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Molly White

wow. one of the new victim impact statements filed tonight is from someone who lost almost six figures to a hack in 2021, had assets stuck on voyager after its july 2022 collapse, and then lost assets to FTX

he went from working in the industry to vocally advocating against it

Hello, As an FTX creditor, incoming prospective MBA candidate at a top US program, University of Florida graduate, immigrant, and new US citizen, I wish to convey the profound and harrowing impact of the FTX fallout on my mental health, career, and view of the cryptocurrency industry. Having served as a crypto industry analyst across various sell-side research firms for two years, my deep understanding of this space only compounds my disillusionment following not just the collapse of FTX, but also my status as a Voyager creditor and victim of a nearly sixfigure hack in stablecoins a year prior—incidents unconnected but emblematic of the pervasive recklessness in the industry. These events precipitated severe mental health challenges, incurring over $12,000 in related expenses, tens of thousands more in lost income, and derailed my educational and professional advancement by two years. My shift from an ex-industry advocate to a vocal critic is a testament to the industry’s systemic failings and moral bankruptcy. My hope, post-graduate school, is to champion ethical business leadership—a stark contrast to what I've witnessed firsthand. I've since undertaken grassroots efforts, written to 3 Congressional committees urging for regulation, and applied for industry grants for education efforts to prevent more victims of fraud in crypto. In addition to personal setbacks, I am compelled to underscore the broader societal risks posed by the unchecked behaviors of the industry. Echoed
to financial system instability from hacks and user error alone. In fact, top PhDs and entire teams with cybersecurity pros get hacked for millions of dollars almost every single day. Yet, this deeply flawed, experimental tech is being aggressively marketed to unsuspecting users across exchanges similar to FTX, grossly underplaying the technical pitfalls and pervasive fraud in the industry. I urge the court to seriously consider what happens when millions of unsophisticated new entrants to crypto - including the elderly and young children - get hacked for and or lose billions of dollars, or their funds are gambled by the next SBF, after being marketed these products as "better" than the banking system. This may soon be the reality within 12-36 months. This is precisely what happened with FTX and other exchanges whose marketing were slogans akin to "Unbank Yourself" and "Banks are not your friends," and continues to happen with hacks every single day. When has society allowed private issuers of currency and outright ponzi schemes to prey on the masses in the name of unregulated financial "innovation"? It is time to end the crypto chicanery before the societal price truly becomes too big to bear. A serious discussion of reparative justice just as in any prior large scale financial fraud is in order - from crypto criminals like SBF who have used stolen customer funds for their own gain, to the industry PR machine supporting crypto predators. These incidents severely undermine tr
#FTX#SBF#SamBankmanFried
Mar 28, 2024, 01:37 AM·Public·Web
88boosts·137favorites
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SnoopJ

@molly0xfff mildly intrigued by the reluctance to name Tether/Celsius here. I wonder if they're litigious about that sort of thing?

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dani

@molly0xfff I wonder why the font suddenly gets smaller ?

Quiet public
Do NOT Fear|🇺🇸🇺🇦🐊🦉🌊💙

@molly0xfff I'm laughing at how we have the same alma mater but this guy was stupid enough to sink 6 figures into 2 consecutive scams

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paranoia_machinery
@molly0xfff It sounds like this dude was not very smart, had terrible opsec and trusted bad actors with his funds that they held custodially, all of which could have been avoided, easily
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your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦

@molly0xfff so he was a true Floridaman, but have seen the light.

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Coach Pāṇini ®

@molly0xfff

A sell-side #crypto analyst who didn’t see the grift didn’t *want* to see it.

Why did they need to get burned to value #ethics?

This is not saying anything great about the admissions department of a top US business school.

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David

@paninid @molly0xfff Yeah, being a sell-side “research” analyst at multiple firms as this person’s crypto experience is a massive tell regarding their character IMO. They were absolutely fine with fleecing people. They’re just upset that they got stung as well. I don’t feel too much pity for scammers who get scammed, especially at their own game.

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RationalWiki

@molly0xfff
This sounds like it could also be generative #AI (chatbots and AI image generation):

"…deeply flawed, experimental tech is being aggressively marketed to unsuspecting users…"

#chatbot#dalle#cryptocurrency
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Thomas Guyot-Sionnest

@molly0xfff So to sum up the whole crypto coin shenanigan:

- Crypto gets invented to bypass well established, regulated banking system
- Crypto becomes a massive unregulated speculative value
- Crypto "banks" with no regulation, track record, etc. are used to safeguard the crypto
- Investors whine when the whole thing crash and said "banks" lose their funds

But everyone could've avoided these "banks" (see first point).

Did I get it right?

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David

@molly0xfff Eeeeeeeh, working at “various sell-side research firms” is IMO a pretty big ethical red flag on its own.

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Martin Seeger

@molly0xfff Human intelligence is the capability of recognizing a mistake when we make it again.

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Kris Sargent, MD

@molly0xfff He's obviously right, but I'm not sure it helps much at sentencing. It might even open a path of "we were just doing what is the norm in this industry" as a sort of defense argument.

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Zimmie

@molly0xfff > When has society allowed private issuers of currency and outright ponzi schemes to prey on the masses in the name of unregulated financial "innovation"?

The Middle Ages. The renaissance. The industrial age. Company scrip (i.e, private currencies) was only outlawed in the US in 1938.

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