With no access to crypto, disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is now trading fish to pay for services in prison (www.businessinsider.com)
from L4s@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world on 24 Nov 2023 04:00
https://lemmy.world/post/8671300

With no access to crypto, disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is now trading fish to pay for services in prison::Sam Bankman-Fried is now using mackerel fish as a means of exchange with other prisoners.

#technology

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autotldr@lemmings.world on 24 Nov 2023 04:00 next collapse

This is the best summary I could come up with:


It didn’t take long for former crypto-billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried to learn the economic system of New York’s Metropolitan Detention Center.

On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that SBF paid for a haircut with packaged mackerel, a type of pelagic fish that is a choice of currency among inmates.

In 2013, he got his first intern gig at Jane Street Capital, swapping exchange-traded funds before co-founding his crypto trading firm Alameda Research in 2017.

The fish, popularly referred to as “macks” among inmates, has been the choice of currency in federal prisons since 2004, after cigarettes were banned, the Wall Street Journal previously reported.

Formerly incarcerated attorney Larry Levin accepted it as a form of payment from fellow prisoners he represented while serving his own sentence at the Lompoc correctional institution in California.

The trend became so popular that Global Source Marketing, a supplier of the fish, felt the increased demand, according to a 2008 story from the Journal.


The original article contains 387 words, the summary contains 159 words. Saved 59%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

crazyCat@sh.itjust.works on 24 Nov 2023 14:16 collapse

Thanks bot

xantoxis@lemmy.world on 24 Nov 2023 04:25 next collapse

Anything but fiat, eh Sam?

erlend_sh@lemmy.world on 24 Nov 2023 13:09 next collapse

Take this🏅

TenderfootGungi@lemmy.world on 24 Nov 2023 15:18 collapse

There is a book about extreme economies. The author discusses it here: econtalk.org/richard-davies-on-extreme-economies/

They go through how the mackerel as money came about. Also, that expired mackerel, i.e. fiat, have their own lower exchange rate.

Zeroxxx@lemmy.my.id on 24 Nov 2023 04:53 next collapse

Would instant noodle/ramen be accepted there in his prison? He might need some. 🤭

MondayToFriday@lemmy.ca on 24 Nov 2023 05:00 next collapse

Bernie Madoff cornered the market for Swiss Miss hot chocolate while in prison.

Cl1nk@sh.itjust.works on 24 Nov 2023 06:00 next collapse

How does this work? The article mentioned the there is a limit of 8 per prisoner yet he was able to stockpile the whole supply. And they write articles about which implies the whole prison knows.

Why is this still ongoing, how is it allowed? This mofo still able to be a currupt capitalist even in hell.

Maven@lemmy.sdf.org on 24 Nov 2023 07:12 next collapse

Prison workers are not paid enough to care. If Bernie Madoff says “I’ll give you $20 to not stop me from monopolizing the hot chocolate powder”, well, $20 is $20.

JustMy2c@lemm.ee on 24 Nov 2023 14:42 collapse

And ten bucks is ten bucks. Heck,even five dollars still buys you a square burger if you wanna go to the other side of the dumpster

bstix@feddit.dk on 24 Nov 2023 08:49 collapse

It’s the same quote in all the stories on this. The key being “at some point”, meaning that he probably just noticed that the stock was running low one week and bought the remaining 8 to resell.

However if it really was an ongoing scheme, he could also have bought them from other prisoners and resold at a higher price than he offered them. Basically asking someone who doesn’t buy their own quota of chocolate to buy it for him. If chocolate cost 10$ and he’s offering 11$ to someone getting it for him they’ll gladly carry the entire stock to him, so that the people actually needing chocolate would have to buy it from him for 12$.

The prison could easily stop this by increasing the stock if they knew it was going on at all.

Anyway it’s not ongoing. He died some years ago.

JustMy2c@lemm.ee on 24 Nov 2023 14:41 collapse

He died…? Who will pay back the trillion $ fake gme shares he created?

bstix@feddit.dk on 24 Nov 2023 16:08 collapse

The payback happened through a fund, where victims could apply, I suppose.

The sentence was to pay back 17 billion and 150 years in prison, so it was inevitable that he’d die in prison. The losses were estimated to be 18 billion, so he got off one billion short in that regard.

However, he paid another heavy price. Both sons died before him. One of them off’ed himsel on the anniversary of his father’s arrest.

(To be honest, I just googled all of that. I’ve never heard any details on this case before because I live on the opposite side of the globe.)

bionicjoey@lemmy.ca on 24 Nov 2023 13:59 collapse

Swiss Miss, instant piss

PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks on 24 Nov 2023 13:59 collapse

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Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de on 24 Nov 2023 05:12 next collapse

Mackerel? Is the prison cooking scene in Goodfellas just the norm?

LEDZeppelin@lemmy.world on 24 Nov 2023 05:44 next collapse

Buy Fi$hcoin. You heard it here first folks. YOLO!!

tsonfeir@lemm.ee on 24 Nov 2023 09:29 next collapse

I prefer Non-Fish Tokens.

ours@lemmy.world on 24 Nov 2023 09:43 collapse

The first PoF-based coin (Proof of Fishing).

Because or oceans aren’t being destroyed fast enough!

bob_lemon@feddit.de on 24 Nov 2023 14:11 collapse

If the proof requires the miner fisher to post a picture of themselves holding the catch, it can double as an NFT!

stifle867@programming.dev on 24 Nov 2023 05:48 next collapse

Let’s hope he doesn’t lose these customer’s funds! If he thought he could talk his way out of justice on the outside, he’ll be even more surprised about the justice system inside.

iraq_lobster@slrpnk.net on 24 Nov 2023 06:43 next collapse

i wouldn’t trust anyone with that tree-like haircut…

bruhduh@lemmy.world on 24 Nov 2023 12:20 collapse

Broccoli 🥦🥦🥦

iraq_lobster@slrpnk.net on 27 Nov 2023 11:30 collapse

haha

iraq_lobster@slrpnk.net on 24 Nov 2023 06:43 next collapse

sardine blockchain

thefluffiest@feddit.nl on 24 Nov 2023 06:44 next collapse

Well at least it’s proof of work

Assman@sh.itjust.works on 24 Nov 2023 16:25 collapse

I prefer proof of steak

Decentralizr@lemmy.world on 24 Nov 2023 07:56 next collapse

So Hairy Plotter goes from Vegan to Fish sales man

Guntrigger@feddit.ch on 24 Nov 2023 10:07 next collapse

But where did he get the fish?

vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works on 24 Nov 2023 10:31 collapse

Prison pocket.

Guntrigger@feddit.ch on 24 Nov 2023 12:05 next collapse

Urgh. Sam Butt-Fish.

Blackmist@feddit.uk on 24 Nov 2023 14:07 next collapse

Scales facing in or scales facing out?

Teal@lemm.ee on 24 Nov 2023 14:10 collapse

Holy mackerel!

LiveLM@lemmy.zip on 24 Nov 2023 12:24 next collapse

Not the Onion 🧅

fne8w2ah@lemmy.world on 24 Nov 2023 12:40 next collapse

Something’s fishy! 🤣

Jamie@jamie.moe on 24 Nov 2023 13:22 next collapse

Art of the deal

Teal@lemm.ee on 24 Nov 2023 14:17 next collapse

“It didn’t take long for former crypto-billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried to learn the economic system of New York’s Metropolitan Detention Center.

On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that SBF paid for a haircut with packaged mackerel, a type of pelagic fish that is a choice of currency among inmates.

The fish, popularly referred to as “macks” among inmates, has been the choice of currency in federal prisons since 2004, after cigarettes were banned, the Wall Street Journal previously reported”.

Look at Sammy Big Macks over here.

CouncilOfFriends@slrpnk.net on 24 Nov 2023 15:18 next collapse

What services? For how many fish? This article just raised more questions than answers

ikidd@lemmy.world on 24 Nov 2023 15:54 collapse

And where does one just suddenly come up with mackerel in prison? Is this just a prison thing, here’s your cleaned orange jumpsuit, 3 cigarettes for the day and a flat of mackerel?

[deleted] on 24 Nov 2023 16:58 next collapse

.

StorminNorman@lemmy.world on 25 Nov 2023 07:08 collapse

They likely sell tins of it in commissary.

arymandias@feddit.de on 24 Nov 2023 16:18 next collapse

Here is the deal. If you give me two fish now I’ll give you four fish in a month, trust me there is no catch just fish.

On an unrelated note do you perchance know other wise investors like yourself that want to multiply there fish portfolio?

wagoner@infosec.pub on 25 Nov 2023 01:37 next collapse

Fish without a catch is just… no fish

arymandias@feddit.de on 25 Nov 2023 07:05 collapse

With SBF ‘no fish’ is a very likely outcome.

dukk@programming.dev on 25 Nov 2023 18:30 collapse

Sounds fishy…

BlackSkinnedJew@lemmynsfw.com on 24 Nov 2023 16:44 next collapse

With the billions he probably have well hidden it’s just matter of time and he will be trading in the dark web.

meepmeep@lemm.ee on 24 Nov 2023 23:53 next collapse

I get that it’s replaced cigs as the currency but my question I guess is… Why mackerel? You can’t just store multiple mackerel over time because it’ll just go off

BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk on 25 Nov 2023 00:49 collapse

I’d assumed it was tinned, that shit lasts forever.

dorron@lemmy.world on 25 Nov 2023 21:41 collapse

Futurama taught me this

hOrni@lemmy.world on 25 Nov 2023 08:38 collapse

youtu.be/cbB3iGRHtqA?si=0ZtYaC6k0O9UKRyO

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