1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,519 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Mark Moss Show, 2 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:05,720 Speaker 1: where we talk about the decentralized revolution, of course, each 3 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:08,360 Speaker 1: and every week, looking at through the lens of politics, finance, 4 00:00:08,440 --> 00:00:11,920 Speaker 1: and technology, which of course technology is bitcoin and the 5 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:15,920 Speaker 1: decentralized technology that's bringing. Now I am sitting down today 6 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: with a special guest, James Murphy. You can find him 7 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:25,840 Speaker 1: on Twitter at meta law Man on Twitter and um 8 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:28,120 Speaker 1: he's a securities lawyer. Now, I don't have a lot 9 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 1: of lawyers on and securities lawyers, but you know, I've 10 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:36,200 Speaker 1: been talking extensively about the FTX situation that's that's happened there. 11 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:38,680 Speaker 1: I put out a video on YouTube talking about how 12 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 1: I think we might have seen the last crypto bull run, 13 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:46,479 Speaker 1: and I said, because I think securities are going to 14 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:49,680 Speaker 1: finally kind of make their way into the space, which 15 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: will stop a lot of this venture capital money that's 16 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: created these kind of pump and dump situations that are 17 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:58,160 Speaker 1: going there. And I thought, hey, let's just talk to 18 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:01,760 Speaker 1: an sec lawyer about that. So James, so welcome to 19 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:04,440 Speaker 1: the show. Hey, Mark, I love your show. Thank you 20 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:06,200 Speaker 1: so much for having me on. I'm looking forward to 21 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:10,360 Speaker 1: the conversation. Now, I know you just wrote an article 22 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:14,319 Speaker 1: for Coin Desk and you were talking about UM things 23 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:19,200 Speaker 1: that you think Andrew Sorkin should be asking. UM, SBF, 24 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:22,120 Speaker 1: Sam Bankman freed. So for the audience that's not caught up, 25 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:25,200 Speaker 1: how could you have missed it by now f t X, 26 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 1: the second largest cryptocurrency exchange, blew up. Um. It looks 27 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:33,399 Speaker 1: like clear cut fraud to me. I know that the 28 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:35,559 Speaker 1: security laws are in a little bit of gray area, 29 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:39,679 Speaker 1: but fraud has always been fraud. That doesn't change that 30 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:42,680 Speaker 1: in my opinion. UM. And instead of Sam Bankman Freed 31 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 1: defrauding and now even admitting too in messaging UH in 32 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:49,520 Speaker 1: the last week or two that he's done these things 33 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: that I think are fraud, Um, he's still walking around 34 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: as a freeman. And even worse than that, he's going 35 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: to go speak at an event I think set up 36 00:01:56,840 --> 00:02:00,080 Speaker 1: by New York Times. UM. Sharing the stage with are 37 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: criminals like Janet Yelling, Secretary of the Treasury, UH, Ben Affleck, 38 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:11,000 Speaker 1: H Zuckerberg, UH, Larry Fink from Black Rock, etcetera. So, UM, 39 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:13,959 Speaker 1: he's going to be interviewed by H Andrew Sorkin probably 40 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: going to be given up a bunch of softball lobs 41 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:18,120 Speaker 1: that he can just knock out of the park, or 42 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:21,959 Speaker 1: he can spread some misinformation on and uh, James, I 43 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:23,800 Speaker 1: know you had written this article said here's what he 44 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: should be asking. So walk us through some of that. 45 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:31,359 Speaker 1: To start out with, Yeah, well, uh, great lead up. 46 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:35,360 Speaker 1: I am interested in the world of digital assets and 47 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:38,360 Speaker 1: have been paying a lot of attention to you know, 48 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:42,080 Speaker 1: what looks like a number of dominoes that have fallen 49 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:46,720 Speaker 1: and will follow fall yet and there will be, of course, 50 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 1: this impact on the overall market. Uh, and we can 51 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:55,520 Speaker 1: talk about that at great length. It's not just prices 52 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:59,680 Speaker 1: and viability of companies. But you know, when you have 53 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:08,040 Speaker 1: a spectacular collapse, it creates tremendous latitude for policy makers 54 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:12,519 Speaker 1: and regulators to go after everybody else. And so I 55 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:17,800 Speaker 1: think I buy a significant part of your thesis about 56 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:21,320 Speaker 1: what is to come. But in any event, with respect 57 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:26,359 Speaker 1: to SBF, I am pretty uh plugged into the ft 58 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:30,280 Speaker 1: X bankruptcy and what's going on there. And um, you know, 59 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 1: he has tweeted a little bit in ways that are nonsensical, 60 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:37,560 Speaker 1: and I thought, Wow, if he's really going to answer 61 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:42,839 Speaker 1: questions of a legitimate reporter, wouldn't it be nice if 62 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:48,080 Speaker 1: some real tough questions were asked, UH, and so I 63 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 1: started tweeting them out. You know, I said, hey, look, 64 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 1: I've been doing this for thirty years. I've questioned con 65 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:59,119 Speaker 1: men many times, dozens of times, and other kinds of fraudsters. 66 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 1: Here's how I would go about it. And so I 67 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: started putting out some of these questions on Twitter. And 68 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: then all of a sudden last night, UH, an editor 69 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:13,240 Speaker 1: at coin Desk called me and said, we like what 70 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:17,320 Speaker 1: you're doing. Can you put this into a format that 71 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 1: we can run it on on coin Desk? And I said, yeah, 72 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 1: I would do that under one condition. And my condition 73 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:29,800 Speaker 1: is I want that out there in public before this 74 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: interview of SPF happens. And so it's out there, people 75 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:37,960 Speaker 1: are talking about it. And so if I did want 76 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:42,080 Speaker 1: to make it harder for Andrew Ross Sorkin to throw softballs, 77 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:46,360 Speaker 1: there's now quite a little tiny army. You have a 78 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:49,440 Speaker 1: huge following. I've got a microscopic following because I just 79 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:52,440 Speaker 1: started Twitter or two months ago. But they're they're pretty 80 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:55,960 Speaker 1: worked up. They do not want softballs thrown because many 81 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:59,920 Speaker 1: of them have lost their life savings, and so questions 82 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:06,480 Speaker 1: like hey, Sam, you understand that the terms of service 83 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:11,680 Speaker 1: for your platform, f t X say very clearly the 84 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: assets that customers deposit on f t X are the 85 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: property of the customer and not the property of f 86 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:23,800 Speaker 1: t X. It's in black and white, a simple statement 87 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:27,719 Speaker 1: in their terms of service. You took that money that 88 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:31,240 Speaker 1: didn't belong to you and shifted it over to your 89 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:38,200 Speaker 1: hedge fund, Alameda, you understand, I'm sure that action is illegal, right, 90 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 1: So you know this is why I am certain that 91 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:46,920 Speaker 1: any lawyer he has is has strongly advised him not 92 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:51,480 Speaker 1: to answer any of these questions. But I've seen this before, 93 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:54,480 Speaker 1: and you've seen it before. These con men who are 94 00:05:54,520 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 1: really really smooth, slippery, whatever, believe that they and convince 95 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:06,240 Speaker 1: the whole audience about totally different narrative that is not 96 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:09,160 Speaker 1: rooted in the facts. And so that's I'm afraid he 97 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:11,279 Speaker 1: may try that. They want to win in the court 98 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:14,119 Speaker 1: of public opinion. Um, not in law, but in public opinion. 99 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:15,440 Speaker 1: So let's let's talk about some of this. So I 100 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:17,840 Speaker 1: know your securities, attorney, but to the point that you made, 101 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:21,799 Speaker 1: you've interviewed lots of people, con men and mobsters, et cetera. 102 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:24,080 Speaker 1: So um, let's talk about some of these things. Because 103 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:29,279 Speaker 1: some people I can't believe it. People that known people 104 00:06:29,279 --> 00:06:31,839 Speaker 1: in the space are saying, well, you know this happened 105 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:35,120 Speaker 1: in in this gray area, that these aren't really security 106 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:38,520 Speaker 1: so maybe it wasn't really illegal. But to your point, 107 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 1: I believe fraud is always fraud. And so if you 108 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:44,320 Speaker 1: said in the terms that these are your deposits, but 109 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:47,680 Speaker 1: then I take those and use them for my own use, 110 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:52,200 Speaker 1: misappropriating them to the words you used, regardless of what 111 00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:55,680 Speaker 1: type of asset that is, isn't that still considered fraud, 112 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:59,400 Speaker 1: which is still considered illegal. Yes, okay, and you don't 113 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:03,640 Speaker 1: and you rarely get unequivocal answers from any lawyer, But 114 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:07,039 Speaker 1: the answer your question is yes. If you are a 115 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: valet at a fancy restaurant and somebody hands you the 116 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 1: keys to your to their car, it doesn't become the 117 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:20,240 Speaker 1: valet's car to do whatever they want with it. But 118 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:23,640 Speaker 1: if the valet takes that car, it goes and crashes it, 119 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:27,640 Speaker 1: he doesn't hand the keys back and say, hey, you know, sorry, 120 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:31,120 Speaker 1: stuff happens. No, that's a crime. What what what just 121 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 1: happened there? That's a criminal offense. When you when you 122 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:36,920 Speaker 1: when you give your money to the bank, though that 123 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 1: money is not yours anymore. They owe you that money, 124 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:42,160 Speaker 1: and there's a legal difference. And I thought that it 125 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:45,080 Speaker 1: might be the same with these crypto exchanges, where once 126 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:47,120 Speaker 1: you give it to them, they owe it to you 127 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:49,840 Speaker 1: and it's not actually your property anymore. But you're saying 128 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:52,800 Speaker 1: that's not the case in f t X. Now you're 129 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 1: getting somewhere, Mark, What you just described is the situation 130 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:01,640 Speaker 1: at Celsius, and in terms of service are very very 131 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: clear that it is like the bank paradigm. You give 132 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:09,280 Speaker 1: us the money, then we you know, you are our 133 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:12,280 Speaker 1: credit or we owe you that money, but we take 134 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:16,080 Speaker 1: dominion over that money and lend it out to other people, 135 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 1: just like a fractional reserve model of a bank. F 136 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:25,200 Speaker 1: t X was different. Coin base is different. Uh in 137 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 1: saying no, that's not our money, that's your money, and 138 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:35,680 Speaker 1: you are the one who has complete control and all 139 00:08:35,800 --> 00:08:39,240 Speaker 1: ownership rights over that money when you deposit it here. 140 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:42,960 Speaker 1: We cannot borrow it from you and lend it or 141 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:46,199 Speaker 1: spend it, you know, in some other way. That's a 142 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:48,960 Speaker 1: that's a point and distinction. That's a big point. I'm 143 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:51,160 Speaker 1: gonna cut you off right there, James. You're listening to 144 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:54,400 Speaker 1: the Mark mos Show. UM in the studio with James Murphy. 145 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:56,680 Speaker 1: He is an attorney and we're talking about the f 146 00:08:56,800 --> 00:08:59,880 Speaker 1: t X situation, the blow up, the biggest blow up 147 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:02,840 Speaker 1: in the cryptocurrency space right now, the second largest cryptocurrency exchange, 148 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:05,360 Speaker 1: and we're talking about some of the legality of what's 149 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:07,400 Speaker 1: going on with this. Uh, if you've got money in 150 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:10,120 Speaker 1: the crypto space, you want to hear what we are 151 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:13,240 Speaker 1: going to talk about next. So don't go away. Um again, 152 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:14,920 Speaker 1: just listening to the Mark mo Show talking about the 153 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:18,199 Speaker 1: decentralized revolution and the f t X blow up. We're 154 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:19,920 Speaker 1: back with more in a minute. Don't go away, We 155 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:22,160 Speaker 1: right back. All right, welcome back. If you're just tuning in, 156 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 1: you're listening to the Mark Moss Show. I'm sitting down 157 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:28,000 Speaker 1: with attorney James Murphy talking about f t X, the 158 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:31,160 Speaker 1: second largest cryptocurrency exchange that blew up and disappeared with 159 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:34,120 Speaker 1: people's money and a lot of people say there's maybe 160 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:36,080 Speaker 1: some gray air there, and I'm talking to an attorney 161 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:39,400 Speaker 1: about that. So, James, before the break, you were saying 162 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:42,960 Speaker 1: how um Celsius and some of these other exchanges are 163 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:46,000 Speaker 1: are like a bank model where the money that's there is, 164 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:48,080 Speaker 1: actually there's and they owe it to But with f 165 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:51,240 Speaker 1: t X, UM they said that it was actually customer funds, 166 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:54,120 Speaker 1: and that changes things on what they're able to do. 167 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:58,800 Speaker 1: I'm guessing yeah very much so, yeah, very much so. Um, 168 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:03,520 Speaker 1: they cannot use the money to invest in something else. 169 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:11,520 Speaker 1: They cannot use your asset assets and UH lend them 170 00:10:11,559 --> 00:10:16,760 Speaker 1: to UH traders who want to short assets. They explicitly 171 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:21,120 Speaker 1: cannot do that. And they of course can't just take 172 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:23,720 Speaker 1: the assets and give it to a different company to 173 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:26,960 Speaker 1: see if they can invest it profitably and put and 174 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,640 Speaker 1: then put it back later. Um. You know, that's how 175 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:36,199 Speaker 1: many Ponzi schemes evolve. Very often, a Ponzi scheme does 176 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:40,120 Speaker 1: not begin as a Ponzi scheme. The person who is 177 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:42,240 Speaker 1: at the heart of it believes they can earn a 178 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:45,640 Speaker 1: return on the money that they are receiving from investors, 179 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:48,240 Speaker 1: and when that proves them not be the case or 180 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:52,040 Speaker 1: not be reliably be the case, that's when they start, 181 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:56,839 Speaker 1: you know, taking new money to pay off old investors 182 00:10:56,840 --> 00:10:59,480 Speaker 1: and they find themselves in an impossible spot of a 183 00:10:59,679 --> 00:11:03,160 Speaker 1: of a Hanzi scheme. So the rules were really clear. 184 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:09,600 Speaker 1: F t X made the rules there Uh, there, there's 185 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:12,000 Speaker 1: no way to get around it. It is a very 186 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:18,960 Speaker 1: solid case of male fraud and wire fraud under US statutes. Yeah, 187 00:11:19,559 --> 00:11:23,400 Speaker 1: now what about um, I'm guessing this is pretty big encompassing. 188 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:27,400 Speaker 1: But um, if we found out that there was customers 189 00:11:27,679 --> 00:11:31,360 Speaker 1: had about one point four billion dollars worth of bitcoin 190 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:34,960 Speaker 1: that they had bought and that we're on the exchange, 191 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:38,640 Speaker 1: but then f t X actually had no bitcoin at all, 192 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:41,199 Speaker 1: So they sold one point four billion dollars worth a 193 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:43,880 Speaker 1: bitcoin to customers but actually didn't have it on their behalf. 194 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:50,160 Speaker 1: I mean, that's another big piece of fraud. I would imagine, yes, 195 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:54,840 Speaker 1: that that is fraud. So whether this is a flower 196 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:58,360 Speaker 1: like a tulip, or it's a share of stock like apple, 197 00:11:58,679 --> 00:12:01,120 Speaker 1: or it's a cryptocurrency, it doesn't really matter what it is, 198 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:04,800 Speaker 1: it's still fraud and that's still illegal, right, That's right. 199 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: People do really fixate on does this, you know, fill 200 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:12,000 Speaker 1: in the blink the f t T token qualify as 201 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:16,280 Speaker 1: a security. It's interesting, you know, if the answers yes, 202 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:20,120 Speaker 1: that means that the SEC could get involved to the 203 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:25,640 Speaker 1: extent that there are US citizens who are victims of 204 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:31,120 Speaker 1: of the you know, f t T fraud. Um, but 205 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:35,000 Speaker 1: they don't have to be that, the US prosecutors. It 206 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:38,920 Speaker 1: doesn't have to be a security. It's money, it's mail fraud, 207 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:42,280 Speaker 1: wire fraud, all day long. Yeah. Now, several of the 208 00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:46,520 Speaker 1: questions that you had, UM that you that you hoped 209 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:49,280 Speaker 1: he just thought maybe they should ask him these questions. 210 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:52,480 Speaker 1: But some of these would be UM, missing money, so 211 00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:58,240 Speaker 1: fifteen million that was suspiciously, suspiciously transferred from wallets, um, 212 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:01,640 Speaker 1: these loans that were issued to himself and other people, 213 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:04,920 Speaker 1: things like that, and so several of these questions basically 214 00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:08,760 Speaker 1: hone in on that, like where is the money? Obviously 215 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:10,600 Speaker 1: we know lots of money is missing. Is there any 216 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:13,040 Speaker 1: reason why you would ask him specifically like hey, this 217 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:17,760 Speaker 1: money it was misappropriated? Like where is it? Yes, there 218 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:22,040 Speaker 1: there is, Mark, And this is part of my training, Uh, 219 00:13:22,559 --> 00:13:28,080 Speaker 1: trying cases for for thirty years on cross examination, quite 220 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:31,840 Speaker 1: often you really don't care what the answer is. The 221 00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:38,040 Speaker 1: entire point is the question itself. So that's why I 222 00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:41,199 Speaker 1: was tweeting out these questions so people would be aware. 223 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:49,120 Speaker 1: Sam Bankman Freed personally borrowed one billion dollars from Alma Alameda, 224 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:54,560 Speaker 1: which is now bankrupt. Sam therefore owes Alameda a billion 225 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:58,440 Speaker 1: dollars which could pay off a lot of creditors. Sam's company, 226 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:04,640 Speaker 1: paper Bird, borrowed two point three billion dollars from Alameda, 227 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:08,120 Speaker 1: So we've got a total of three point three billion 228 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:12,000 Speaker 1: dollars that this guy borrowed. He needs to put it back. 229 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:14,880 Speaker 1: You know, we need to know where that is, because 230 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:18,679 Speaker 1: if you think about, uh, the entire context of the 231 00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:23,240 Speaker 1: scope of the problem, three point three billion dollars would 232 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:29,560 Speaker 1: solve a significant chunk the entire problem. But who knows, 233 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:32,360 Speaker 1: you or you and I have no idea if he's 234 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:36,400 Speaker 1: lost the money gambling, or or it's it's on some 235 00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:41,000 Speaker 1: ledger or treasure wallet hidden underground in a bunk or somewhere. 236 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:44,200 Speaker 1: You know, we don't know. The point of the questions 237 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 1: was simply to communicate to the world these issues and 238 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:51,840 Speaker 1: what his answers are. You know, unless he surprises us 239 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:54,720 Speaker 1: and says, hey, James, thanks for asking, I can have 240 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:58,760 Speaker 1: that three point three billion back over to John Jay Ray, 241 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:01,800 Speaker 1: the new CEO, you know, in forty eight hours. I 242 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:06,040 Speaker 1: will say that the point is the questions themselves. So 243 00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:08,640 Speaker 1: then the next question, which would be asking about which 244 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:11,720 Speaker 1: news organizations has he given money to? UM probably the 245 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:14,600 Speaker 1: answer again isn't isn't important as the question which you're 246 00:15:14,640 --> 00:15:17,360 Speaker 1: just showing to the people, like, look, he bought off 247 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:19,320 Speaker 1: a lot of these people, would that be a fair 248 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:22,560 Speaker 1: assumption on that question as well? Yeah, well it's documented, 249 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:25,920 Speaker 1: you know, I've seen documentation. I'm not going to name 250 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:27,880 Speaker 1: him because I'm not sure of like three or four, 251 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:30,720 Speaker 1: but it's just the tip of the iceberg. So he 252 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:34,960 Speaker 1: can't say none. But he probably has done it so 253 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:39,840 Speaker 1: many times he doesn't even remember how many news outlets 254 00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:43,880 Speaker 1: that are supposed to be objectively reporting on f t 255 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:49,480 Speaker 1: X and the boy wonder Sam may have been somewhat compromised. 256 00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:53,640 Speaker 1: M hmm, yeah, definitely. And then of course all the 257 00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:57,400 Speaker 1: ties with the political situation that we have, you know, uh, 258 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:00,720 Speaker 1: millions of dollars of their I know kind of had 259 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:02,920 Speaker 1: maybe some questions about that. He came out now and 260 00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:06,000 Speaker 1: said that he actually gave money to Republicans as well, 261 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:08,280 Speaker 1: but he didn't want to say that because it would 262 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:10,400 Speaker 1: be looked at very bad. He only wanted to claim 263 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:13,520 Speaker 1: that he gave money to Democrats. However, lots of people 264 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:16,880 Speaker 1: have done diligence through open finance, and seeing that there 265 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:20,040 Speaker 1: has there was no money claimed. Is that an even 266 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:23,880 Speaker 1: bigger can of warms? Now to go open up? This 267 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 1: is a can of warms. I get a lot of 268 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:30,280 Speaker 1: questions from people about this. It makes customers who may 269 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:33,920 Speaker 1: be out all of their money or a substantial portion 270 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:37,360 Speaker 1: of it makes them pretty mad that where did this 271 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:40,720 Speaker 1: money come from? Are those my assets? Um? And the 272 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:44,520 Speaker 1: thing about Democrat versus Republican, just to get some clarity 273 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:51,080 Speaker 1: on that, he gave two Democrats with a couple of exceptions. 274 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:55,280 Speaker 1: And those exceptions were Republicans who were willing to co 275 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:59,520 Speaker 1: sponsor his bill in Congress, and one of them was 276 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:07,000 Speaker 1: the Senator from Arkansas. Um, but it was, you know whatever, Democrats. 277 00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:12,800 Speaker 1: His partner, however, UM, now I'm forgetting his name. It's 278 00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:17,280 Speaker 1: something like salom A, who was the quote unquote president 279 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:22,359 Speaker 1: of f t X, was a Republican. He gave less, 280 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:26,000 Speaker 1: substantially less than than Sam, but he did give principally 281 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:30,160 Speaker 1: to Republicans. And so if you look at the overall 282 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:35,040 Speaker 1: organization there there it's you know, some bipartisan giving there. 283 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:41,359 Speaker 1: But to me, the most brilliant move he made was 284 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:43,600 Speaker 1: when he gave an interview and said, you know what 285 00:17:44,520 --> 00:17:49,400 Speaker 1: I'm really thinking, I just might spend one billion dollars 286 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:54,400 Speaker 1: to get the Democratic candidate elected in think about that. 287 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:57,679 Speaker 1: They got to cut you off right there. You're listening 288 00:17:57,680 --> 00:17:59,879 Speaker 1: to the Mark Moa Show. I'm talking with James Murphy, 289 00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:02,439 Speaker 1: attorney about the ft X fiasco. I'll be back with 290 00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:04,000 Speaker 1: more in a minute. Don't go away, we'll go back. 291 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:06,240 Speaker 1: All right. Welcome back. If you're just tuning in, you're 292 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:08,320 Speaker 1: listening to the Mark Moss Show. I'm sitting down with 293 00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:12,360 Speaker 1: attorney James Murphy, securities attorney. We're talking about the ft 294 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:15,199 Speaker 1: X fiasco. And if you're just tuning in, we've been 295 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:18,160 Speaker 1: talking about a lot now. Right before the break, James, 296 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:20,000 Speaker 1: I had to cut you off. You were saying that 297 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:22,160 Speaker 1: one of the most brilliant things that he had done 298 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:25,080 Speaker 1: was saying that he was projecting he would give a 299 00:18:25,119 --> 00:18:29,359 Speaker 1: billion dollars to two Democrats in the future. Um and 300 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:33,600 Speaker 1: why is that even the more an interesting piece? Well, um, 301 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:38,760 Speaker 1: so they certainly were grateful, you know, to receive five 302 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:43,280 Speaker 1: thousand dollars, twenty thousand dollars whatever individual congress people or 303 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:48,480 Speaker 1: their packs, whatever, um. But to say I will spend 304 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:52,720 Speaker 1: a billion this is unheard of. Basically, what he is saying, 305 00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:58,159 Speaker 1: is I single handedly can push a candidate over the 306 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:02,880 Speaker 1: finish line? That is what a billion dollars could do. 307 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:06,959 Speaker 1: So think about it. This gives him a two year runway, 308 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:11,600 Speaker 1: how do you think Democrats will treat any human being 309 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:14,239 Speaker 1: who says, you know what, I may just give you 310 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:17,080 Speaker 1: all a billion dollars to spend as you see fit 311 00:19:17,359 --> 00:19:22,160 Speaker 1: to elect your nominee. You know, he had meetings at 312 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: the White House, he was calm, He was meeting privately 313 00:19:26,359 --> 00:19:29,960 Speaker 1: with Converse people, meeting privately with Gary Gensler. He did well, 314 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:33,000 Speaker 1: He got a good return on investment of his money 315 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:35,879 Speaker 1: in the twenty two cycle. But to say you'll spend 316 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:39,919 Speaker 1: a billion was really a stroke of genius because nobody 317 00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:43,919 Speaker 1: would say anything against him, nobody on the Democratic side 318 00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:47,320 Speaker 1: for at least two years. Uh, if he was still 319 00:19:47,359 --> 00:19:50,600 Speaker 1: able and not now kind of run out and the 320 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:52,040 Speaker 1: money now, I don't know if I don't know how 321 00:19:52,119 --> 00:19:55,360 Speaker 1: much favors he's going to get anymore. Now, um let's 322 00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:57,520 Speaker 1: jump to another another piece. So I put out a 323 00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:00,159 Speaker 1: video on YouTube and then put out a with a 324 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:03,080 Speaker 1: thread on it, and basically I was making the case 325 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:07,240 Speaker 1: that uh, there would not be another crypto bull run 326 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:09,239 Speaker 1: and what I was talking about was if you look 327 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:14,520 Speaker 1: at and then you look at basically the entire cryptocurrency 328 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:17,840 Speaker 1: market cap went up. You could, you know, basically close 329 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:20,880 Speaker 1: your eyes and throw a dart um and and everything 330 00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:23,040 Speaker 1: just went up at this crazy amount. And I was 331 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:26,639 Speaker 1: saying that most that you have to understand how the 332 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:30,440 Speaker 1: cryptocurrency market worked in order to understand why it may 333 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:32,359 Speaker 1: not happen again. And so a lot of people just 334 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:34,639 Speaker 1: looked at the headline. They didn't like that. But the 335 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:37,040 Speaker 1: part that I was talking about, James, was that most 336 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:40,600 Speaker 1: people don't know, but most of the cryptocurrency market was 337 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:43,400 Speaker 1: driven by venture capital money because they could get these 338 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:46,520 Speaker 1: tokens at extreme discounts and then instantly have liquidity and 339 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:49,199 Speaker 1: flipped them on the market onto retail at five, ten x, 340 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:51,159 Speaker 1: twenty x or whatever. They loved it, and then they 341 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:54,159 Speaker 1: spent all this money to then drive hype, including uh 342 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:57,280 Speaker 1: hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising on Google and 343 00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:00,679 Speaker 1: mainstream media, et cetera. Obviously Super Bowl whatnot, and so 344 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:03,400 Speaker 1: they loved it. All the hype was built. People thought 345 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:05,480 Speaker 1: everyone was getting rich, but really it was just vcs 346 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:08,800 Speaker 1: driving this. Now, my assumption was that based off of this, 347 00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:11,119 Speaker 1: and you kind of started talking about this in the beginning. Um, 348 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:13,879 Speaker 1: these big events that cause a lot of harm then 349 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:17,000 Speaker 1: allow governments to kind of run and maybe push policy. 350 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:21,680 Speaker 1: And if they push securities regulations on these tokens, then 351 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:24,920 Speaker 1: vcs can't keep doing what they've been doing, which would 352 00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:27,320 Speaker 1: then drive up a lot of that capital. I'm not 353 00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:30,159 Speaker 1: saying the technology goes away or that progress happens, but 354 00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:32,879 Speaker 1: we maybe don't see these big bumps. So let's break 355 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:37,200 Speaker 1: that down little by little. So, UM, let's start with 356 00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:43,000 Speaker 1: why these maybe securities? And there's four pieces of this. 357 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:45,399 Speaker 1: How we test? I mean, should we start there and 358 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:47,760 Speaker 1: kind of look at that. Are these token securities? Will 359 00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:52,960 Speaker 1: the sec maybe cracked down on them as securities? Well, 360 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:57,240 Speaker 1: I can tell you they've hired so taking taking a 361 00:21:57,280 --> 00:21:59,480 Speaker 1: step back. At my at my firm where I worked 362 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:03,480 Speaker 1: until eleven months ago, we had sixteen of our partners 363 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:08,840 Speaker 1: had worked at the SEC. We were constantly engaged to 364 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:13,000 Speaker 1: help people assess their risk that what they were doing 365 00:22:13,359 --> 00:22:18,440 Speaker 1: was issuance of an unregistered security um and many of them, 366 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:22,560 Speaker 1: once they got our advice, many of them moved off 367 00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:27,800 Speaker 1: shore to places like Estonia and the Isle of Man. 368 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:31,440 Speaker 1: Places I have not yet visited to do their their 369 00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:35,679 Speaker 1: token offering, and then then they had to avoid issuance 370 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:41,400 Speaker 1: to um uh to US residents. UM. So the Howie 371 00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:45,879 Speaker 1: test uh to me is a is an artifact. And 372 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:50,000 Speaker 1: I disagree with Gary Gensler when he goes on every 373 00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:54,040 Speaker 1: show and says, I don't know why people are clamoring 374 00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:58,320 Speaker 1: for new rules or clarity of rules. Nothing could be 375 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:02,679 Speaker 1: more clear. There's a case at the Supreme Court in 376 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:08,400 Speaker 1: nineteen forty six that deals with Orange Groves in Florida 377 00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:13,080 Speaker 1: that clearly explains what a native token on a decentralized platform, 378 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:15,600 Speaker 1: whether that's a security to me, it's a non sequit, 379 00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:19,240 Speaker 1: or it's ridiculous. It is square peg and round hole. 380 00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:22,800 Speaker 1: And so now we have briefs. I filed these briefs 381 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:26,399 Speaker 1: where you try to apply the Orange Grove test to 382 00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:31,359 Speaker 1: something that was not unheard of certainly in nineteen six, 383 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:38,120 Speaker 1: and I think that UM clearly the last two chairman 384 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:42,240 Speaker 1: of the SEC has said basically, everything they've seen is 385 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:49,440 Speaker 1: a security. Accept bitcoin and maybe accept ethereum. And so 386 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:53,560 Speaker 1: whatever the law is, that's a pretty interesting data point 387 00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:59,040 Speaker 1: if you are in the business of minting tokens that 388 00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:03,080 Speaker 1: the SEC has said those are securities. So one thing 389 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:08,800 Speaker 1: people miss they see these SEC enforcement cases against UM 390 00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:12,879 Speaker 1: issuers of these tokens. What they miss is it is 391 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:18,840 Speaker 1: a crime in all fifty states to sell an unregistered security, 392 00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:21,600 Speaker 1: which is what the SEC is saying. These things are 393 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:27,520 Speaker 1: people have gone to jail for selling unregistered securities. So 394 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:31,920 Speaker 1: the risk is quite significant, and so you have many 395 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:35,280 Speaker 1: many projects. It's it's astounding. Really, if you go on 396 00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:41,000 Speaker 1: coin market cap mark you know this. There's was about 397 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:45,760 Speaker 1: to say twenty one, there's UH twenty two thousand tokens 398 00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:50,680 Speaker 1: and the vast majority of them have the the inditia 399 00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:55,679 Speaker 1: of securities UM. But you know what, in fairness, I 400 00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:58,199 Speaker 1: what I would say is the how he tests is 401 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:01,360 Speaker 1: not a good test for what that these are securities. 402 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:06,040 Speaker 1: And the reason is that you do not gain an 403 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:13,080 Speaker 1: equity interest in the underlying UH operation. You don't have 404 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:17,560 Speaker 1: a right to any of the profits generated by If 405 00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:20,960 Speaker 1: you GO Labs does a project that has a token 406 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,160 Speaker 1: associated with it, you don't own a fraction of UGA 407 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:28,000 Speaker 1: Labs and the vcs. To your point, the vcs have 408 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:33,080 Speaker 1: on occasion bought these tokens with the thought that you know, 409 00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:38,400 Speaker 1: they'll rapidly appreciate due to some factor, either the success 410 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:43,080 Speaker 1: the underlying operation or you know, the rising tide of 411 00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:48,480 Speaker 1: the alleged four year cycle. But really, the vcs are 412 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:54,119 Speaker 1: buying actual equity of the underlying companies, not just tokens 413 00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:57,840 Speaker 1: where they have stock in these private companies. And when 414 00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:01,320 Speaker 1: people talk about this or that is a unicorn worth 415 00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:05,800 Speaker 1: a billion dollars, well, andreas in Horowitz was probably an 416 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:10,560 Speaker 1: early seed investor in the stock of that company. And therefore, 417 00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:14,639 Speaker 1: should it get bought or go public on a stock exchange, 418 00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:19,160 Speaker 1: and treason Horowitz will reap. You know what vcs look for, 419 00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:23,800 Speaker 1: a hundred x return, a thousand x return, uh, something 420 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:28,239 Speaker 1: like that. So, um, this is a big topic. There 421 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:32,840 Speaker 1: are many conferences that deal only with this topic. A 422 00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:37,680 Speaker 1: lot of token buyers think they're actually buying some interest 423 00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:44,080 Speaker 1: in the underlying business operation, and they're they're certainly not 424 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:48,000 Speaker 1: doing that. Well. I would certainly agree that a hundred 425 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:52,359 Speaker 1: year old law about orange groves can't possibly work for 426 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:55,239 Speaker 1: something in the digital age. And so uh and and 427 00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:57,560 Speaker 1: let me just set the record straight. I talked about 428 00:26:57,600 --> 00:26:59,760 Speaker 1: my video and on my Twitter thread. Um, I am 429 00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:02,040 Speaker 1: not for regulations. I think we should be free to 430 00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:03,360 Speaker 1: do what we want with our money. And I don't 431 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:05,120 Speaker 1: need the government to protect myself. I actually be able 432 00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:07,920 Speaker 1: to protect myself. So I just do want to say 433 00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:10,000 Speaker 1: that as well. However, the law is what the law is, 434 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:11,359 Speaker 1: and so I want to dig into a couple of 435 00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:13,680 Speaker 1: points on this how he tests and ask you about him. 436 00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:15,560 Speaker 1: If you're just tuning in, you're listening to the Mark 437 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:19,159 Speaker 1: Moss Show. I'm sitting down with special guest James Murphy. 438 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:23,080 Speaker 1: He's at a securities in exchange SEC lawyer, and we're 439 00:27:23,119 --> 00:27:25,520 Speaker 1: talking about kind of the ft X fiasco and what's 440 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:27,720 Speaker 1: happening in the aftermath of that. I want to ask 441 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:30,920 Speaker 1: him more about a couple of pieces of this, uh 442 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:33,680 Speaker 1: and then ask him for his crystal ball what's gonna 443 00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:35,560 Speaker 1: happen next? You don't want to miss it, don't go away? 444 00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:37,520 Speaker 1: Well right back, all right, welcome back. If you're just 445 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:39,520 Speaker 1: tuning in, you're listening to the Mark Moss Show, I'm 446 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:43,160 Speaker 1: sitting down with special guest James Murphy. He's the founder, 447 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:45,159 Speaker 1: was the founder and chairman of law for Murphy and 448 00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:50,119 Speaker 1: McGonagall um, and he's the securities and exchange SEC attorney. Now, um, James, 449 00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:51,719 Speaker 1: you had said, you know, this hundred year old law 450 00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:54,800 Speaker 1: about such as orange Groves doesn't fit for digital assets. 451 00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:56,520 Speaker 1: And but the one key piece I want to hit 452 00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:59,800 Speaker 1: on is you said that UM, that's typically meant for 453 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:04,359 Speaker 1: um people who think they're buying an equity or some 454 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:08,320 Speaker 1: part of a share interest in a business. But when 455 00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:10,040 Speaker 1: I read the four points, and I know these four 456 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:12,359 Speaker 1: points are broken down by another ninety eight points or 457 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:14,440 Speaker 1: something like that, But when I read just the four points, 458 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:17,520 Speaker 1: it says an investment of money, so I'm giving someone money, 459 00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:20,760 Speaker 1: uh to in a common enterprise, so somebody, some sort 460 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:23,480 Speaker 1: of people are running this kind of a thing. But 461 00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:27,280 Speaker 1: three an expectation of profit. So it doesn't say anything 462 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:29,600 Speaker 1: in there, and that I should have ownership. That's not 463 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:32,480 Speaker 1: listed in this at all. But it's did people buy 464 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:35,919 Speaker 1: it thinking they would get a profit? And UM, I 465 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:38,280 Speaker 1: guess you know. Now that's subjective. You have to go 466 00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:40,320 Speaker 1: back and ask every single person in the world, why 467 00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:43,080 Speaker 1: did you buy this? UM? But I think if you 468 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:45,280 Speaker 1: just google and I did this, if you just google, 469 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:48,280 Speaker 1: like uh, you know crypto or all coin, like, it's 470 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:51,040 Speaker 1: all is about investment. Like that's the number one keyword 471 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:53,520 Speaker 1: that matches up with that, and so they all bought it. 472 00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:56,960 Speaker 1: I mean, whether you know people bought f t T 473 00:28:57,160 --> 00:28:59,880 Speaker 1: token because they can get a discount of trading fees 474 00:28:59,920 --> 00:29:01,800 Speaker 1: on f t T. That's not why they bought the token. 475 00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:04,120 Speaker 1: They thought that token up in value, right, Like I 476 00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:05,960 Speaker 1: get a discount at the grocery store when I type 477 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:08,120 Speaker 1: in my phone number. But I didn't buy anything to 478 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:09,600 Speaker 1: get that, because I don't think it's kind of go 479 00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:11,880 Speaker 1: op in value. It's give me a discount. So anyway, 480 00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:14,200 Speaker 1: I think that's what that expectation of profit. And so 481 00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:16,360 Speaker 1: I guess the question is did people give up money 482 00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:19,120 Speaker 1: and were they hoping into to a group of people, 483 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:20,920 Speaker 1: and we're they're hoping for it to go up in 484 00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:25,320 Speaker 1: in profit, And I would guess the answer would be yes. Well, 485 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:29,360 Speaker 1: mark your take. I don't know if you you have 486 00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:31,680 Speaker 1: you sound a little bit like a lawyer, but your 487 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:37,160 Speaker 1: take has prevailed almost everywhere, you know, so you're on 488 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:42,040 Speaker 1: the winning side of this argument. And Gary Gensler's argument 489 00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:46,640 Speaker 1: that this is this old um test is the one 490 00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:49,720 Speaker 1: we're going to use, and under that test, all of 491 00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:53,760 Speaker 1: these tokens fail. So if if if, if hypothetically so 492 00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:56,280 Speaker 1: I'm hey, you know, all these people that got Ato 493 00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:58,440 Speaker 1: mad at me, they say, oh, Mark, you don't understand, 494 00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:01,080 Speaker 1: like no one, they can't stop the progress. So yeah, 495 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:05,440 Speaker 1: So if I started a project and I created token, 496 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:07,160 Speaker 1: I didn't raise any money or I had had I 497 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:09,200 Speaker 1: had some early you know, friends and family rounds or 498 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:12,320 Speaker 1: some VC rounds, right, and we created the software, and 499 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:15,120 Speaker 1: then I decided to launch this token UM that was 500 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:19,240 Speaker 1: available UM and then maybe on a third party market, 501 00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:22,040 Speaker 1: those tokens became valuable and there was some resell going on, 502 00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:24,640 Speaker 1: But I wasn't actually selling those two people, and that 503 00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:26,920 Speaker 1: would be totally different. I think it seems it's the 504 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:29,200 Speaker 1: very act of me trying to raise money for my 505 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:32,840 Speaker 1: common enterprise selling something. Is what kind of makes it 506 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:37,560 Speaker 1: that security? It's a it's ah yes, that's a telltale 507 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:42,440 Speaker 1: sign of a security. Uh. And it's in you know, 508 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:45,800 Speaker 1: the list of factors that have dribbled out from the 509 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:50,000 Speaker 1: SEC over the last uh you know, ten to twelve years. 510 00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:54,880 Speaker 1: The way I look at it is everybody tries to 511 00:30:55,000 --> 00:31:01,520 Speaker 1: apply the Howie facts and test to their circumstances of 512 00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:04,520 Speaker 1: a token issue, and I would argue what we ought 513 00:31:04,560 --> 00:31:08,720 Speaker 1: to is the reverse. Let's look at the situation of 514 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:13,840 Speaker 1: this token and see what it would mean to the 515 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:16,960 Speaker 1: orange grows. Here's what I mean by that. What if 516 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:24,280 Speaker 1: the investors in those orange groves did not acquire any 517 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:30,320 Speaker 1: acreage of the orange groves, just as token buyers acquired 518 00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:37,200 Speaker 1: no property other than this ephemeral token. It doesn't represent stock, 519 00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:40,360 Speaker 1: it doesn't represent a claim on profits. Let's say we 520 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:44,040 Speaker 1: took the facts of a token and put it into 521 00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:47,600 Speaker 1: that case. All right, So the investors in that case 522 00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:52,719 Speaker 1: now have no property. They own no orange grows. Secondly, 523 00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:59,520 Speaker 1: let's take the of tokens where there is no income stream. 524 00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:02,080 Speaker 1: There are a few out there that operate a little 525 00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:04,760 Speaker 1: bit like a bond, but let's forget those and look 526 00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:11,720 Speaker 1: at the Those also have no claim on the profits 527 00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:15,720 Speaker 1: of the underlying business. So there is a business that 528 00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:20,680 Speaker 1: runs this program called the Graph and there are graph tokens, 529 00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:23,440 Speaker 1: And when you buy those Graph tokens, you don't own 530 00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:26,400 Speaker 1: any of the underlying business and you have no right 531 00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:29,960 Speaker 1: to their profits. So let's apply that to the orange grows. Now, 532 00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:35,280 Speaker 1: not only do the investors have no property in Florida, 533 00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:39,520 Speaker 1: they also have no right to split up the interests 534 00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:42,720 Speaker 1: of the harvest each year. They don't get their percentage 535 00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:46,360 Speaker 1: of the orange harvest. If that was the case, mark 536 00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:51,560 Speaker 1: in of that situation with the orange groves, with those 537 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:55,800 Speaker 1: two factors, it's not that the government would lose that case. 538 00:32:56,720 --> 00:33:00,080 Speaker 1: The government would never bring that case. That never he 539 00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:03,600 Speaker 1: would have been brought. If the investors own nothing and 540 00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:08,040 Speaker 1: have no rights to any harvest, there is no case. 541 00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:13,000 Speaker 1: And so I'm arguing in the wind a little bit 542 00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:17,320 Speaker 1: on on this score. And I will probably submit amikas 543 00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:20,800 Speaker 1: briefs when the time comes, perhaps even in the ripple case. 544 00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:24,479 Speaker 1: But I believe people are looking at it wrong and 545 00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:29,040 Speaker 1: that you should take the facts from the token world 546 00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:32,440 Speaker 1: and apply them back to that case, and and the 547 00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:34,680 Speaker 1: and the result is that case would never have been 548 00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:38,280 Speaker 1: brought because it would have no possibility of prevailing in court. 549 00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:42,000 Speaker 1: So there is an argument on the other side. Your 550 00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:45,080 Speaker 1: side has been winning and winning quite consistently. I don't 551 00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:46,760 Speaker 1: want to say my side, because, like I said, I 552 00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:48,400 Speaker 1: don't think we should even have I think we should 553 00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:50,240 Speaker 1: just disband the SEC That would be my that would 554 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:52,320 Speaker 1: be my guess. They're supposed to protect consumers, but look 555 00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:54,720 Speaker 1: how good of a job they're doing. Um. What I 556 00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:58,080 Speaker 1: would say, though, is uh. And again I would ask, um, 557 00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:01,000 Speaker 1: I believe that you have like court law, our precedents 558 00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:03,719 Speaker 1: like this, how he is right, But the more times 559 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:07,880 Speaker 1: it's used than the stronger it gets. And it also 560 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:11,960 Speaker 1: starts to morphin evolve over time how it's being applied 561 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:16,440 Speaker 1: to other things. So I'm obviously not an attorney, don't 562 00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:18,319 Speaker 1: listen to what I'm saying, and I'm just reading something 563 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:21,320 Speaker 1: off of investopedia here. But it doesn't say anything about 564 00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:23,480 Speaker 1: applying it to an orange grove. I know it started 565 00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:25,480 Speaker 1: from that case. Doesn't say anything about they owned it 566 00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:27,759 Speaker 1: or whatever. It just says an investment of money with 567 00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:30,800 Speaker 1: an expectation of profit and a common enterprise. So I 568 00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:33,799 Speaker 1: would just go back to say, well, uh am I 569 00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:37,960 Speaker 1: giving it? Why did these people give up money? They 570 00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:40,319 Speaker 1: thought they were getting something back in return. But um, 571 00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:42,760 Speaker 1: let let's get how about this? How about this mark? 572 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:45,440 Speaker 1: What if you go to a casino in Las Vegas 573 00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:49,480 Speaker 1: and buy tokens and you're hoping that you can gamble 574 00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:53,080 Speaker 1: those tokens and make more tokens and then go back 575 00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:57,560 Speaker 1: and cash it in for money. Those aren't securities because 576 00:34:57,560 --> 00:35:00,640 Speaker 1: you don't own part of the casino. You don't have 577 00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:04,560 Speaker 1: an interest in whether that enterprise is successful. A better 578 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:06,239 Speaker 1: example would be like Chuck E Cheese. Right, so I 579 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:09,120 Speaker 1: go to Chuck E Cheese, I buy tokens and I 580 00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:11,480 Speaker 1: don't have any control or interest in Chuck E Cheese. 581 00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:14,960 Speaker 1: So maybe that's a good example. That isn't That's that's 582 00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:19,640 Speaker 1: an example. Yeah, but depending there's utility tokens, utilitial tokens. 583 00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:24,760 Speaker 1: You've heard of those. I think of UM airline mileage points. 584 00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:29,040 Speaker 1: You know that you receive these, but you don't own 585 00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:31,359 Speaker 1: any part of the airline, and you can use them 586 00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:34,839 Speaker 1: for stuff. To me. To me, the difference would be 587 00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:36,879 Speaker 1: and again I'm no attorney and I don't really want 588 00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:38,799 Speaker 1: to be taking the SEC side of this, but for 589 00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:42,239 Speaker 1: playing Devil's advocate, UM, the way that I would look 590 00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:44,080 Speaker 1: at it is is if I'm going to Chuck E 591 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:47,000 Speaker 1: Cheese and I'm buying tokens to play video games, I'm buying, 592 00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:49,719 Speaker 1: I'm buying the tokens, I'm playing the video games, and 593 00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:52,960 Speaker 1: then I'm done. But Chuck E Cheese didn't do a 594 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:56,520 Speaker 1: I p O selling tokens to raise money to go 595 00:35:56,600 --> 00:35:58,960 Speaker 1: build all the Chuck E Cheeses that you hope one 596 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:00,440 Speaker 1: day if they do a good job, they'll build the 597 00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:02,400 Speaker 1: Chucky Jesus and at some point I could then go 598 00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:04,880 Speaker 1: use them. So does it happen to do with like 599 00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:07,480 Speaker 1: the proceed of funds kind of thing like, where like 600 00:36:07,840 --> 00:36:11,720 Speaker 1: it's a it's a factor that the SEC definitely uses. 601 00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:15,800 Speaker 1: And I would simply endorse what you said at the beginning. 602 00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:20,520 Speaker 1: There's really nothing unusual about an old precedent kind of 603 00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:25,840 Speaker 1: growing over time to accommodate new things. When you say that, 604 00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:30,160 Speaker 1: you are, of course describing the United States Constitution. So 605 00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:33,400 Speaker 1: there's no air travel at seven, you know, it's seventeen 606 00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:36,600 Speaker 1: eighties and all these things. It had to adapt to 607 00:36:36,719 --> 00:36:40,520 Speaker 1: new technology. But yes, I'm a little bit of a 608 00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:43,960 Speaker 1: voice out in the wilderness here saying let's let's let's 609 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:48,200 Speaker 1: reconsider um whether it's really a good match for the 610 00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:51,160 Speaker 1: Howie Howie tests. So now let's see how good your 611 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:54,640 Speaker 1: crystal ball is, and let's see, like where do you 612 00:36:54,680 --> 00:36:56,399 Speaker 1: think this goes? So you you had made the case 613 00:36:56,480 --> 00:36:59,680 Speaker 1: that you think that you know, now it's one I 614 00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:02,160 Speaker 1: had at another video where like maybe this was a 615 00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:04,600 Speaker 1: little bit intentional where he was taking all this money, 616 00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:08,000 Speaker 1: he was then working with regulators to impose all these 617 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:11,080 Speaker 1: new regulations trying to almost kind of corner the market. 618 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:14,520 Speaker 1: Um now even with them being bust, it brings even 619 00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:18,279 Speaker 1: more maybe potential firepower or attention that they could bring 620 00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:21,279 Speaker 1: and try to push through all these regulations. So I 621 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:23,120 Speaker 1: guess the question I would ask is like, where does 622 00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:25,400 Speaker 1: this go? Do you think that to the point you 623 00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:28,560 Speaker 1: said that maybe this gives them some public attention they 624 00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:30,880 Speaker 1: can now push through a lot of regulations. Do you 625 00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:34,319 Speaker 1: think they'll start cracking down or do you think no, 626 00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:36,839 Speaker 1: they probably are not cracking down because they know they 627 00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:39,160 Speaker 1: don't have a good case and maybe nothing really will 628 00:37:39,239 --> 00:37:42,200 Speaker 1: actually come of this. Well, I think a lot is 629 00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:44,560 Speaker 1: going to come of it. And I put out a 630 00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:48,680 Speaker 1: list of top ten winners and top ten losers as 631 00:37:48,719 --> 00:37:51,560 Speaker 1: a consequence of the f t X implosion, and the 632 00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:56,160 Speaker 1: number one winner was Gary Gensler. So Gary Ginstler has 633 00:37:56,200 --> 00:37:59,719 Speaker 1: been getting some bad publicity because of this ripple k 634 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:04,640 Speaker 1: which he inherited from his predecessor. Jay Clayton is the 635 00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:09,880 Speaker 1: one who authorized that lawsuit very shortly before he left office, 636 00:38:10,200 --> 00:38:11,880 Speaker 1: so he knew he was gonna have nothing to do 637 00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:17,560 Speaker 1: with it. The problem with that case is the public perception. 638 00:38:18,719 --> 00:38:23,319 Speaker 1: The problem is there are a class of x RP 639 00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:28,520 Speaker 1: holders who have intervened in the case. These are the 640 00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:32,480 Speaker 1: ones who are supposedly injured, the ones that the SEC 641 00:38:32,719 --> 00:38:36,040 Speaker 1: is supposed to be protecting. They've entered the case together 642 00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:40,800 Speaker 1: in a class action to ask the SEC to stop 643 00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:45,360 Speaker 1: what they're doing and stop destroying Ripple because they believe 644 00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:47,480 Speaker 1: in it. They owned the token, they knew what they 645 00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:50,040 Speaker 1: were doing when they got the token, and this is 646 00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:53,960 Speaker 1: a big waste of time. We are not victims here, 647 00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:57,239 Speaker 1: were good. We want you out of here. That is 648 00:38:57,239 --> 00:39:01,200 Speaker 1: an uncomfortable spot SEC in our investment. We're hoping to 649 00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:03,680 Speaker 1: get some money back out. Don't crush it to zero. 650 00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:08,080 Speaker 1: Pre that that is precisely at mark. As you think 651 00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:10,680 Speaker 1: about I know you're an investor, as you think about risk, 652 00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:15,799 Speaker 1: um you know, categories of risk uh and counting them out. 653 00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:20,560 Speaker 1: The biggest risk associated with Ripple is the government itself. 654 00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:26,920 Speaker 1: It's not fraud or misconduct or the market uh, you know, 655 00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:31,239 Speaker 1: reception to XRP or anything. It's the government is the 656 00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:34,000 Speaker 1: risk factor. That's not how it's supposed to be. And 657 00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:36,920 Speaker 1: what's weird And this sort of gets to your question, 658 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:41,600 Speaker 1: what's weird is everybody in crypto you know this I 659 00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:46,320 Speaker 1: know this, everybody knows it. Of the twenty two thousand tokens, 660 00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:50,120 Speaker 1: some of them are out and out frauds that where 661 00:39:50,160 --> 00:39:52,719 Speaker 1: the people just issued a token, took the money and 662 00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:58,600 Speaker 1: split at the top of that though, I would put 663 00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:02,120 Speaker 1: XRP up there, e O s maybe the biggest four 664 00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:04,960 Speaker 1: billion dollars they took and disappeared. But x r P, 665 00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:06,880 Speaker 1: I mean they created a hundred percent of the tokens 666 00:40:06,880 --> 00:40:08,560 Speaker 1: in a pre mine, and they just enriched themselves, and 667 00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:12,040 Speaker 1: they spend it all in public policy and and uh 668 00:40:12,239 --> 00:40:14,360 Speaker 1: most a lot of what I would consider fraud in 669 00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:17,640 Speaker 1: a sense of promising things, promoting things that just aren't true. 670 00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:29,280 Speaker 1: But they have created utility uh situations, banks have settled 671 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:37,160 Speaker 1: uh international remittances using ripple UM. So there's something there. 672 00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:41,600 Speaker 1: I'm just saying, why don't you get the actual fraud 673 00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:48,600 Speaker 1: people who had no intention of building something gross ones? Yeah, 674 00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:52,160 Speaker 1: what about this case when the library? Um where that? 675 00:40:52,520 --> 00:40:55,239 Speaker 1: I mean that obviously the ripple is sometime next year 676 00:40:55,239 --> 00:40:59,880 Speaker 1: we'll find out. But library just got settled. Library created utility. 677 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:03,080 Speaker 1: They actually have a working product that actually people use 678 00:41:03,160 --> 00:41:06,520 Speaker 1: my videos go on library or on Odyssey. Now, UM, 679 00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:08,399 Speaker 1: I don't know if anybody used x RP, but they 680 00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:12,760 Speaker 1: used library um, and they claim that they have utility. 681 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:16,400 Speaker 1: And the judge said, there's no tribal defense for that, 682 00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:19,279 Speaker 1: being a uh, that's what that's the words that wording 683 00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:22,440 Speaker 1: that he used, Um, no tribal defense for that, Like 684 00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:25,319 Speaker 1: it's a security black and white. What does that have 685 00:41:25,520 --> 00:41:28,799 Speaker 1: an effect on potentially with ripple and other things. Well, 686 00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:32,960 Speaker 1: that had a ripple effect. Um. So yeah, all the 687 00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:36,319 Speaker 1: lawyers in the business were passing around that decision when 688 00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:39,919 Speaker 1: it came out, and you know what you'll hear people say, Look, 689 00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:45,160 Speaker 1: it's one judges decision. What matters, what constitutes a precedent 690 00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:48,799 Speaker 1: is a decision of an appellate court. And so we 691 00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:52,319 Speaker 1: have all all these courts of appeal throughout the United States, 692 00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:54,959 Speaker 1: and then the Supreme Court sits on top of that, 693 00:41:55,480 --> 00:41:58,959 Speaker 1: and there are you know a lot of judges who 694 00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:02,600 Speaker 1: get things wrong, mostly get things right, and so people 695 00:42:02,640 --> 00:42:10,359 Speaker 1: will disregard a single judges opinion and what matters are um, 696 00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:13,600 Speaker 1: what appellate courts say. And so I got this question 697 00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:16,319 Speaker 1: on Twitter yesterday about what do you think is gonna 698 00:42:16,320 --> 00:42:18,040 Speaker 1: happen on Ripple? And I said, what I think is 699 00:42:18,040 --> 00:42:21,839 Speaker 1: gonna happen. Is everybody's gonna overreact whether it's a win 700 00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:25,000 Speaker 1: or a loss, because what this judge has to say 701 00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:27,640 Speaker 1: about it is really not going to be that important. 702 00:42:28,320 --> 00:42:31,600 Speaker 1: There are two more layers of appeals. What an appellate 703 00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:35,239 Speaker 1: court says about this and eventually the Supreme Court, that's 704 00:42:35,239 --> 00:42:38,719 Speaker 1: what will matter. But people will overreact. And what is 705 00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:42,520 Speaker 1: that overreaction gonna look like? You could see a lot 706 00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:45,080 Speaker 1: of other tokens get delisted in a hurry. Then the 707 00:42:45,120 --> 00:42:48,640 Speaker 1: liquidity fall fall out of bed and therefore, if you 708 00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:52,759 Speaker 1: can't sell a token easily, the value is gonna plummet um, 709 00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:57,279 Speaker 1: So there would be I would expect significant market fall 710 00:42:57,320 --> 00:43:00,080 Speaker 1: out if it's a you know, full on win in 711 00:43:00,680 --> 00:43:03,399 Speaker 1: for the SEC at the trial level. When you said 712 00:43:03,440 --> 00:43:06,399 Speaker 1: it was a win for Gary Gensler, Uh, you thought 713 00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:08,919 Speaker 1: he would be the biggest winner from this, you said, um, 714 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:11,359 Speaker 1: And it is he the biggest winner because he got 715 00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:14,239 Speaker 1: it inherited this horrible case. But now it gives him 716 00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:16,239 Speaker 1: some leverage on that. Is that why you were saying 717 00:43:16,239 --> 00:43:18,800 Speaker 1: he might be the biggest winner. No, I was saying 718 00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:23,399 Speaker 1: it because there were people pushing back, you know, politically 719 00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:29,640 Speaker 1: on regulation of the space and pushing back on his 720 00:43:29,880 --> 00:43:34,040 Speaker 1: enforcement efforts because he picked one with with a bunch 721 00:43:34,040 --> 00:43:37,120 Speaker 1: of people who do not view themselves as victims. But 722 00:43:37,200 --> 00:43:40,279 Speaker 1: I'm getting, you know, direct messages from people who are 723 00:43:40,320 --> 00:43:44,319 Speaker 1: extremely distraught that they then wiped out as a consequence 724 00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:48,360 Speaker 1: of the f t X complosion. So having a million, 725 00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:53,280 Speaker 1: you know, victims and a lot of bad stories clears 726 00:43:53,320 --> 00:43:58,879 Speaker 1: away a lot of opposition in Congress and in the 727 00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:02,359 Speaker 1: media of who's the good guy who's the bad guy? Here? 728 00:44:02,680 --> 00:44:04,880 Speaker 1: There's a lot of Hey, I told you so, I 729 00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:07,160 Speaker 1: told you if they didn't come in and register with 730 00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:10,359 Speaker 1: the SEC, this sort of thing could happen. And now 731 00:44:10,400 --> 00:44:13,200 Speaker 1: it's happened. And now we need two things. We need 732 00:44:13,320 --> 00:44:17,919 Speaker 1: draconian legislation to regulate the heck out of this thing. 733 00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:22,160 Speaker 1: And I'm going to use my you know, much much 734 00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:26,600 Speaker 1: larger enforcement staff to bring a bunch more cases. And 735 00:44:26,719 --> 00:44:30,440 Speaker 1: my fear is that they're gonna decide to go after 736 00:44:31,040 --> 00:44:36,320 Speaker 1: domestic exchanges on the ground crypto exchanges on the grounds 737 00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:41,560 Speaker 1: that they are trading unregistered securities. It is just as 738 00:44:41,640 --> 00:44:47,920 Speaker 1: illegal to facilitate a trade of an unregistered security as 739 00:44:47,960 --> 00:44:52,360 Speaker 1: it is for you or me to sell an unregistered security. 740 00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:55,680 Speaker 1: That we own and sell it to somebody else. That's illegal. 741 00:44:56,200 --> 00:45:00,120 Speaker 1: Arranging for that to happen is also illegal, and so 742 00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:04,799 Speaker 1: I will not be shocked. And Geinstler was gonna set 743 00:45:04,840 --> 00:45:07,800 Speaker 1: we'll be able to say. Look at a hundred quotes 744 00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:10,760 Speaker 1: in the New York Times over the last two years 745 00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:14,160 Speaker 1: in the Wall Street Journal where I have said, hey, exchanges, 746 00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:18,560 Speaker 1: you're trading unregistered securities. You need to come in and 747 00:45:18,600 --> 00:45:21,799 Speaker 1: register with the SEC, and they have not done that. 748 00:45:22,080 --> 00:45:26,359 Speaker 1: And so one could wake up one day and there 749 00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:31,240 Speaker 1: be at a court order that fill in the blank 750 00:45:31,320 --> 00:45:38,880 Speaker 1: exchange must cease and desist trading in one or many 751 00:45:39,120 --> 00:45:42,839 Speaker 1: tokens that the SEC is very confident they would win 752 00:45:43,680 --> 00:45:46,759 Speaker 1: uh in in establishing that it's a security under the 753 00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:50,320 Speaker 1: Howie test. So he doesn't need to go file lawsuits 754 00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:52,759 Speaker 1: against twenty thousand cryptocurrencies. He could just go after the 755 00:45:52,760 --> 00:45:54,960 Speaker 1: three or four biggest exchanges in the US and he 756 00:45:55,040 --> 00:45:57,880 Speaker 1: could just kind of take it right there, right, And 757 00:45:57,920 --> 00:46:01,600 Speaker 1: I think you're aren't you one of the self custody keeps, 758 00:46:01,719 --> 00:46:06,040 Speaker 1: you know, no keys, No, I am, yeah, yeah, Well 759 00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:08,600 Speaker 1: you've had a big I told you so over the 760 00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:13,200 Speaker 1: last few days. So um to kind of again try 761 00:46:13,239 --> 00:46:15,279 Speaker 1: to clear up your crystal ball a little bit, like, 762 00:46:15,280 --> 00:46:17,120 Speaker 1: how do how do you think this plays out? Do 763 00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:20,040 Speaker 1: you think that, um, you know, maybe we kind of 764 00:46:20,040 --> 00:46:22,920 Speaker 1: wait and see he builds up some strength and then 765 00:46:22,920 --> 00:46:24,759 Speaker 1: we'll see what happens with Ripple. I think what Q 766 00:46:24,920 --> 00:46:27,600 Speaker 1: two of next year? Or do you think maybe the 767 00:46:27,760 --> 00:46:30,640 Speaker 1: more likely chances that he might just go after a 768 00:46:30,640 --> 00:46:33,319 Speaker 1: couple of exchanges and kind of do something there, or 769 00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:35,440 Speaker 1: do you think just government bureaucracy gets in the way 770 00:46:35,480 --> 00:46:37,400 Speaker 1: and we go another couple of years and nothing really happens. 771 00:46:39,520 --> 00:46:43,040 Speaker 1: I think he would really really like to have a 772 00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:48,000 Speaker 1: positive ruling in Ripple that he could use all around 773 00:46:48,200 --> 00:46:52,640 Speaker 1: the country. I do know they have many many cases 774 00:46:52,840 --> 00:46:56,120 Speaker 1: in the hopper that they have investigated that are pretty 775 00:46:56,160 --> 00:47:00,480 Speaker 1: close to ready to go, ready to file in court. Um, 776 00:47:00,520 --> 00:47:03,000 Speaker 1: I don't know, don't have a crystal ball about whether 777 00:47:03,040 --> 00:47:06,080 Speaker 1: he's gonna wait. I doubt that he's gonna wait. You know, 778 00:47:06,160 --> 00:47:08,960 Speaker 1: the iron is kind of hot now. People are angry. 779 00:47:09,120 --> 00:47:12,080 Speaker 1: He's got Elizabeth Warren and in this congressman, I don't 780 00:47:12,080 --> 00:47:16,600 Speaker 1: know if you know him, Brad Sherman's from California. Yeah, 781 00:47:16,719 --> 00:47:21,080 Speaker 1: So they're just, you know, absolutely thrilled by this f 782 00:47:21,160 --> 00:47:26,680 Speaker 1: t X collapse in our demanding action immediately. Um. And 783 00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:31,960 Speaker 1: so whether that can meander through Congress or not yet 784 00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:33,920 Speaker 1: to be determined. But I think you are going to 785 00:47:33,960 --> 00:47:41,839 Speaker 1: see significant enforcement actions in and I hate to say 786 00:47:41,840 --> 00:47:45,880 Speaker 1: it really but because it's will be really bad to 787 00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:50,080 Speaker 1: the whole ecosystem, but I could see a case against 788 00:47:50,160 --> 00:47:56,920 Speaker 1: and it's change coming in now. Um. Yeah, just to 789 00:47:56,960 --> 00:48:01,160 Speaker 1: clarify something you said, so Sherman and Elizabeth Warrent trying 790 00:48:01,160 --> 00:48:05,279 Speaker 1: to push new laws or new regulations through Congress because 791 00:48:05,320 --> 00:48:07,799 Speaker 1: laws have to be set through Congress. The SEC just 792 00:48:07,880 --> 00:48:10,960 Speaker 1: would enforce laws, right, So they're an enforcement agencies. They 793 00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:13,279 Speaker 1: would enforce laws already there, so they don't need to 794 00:48:13,280 --> 00:48:15,480 Speaker 1: go pass new laws to just go enforce what they 795 00:48:15,480 --> 00:48:19,400 Speaker 1: think they already have. Those are two different things, Okay, 796 00:48:19,640 --> 00:48:22,320 Speaker 1: it correct? So yeah, I mean you could see laws 797 00:48:22,400 --> 00:48:27,359 Speaker 1: that say all digital assets or securities. You know, then 798 00:48:28,000 --> 00:48:32,080 Speaker 1: we don't have to bother with the Howie test and 799 00:48:32,200 --> 00:48:38,279 Speaker 1: everybody's dead, you know, all all everything's dead. Um, and 800 00:48:38,320 --> 00:48:40,919 Speaker 1: just for the just for the crypto bros. They're like, no, no, 801 00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:43,759 Speaker 1: they can't stop. This is progress. Well, it doesn't mean 802 00:48:43,800 --> 00:48:45,960 Speaker 1: that these companies can't exist. It just means they have 803 00:48:46,000 --> 00:48:53,520 Speaker 1: to just file the securities, which people do every single day. Right. Um, No, 804 00:48:53,560 --> 00:48:56,279 Speaker 1: not that easy. It's not It's not easy at all. 805 00:48:56,280 --> 00:48:58,160 Speaker 1: I mean it's expensive and as I made the case 806 00:48:58,160 --> 00:48:59,960 Speaker 1: in my video, it's expensive and there's lots of discol 807 00:49:00,000 --> 00:49:01,560 Speaker 1: closures and there's all types of things that you have 808 00:49:01,600 --> 00:49:06,560 Speaker 1: to do. Um, it's not that easy. It's PI. Yes, yeah, 809 00:49:06,560 --> 00:49:10,600 Speaker 1: it's complicated. So it is expensive for sure. But once 810 00:49:10,640 --> 00:49:15,760 Speaker 1: you are a registered UM issue of securities like a 811 00:49:15,760 --> 00:49:18,640 Speaker 1: any stock any company trading on the NASDAC or New 812 00:49:18,719 --> 00:49:22,120 Speaker 1: York Stock Exchange or whatever, it's a whole new ball 813 00:49:22,239 --> 00:49:26,000 Speaker 1: game in terms of how you run that company. You 814 00:49:26,160 --> 00:49:32,960 Speaker 1: become subject to controls requirements in Sarbanes Oxley that mean 815 00:49:33,120 --> 00:49:36,840 Speaker 1: you're going to have to double your head count immediately 816 00:49:37,320 --> 00:49:43,520 Speaker 1: in order to generate the UM data and test the 817 00:49:43,680 --> 00:49:47,719 Speaker 1: data rigorously in order for it to percolate up to 818 00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:53,040 Speaker 1: accounting so that people can sign off on quarterly financials 819 00:49:53,040 --> 00:49:55,840 Speaker 1: that must be reported to the SEC into the public 820 00:49:56,239 --> 00:50:01,279 Speaker 1: every quarter in ten queues. It's it's uh. And then 821 00:50:01,480 --> 00:50:06,400 Speaker 1: you know, the compensation of the top five executives in 822 00:50:06,400 --> 00:50:09,319 Speaker 1: the organization needs to be approved every year by the 823 00:50:10,080 --> 00:50:16,160 Speaker 1: by the shareholders. It's it's a radically different looking proposition 824 00:50:17,440 --> 00:50:21,920 Speaker 1: once you are a public entity and your securities are 825 00:50:21,960 --> 00:50:25,440 Speaker 1: listed with the with the SEC, the registered with the SEC. 826 00:50:26,840 --> 00:50:32,359 Speaker 1: So it definitely slows things down, to say the least. Yeah, well, 827 00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:35,640 Speaker 1: you know, on the bright side, I guess you know, 828 00:50:35,719 --> 00:50:39,200 Speaker 1: instead of twenty two thousand projects there, you know, there 829 00:50:39,280 --> 00:50:42,719 Speaker 1: might be fifty or something that are really you know, 830 00:50:43,160 --> 00:50:46,960 Speaker 1: valuable and and and good projects or maybe less, I 831 00:50:47,000 --> 00:50:50,759 Speaker 1: don't know where it is a you know, an income 832 00:50:50,840 --> 00:50:56,799 Speaker 1: and perhaps profit generating enterprise. Then they could do it, 833 00:50:56,920 --> 00:51:01,120 Speaker 1: and you know, the rest would simply fall apart. But 834 00:51:01,160 --> 00:51:06,040 Speaker 1: if they have useful technology or intellectual property, it would 835 00:51:06,040 --> 00:51:09,279 Speaker 1: be acquired by the survivors. And that's why I look 836 00:51:09,320 --> 00:51:11,439 Speaker 1: at this is a little bit of a deja vous 837 00:51:11,560 --> 00:51:15,319 Speaker 1: potential to the nineteen nineties when they're all these young 838 00:51:15,400 --> 00:51:17,960 Speaker 1: kids who quit there what they were doing at Harvard 839 00:51:18,000 --> 00:51:21,719 Speaker 1: and m I T And Stanford and all congregated in 840 00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:26,120 Speaker 1: one spot called Silicon Valley to build businesses on an 841 00:51:26,120 --> 00:51:30,120 Speaker 1: emerging technology called the Internet. And so now we have 842 00:51:30,239 --> 00:51:34,680 Speaker 1: the same thing. We have an emerging technology called blockchain technology, 843 00:51:34,719 --> 00:51:37,200 Speaker 1: and people like Vitalic and all the rest of them 844 00:51:37,239 --> 00:51:39,520 Speaker 1: are dropping out of school or dropping whatever else they 845 00:51:39,520 --> 00:51:43,000 Speaker 1: were doing to work on projects. Well in the nine nineties, 846 00:51:43,320 --> 00:51:47,320 Speaker 1: most of them failed, but some of them succeeded spectacularly. 847 00:51:47,760 --> 00:51:50,680 Speaker 1: And if I were to have a crystal ball, that's 848 00:51:50,719 --> 00:51:53,839 Speaker 1: my guests as to what this crystal ball would tell 849 00:51:53,920 --> 00:51:59,000 Speaker 1: me that we're going to find some really innovative, durable 850 00:51:59,200 --> 00:52:04,600 Speaker 1: survivor from uh this shakeout that is caused both by 851 00:52:04,719 --> 00:52:08,360 Speaker 1: market conditions, the crypto winner vcs pulling out and the 852 00:52:08,400 --> 00:52:11,800 Speaker 1: government cracking down. That's quite a trifectorate. So you should 853 00:52:11,880 --> 00:52:15,400 Speaker 1: see a lot of projects go away and the strong 854 00:52:15,520 --> 00:52:19,120 Speaker 1: survive hopefully if we're still in a capitalistic system. I 855 00:52:19,200 --> 00:52:21,720 Speaker 1: agree with that you can't stop progress. I'm super bullish 856 00:52:21,719 --> 00:52:24,919 Speaker 1: on humanity and entrepreneurs um. The one thing I would 857 00:52:24,960 --> 00:52:26,840 Speaker 1: just say, and it's a good parallel that you drop, 858 00:52:27,160 --> 00:52:28,920 Speaker 1: is all those people went to Silicon Valley and they 859 00:52:28,920 --> 00:52:31,560 Speaker 1: started all these companies, and they raised money through friends 860 00:52:31,560 --> 00:52:34,560 Speaker 1: and family and and through early VC rounds. And there's 861 00:52:34,600 --> 00:52:37,280 Speaker 1: nothing stopping from people building on blockchain technology and raising 862 00:52:37,280 --> 00:52:39,600 Speaker 1: money through friends and family and VC rounds. It's the 863 00:52:39,600 --> 00:52:42,600 Speaker 1: selling of the token that seems to be the sticking point. 864 00:52:42,640 --> 00:52:44,279 Speaker 1: So no reason why you can't still go build on 865 00:52:44,280 --> 00:52:46,719 Speaker 1: the technology, and no reason why you can't still raise 866 00:52:46,800 --> 00:52:49,120 Speaker 1: money from your friends and family and from from venture 867 00:52:49,120 --> 00:52:52,080 Speaker 1: capitalist et cetera. Um, that's how it's done the Internet days. Um, 868 00:52:52,120 --> 00:52:54,760 Speaker 1: all these That's how Uber got started, it's how Instagram 869 00:52:54,800 --> 00:52:57,680 Speaker 1: got started, and so you can certainly do that. Of course, 870 00:52:58,040 --> 00:53:00,560 Speaker 1: me being in the bitcoin camp is I don't believe 871 00:53:00,600 --> 00:53:04,360 Speaker 1: everything needs a token. So that's that's that's that's a 872 00:53:04,360 --> 00:53:08,080 Speaker 1: whole different conversation. UM, I think we went we went 873 00:53:08,080 --> 00:53:10,719 Speaker 1: pretty long here, James, a lot of really good information. 874 00:53:11,040 --> 00:53:12,759 Speaker 1: I appreciate you taking the time and give me your 875 00:53:12,800 --> 00:53:16,319 Speaker 1: professional and expert opinion on this stuff. UM. I know 876 00:53:16,400 --> 00:53:18,279 Speaker 1: you're on Twitter, just kind of getting started. You said, 877 00:53:18,280 --> 00:53:19,640 Speaker 1: you just kind of created your account, so everyone go 878 00:53:19,680 --> 00:53:22,799 Speaker 1: give him a follow at Meta law Man m E. 879 00:53:22,840 --> 00:53:25,120 Speaker 1: T A Metal law Man. You're listening to the Mark 880 00:53:25,200 --> 00:53:27,279 Speaker 1: Mo Show. Thanks for tuning in. That's what I got