>It's the Howey test, it's been the law of the land for 70 years and the SEC issued guidance on how it applies to digital assets.
Did you miss where I said the issue is that they're being treated differently? I spent at least two paragraphs on the concept. Even if it's "obviously" a security by the Howey test, that doesn't explain why others get a free pass, or why they can't confirm that's their reasoning, or why others aren't being treated the same, or a why they can't confirm they intend to treat others the same.
Repeating the same argument doesn't advance the conversation!
>Regulators don't act day 1, legal proceedings take time.
Again, I understand this concept, it's just a red herring. they're on day 180 with Gemini and day -30 with Coinbase. Saying it takes time is just an easy soundbite for you to parrot, not an actual explanation for the discrepancy, just like "we can't catch all speeders" isn't an explanation for the patterns in which you let speeders go.
>[edit] Even Preston Byrne from Anderson Kill tweeted today that it was obviously a security lol. That's the most libertarian cypto-sympathizer attorney on the face of the earth.
We may be talking past eachother so let's re-state our points of alignment.
1. Coinbase Lend is clearly a security.
2. ...because it fails the Howey test.
3. ...for reasons that are clear and self-evident.
4. ...and Coinbase, as a registered broker-dealer would know or be expected to know that in advance.
[note: for 1-4 see Anderson Kill]
5. There's a few people offering similar products.
6. They're all doing crime.
Here's where we seem to disagree.
1. Coinbase should be told by the SEC exactly why it fails the Howey test. No. It clearly fails, and the SEC isn't required to provide their opinion of why outside the court of law. It is up to the SEC and Coinbase to present their arguments to a judge. The resolution will form precedent.
2. Coinbase is being treated differently in some way, and that's bad. The first person charged for anything is obviously being treated differently, until the others are charged. That's not bad, that's bad luck. See the speeding cars anaology.
3. The first person to commit a crime has some obligation to be charged first. No, they don't. Usually police and regulators go after who they have the strongest case against in no particular order. The resolution gives them a weapon they can use against those they have a weaker case against.
4. All criminals committing the same crime should be charged together or at the same time. No, there's no expectation of that, or precedent of that. In fact its usually easier when the cases are separate.
5. This is taking a long time because some other offerings have been on the market for 6 months. The SEC just went after Bitconnect. That was in 2016. The wheels of justice turn slow.
You'll have a point if after Coinbase is convicted the SEC leaves everyone else alone. Until then its safe to assume they're being made an example of, and with that example the SEC is going to come by and knock some heads together.
No, not a point of agreement -- if the SEC is silently accepting a new exception to Howey based on market realities, then what Coinbase is doing isn't a crime. We don't know until they go on record saying what their opinion is. That happens all the time in regulation: they realize, long after the fact that something is technically violating the rules but just grandfather it in since it's become so ubiquitous and issue new clarification. But it helps to know what the case actually is!
That's the problem with stonewalling: You don't know what the other side actually objects to!
You seem to be in some kind of mentality where equality before the law doesn't matter, and if some people are persistently let of off the hook "that's just life, man". No ... that's not how rule of law or ex-3rd world regulation works. Haphazard enforcement isn't just a "fact of life", it actively disrupts the functioning of markets, and you don't look clever with the sage "it is what it is" attitude.
>Coinbase is being treated differently in some way, and that's bad. The first person charged for anything is obviously being treated differently, until the others are charged. That's not bad, that's bad luck.
Wait, really? You're saying that turning a blind eye to persistent violation is "just" "bad luck"?
Okay I just wish you had initially been clearer about your premise of rejecting equality under the law. Then again, that would have made your position more obviously wrong, and your arguments seem less clever, so I can see the tendency to avoid that!
It's probably similar to the reason why you make huge edits to your post long after the fact without noting them.
> [edit] No, not a point of agreement -- if the SEC is silently accepting a new exception to Howey based on market realities, then what Coinbase is doing isn't a crime.
That's not what they're doing, and yes it is a crime lol. It would work just as well with murder, but you're choosing to look the other way because it's white collar.
> That's the problem with stonewalling: You don't know what the other side actually objects to!
No, that's why I re-stated my assumptions, including any potentially hidden ones, so that you could follow up and respond individually and explain where the gap is. This is a useful tool to resolve conflicts.
> Wait, really? You're saying that turning a blind eye to persistent violation is "just" "bad luck"?
No, I'm saying the wheels of justice turn slow and this shit takes time [edit] and regulators literally have to start somewhere because they have limited resources. So long as it happens within the statute of limitations its explicitly in play.
> Okay I just wish you had initially been clearer about your premise of rejecting equality under the law.
You're obviously either misreading my point or not interested in understanding. You pick one. Get a judgement. Apply that judgement. This is equal treatment.
> It's probably similar to the reason why you make huge edits to your post long after the fact without noting them.
No, I limit my edits to the first two to three minutes after I write a comment, to before anyone can reply. If someone can reply I annotate my edits. This is my workflow.
[edit] My point is it's way too soon to know if you're right or I'm right, we must wait and see a year from now, or two years from now. 180 days is nothing.
>That's not what they're doing, and yes it is a crime lol. It would work just as well with murder, but you're choosing to look the other way because it's white collar.
The whole point of asking the SEC is to know where they fall, since it's unclear whether they've silently accepted stuff like Gemini, or whether there's a substantively different or whether they will prosecute. Assuming that it's a crime is assuming away the core point of contention!
>>That's the problem with stonewalling: You don't know what the other side actually objects to!
>No, that's why I re-stated my assumptions, including any potentially hidden ones,
I was referring to the SEC's stonewalling there, not your tactics (though they're similarly unproductive).
>No, I'm saying the wheels of justice turn slow and this shit takes time [edit] and regulators literally have to start somewhere because they have limited resources. So long as it happens within the statute of limitations its explicitly in play.
Yes, I heard you say that, and I get that you don't see the similarity; the point was that these are substantively the same thing in that they persistently introduce an unevenness in the playing field; the fact that you can ignore that dynamic doesn't mean it's not a flaw your position or that you aren't effectively endorsing such inequality before the law.
>You're obviously either misreading my point or not interested in understanding. You pick one. Get a judgement. Apply that judgement. This is equal treatment.
And then, learn how judgment is spelled if you're going to use it so often and use confidence and intimidation as a substitute for substantiating your position.
>No, I limit my edits to the first two to three minutes after I write a comment, to before anyone can reply. If someone can reply I annotate my edits. This is my workflow.
No, I saw your comment more than 3 minutes after posting and it had significant un-noted edits, and now you're just mocking me by flooding your comment with [edit].
>My point is it's way too soon to know if you're right or I'm right, we must wait and see a year from now, or two years from now. 180 days is nothing.
No, you've definitely phrased your comments with significantly more (unjustified) confidence than that. See "yes it is a crime lol".
> No, I saw your comment more than 3 minutes after posting and it had significant un-noted edits, and now you're just mocking me by flooding your comment with [edit].
My dude I took your feedback lmao, if you can't assume good faith here this conversations over.
Did you miss where I said the issue is that they're being treated differently? I spent at least two paragraphs on the concept. Even if it's "obviously" a security by the Howey test, that doesn't explain why others get a free pass, or why they can't confirm that's their reasoning, or why others aren't being treated the same, or a why they can't confirm they intend to treat others the same.
Repeating the same argument doesn't advance the conversation!
See also this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28459949
>Regulators don't act day 1, legal proceedings take time.
Again, I understand this concept, it's just a red herring. they're on day 180 with Gemini and day -30 with Coinbase. Saying it takes time is just an easy soundbite for you to parrot, not an actual explanation for the discrepancy, just like "we can't catch all speeders" isn't an explanation for the patterns in which you let speeders go.
>[edit] Even Preston Byrne from Anderson Kill tweeted today that it was obviously a security lol. That's the most libertarian cypto-sympathizer attorney on the face of the earth.
Which of my arguments is that relevant to?