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What do you think of this counterpoint from Balaji? "CZ deserves his pardon. His show trial of a prosecution was a combination of regulatory railroading and e

by txcwg002 11mo ago

What do you think of this counterpoint from Balaji? "CZ deserves his pardon. His show trial of a prosecution was a combination of regulatory railroading and ethnic persecution for being Chinese-Canadian. Imagine if Macron was held personally responsible for every crime committed by the 67M citizens of France, and you'll get the absurdity of holding CZ personally responsible for the actions of a few of the 250M+ Binance users. Indeed, if the bureaucrats who went after CZ were similarly held accountable for every violent crime committed in their home states, they'd be in prison for eternity! But there was an insane double standard. In the physical world, the Biden admin gleefully abolished the police. Meanwhile, in the digital world they demanded that CEOs achieve impossible levels of probity. The ethnic dimension to CZ's persecution was similarly execrable. In reality, he helped many millions of Chinese people get into Bitcoin and thereby get to freedom. And also helped millions of poor people from around the globe get out of failed currencies, and into cryptocurrency. So he did more for practical human rights and civil liberties than most. CZ did nothing wrong, and did so many things right. Of course, my friends at Coinbase and I were competitors of Binance. But I always respected CZ, and I congratulate him on his accomplishments, and I congratulate him on his pardon today. Well deserved." https://x.com/balajis/status/1981423831572238856 https://x.com/balajis/status/1981423831572238856

jazzyjackson 11mo ago
The law says he should have prevented those bad apples from moving dirty money around, and he did not follow the law. Do you have a rebuttal for coffeezillas assertion that 2 billion dollars of Abu Dhabi money was invested in Binance using the Trump family coin in order to buy a pardon? The president is clearly pro crypto and doesn't think this dude did anything wrong, but he also wasn't gonna give a pardon away for free. It's a disgusting abuse of office he should be impeached over. Selling pardons, what a shit show.
- jonnygoodwin 11mo ago
  Would you agree that all crypto exchanges have moved dirty money around? I don’t see anyone else being punished for similar crimes in crypto. I don’t doubt Trump tried to advantage himself when doing this. But I do feel like the Binance charge wasn’t consistent at all.
  - jazzyjackson 11mo ago
    I would think any serious actor would know better than to store funds where they could be seized at a moments notice, so while I'm sure every exchange is guilty, Binances crime was getting caught. Kinda like getting a speeding ticket, the fact that other people were also speeding isn't a defense.
hackyhacky 11mo ago
Changpeng Zhao broke the law and got caught. Everyone agrees on that. What you present above is revisionist history about "political persecution," which is the favorite justification of the current administration for pardoning convicted felons, even in the total absence of any evidence supporting a conclusion of political persecution. See also George Santos, J6 rioters, etc. I don't think it's really necessary to pretend that this pardon was deserved. The pardon happened because (a) Trump wants the support of crypto billionaires and (b) Trump received a large bribe. It's really not complicated. Painting Trump as sympathetic to ethnic discrimination is really ridiculous. No one believes that, even people who cynically use that justification to support his lawlessness.
- opello 11mo ago
  Is there a place for a logical counter-point in there not having been charges against people responsible for the 2008 financial crisis? It seems like a selective enforcement of rules or consequences in both situations to me.
  - hackyhacky 11mo ago
    Your argument is a non sequitur. You are saying in essence: "Someone, somewhere, under totally different circumstances was not prosecuted. Therefore, this particular prosecution is selective prosecution, and therefore inappropriate." By that logic, we should just stop prosecuting crimes altogether, on the logic that we are unable to prosecute all crimes consistently.
    - opello 11mo ago
      There wasn't an argument per se, but an attempt to point out a possibly, similarly politically-influenced miscarriage of justice. It may be a non sequitur to suggest that the pardon of one convicted financial criminal is similar to the lack of convictions in another likely financial crime context, but it seemed germane and parallel to me.
  - hiddencost 11mo ago
joyeuse6701 11mo ago
Comparing gov’t officials to civilians is a stupid comparison. Biden abolishing police is hyperbole. CZ enabled a lot of dark shit. He is somehow simultaneously so powerful as to help millions of Chinese, but powerless to do anything about a few thousand of criminals and pedophiles? This is not a serious take.
- UncleMeat 11mo ago
  It isn't just hyperbole it is completely divorced from reality. Biden said "fund the police" at a state of the union address. Federal law enforcement didn't see cuts. Funding for state police (the bulk of police around the country) increased, with very few localities actually shifting funds from police to other things.
neilk 11mo ago
He's not making an argument. With these characters, from Trump on down, discourse is not the point. He is flexing his power by showing he can make an obviously fatuous point and get away with it. Because there are no consequences, for someone like him.
p_j_w 11mo ago
>In the physical world, the Biden admin gleefully abolished the police. When did this happen?
- antonvs 11mo ago
  I wonder which police it was, as well, since the only police the Biden administration had control over were federal agencies such as the FBI. I’m tempted to think “Fox News is a hell of a drug.”
  - tmtvl 11mo ago
    I thought he was talking about the band.
- eviks 11mo ago
  In the imaginary rhetorical timeline
- shmoe 11mo ago
  How does a seemingly intelligent person reach such an empty conclusion?
  - jermaustin1 11mo ago
    Bad faith or possibly seeming intelligent != being intelligent.

jazzyjackson 11mo ago

The law says he should have prevented those bad apples from moving dirty money around, and he did not follow the law. Do you have a rebuttal for coffeezillas assertion that 2 billion dollars of Abu Dhabi money was invested in Binance using the Trump family coin in order to buy a pardon? The president is clearly pro crypto and doesn't think this dude did anything wrong, but he also wasn't gonna give a pardon away for free. It's a disgusting abuse of office he should be impeached over. Selling pardons, what a shit show.

jonnygoodwin 11mo ago
Would you agree that all crypto exchanges have moved dirty money around? I don’t see anyone else being punished for similar crimes in crypto. I don’t doubt Trump tried to advantage himself when doing this. But I do feel like the Binance charge wasn’t consistent at all.
- jazzyjackson 11mo ago
  I would think any serious actor would know better than to store funds where they could be seized at a moments notice, so while I'm sure every exchange is guilty, Binances crime was getting caught. Kinda like getting a speeding ticket, the fact that other people were also speeding isn't a defense.

hackyhacky 11mo ago

Changpeng Zhao broke the law and got caught. Everyone agrees on that. What you present above is revisionist history about "political persecution," which is the favorite justification of the current administration for pardoning convicted felons, even in the total absence of any evidence supporting a conclusion of political persecution. See also George Santos, J6 rioters, etc. I don't think it's really necessary to pretend that this pardon was deserved. The pardon happened because (a) Trump wants the support of crypto billionaires and (b) Trump received a large bribe. It's really not complicated. Painting Trump as sympathetic to ethnic discrimination is really ridiculous. No one believes that, even people who cynically use that justification to support his lawlessness.

opello 11mo ago
Is there a place for a logical counter-point in there not having been charges against people responsible for the 2008 financial crisis? It seems like a selective enforcement of rules or consequences in both situations to me.
- hackyhacky 11mo ago
  Your argument is a non sequitur. You are saying in essence: "Someone, somewhere, under totally different circumstances was not prosecuted. Therefore, this particular prosecution is selective prosecution, and therefore inappropriate." By that logic, we should just stop prosecuting crimes altogether, on the logic that we are unable to prosecute all crimes consistently.
  - opello 11mo ago
    There wasn't an argument per se, but an attempt to point out a possibly, similarly politically-influenced miscarriage of justice. It may be a non sequitur to suggest that the pardon of one convicted financial criminal is similar to the lack of convictions in another likely financial crime context, but it seemed germane and parallel to me.
- hiddencost 11mo ago

joyeuse6701 11mo ago

Comparing gov’t officials to civilians is a stupid comparison. Biden abolishing police is hyperbole. CZ enabled a lot of dark shit. He is somehow simultaneously so powerful as to help millions of Chinese, but powerless to do anything about a few thousand of criminals and pedophiles? This is not a serious take.

UncleMeat 11mo ago
It isn't just hyperbole it is completely divorced from reality. Biden said "fund the police" at a state of the union address. Federal law enforcement didn't see cuts. Funding for state police (the bulk of police around the country) increased, with very few localities actually shifting funds from police to other things.

neilk 11mo ago

He's not making an argument. With these characters, from Trump on down, discourse is not the point. He is flexing his power by showing he can make an obviously fatuous point and get away with it. Because there are no consequences, for someone like him.

p_j_w 11mo ago

>In the physical world, the Biden admin gleefully abolished the police. When did this happen?

antonvs 11mo ago
I wonder which police it was, as well, since the only police the Biden administration had control over were federal agencies such as the FBI. I’m tempted to think “Fox News is a hell of a drug.”
- tmtvl 11mo ago
  I thought he was talking about the band.
eviks 11mo ago
In the imaginary rhetorical timeline
shmoe 11mo ago
How does a seemingly intelligent person reach such an empty conclusion?
- jermaustin1 11mo ago
  Bad faith or possibly seeming intelligent != being intelligent.