is important to the nature of this story that the vast majority of US aid to Ukraine is in the form of "stuff". Most of it is US weapons shipped to Ukraine. Other parts of the military aid have been to purchase equipment from other countries that gets shipped to Ukraine. (Often Soviet/Russian equipment like MiG fighter jets or tanks.) There certainly is enough economic aid for an effective skim, but I have seen almost no claims of aid theft and none that were credible.


In short, the "circle of graft and corruption" meme is unfounded junk and probably anti-Ukraine propaganda.

Seems many people have stopped believing in the idea that any suspicion of corruption by someone or some ones that lean left politicianly in the US is all Russian propaganda. Probably because of all the past instances where the suspicions turned out to be true and the claim about it all being Russian propaganda turned out to be false.

 

[Hans Blaster]

Seems many people have stopped believing in the idea that any suspicion of corruption by someone or some ones that lean left politicianly in the US is all Russian propaganda. Probably because of all the past instances where the suspicions turned out to be true and the claim about it all being Russian propaganda turned out to be false.

I have no idea what your point is. So let's go back to your earlier claim and my post:


Do you have any *evidence* that FXT was part of a money laundering scheme involving Ukraine? (memes aren't evidence)

 

[grasping the after wind]

I have no idea what your point is. So let's go back to your earlier claim and my post:


Do you have any *evidence* that FXT was part of a money laundering scheme involving Ukraine? (memes aren't evidence)

I haven't made a claim. I only mentioned what the suspicion was and that if the suspicion were proven to be true then that would be a bigger scandal than simple incompetence or willful fraud by FTX. In other words, I have simply related the suspicions that others have expressed not made a claim or even proposed there was any known evidence to support the suspicions. Very unlike claims that many in the past expressed about election results as well as foreign interference and propaganda affecting election results without one shred of actual evidence to support those claims only their suspicions and their hope that it was so. Even several top former government officials publicly expressing the opinion that a legitimate news story was probably Russian propaganda. there have been and remain several defeated candidates and their supporters on both sides of the aisle declaring the winner illegitimate based upon no reasonable evidence only upon their suspicions and their hope that it is so.

 

[Hans Blaster]

I haven't made a claim. I only mentioned what the suspicion was and that if the suspicion were proven to be true then that would be a bigger scandal than simple incompetence or willful fraud by FTX.

FTX itself is a pretty big and and willful fraud from what can be seen. Even if this thing is true its probably just a "piggy-backed" fraud.

In other words, I have simply related the suspicions that others have expressed not made a claim or even proposed there was any known evidence to support the suspicions.

Passing on unverified rumors. So much better than making an actual claim. [roll eyes]

Very unlike claims that many in the past expressed about election results as well as foreign interference and propaganda affecting election results without one shred of actual evidence to support those claims only their suspicions and their hope that it was so.

When you speak in vagueries you fail to communicate your intent.

Even several top former government officials publicly expressing the opinion that a legitimate news story was probably Russian propaganda.

Are we back to the "FTX laundering cycle" or not. If you have these public officials, quote them.

there have been and remain several defeated candidates and their supporters on both sides of the aisle declaring the winner illegitimate based upon no reasonable evidence only upon their suspicions and their hope that it is so.

Now it seems like we're back to the vague conspiracy line again.