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Germany Wants Countries to Regulate the Crypto Industry After the FTX and Bankman-Fried Debacle

posted by janrinok on Sunday December 18 2022, @02:23PM   Printer-friendly
from the regulating-self-regulation dept.

upstart writes:

Germany wants countries to regulate the crypto industry after the FTX and Bankman-Fried debacle- Technology News, Firstpost:

Germany's top regulator this week called for global regulation of the cryptocurrency industry to protect consumers, prevent money laundering and preserve financial stability.

Mark Branson, the president of Germany's financial market regulator BaFin, also known as the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority of Germany, said a that hands-off approach that would "just let the industry grow as a playground for grownups" was the wrong tactic.

"We've seen the self-regulated world. It will not work," Branson told journalists in Frankfurt on Tuesday evening.

Branson was speaking hours after U.S. prosecutors accused Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, of misappropriating billions of dollars and violating campaign laws in what has been described as potentially one of America's biggest financial frauds.

[...] Regulation of the industry has been loose and patchwork at best. Germany requires licences for banks to deal with cryptocurrency.

[...] The European Union has been working on a new Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) that some, including European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, say would need to be broadened out in a future iteration and branded "MiCA 2".

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Sunday December 18 2022, @07:02PM (2 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Sunday December 18 2022, @07:02PM (#1283026)

    Rather than attempting to inspect and approve every lamp in Arabia and attempting to prevent people rubbing them in hopes of getting three wishes, I feel like an education campaign would be more effective. Tell people to look for things like:

    1. Transparency in accounting:
      1. How are their funds being handled?
      2. Who is certifying the books?
      3. What makes an auditor worthy of trust?
      4. Where and when are these records disclosed?
    2. Standards of practice:
      1. What does a reputable operation look like?
      2. What are the historical rates of return for ALL investors in various similar forms of investment?
      3. Where can I find lists of similar investment opportunities and their information?
    3. Jurisdiction information:
      1. When there is a dispute, how will it be resolved with this entity?
      2. Historically, what has problem resolution resulted in for the aggrieved in situations with similar entities?
      3. Historically, what has the rate of successful returns on investment been for investment in similar entities?

    The thing to emphasize in the education process, particularly for things like Crypto-Ponzi schemes, is the hollowness of the "NEW!!! Nothing like this has EVER been available to investors like YOU before in the history of the world!!! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!!!!!" claim. The media, word of mouth, and all other forms of communication emphasize the amazing positive outcomes - like the US news outlets that endlessly promote lottery winner stories without what I believe should be a required disclosure something along the lines of:

    34 year old mother of three Melanie J from Rockford Alabama won $74 million from a $2 Powerball Lotto ticket on Saturday night. Asked what she was going to do with the money, she said: "This is going to change my whole family's life entirely, I'm gonna get mama's house back from the bank, put college money for the kids into trust accounts, and get my ex-husband into a good detox program." (Required disclosure which is missing from today's reports:) records show that Mrs. J and her mother regularly purchased an average of $57.15 per month worth of lotto products over the past 27 years, representing a total investment of over $18,000 against winnings of $627 prior to her big win this past Saturday. After their previous big win of $500 in 2016 their purchases increased from an average of $15 per month up to over $200 per month which demonstrably led to Mrs. J's mother losing her home to the bank in 2019 when the cost of their lotto purchases didn't leave enough left over to pay the refinancing note they took out in 2017. While Melanie's story ends happily for her and her family, there are an estimated 300,000 families in Alabama in similar financial situations who also spend significant portions of their available income on lotto products and fully 30,000 of those families have had real-property repossessed by banks under similar circumstances in the past 10 years. Lotto winners like Melanie who are able to get their mothers' homes back only happen in Alabama approximately once every 17 years. Lotto players spent over $300 Million on losing tickets in the drawing which resulted in Melanie's $74 Million win. Please play responsibly. Gambling addiction affects one in three low income Alabama families, free counseling and support is available, call 1-800-ALA-WINS for information.

    In print at least as large and prominently placed as the good-news side of the story, similar to black box warnings on cigarettes.

    For myself, I paid $3500 for an education in international contract law... see, a contract written in English has no standing in a Costa Rican court. Related stories:

    https://www.internationalappraiser.com/2019/07/tropical-american-tree-farms-update.html [internationalappraiser.com]

    https://ticotimes.net/2012/05/17/investors-where-s-our-money [ticotimes.net]

    https://www.finewoodworking.com/forum/tropical-american-tree-farms [finewoodworking.com]

    --
    🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 18 2022, @07:07PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 18 2022, @07:07PM (#1283029)

    Somebody sounds jelly they didn't get in on the ground floor of the unique Trump-in-a-space-outfit NFTs...

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 19 2022, @01:02AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 19 2022, @01:02AM (#1283070)

    Rather than attempting to inspect and approve every lamp in Arabia and attempting to prevent people rubbing them in hopes of getting three wishes, I feel like an education campaign would be more effective.

    It doesn't help one a bit to be educated if the pension fund - educated or not - invests one's money in crypto-fluff.