So, Molly White's take on the SBF sentencing provides some very sad truths about the crypto industry. It's a good and useful read but it's not a complete picture either. Some thoughts.

So, Molly White's take on the SBF sentencing provides some very sad truths about the crypto industry. It's a good and useful read but it's not a complete picture either. Some thoughts. https://www.theguardian.com/global/commentisfree/2024/mar/28/sam-bankman-fried-prison-crypto-regulation

Explaining complicated things in simple words. Contributor to blockchain newsletter project: https://www.blockswithbenefits.com

There's actually been a lot of regulatory work around the world. Look at efforts in Singapore, Hong Kong or Brazil, not to forget the MiCA regulation in the EU. Lots of people here on Farcaster know quite a bit about some or all of these efforts.

Regulation takes time though. By comparison, how much regulation is there for virtual social media monopolies or tech giants? Those companies have become very big very quickly with regulators around the world constantly playing catch-up.

There may be bubbles – but is an AI-fuelled stock rallye much less likely to leave a lot of people worse off financially? FTX (and other firms) collapsing in 2022 'were devastating to those who had been convinced that putting their money into cryptocurrency was a worthwhile investment.' Is that the full story?

Most people who bought tech stocks in February 2000 didn't know much about the internet. Shortly after, their stocks were worth a lot less. That didn't stop the internet from growing.

When you're hunting big profits, you should know that there is a significant risk involved. That's true with or without regulation.

Molly White says that it's because many people 'believed that the firms who held their crypto tokens were regulated much like traditional banks.' I completely agree, but I don't think that's the end of the story.

If you want to invest a significant amount of money, you shouldn't send it down a black hole. Some companies marketed themselves as bank-like entities but it was hardly a secret that there was no bank-like insurance for deposits.

The article goes on with a comparison between SBF and Changpeng Zhao, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance. While there have been charges and fines, the character is very different (lax implementation of AML regulations vs. stealing money from customers).

Final point about the crypto industry: There has been 'little innovation to date from the sector'. Is that true? It very much depends on your perspective. Blockchains are very much emerging tech and until very recently, they just didn't have the capacity to scale for widespread use of applications.

That's actually changing and there are more and more use cases, both for consumer-facing apps (Farcaster!) as well as in the B2B sector. Stablecoin transfers, ticketing with NFTs, transparency around carbon credits, decentralized physical infrastructure – the list goes on.

There's lots of stuff going on in the sector which is often under the radar because many projects are focusing on tech and development rather than on explaining what they're actually doing (and why it could be useful to a lot of people) in simple terms for a non-tech audience.

Very much looking forward to the perspectives of people like @rsa.eth, @dwr.eth, @aviationdoctor.eth and others. (I'm also aware of the fact that replies here are hardly representative for general media coverage but it's still useful to highlight that point in the crypto bubble.)

She says that 'there have been no changes that would prevent a new crypto mania just as devastating as the last.' Really though?