How SBF(FTX) used his status as the right kind of "White Boy" to con the world.
hackernoon.comYup, SBF clearly had the whole schtick of "MIT genius tech bro" scam down to an art. It would have never worked if he were not a from a supposedly elite institution (which increasingly, is viewed by many to be a dumpster fire) and was not of the right with the correct socioeconomic status.
Author is Arthur Hayes, founder of the late crypto exchange BitMEX. The essay is less inflammatory than the title suggests, and I read it for the finance insights—- after all BitMEX was accused of frontrunning customers (too?)
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/02/the-rise-and-fall-of...
Interesting quote from this article:
“ As a student at Penn, I received a crash course education on the finer nuances of whiteness. The Fraternity system allowed the groups of same-caste whites to congregate together. There were Jewish, Southern White, WASP, and International White frats. While they didn’t put a billboard up saying “if you are not this or that, please don’t apply”, everyone surmised pretty quickly which house was which. My house was one of the traditionally more diverse fraternities, at least as far as Penn fraternities go. In the early 1990’s, the house got into a bit of trouble when a member of the WASP frat called a black brother by a racial slur. One of our house’s brothers or pledges retaliated by kidnapping a brother of the WASP frat, tying him to a flagpole in the black West Philly ghetto with a boombox playing Malcom X speeches.”
This dude clearly has serious issues with race. The framing of that is insane, it’s still an interesting article but it is heavily inflammatory
The situation is probably less racially charged these days thanks to the diversity movement but — one man’s politically incorrect accuracy is another’s insane framing? I have no rat in the race race but where I went to school (a R1 uni) tribally segregated frats and student clubs were huge part of the background. Police would often intervene in racially motivated incidents involving residents. I would be surprised if all that disappeared. There were native american and Latino living arrangements, which exuded a subtle sort of animosity towards the larger community. The Ukrainian and Russian clubs are still probably not that friendly towards one another. Not to mention the Jewish dorm vs the Muslim societies.
There is something to the “not the right kind of white” take, though it isn’t so much white as a cultural elite which happens to be 99.99% white. Consider that Nouriel Roubini, who is the right kind of white by Hayes def (academic, child of elites) hasn’t tried to publicly accuse SBF of fraud, while having gone further against CZ and Arthur. Consider that Brian Armstrong, not being the right kind of white, has gotten hit pieces from NYT.. Consider that headlining econo-digerati of the colored variety is wildly a non thing
I'm actually happy to see discourse like "The right kind of white" because it shows a thoughtfulness I don't see with more offensively generalising notions like "white privilege". The message is essentially the same but the author seems to have the intelligence to realise that the privilege of some white people is not necessarily afforded to all white people.
I'll take it over the discourse I normally hear but my standards are low.
>This dude clearly has serious issues with race.
It's the US that has serious issues with race, not black people like Hayes.
Why do you say "late"? They're still around.
Oops too late too edit, should be “late the CEO”
That was a solid read. I went in all ready to dismiss it, and still wasn't sure in the beginning, but by the end enjoyed it.
Direct and not PC about making its points.
Same. It wasn't racist at all.
"SBF played the game on the meta level, and traded social currency — hoodwinking the Western financial establishment and the crypto industry alike in the process." - Arthur Hayes @cryptohayes
‘Note that I will be using the term “white” to refer to people of European descent, and the term “black” to describe people of African descent.’
SBF is Jewish. The ‘right kind of white boy‘ is an antisemitic dog whistle.
Dang, I flagged this for the offensive title. I've seen you've already moderated a comment here - why do you think this racist title is good for HN?
The article discusses issues of privilege and how this is a tool that enables fraud like SBF's. While the title may be a trigger for some, the article itself is well written.
Arthur Hayes makes a valid point.
The title of this article is pretty offensive. I don’t want to read it. Is there some context that makes the racial slur appropriate here? Or we allow it because racism against white people is in vogue?
I agree that it is offensive. He's an elite, based on his education. And I guess he was high-IQ, too. He's probably Jewish, too, and history tells us that (some, not all) Jewish people have only been considered "white" until recently. Lesson: race is relative, and this author of the article is race-baiting for clicks.
Italian American here, my mom wasn't considered "white" until she was an adult. That was then, I'm white now. Did you read the article? I'm not sure it counts as "baiting for clicks" when he spends half of the article talking about the history and structure of the American caste system and how SBF's (perceived) status as a white male impacted his trajectory. I don't think it's bait, when it's the thrust of the essay.
> how SBF's (perceived) status as a white male impacted his trajectory. I don't think it's bait, when it's the thrust of the essay.
It's provocative and dishonest for him to not once acknowledge SBF's privileged circumstances or well-connected family, something which directly aided in his success and that the vast majority of people wouldn't be able to replicate. The post is generally well-written and makes some salient points, but it's obvious that the author shoe-horned in SBF. A different person, like the topically relevant Elizabeth Holmes, may have made a more cohesive argument.
> It's still clearly provocative to suggest Bankman-Fried's Stanford educated, genuinely "privileged" upbringing as the son of well known Stanford professors is somehow reflective of hundreds of millions of people rather than his own circumstances. Doing something for clickbait doesn't somehow make it not provocative.
What? The article talks specifically about his upper-crust background and his professor parents. You're the one laser-focused on race here. You got triggered by the headline, and you missed the forest for the trees.
> What? The article talks specifically about his upper-crust background and his professor parents.
It vaguely alludes to his parents being upper-class Stanford law professors. It does not specifically talk about SBF's father being an influential law professor and scholar[0], SBF's mother leading a powerful democratic PAC[1], SBF's brother having worked on Capitol Hill and the "Democratic Party-aligned consulting firm Civis Analytics"[2][3] — let alone Caroline Ellison's alleged family connections. I am not insinuating that there's a grand conspiracy theory — this should all be taken with a grain of salt — my point is that SBF's unique personal circumstances gave him access to capital and connections in government and industry that were pivotal to his success.
It would be like saying that the disgraced "DreamWorld" project was able to scam thousands of people and receive funding from Y Combinator because the founder was an upper-class white male; there's obviously a grain of truth in that statement, but it's a dishonest portrayal of events because it does not mention that his co-founder was friends with someone at Y Combinator and that perceived endorsement was what lead so many people to trust the project.
[0] https://twitter.com/JagoeCapital/status/1590805884556673024/...
[1] https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/1/6/21046631/mind-the-gap-si...
[3] https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/guarding-against-p...
> You're the one laser-focused on race here. You got triggered by the headline, and you missed the forest for the trees.
I did not get "triggered by the headline", I read the entire article and pointed out that it fails to acknowledge SBF's personal privilege and family connections because the author was dead-set on writing an article about race and needed an archetype — he literally admits to this in the article.
) I have been itching to write this essay for some time, but lacked a foil and context to make it relevant to my readers.
As I've said in another comment it's a worthwhile read, but his explanation of why SBF was able to dupe so many people falls a bit flat.
I missed the memo, is "white" a slur now?
The title is saying "white boy" not that he's white and a boy. "White boy" can be a derogatory term.
I see what you mean
> In Pax Americana, it is verboten to suggest that the caste system is alive and well.
> In Pax Americana, it is verboten to suggest that the caste system is alive and well. If you are approaching this essay with that mentality and you aren’t interested in opening your mind, please stop reading here. If you’d prefer to continue believing in the fairytale of American exceptionalism, you can subscribe to the establishment’s whitewashed narrative of the implosion of the Death Star by just picking up a copy of the New York Times.
I'm not sure what you're trying to imply with that quote; I am not American, nor do I believe in American exceptionalism. I also don't think that SBF is a “well-meaning wunderkind [who] tried to do too much good at once”, but that doesn't mean I agree with the article.
If you're not American, I can see why you wouldn't understand the cultural context that the article, and my response above, presumes intimate knowledge of. If you're curious, you could read Zinn's A People's History of the United States which is a pretty good primer.
> If you're not American, I can see why you wouldn't understand the cultural context that the article, and my response above, presumes intimate knowledge of.
Where did I indicate that I didn't understand it? I have American family and friends.
I simply pointed out why calling someone a "White Boy" could be considered inflammatory, and you responded with a non-sequitor implying that I'm trying to ignore America's problems.
Are you saying that white boy is a racial slur?
As a white boy, this is pretty funny to me.
Sad to see Arthur Hayes resort to racism to make his point.