They are terrible assets with severe discount/premium swings reaching the high 40%s [0]. The ratio's only tightening now that a potential arbitrage opportunity is on the table.

[0] https://ycharts.com/companies/GBTC/discount_or_premium_to_na...

At least for now, you have to treat them like cheap metal detectors and not heat-seeking missiles.

Had she said “as a first-time founder,” I doubt the victim card argument would be raised.

The average 16-34ish year-old probably-male developer that owns a PC with a discrete GPU almost certainly already has Discord installed, and does not perceive any undue burden from being "forced" to use an app they already use regularly, for better or worse: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1327674/discord-user-age...

In my opinion, the best solution is Discord getting ahead of this and letting admins make in-server threads visible to the clearnet.

> So the burden of proof seems to be on the claim that they're the same, or that it's a meaningful analogy.

I have a pair of “Dear Summer” Off-White x Nike Dunk Lows, the last collection released while Virgil Abloh was alive. The SNKRs (Nike) app randomly selected active users for the chance to purchase them; necessary, because they were guaranteed to sell out instantly. At the time of purchase nobody had any clue what the shoes would look like, nor which "n of 50" colorway they would get. We were presented with a picture of the shoebox, a size selection, a buy button, and a countdown timer. However, it's not far off to say that despite this, every single person (remember, only active users got this notification) that initially purchased the shoe did so knowing there was absolutely no chance that a limited edition Off-White/Virgil Abloh/Nike shoe would sell for less than a 100%+ premium over retail on the aftermarket. Completely risk-free, assuming $180 wouldn't hurt your pockets in the near term.

Under the SEC's reading of the Howey Test that omits the word "solely," the purchase of these shoes constitute

1. An investment of money (check)

2. In a common enterprise (check. Let's be honest, the majority of pairs sold hit the resell market immediately. Forman, 421 U.S. at 852-53 may not be applicable.)

3. With the expectation of profit (check, check, check) to be derived from the efforts of others (the ongoing reputation and marketing efforts of everyone involved),

making them unregistered securities.

Naturally, this means Nike has to "come in and register," for every limited supply drop, StockX and GOAT have to register as securities exchanges, and only accredited investors are allowed to purchase at retail. Anything else is clearly a violation of The Law.

All of this is perfectly reasonable because, "the law is clear, we’re obligated…to enforce the law as Congress passed it and how the courts interpret it," as Chair Gensler put it.

> "Apple has been testing overengineered features that are suspiciously well suited for AR in broad daylight for a few years now. If they can't pull it off, I don't think anyone can."

They've reached a stage where outpacing the field is just a matter of reaching into their grab bag of miscellaneous technologies.

if*

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/06/before-the-law

https://www.aclu.org/news/human-rights/20-years-later-guanta...

I don’t think this is true. Instrumentals in hip-hop are largely first class citizens. Lyrics are at the forefront, yes, but consider that rappers are judged more on their technical ability to navigate the beats they choose.

It’s the only genre where artists are regularly deemed unworthy of their own instrumentals.

The author’s example is ironically the best example of this. It’s N.Y State of Mind by Nas (regarded as one of the best beat selectors of all time), on Illmatic (one of the best hip-hop albums of all time), and produced by DJ Premier (one of the best producers of all time).