I happened to catch the Odd Lots podcast episode where Matt Levine and SBF of FTX were co-guests soon after it first came out [1]. Matt's reactions were priceless. Well worth the listen now, considering FTX blowup
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33594284
I think people would do well to remember that Levine's job is NOT to do your due diligence for you; he's an entertainer.
That is a gross cynical misrepresentation.
He appears to me to be a financial geek, interested in the mechanics of finance for its own sake, and who finds comedy (often dark comedy) in the mechanics of our financial systems.
Philosophically, we can’t be 100% sure of his motivations to publish his insights, but everything of his that I have read points to the reason primarily being that he finds it fascinating, a nearly purposeless academic joy.
In other words, don't make major financial decisions based on Levine not saying it is a good or bad idea.
He puts such disclaimers on basically everything he says.
What should I base my major financial decisions on?
But that's not why FTX blew up. They went down seemingly due to straight up fraud and/or theft. FTX users had no indication that FTX was doing anything other than holding their assets and collecting transaction fees. They're completely different situations.