This isn't about Mark Cuban's losses per se, I also have no issue with him (an accredited investor) getting bilked for some change between the couch cushions - the issue is even if an incredibly sophisticated investor like Mark could fall for such a rug-pull/failure then how can we possibly expect unsophisticated investors not to get bamboozled? Remember, those who wash out of trading end up beneficiaries of the state bankruptcy and welfare programs, so the state very much has an interest in this.

Crypto now is like trading stocks was before and leading up to the great depression: a bunch of hucksters, shills, snake-oil salesmen and unrestricted margin. And a few well-intentioned people. Before the Securities Act, the Securities Exchange Act, Regulation T and the SEC.

The great finance speed-run has reached mid-1929.

[edit] Seriously if the Fed has to cough up $60 billion dollars to bail out Tether, I'm going to be incredibly pissed off.

That is exactly why no one should be trading cryptocurrency. Anyone who does so deserves to lose everything. I don't want the SEC wasting my tax money protecting those idiots.

Do you mean he's sophisticated in the general usage of the word or in the financial usage? The financial version tends to mean "has a lot of money."

Definitely that, but also the man is an investor. He should have both the knowledge and the money.

Knowledge is heavily domain specific, it's about being 'smart' or not. Franky Cuban was just invested in a crappy coin he understood nothing about, and didn't get lucky.

I will very much concede that luck and skill start to look pretty similar when you win :) I like to remind myself of that pretty regularly.

I don't feel bad for Mark Cuban - a sucker who should have known better - but clearly if his team fell for it than its good evidence the entire system needs much heavier regulation.

I don't want to have to deal with the societal problems/have my taxes go to a bailout when there's billion dollar scams affecting average workers, a pension fund, or minority first-time investors.

I think your worries are in the wrong place. I'm more worried about the FED bailing out the banks and companies too big to fail who have ventured into crypto