Billionaire celebrity investor Mark Cuban thinks the vast majority of digital assets will go bust – but he’s still a believer in crypto. This week, the Shark Tank star had a friendly debate on Twitter with John Reed Stark, a crypto skeptic who founded the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Office of Internet Enforcement, […]
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The billionaire investor got stuck into a heated debate with former Securities and Exchange Commission official John Reed Stark over crypto regulation.
Crypto Twitter was witness to a fierce debate this week, with billionaire investor Mark Cuban accusing SEC’s Gary Gensler of throwing crypto under the bus while a former SEC official was quick to come to the regulator’s defense.
In a spirited back-and-forth exchange on Twitter with former SEC officer John Reed Stark that started on June 14, Cuban took issue with Stark’s seeming defense of the SEC’s recent legal action against crypto exchange giant Binance.
Cuban accused Stark of misinterpreting the impact of the case and blamed SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s “regulation via litigation” approach for sabotaging crypto startups.
John. I think you are misreading the impact of what the judge said. It’s not related to this suit.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) June 14, 2023
Not all crypto businesses that have tokens or are considering using tokens are large “enterprises”. Which is the assumption, I believe you are making. (Correct me if I’m wrong…
Stark had earlier argued that crypto-related businesses should be treated as “large enterprises” by regulators. However, Cuban argued that many crypto businesses are small and shouldn't be told to “hire securities lawyers” just to get a start in the industry.
Stark also reiterated his support for the SEC’s actions against Binance, noting that the industry remains largely unregulated and that the move will eliminate “bad actors” and promote transparency.
From there, the debate pivoted to a discussion on how best to regulate cryptocurrencies, with Stark pushing the line that crypto assets should not be treated as “pink sheets or stocks.”
Conversely, Cuban called Stark’s take biased, suggesting that tokens could, in fact, be treated similarly to other securities and that the SEC should propose clearer guidelines for them.
Mark Cuban is a well-known American entrepreneur and investor. He first became involved in crypto in 2017, when he declared Bitcoin (BTC) to be nothing more than a pyramid scheme. Over time, Cuban has become more supportive of digital assets and now appears to advocate for the industry.
Now we are talking tech. You are in my space John. I don’t comment. I do. My entire career has been people telling me why the companies I started were ridiculous and not needed. Until they found themselves using them.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) June 15, 2023
Smart contracts are about 6 years old. Maybe the name… https://t.co/da2zEvjtHU
John Reed Stark was previously chief of the SEC’s Office of Internet Enforcement. Currently, Stark stands as a moderate skeptic of crypto and provides a wide range of legal commentary on digital assets to his 21,000 followers on Twitter.
Related: ‘Near impossible to know’ what is and isn’t a security — Mark Cuban on SEC
Ultimately, Cuban conceded that just like all of the early-internet companies, “90 percent of blockchain companies” and “99 percent of tokens” will go broke. Those that emerge victorious “will be game changers. That’s the way tech works,” he said.
Cuban wrapped things up with words of support for crypto, saying that no one could refute the potential impact of crypto on the wider economy.
He said “Crypto Derangement Syndrome” — his term for an irrational hatred of crypto — would have the same negative effect as those overhyping its potential.
“With all due respect, Crypto Derangement Syndrome is just as big a problem as the crypto maxis over hyping crypto.”
Magazine: ‘Moral responsibility’ — Can blockchain really improve trust in AI?
Billionaire celebrity investor Mark Cuban thinks the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is treating crypto differently than other industries. The Dallas Mavericks owner highlights the SEC’s approach to the stock loan industry as an example of how the regulator appears to be using its powers differently against the crypto space. “Note, they are not […]
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Billionaire celebrity investor Mark Cuban thinks the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit against Coinbase highlights “the fundamental problem” with the regulator. The Dallas Mavericks owner says the SEC could have “easily” gone to Coinbase and outlined a plan to help the top US crypto exchange become compliant with securities laws. “Then if Coinbase […]
The post Billionaire Mark Cuban Calls Out SEC on Double Standards, Says Regulator Does Nothing About Endless Scams appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
More information has come to light allegedly revealing the lavish lifestyle of FTX co-founder and “altruist” Sam Bankman-Fried, as the failed former crypto exchange CEO also fights for Robinhood shares he says he needs more than customers. In other news, Shark Tank star Mark Cuban has warned that a crypto implosion could come from “the […]
Dallas Mavericks owner and billionaire Mark Cuban is expected to undergo a deposition next month in the civil lawsuit filed against him for allegedly promoting now-bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital. U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid is denying Cuban’s request to split the deposition into two sessions and ordered his full deposition to occur on […]
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U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid rejected Cuban’s application to delay the deposition, and outlined that his full deposition will be taken on Feb. 2 in Dallas, Texas.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is set to be “deposed” next month as part of a defense against a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging that he promoted an alleged “ponzi-scheme” in the form of now-bankrupted crypto lender Voyager Digital.
A deposition in legal terms generally refers to answering a line of questioning under oath during the pre-trial discovery stage of a potential court case.
In a Jan. 9 court order, U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid denied Cuban's request to split the deposition into two occasions, and outlined that his full deposition will be taken on Feb. 2 in Dallas, Texas.
As part of the defense, two Dallas Mavericks employees will also need to be deposed before Feb. 23.
Additionally, the judge stated that three plaintiffs behind the suit, Pierce Robertson, Rachel Gold and Sanford Gold will be deposed before the end of this month.
In a rather feisty statement to legal news publication Law360 on Jan. 9, the plaintiffs’ counsel expressed their enthusiasm over the judge “denying Mark Cuban's attempts to stay and delay discovery.”
“We have been litigating on behalf of hundreds of injured Voyager investors for more than a year and will finally be able to uncover evidence of what transpired, and fully understand to what extent Mr. Cuban, and his Dallas Mavericks, were involved in the 'offering' of these unregistered securities and to what extent he was to profit,” they said.
Cuban’s counsel also spoke to Law360 and noted that the deposition of the plaintiffs will cover “issues of standing, alleged false statements included in the complaint and questions about the Voyager accounts held by the plaintiffs.”
Related: Voyager tells court Binance acquisition plan is ‘sound business judgment,’ urgently needed
The lawsuit in question was initially filed on Aug. 10, 2022, with the plaintiffs alleging that Cuban misrepresented Voyager on numerous occasions before it went bankrupt, making dubious claims of it being cheaper than competitors and offering “commission-free” trading services.
The suit also alleges that the firm offered unregistered securities and that Cuban and Voyager CEO Stephen Ehrlich utilized their sophisticated experience to rope uneducated investors to pour their life savings into what they now feel to be a “ponzi-scheme.”
Voyager officially entered into chapter 11 bankruptcy Jul. 6 last year. After facing liquidity issues as a result of crypto winter and a hefty loan to Three Arrows Capital that was defaulted on, the firm emphasized that the move was part of a ““Plan of Reorganization.”
Billionaire and Shark Tank star Mark Cuban has a prediction on what could be the next thing that rocks the crypto industry. In a new interview with The Street, Cuban says he believes the next “implosion” in crypto markets will stem from a realization that much of the trading volume on centralized digital asset exchanges […]
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Mark Cuban, a Shark Tank star and the owner of the NBA team Dallas Mavericks, has warned that the next crypto implosion could come from “the discovery and removal of wash trades” on centralized exchanges. The billionaire’s comments followed the collapse of crypto exchange FTX which wiped out billions of dollars of customer funds. Mark […]
The majority of centralized exchange volume is fake, according to the billionaire investor and Dallas Mavericks owner.
Crypto token wash trading on centralized exchanges will be the cause of the next crypto “implosion,” according to billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner and crypto investor Mark Cuban.
In an interview with The Street on Jan. 5, the billionaire investor opined that 2023 will not be short of crypto scandals following the numerous fiascos that rocked 2022.
Cuban, who has backed several crypto and Web3 startups, said he believes the next biggest thing to impact the industry will be "the discovery and removal of wash trades on central exchanges.”
“There are supposedly tens of millions of dollars in trades and liquidity for tokens that have very little utilization,” he said before adding, “I don't see how they can be that liquid.”
Wash trading, which is illegal under U.S. law, is a process whereby a trader or bot buys and sells the same crypto asset to feed misleading information to the market.
The goal is to artificially inflate volumes so that retail traders jump on the bandwagon and push prices up. In essence, it is a pump-and-dump scheme.
Cuban said it was just a prediction, adding “I don't have any specifics to offer to support my guess.”
As much as 70% of the volume on unregulated exchanges is wash trading according to a December report by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).
Researchers used statistical and behavioral patterns to determine which transactions were legitimate and which ones were spurious.
Furthermore, a 2022 study by Forbes on 157 centralized exchanges found that more than half the Bitcoin trade volumes were fake.
Related: Mark Cuban to Bill Maher: ‘If you have gold, you’re dumb as fuck... Just get Bitcoin.’
Wash trading isn’t just limited to centralized exchanges, however. On Jan. 5, Quantum Economics CEO and former eToro senior market analyst, Mati Greenspan, said that 42% of all NFT volume is wash traded.
Yeah. It's 2023 and we're still talking about wash trading. https://t.co/y9kiLbu4Eu
— Mati Greenspan (@MatiGreenspan) January 5, 2023
He added that wash trading is also used to harvest tax losses, making it appear (to the taxman) that there has been a greater loss than in reality.
