Brayden Ison

Curious w/ interests in Econ, Finance, Technology, Sports & lots more (v5.0)

[Brayden Ison @braydenison]

In celebration of the release of the HBO docuseries Generation Hustle: here is a throwback to when I debunked Syed's 99.999% win roulette strategy. Watch episode 7 for full context, and to see how well Syed's roulette strategy actually works!

[Brayden Ison @braydenison]

This is a horrible idea. Please DO NOT follow this advice!

[Devon ☀️ @devonzuegel]

A while back, I was talking with a friend who'd moved to the US a few years prior

At some point, I said something like "... we Americans..." and he froze with shock. He asked, "Wait, do you think of me as American?" Without much thought, I said "Of course!"

He paused for a while and then said, "Wow. Back home no one would ever refer to a recent immigrant that way. Heck, they wouldn't refer to any immigrant that way, even if they'd lived there for decades"

While the US has a lot of problems (many of which are our own making), this moment made me swell with joy and pride for this special place

Happy birthday, America. I'm so proud to be the citizen of a country where, if you choose to build your life here and contribute to your community, you can become an American too 🇺🇸

[City of Detroit @CityofDetroit]

In 2012, we had 47,000 vacant homes.
By the end of 2025, that number will be under 1,000.

Progress you can see. #SOTC2025

[Michigan State Hockey @MSU_Hockey]

Making history.

No team in the Big Ten had ever captured regular-season AND tournament titles in consecutive seasons.

Until now.

#GoGreen

[BuccoCapital Bloke @buccocapital]

Why stop here? Hear me out. A single BNPL contract for a burrito is incredibly risky. Anyone willing to pay for a burrito in installments can't be trusted to pay their debt. But what if...we pooled the payments together? The risk would go away.

[Brian Armstrong @brian_armstrong]

Great news!

After years of litigation, millions of your taxpayer dollars spent, and irreparable harm done to the country, we reached an agreement with SEC staff to dismiss their litigation against Coinbase. Once approved by the Commission (which we're told to expect next week) this would be a full dismissal, with $0 in fines paid and zero changes to our business.

This is hugely vindicating, especially because many people questioned my decision to engage in litigation with the SEC on this matter in 2023. People told me the courts would give a lot of leeway to the government. They said public market investors wouldn't like it. They said it would take years and cost us tens of millions of dollars in legal fees (which it did). They said the agency would use mafia tactics like trying to pressure other companies not to work with us while the lawsuit was underway (which they did).

But I knew a few truths that helped make it an easy decision to fight them in court:

1. The SEC was wrong on the law.
They were exceeding the authority given to them by congress by asking us to delist a number of assets that were not securities. We had taken a conservative approach to ensure we weren't listing any securities, and the SEC itself had allowed us to go public in 2021 after reviewing our listing standards in depth. We tried to “come in and register” but it turned out it was a fake offer, as every crypto company discovered. Regulators are supposed to enforce the law, but they can't make up new laws on the spot if they don't like the current ones, or weaponize a lack of clarity in the law.

2. Caving to their demands could have killed the crypto industry in America.
The SEC made it clear to us that the only way to avoid litigation was to delist the many assets they falsely claimed were securities. It was a bullying tactic, pure and simple, driven by Gensler's own political agenda. And if we had caved, it would have dramatically limited the scope of which crypto assets were allowed in the US, and pushed the industry further offshore, into the shadows. Never forget how close a few activists in government came to unlawfully killing an entire industry in America! It could have easily gone the other way. Thank goodness the founding fathers created the judicial branch, as a check and balance on executive power.

3. It was the right thing to do for our customers and the industry.
At the end of the day, it didn't matter what our chance of success was. I had to stand up for our customers’ and our industry’s rights. I also knew it would serve as a deterrent for future bad actors around the world we may have to engage with, for them to know that we won't be bullied or pressured. We are comfortable engaging in litigation across multiple fronts, indefinitely, while continuing to build. This is business as usual. As Bain in The Dark Knight says, "you merely adopted the dark; I was born in it".

Growing up I had a naive view that regulators exist to hold companies accountable. What I realized in this ordeal is sometimes, companies must hold regulators accountable who are painting outside the bounds of the law, to preserve freedom. Accountability can actually happen both ways. At Coinbase, our mission is to increase economic freedom, and I initially thought we could achieve this solely through our crypto products. But I'm increasingly realizing that we can move the needle on economic freedom in the courts and through our policy efforts as well, when we see bad actors in government around the world. We plan to do more of this.

I have to give credit here to the Trump administration, for winning the election, and for the departure of the activist head of the SEC, Gary Gensler, who orchestrated this unlawful action along with Elizabeth Warren, and a handful of their lackeys in congress. I feel confident we would have won this case in the courts either way, given our facts were so strong, but it certainly helped accelerate the process and drive accountability. I called out the sketchy behavior of the SEC back in 2021, and I believe this comment turned out to be prescient.

I want to give a shout out to all the other crypto companies who fought back with their own lawsuits (we certainly were not the only ones).

I want to give a shout out to all the crypto startups who couldn't afford the legal fees, and went bankrupt due to the administration's abusive tactics. Your company may have died, but crypto lives on. Don't stop building.

I want to give a shout out to both Democrat and Republican members of congress, who are working hard to ensure America leads on crypto. I know that Gary Gensler and Elizabeth Warren do not represent the entire Democratic party.

And I want to give a shout out to all the crypto holders in the US who elected pro-crypto candidates, on both sides of the aisle, to make sure your rights were preserved. It turns out the crypto voter is real, and showed up in the millions.

Finally, I expect we'll continue working productively with the SEC on any number of items over the years, just as we do with every agency around the world where we operate. I look forward to the SEC being reformed under Paul Atkins, Mark Uyeda, Hester Peirce, and DOGE, and new more sensible personnel coming into leadership roles. I commend the new leadership that is already in place for working to right this wrong - it's a great step in the right direction, and took courage. Now let's get some crypto legislation passed in the US to finally clarify the rules, and really kick off this next phase of building.

[Boyan Slat @BoyanSlat]

The numbers are in: In 2024, @TheOceanCleanup removed 11,740,000 kg of trash—a 78% year-over-year increase.

A big thank-you to everyone who helped make this happen!

Now, let’s double this in 2025!

[Geiger Capital @Geiger_Capital]

The European mind can’t comprehend this.

🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 #CFBPlayoff

[Brayden Ison @braydenison]

@chamath Would it be better if all of those people didn’t participate in any of the gains those top 10 companies made over the last 4 years?

[The Cultural Tutor @culturaltutor]

One building from each year of the 21st century:

1. Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat, Oman (2001)

[Brayden Ison @braydenison]

@leadlagreport Maybe.. but the fed has sold off 2T which is 40% of what they bought since the pandemic. Stopping the QT or reversing course may get us there without a stock correction

[Michael A. Arouet @MichaelAArouet]

There is a lot of talk about US equities outperforming rest of the world. Guess what, there is good reason for that. US corporations are simply more innovative, better managed and have been growing their earnings faster than others.

[Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸 @pmarca]

Graph starts in 1988. I remember 1988 -- the start of a six year screaming fit by the elite class that America's best days were behind us, that other countries were taking over technological dominance from the US, that Gen X was already a failure -- culminating in the Internet.

[Boyan Slat @BoyanSlat]

It took @TheOceanCleanup 11 years to collect its first 10 million kg of trash.

We just reached 20 million kg - seven months later 🥳

[Alec Stapp @AlecStapp]

It happened again:

Last month, Texas built as much solar power ***as the rest of the country combined***

[Crémieux @cremieuxrecueil]

This tracks with the Sinaloa Cartel telling its members to stop making fentanyl or they'll kill them.

[Brayden Ison @braydenison]

Gary has been a major opponent of American Innovation in the Finance and Technology for years. Jan 20 will bring much needed fresh air to the SEC

[SEC Chair Gary Gensler Archive @GenslerArchive]

On January 20, 2025 I will be stepping down as @SECGov Chair.

A thread 🧵⬇️

[Russell Brand @rustyrockets]

I think we can all agree that we don't want a nuclear war with Russia.

[Bloomberg @business]

TSMC has achieved early production yields at its first plant in Arizona that surpass similar factories in Taiwan, a significant breakthrough for a US expansion project initially dogged by delays and worker strife https://t.co/9PcFIMAlSQ

[spor @sporadica]

i am officially a single-issue voter and that issue is eliminating daylight savings time once and for all