In a week rife with all sorts of Fudish news, it's nice to see something positive for a change. However, just as with everything else in the crypto industry, good news has to be taken with a pinch of salt because it always comes with baggage.
This week, we finally got the all-important news about SBF's arrest. The millions of customers affected by the scammer can take some solace in the fact that he has been arrested and the next phase will be recovery.
Anyway, SBF's arrest is still shrouded in a lot of mystery. Lord knows what kind of under-the-table deals he would have signed before the arrest.
The bear market and the situation surrounding SBF has turned me into a bit of a pessimist. I never trusted the government but this event further highlights how politics works.
With the right allegiance and some cash in your pocket, you can get away with any crime. Perhaps that might not be the case with SBF right now but there's a very expected sub-story brewing that highlights the disgusting nature of politics.
The same old
If this is your first bear market, then you probably don't know about the perpetual war between the Government and crypto. It is a recurring theme that often becomes more pronounced in bearish times.
Alas, the SBF-induced bear market has dug up the old skeletons and once again, politicians are talking about the "dangers of crypto". They're, as usual, taking this opportunity to wax superlatives about the dangers of investing in crypto.
The way some politicians talk about cryptocurrencies, you'd think cryptocurrencies have actually done anything wrong. Every single time a bad actor takes advantage of the system, the entire industry gets blamed.
Alas, this is the case with the SBF/FTX situation as Congressman Brad Sherman describes the situation as just one of many just waiting on the sidelines. According to him, SBF is just one of many snakes in the garden of Eden.
“My fear is that we'll view Sam Bankman-Fried as just one big snake in a crypto Garden of Eden. The fact is crypto is a garden of snakes.” source
This opinion is mirrored by every anti-crypto politician out there and it is one that will always pop up when things are wrong. Things like this happen when FUD machine is at its peak, the bears are piling on the pressure, fear is through the roof and investor confidence is at an all-time low.
On the flip side of things, the crypto industry can take solace in the fact that there are politicians with a better perspective. This is a sentiment that was aired by Congressman Tom Emmer who perfectly summarised the FTX situation;
“I encourage my colleagues to understand Sam Bankman-Fried’s con for what it is — a failure of centralization, a failure of business ethics and a crime. It is not a failure of technology.”
In summary
The facts of the matter are set in stone, and twisting the story to suit a narrative will not change this fact. SBF is a scammer and the events surrounding the collapse of FTX was not a mistake.
People will continue to draw all sorts of conclusions and try to spin narratives because that's what people tend to do these days. FTX's failings had nothing to do with actual blockchain technology and those who got burned weren't burned because of the underlying technology.
All the affected parties trusted FTX with their assets and SBF pulled the rug. It is as simple as that.
