Former FTX executive gets two years in prison over fraud

TODAY. NOW W WYFF NEWS FOUR PRESENTS FOR THE RECORD. WELCOME TO. FOR THE RECORD, I’M NIGEL ROBERTSON. TODAY WE ARE TALKING CRYPTOCURRENCY. WHAT IS IT? HOW DO YOU INVEST IN IT? OR SHOULD YOU INVEST IN IT? WE WILL SPEAK WITH A FINANCIAL ADVISER. BUT JOINING ME FIRST THIS MORNING IS ROBBIE FITZWATER, A FACULTY MEMBER IN CLEMSON’S COLLEGE OF BUSINESS. ROBBIE, THANKS FOR BEING HERE NIGEL. EXCITED TO BE HERE. SO THE VIEWER AT HOME HEARS ABOUT CRYPTO AND WORDS LIKE BITCOIN AND ETHEREUM AND SOLANA. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? UM, SO CRYPTOCURRENCY ESSENTIALLY IS LIKE A DECENTRALIZED FORM OF LIKE EXCHANGE OF VALUE IN SOME, SOME SIMPLE WAYS. UM, HAS BEEN AROUND SINCE LIKE 2013 AND IS BECOMING A REALLY POPULAR TOPIC AND KIND OF GOES THROUGH THESE CYCLICAL CYCLES OF LIKE POPULAR TOPIC BECAUSE IT’S GROWING POPULAR TOPIC BECAUSE IT MAY BE CRASHING, BUT BASICALLY IT’S A WAY OF PEOPLE, AGAIN, CREATING SOME. IT’S BASICALLY DIGITAL VALUE OR DIGITAL STORAGE OF VALUE. SO PEOPLE KNOW WHAT VENMO IS. SOME PEOPLE KNOW WHAT, UM, YOU KNOW, APPLE PAY IS AND BEING ABLE TO NOT TRANSFER THE ACTUAL CASH. BUT IF YOU AND I GO OUT TO LUNCH AND I WANT TO PICK UP THE TAB, I COULD PAY FOR IT OR SEND YOU THE CASH VIA THOSE APPS. IS CRYPTO SIMILAR TO THAT? SO YEAH. YES. IN A WAY THAT YOU’RE TRANSFERRING AGAIN, A STORE OF VALUE TO ANOTHER STORE OF VALUE. SOME OF THOSE TRANSACTIONS MAY BE A LITTLE BIT MORE CHALLENGING IN TERMS OF LIKE LIKE VALIDATION ON THE OTHER SIDE. SO BECAUSE I THINK I MENTIONED IT’S DECENTRALIZED. SO IT HAS TO BE VALIDATED AT SOME AGAIN, CENTRALIZED POINT OR BASICALLY AT SOME. AGAIN, LIKE, YEAH, I GUESS IT HAS TO BE VALIDATED TO SOME EXTENT. AND SOME OF THOSE TRANSACTIONS CAN BE A LITTLE BIT HARDER TO VALIDATE. AND SOME OF THOSE A LITTLE BIT MORE EXPENSIVE. BUT UM, YES, IT’S AN EASY TRANSFER. AND, AND ESPECIALLY BECAUSE IT, IT DOES MAKE IT REALLY EASY FOR PEOPLE TO EXCHANGE AGAIN. GOOD. LIKE THAT VALUE. YEAH. SO IT’S THE BEHAVIORS BECOMING MORE AND MORE NORMALIZED BY THE APPS AND THE SYSTEMS WE USE. AND IT’S MAKING IT MORE ACCESSIBLE FOR PEOPLE TO KIND OF LIKE DIP THEIR TOE INTO IT AND A LITTLE BIT LESS INTIMIDATING BECAUSE IT’S UM, AGAIN, THE BEHAVIOR WE ALREADY DO IS NORMALIZED THIS TO A LARGE EXTENT. RIGHT? SO AND IT’S VALIDATED BECAUSE OF THE BLOCKCHAIN AND THE BLOCKCHAIN IN AND OF ITSELF IS BASICALLY WHAT. SO IT’S IT’S BASICALLY A SYSTEM THAT, THAT IT LIKE LEDGER IT’S A IT’S A DIGITAL LEDGER. AND I’M TRYING TO LIKE ALWAYS THINK OF LIKE EASY WAYS FOR TO COMMUNICATE THIS RIGHT. AND IT’S A DIGITAL LEDGER THAT AGAIN IS DECENTRALIZED. SO PEOPLE ARE GOING ARE GOING TO BE LEVERAGING OTHER PEOPLE’S COMPUTERS TO AGAIN VALIDATE THAT TRANSACTION WENT THROUGH. I ALWAYS THINK OF IT AS LIKE THE FIRST STEP IS LIKE I INITIATE A TRANSACTION. AND LIKE THE ANALOGY I HAVE FOR THIS IS, UM, EVERYBODY’S PROBABLY SEEN JURASSIC PARK. UM, IT’S LIKE WHEN THE AMBER GOES ON THE FLY. SO WHEN YOU INITIATE THAT TRANSACTION, THAT’S KIND OF LIKE THE AMBER CONNECTING WITH THE FLY. IT HASN’T HARDENED YET, BUT THAT TRANSACTION IS GOING THROUGH, UM, WHEN THAT TRANSACTION IS VALIDATED, THAT’S THE AMBER HARDENING AROUND THAT FLY. SO IT’S BASICALLY TWO STEPS IN THAT PROCESS. BUT IT CAN TAKE A LITTLE WHILE FOR THAT ACTUAL VALIDATION TO HAPPEN. BECAUSE ONCE AGAIN, HOW MANY DIFFERENT TRANSACTIONS ARE GOING THROUGH THE SYSTEM, HOW HARD THE SYSTEM IS WORKING. AND THEN DEPENDING ON THE ACTUAL CRYPTOCURRENCY OR THE DIFFERENT EXCHANGE, UM, LIKE WHAT’S PROOF OF LIKE WHAT PROTOCOL THEY’RE WORKING OFF OF, RIGHT. SO YEARS AGO, IF SOMEONE WANTED TO BUY SOMETHING THEY HAD COINS AND I’D GIVE YOU SOME COINS AND YOU WOULD GIVE ME THE, THE HORSE OR THE, THE PLATE, WHATEVER I WANTED TO BUY. SO THERE’S AN EXCHANGE YEARS LATER, BANKS GOT INTO THE EQUATION IN A BIGGER WAY, AND YOU WERE ABLE TO WRITE A CHECK. AND THAT CHECK IN AND OF ITSELF SAID, I AM GOING TO BE WORTH WHATEVER IS WRITTEN ON IT. THEN OVER TIME, PEOPLE STOPPED WRITING CHECKS AND STARTED USING PAY TO PAY LIKE, LIKE VENMO AND STUFF LIKE THAT, BUT STILL, ALL THROUGH BANKS NOW WE’RE AT A STAGE WHERE EVERYONE PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT CRYPTO AND EXCHANGING CURRENCY, AND THERE’S NO BANK IN BETWEEN. CORRECT. SO. SO THAT’S WHAT MAKES IT SO UNIQUE. AND THAT’S WHERE, AGAIN, THAT VALIDATION STAGE IS REALLY DIFFERENT. BECAUSE AGAIN, LIKE IF I’M VISA I’M AGAIN PROCESSING A LOT OF TRANSACTIONS EVERY MINUTE. LIKE AGAIN THE VOLUME THAT THAT THE DIFFERENT SYSTEM CAN PROCESS IS REALLY IMPRESSIVE. YEAH. BUT AGAIN THEN BECAUSE YOU DON’T HAVE A CENTRALIZED POINT, THIS HAS TO BE KIND OF LIKE AGAIN VALIDATED IN A DIFFERENT WAY. AND WHAT THAT DOES IS PUTS A LITTLE BIT MORE STRESS ON THE HOLE IN THE SYSTEM AS A WHOLE, BECAUSE IT HAS TO GO THROUGH AGAIN A FEW DIFFERENT LAYERS TO KIND OF MAKE THAT WORK. BUT YES, LIKE AGAIN, DIFFERENT PEOPLE ARE OFFERING UP THEIR, THEIR, THEIR COMPUTERS. THEIR PROCESSING POWER AND IN EXCHANGE, THEY’RE GETTING SOME TYPE OF TOKEN, SOME TYPE OF REWARD. BUT AGAIN, THEY’RE THE ONES OFFERING THAT VALIDATION POINT. SO IT’S MAKING THAT PROCESS COMPLETELY DECENTRALIZED IN THE WAY THAT IT DOESN’T HAVE TO GO THROUGH THAT BANK. YEAH. AND IT’S KIND OF UNIQUE AND KIND OF IT’S REALLY ABSTRACT WHEN YOU START TO AGAIN LIKE KIND OF LOOK AT IT AT 10,000 FOOT VIEW. RIGHT. BUT IT IT GRADUALLY STARTS TO MAKE A LITTLE BIT MORE SENSE OVER TIME. AND IT’S SO HARD TO GET YOUR ARM AROUND NOT JUST DESCRIBING IT, BUT THE USE CASE FOR IT. AND WHAT EACH TOKEN IS USED FOR. SO YOU REALLY HAVE TO LEARN ABOUT IT ALL. YEAH. AND IT’S, IT COMES FROM LIKE A AGAIN IT’S IT’S LIKE IF YOU WANTED TO MAKE THIS LIKE SEEM LIKE THIS UNIQUE LIKE LIKE WHIMSICAL STORY. YOU WOULD START IN THE WAY THAT CRYPTOCURRENCY LIKE THE, THE INVENTOR OF BITCOIN SATOSHI NAKAMOTO, NOBODY KNOWS WHO WHO HE IS. HE’S AGAIN, THIS THIS LIKE POTENTIALLY FICTIONAL CHARACTER. RIGHT. BECAUSE NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT. BUT HE AGAIN CREATED THIS PROCESS AND THIS SYSTEM CALLED BITCOIN. AND AGAIN MADE IT AVAILABLE STARTED IT AND IT STARTED A SYSTEM THAT’S ACTUALLY STILL GOING TODAY. AND THROUGH THAT TIME IT’S BEEN MANY LAYERS OF LIKE BOOMS AND BUSTS AND KIND OF UPS AND DOWNS, ROLLER COASTERS AND TO TODAY WHERE IT’S BECOMING A MORE AND MORE LIKE AGAIN ESTABLISHED CURRENCY, ESTABLISHED CURRENCY, AND A LITTLE BIT MORE LIKE FAITH AND CREDIBILITY AROUND IT. ALL RIGHT. WELL, WE’RE JUST BEGINNING STRAIGHT AHEAD. A FINANCIAL ADVISOR JOINS US WITH HIS ADVICE WHEN IT COMES TO THE RISKS OF INVESTING IN