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Comment by hackingforfun | Hacker News Reader

> You're asking to defraud people.

I'm asking for people to have choice.

> This is not a matter of just 'risk' to you - you are allowed to take on as much risk as you want - you may need to be an accredited investor, sure, but you can still take on risk and invest in whatever you want.

This is not true. As an accredited investor in the US, I cannot invest in any crypto that I want to due to domestic restrictions.

FWIW, I'm not against regulation, I just find it funny that we think laws from 1933 are applicable to any technology released in the future. That seems completely absurd to me. I think crypto should have its own set of regulations. I'm not against the SEC going after specific scams, I think they should do that, but I think people should have choice of what they invest in.

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>> You're asking to defraud people.

> I'm asking for people to have choice.

...which is exactly what opens the door to people being defrauded.

Can you explain how this is different to requiring approval for new drugs or medical devices?

Fwiw, if you are arguing for a review of how existing laws should apply to crypto, I'm fully on board. But that's not what Coinbase is trying to do at all. They are trying everything in their might to circumvent all of it.

> Fwiw, if you are arguing for a review of how existing laws should apply to crypto, I'm fully on board.

Yes, I think we are on the same page. I don't think crypto should be, or it is even possible to be, the wild west, indefinitely. Something should be in place, but we should have some clarity, and it would be great if the organization coming up with the laws understands the technology at a technical level. Gary Gensler seems promising, but time will tell.

Come up with an actual proposal that isn't "deregulate it all because 1930s laws don't apply" and people might listen to you.

Until then, bona fide intentions to "evolve" regulation are virtually impossible to tell apart from fraudulent intentions and most of us can't be bothered to spend the time or effort to engage in such a fruitless exercise.

Yeah, good point.

FWIW, I'm not saying Coinbase is right here, and I'm not saying deregulate it all. I do think regulatory clarity in crypto would be good, and possibly we should revise some laws that were made almost a century ago.

I do not have an actual proposal but I am not a law maker.

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