Matt works for an extremely reputable institution, not to mention he's a former Goldman Sachs lawyer. He would be the last person to call anyone or anything a fraud.
Short sellers and people that bitch about things are either heroes or completely marginalized entities (without any reputation to uphold).
Also, IDK why you expect "the system" to warn you about fraudsters. The entire premise of crypto is that it's unlimited, ungoverned finance - which also means unlimited fraud opportunity. So many reputable people warned about this general problem. Like - this should be even more common than it is, because it's ridiculously profitable and kind of legal!
> The entire premise of crypto is that it's unlimited, ungoverned finance - which also means unlimited fraud opportunity.
True, but a lot of modern cryptocurrency businesses have been spending a lot of marketing $$$$ on buying a veneer of legitimacy.
Smart investors know that just because they've got reputable investors, famous board members, favourable press coverage, celebrity endorsements and a sports arena named after them, doesn't mean that This Time It's Different.
But I can understand why a naive investor might fall for the marketing.
See I don't understand this. Just because it is said that crypto is some decentralised no government economy surely does not mean it isn't governed by existing laws and regulations for their processes and actions? Especially the fact that for the most part, it gets redeemed into fiat currency.
Matt Levine's newsletter is kind of a comedy version of comp.risks; financial industry failures, presented entertainingly. But he did manage to get SBF to openly admit on his podcast that he was running a Ponzi:
I think of myself as like a fairly cynical person. And that was so much more cynical than how I would’ve described farming. You’re just like, well, I’m in the Ponzi business and it’s pretty good."
Short sellers and people that bitch about things are either heroes or completely marginalized entities (without any reputation to uphold).
Also, IDK why you expect "the system" to warn you about fraudsters. The entire premise of crypto is that it's unlimited, ungoverned finance - which also means unlimited fraud opportunity. So many reputable people warned about this general problem. Like - this should be even more common than it is, because it's ridiculously profitable and kind of legal!