I'm gone. Like a steam locomotive rolling down the track, I'm gone, gone, and nothing's going to bring me back. I'm gone. 06/29/2023
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Crypto regulation bleg
By: Scott Sumner
The standard textbook approach to regulation is that free markets are generally best except for cases of “market failure”. Frequently cited examples of market failure include externalities and monopoly. Now there is a call to regulate the crypto industry:
The White House said Friday it was closely monitoring the collapse of digital-asset empire FTX, citing its bankruptcy filing as proof the cryptocurrency industry required strong regulation.
The White House and other agencies were monitoring the situation, an administration official said, adding that Americans risked getting harmed without proper oversight of cryptocurrencies.
I’m wondering if this is just a knee jerk reaction, or if there is some market failure that I missed. A few comments:
1. It’s perfectly legal for Americans to invest in all sorts of extremely risky ventures, such as biotech start-ups. Most of these firms fail, while a few achieve great success. To use the terminology of administration officials, “Americans get harmed” when risky biotech start-ups fail. Yes, investors understand that biotech is risky, but I’d say the same about crypto.
2. It’s perfectly legal to lend money to high-risk businesses, where the loans may not be repaid. Remember junk bonds?
3. Fraud is already illegal.
So what’s the argument for new regulations of crypto? Surely not the fact that Bitcoin prices have plunged by 75%? Surely not the fact that creditors to FTX are going to lose their money? Surely not that fact that there are accusations of fraud in the recent FTX collapse? These are all either normal parts of our financial system, or are already outlawed by regulation. So what is the specific argument for additional regulation of crypto? To “protect crypto investors”? Why would we want to do that? To protect the banking system? I’ve seen no evidence that crypto threatens the banking system.
Do we really want to make people who invest in crypto feel safer about their investments? Wouldn’t that make “bubbles” even more likely? Isn’t it healthy for crypto investors to fear they might lose their investment? Wouldn’t it make them more careful?
And what is the social value of crypto? Why should social policy encourage investment in that area?
Here I need to walk a fine line between crypto critics and fans, as I’m in neither camp. I don’t see where crypto has produced much value to society, and it’s a fairly costly industry (if only in energy consumption). So I don’t see any reason to encourage the growth of crypto through government policy. I don’t wish to protect crypto investors. At the same time, I see no reason to inhibit the growth of crypto. Just because it doesn’t seem very useful to me, doesn’t mean the industry is of no value. The whole point of free markets is for people to explore new ideas and profit from them if they prove to be useful. Why would we wish to inhibit a new and innovative industry that might pay great dividends in the future?
Again, there may be market failure arguments of which I am unaware. But “bankruptcy and fraud” are not textbook examples of market failure that require regulation. One is a part of any well functioning market, while the other is already illegal. It may seem obvious to you that “something must be done”, but it is not at all obvious to me.
https://www.econlib.org/crypto-regulation-bleg/
Besides the obvious stench of all that Bankman-Fried and his congenital idiot girlfriend have pulled off (that we know of so far), there is a lot more to this that doesn’t add up.
Sure, it looks like they constructed a scheme to siphon off client funds to his girlfriend’s hedge fund. But the SUMS of money involved! This scam is exponentially bigger than Enron. Even the best cons need to have “connections” to access that kind of money.
I hope we learn those “connections” as we travel down the rabbit hole. This thing makes Lizzie Holmes look like Mother Theresa.
If you knew anything about thin film deposition on silicon wafers, you would know “shelf life” refers to how long a substance stays viable in storage before deposition. The figures you offer refer to time after the material has been applied to the device.
He doesn’t know, either.
No one from the company has ever commented on the shelf life of perkinamine, to my knowledge.
I’m sure some of us may.
Most original equipment manufacturer (OEM) design teams are tasked with qualifying at least one second source for each component in their design.
https://electronics-sourcing.com/2015/09/08/second-sourcing-is-essential/
Clearly from their posts, most here know nothing about CMOS semiconductor fabrication. Yet Lightwave is purportedly going to change the world by spinning some organic polymer onto those wafers. Which will be problematic to say the least.
It is mullets being mullets.
Look under the hood and you’ll find FTX, Bankman-Fried and the stench that issues from same. A really bad gig for anyone to find themselves in these days.
Something tells me this won’t be the only crypto-tied outfit to follow FTX down the crapper. But man, it is happening fast!!
Not to mention the lengths some will go to personally attack anyone who does not follow the groupthink. That’s when I knew this was a scam. If it was real, such antics would not be needed.
I was 23 and was responsible for maintaining alert status and turning one of two keys if ordered to launch a Titan II ICBM with a nine megaton warhead (three times the explosive power of all the bombs used during World War II, including both atomic bombs).
Also managed emergency war order communications for one of two wing alternate command posts in the event the wing command was taken out in a war footing.
I seriously doubt it.
Either that or he is in the hospital being treated for syphilitic aseptic meningitis.
“OTCMarkets” doesn’t care what is submitted as long as they get paid.
One of the you tube comments seems particularly accurate:
Yeah, I was a bit surprised many took news of the convertible note with a shoulder shrug. Wait. Maybe I wasn’t all that surprised.
You can take the company out of the OTC but you can’t take the OTC out of the company.
We took the same route as you, from Alaska.
Chicken is the ultimate tourist trap for sure but still a neat funky kinda place. I had run out of Scotch by the time we got there and I remember paying a very handsome sum for a 5th of Cutty Sark (the only brand they had, IIRC). Did you learn how it got to be called “Chicken”?
We were on a track that pretty much stayed off the beaten path but we also stayed in Dawson twice. One place I remember well was Silver City, Yukon. It must have been quite the boomtown back in the Gold Rush but is a derelict ghost town now. Those were some hardy souls back in the day for sure. I still wear a gold nugget on a neck chain that came from near Dawson. I even have the map coordinates of where it was found.
Well I admit I was on the back-end of a tour through the Canadian Yukon. ANY ‘nut & coffee would have been heaven!
If I recall correctly from my 4 years of High School Latin (seems like a practical waste of time but still worth the language basics), English is chock full of Latin roots.
Heddle is still founder, owner & COO of the shipyards.
https://heddleshipyards.com/executive-team/
Rye whiskey is not Bourbon. They are distilled in similar ways but rye must be at least 51% rye grain.
Besides, Whistle Pig is a much superior rye compared to Bulleit.
Ugh! Limburger cheese smells like an old jock strap you find in the bottom of the locker.
As I have been pointing out for over a year, there are myriad ways problems can arise trying to integrate a polymer into a MOSFET fabrication process that many conveniently turn a blind eye to.
Just because one refuses to see it does not mean it does not exist.
I am 70. Since my 20’s, I have assumed social security wouldn’t be there when I retired.
So, I was premature in my estimate.
Still, It has worked out.
I think you are really enjoying yourself in The Heartland. It is a unique place!
What does the polymer do to wafer yield at sort? To final yield at assembly? What are defect rates (not hand waving, actual data)?
Where is the reliability data?
How does it perform at ever decreasing geometries? How does it perform using EUV lithography? That will be an absolute necessity at 3 nm. Has it been evaluated on an Extreme Ultraviolet stepper on a production line in a fab?
Running product in a fab isn't a science project. It must provide profitable and repeatable yield. I have not seen the company address any of this in quantifiable terms.
I tend to agree with you on this. I just crawled in my cave and pulled the rock closed on the entrance. For a couple of months.