Related ongoing thread:

Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36710558 - July 2023 (230 comments)

When you read crypto-related indictments, it shows how little is novel about crypto scams. They're almost all scams that were known in the 19th century, or earlier. There are Ponzi schemes. There are pumps and dumps. There are fake assets. There are bucket shops. The classic fraud of just stealing the assets in the customer accounts remains popular.

Bloomberg points out that the SEC, the CFTC, the FTC, and the Justice Department seem to have arrived at a common position that it's just good old-fashioned crime. It can be dealt with by following the money and putting people in jail.

Hands up if you were also expecting something about Anders Celsius having lied about the freezing or boiling points of water

>“Somebody is lying,” said Mashinsky: “Either the bank is lying or Celsius is lying.”

Truly incredible statement to make when your own compliance department is sending you memos asking you to stop lying.

I quit crypto in 2018 after 5 years. It had become clear to me that there were no safeguards in the industry to prevent scams like Celsius, and that the scams would quickly out-compete the quality companies. There's just no way to compete with someone who can make up fake returns to raise billions of dollars, if you're not willing to do the same.

It did occur to me to just play that game and make off with some cash at least. After all, I might not have another opportunity like that in my lifetime. But I don't think it would have worked. I'm just not that good a liar.

Can someone explain why this keeps happening? I'm a bit out of the loop.