TALES FROM CRYPTO

Re There’s A Lot To Learn From FTX’s Crypto Crisis (Report on Business, Nov. 24): The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan seems to have fluffed off the $95-million it decided to invest in FTX, saying the amount only represented 0.05 per cent of total assets. This looks like a clear case of gambling with someone else’s money – retired teachers’ money – and certainly not careful investing. What does it take to get fired? Mark Slotwinski Sarnia, Ont.

I have observed the ultimate upending of so many spectacular, and less so, con jobs over the years.

Enron, Bre-X, Bernie Madoff, Quadriga and Theranos are just a few that easily come to mind. Add FTX to the list.

Upon their collapse, there is a frantic search for what went wrong. In most cases, there are “shiny objects” such as too-goodto-be-true investment returns, a “disruptive business idea” or high-profile board members that attract the gullible and those with fear of missing out.

So-called seasoned investors, analysts, prominent corporations and celebrities not only sign on, but promote the scam. Only after the fraud revelation does the ever-present evidence come as a “shock.”

There are no rules, laws or regulation that can prevent the human stupidity and greed at the root of these schemes.

David Gelder Mississauga

Wow, am I ever glad that I didn’t listen to Pierre Poilievre.

Jim Hickman Bracebridge, Ont.