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CIO Insights are written by Angeles' CIO Michael Rosen
Michael拥有超过35年的机构投资组合经理经验, investment strategist, trader and academic.
RSS: CIO Blog | All Media
"Everything Human is Pathetic"
Published: 11-18-2022
这是我在看到FTX崩溃时想到的.
Most legal documents and court filings are painful to read: verbose, obtuse, repetitive, numbingly boring.
An exception is the Chapter 11 petition that John J. 昨天，雷三世在担任FTX贸易有限公司首席执行官的第一天，向美国特拉华州破产法院提交了破产申请, et. al. 这是我很长时间以来读过的最令人惊讶的法律文件之一:简明扼要, direct, blunt, even humorous (you can find it here).
Mr. 雷提醒法庭，他有40多年与“历史上最大的破产公司”打交道的经验,” most notably Enron. Now, 你会记得安然是历史上最大的渎职刑事案件, 600亿美元的资产在一场会计欺诈中消失了，这场欺诈也拖垮了安达信，并将两家公司的高管送进了监狱.
So, knowing that Mr. 雷揭露了安然公司的会计欺诈，以下是他对FTX的评价:
“在我的职业生涯中，我从未见过如此彻底的企业控制失败，以及如此完全缺乏值得信赖的财务信息. 国外系统yabo亚博网站登录受损，监管失误, 把控制权集中在一小群没有经验的人手中, unsophisticated and potentially compromised individuals, this situation is unprecedented.”
Unprecedented? And he led the Enron investigation!
There is much about this story that we don’t know, and I won’t rehash the details of what we do know, which has been widely reported. FTX究竟是一起刑事欺诈案件，还是仅仅是严重的无能，还有待观察. [Or both: they’re not mutually exclusive.] But that doesn’t interest me. (潜在的)欺诈行为也不会让我感到惊讶:欺诈行为已经持续了数千年.
What does interest me, and surprise me (although it shouldn’t), is how smart, 老练的受托人可以将他们受雇保护的资金委托给一个不负责任的人, unregulated (sorry, (由巴哈马群岛)实体，而没有进行最起码的信托尽职调查. Unlike Enron, FTX不要求会计欺诈，因为没有人要求看会计报表. 最接近会计报表的文件是在破产后第二天用Excel制作的 spreadsheet that is obviously fictitious. Mr. Ray notes, laconically, “The FTX Group did not keep appropriate books and records, or security controls….不可接受的管理做法包括使用不安全的群组电子邮件帐户作为根用户访问机密私钥和极其敏感的信息……”他接着说，只发现了据称持有的一小部分资产, 他还试图通过“审查各种第三方来源”来定位额外的资产,” which means, calling people and asking if they have any FTX money?
This is almost funny. Funnier was the expense control at FTX. Mr. 雷写道，员工“通过一个在线‘聊天’平台提交支付请求，在这个平台上，不同的主管小组通过个性化的表情符号来批准支付.”
“Here’s my $40,000 dinner bill. Had a great time.” Some disparate supervisor: 👌
“Hey, can I expense that Lamborghini I wanted?” Disparate supervisor: 👍
Ok, I made up those exchanges. More seriously, 除了导致数十亿美元损失的可疑信托失败之外, 为什么有人被允许投资加密货币. 我不是律师，但加密货币似乎属于证券的定义 defined 根据1934年的证券交易法，这意味着它必须在美国证券交易委员会注册. None of these cryptocurrencies have been registered, so none should have been permitted to be sold to US investors.
Even if cryptocurrencies sought to be registered, the bigger question is why should they be sold to the public at all? What public good do they serve? 公司发行股票和债券是为了筹集资金投资业务. Futures contracts allow investors to hedge risks. Cryptocurrencies serve what purpose? 我搜索了加密交易所和推动者的网站，找不到一个连贯的答案. 也许有一些暗示(幻觉/错觉)，有一天私人加密货币被用来交易业务, but this is fiction.
Private cryptocurrencies are wrapped in the technospeak of blockchain, a technology that someday, maybe, could be utilized as a secure ledger. Let’s put that debate aside and ask, 私人加密货币是否会取代政府法定货币，成为合法的交易手段? Ayn Rand followers may hope so, 但我无法想象任何政府将其法定货币的控制权交给一家私人组织. 我确实认为央行数字货币(CBDC)在未来会发挥作用, but not for private cryptocurrencies.
There is talk, now that FTX has blown up, 监管机构通过政府对加密货币的控制和监督来介入并“保护”公众. My proposed remedy is two-fold. First, 根据1934年《yabo亚博网站登录首页》宣布加密货币为证券，并要求它们在美国进行注册才能出售. 第二，发现他们不符合公共利益，拒绝授权注册. Cryptocurrencies are part hype, part delusion, and part scam, and I cannot see an argument that they should be sold to the public.
Reading Mr. 雷对破产法庭的声明是对无能的惊讶, aghast at the absence of even the most basic of operating procedures, 让人惊讶的是，那些精明的人竟然把钱投进了这个虚幻的骗局, and occasionally amused by Mr. Ray’s depictions of ineptitude.
但这种乐趣来自于数百万陷入加密热潮的人所遭受的损失的痛苦. The SEC can protect investors by ending this scam.
The title of this piece comes from Mark Twain. Here is the rest of his quote: “Everything human is pathetic. The secret source of Humor itself is not joy but sorrow.”
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