this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2023
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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.

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[–] thefluffiest@feddit.nl 64 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well at least it’s proof of work

[–] Assman@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago

I prefer proof of steak

[–] xantoxis@lemmy.world 52 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Anything but fiat, eh Sam?

[–] TenderfootGungi@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

There is a book about extreme economies. The author discusses it here: https://www.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.

[–] erlend_sh@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Take this🏅

[–] MondayToFriday@lemmy.ca 45 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] Cl1nk@sh.itjust.works 27 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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.

[–] bstix@feddit.dk 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

[–] bstix@feddit.dk 3 points 1 year ago

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.)

[–] Maven@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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 1 points 1 year ago

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

[–] arymandias@feddit.de 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Fish without a catch is just... no fish

[–] arymandias@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago

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

[–] dukk@programming.dev 4 points 1 year ago

Sounds fishy…

[–] LEDZeppelin@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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

[–] ours@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

Because or oceans aren't being destroyed fast enough!

[–] bob_lemon@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago

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

[–] tsonfeir@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago

I prefer Non-Fish Tokens.

[–] stifle867@programming.dev 20 points 1 year ago

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 18 points 1 year ago

sardine blockchain

[–] Teal@lemm.ee 18 points 1 year ago

“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.

[–] Decentralizr@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

So Hairy Plotter goes from Vegan to Fish sales man

[–] LiveLM@lemmy.zip 12 points 1 year ago

Not the Onion 🧅

[–] Guntrigger@feddit.ch 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But where did he get the fish?

[–] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)
[–] Teal@lemm.ee 6 points 1 year ago

Holy mackerel!

[–] Guntrigger@feddit.ch 5 points 1 year ago

Urgh. Sam Butt-Fish.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago

Scales facing in or scales facing out?

[–] CouncilOfFriends 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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?

[–] StorminNorman@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

They likely sell tins of it in commissary.

[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 year ago

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

[–] BlackSkinnedJew@lemmynsfw.com 7 points 1 year ago

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

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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 -1 points 1 year ago
[–] iraq_lobster 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

i wouldn't trust anyone with that tree-like haircut..

[–] bruhduh@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] iraq_lobster 2 points 1 year ago
[–] Jamie@jamie.moe 5 points 1 year ago

Art of the deal

[–] Zeroxxx@lemmy.my.id 5 points 1 year ago

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

[–] meepmeep@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

[–] dorron@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Futurama taught me this

[–] fne8w2ah@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Something's fishy! 🤣

[–] hOrni@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago