Ripple, Coinbase, Binance and the Security and Exchange Commission

It's a complicated topic and I strongly believe that crypto needs significant regulation. While I personally believe in the advantages that blockchain can bring- I won't touch these products until there is regulation in place and I know a lot of other finance (and former finance) professionals that feel the same. There are crypto products that are like securities, others that fall more into currencies/derivatives/commodities, and yet others that are in a class by themselves. 

I am going to meet up in a couple of weeks with one of my friends/former colleague from our days together at a hedge fund administrator- and SBF blew up the crypto start up he was working.  Over the years I worked or consulted for buy and sell side firms, a hedge fund administrator and also worked for a derivatives exchange. I have seen a lot over those years. I worked on a lot of exotic largely unregulated products- but these were not products available to the public. Even as a believer of the benefits of blockchain- I see too many amateurs investing and hyping up crypto. I get it, it's possible to trade and make big $, but I have also been through this many times- and a reversal of fortune can happen just as easy and quick. 

I moved over to real estate after hitting burn out around 7 1/2 years ago- and I really appreciate not having a boss anymore. 

Brandon Jordan after far too many years helping everyone else for far too many hours every week for years without a break, these days I spend the bulk of my downtime on brainless activities- walking in the park, reading a novel, watching gold mining reality tv on Max- not engaging much on the investment world.  A couple months prior to the collapse- I had interviewed with LTCM in the summer of 1998 while working at AIG Trading Group (pre-merger with AIG Financial Products). I was on the main trading floor of JP Morgan Chase on 9/11. I later went to work from some of the former LTCM management team.  I called the housing collapse in 2006 to occur in summer 2008. I have been around the block and then some. 

These days I don't spend a lot of time thinking about the financial markets- but it's pretty easy to spot when a bubble is forming. Hint - 2 years ago I was walking down a run down portion of Harlem (actually a block from Al Sharpton's offices) - and I see a sign on the plywood board blocking off the rare vacant lot remaining in Manhattan. The sign for educational material to learn how to understand and trade in the crypto markets. When you see the craze spilling out into the public square and into the general population- that is when it's a bubble. Less than a year later- the bubble popped. The issue still remains that too many still don't understand the risks- download Clubhouse- everyone wants to recruit me for crypto- even if I am not in a finance room. These can be good investments, but I never want to buy when the masses are pumping it.