Oh to be 99 again.
Why it's suddenly great to be small, and what the SEC is trying to do to Coinbase
Let’s dive right in. It has been a busy week.
Last night, President Biden announced a sweeping new set of actions aimed to try to beat up Covid. Among those, is the requirement that any company that is 100+ employees, or any company that does any work for the federal government, must make sure their employees are either vaccinated or tested weekly, or they run the risk of a very expensive fine each time. There is so much to digest with this mandate
First, if you are thinking of saying “you can’t make me”, stop. This rule will fall under OSHA and if you have spent any time working in industry, you know darn well what they can, and can’t, make you do. No employer is going to risk paying $14K for you to prove a point. You are not worth it. Also, being let go for this does NOT qualify you for unemployment so they will be even quicker to pull the trigger.
If you are thinking that requiring vaccines is overstepping, it’s not. There are all sorts of jobs, schools, and situations where vaccinations are required and you are asked to prove it. If you have been to school, or have kids in school, you’ve danced this dance before. The courts have upheld this time and time again.
The logistics of this order is, to quote Gwen Stefani, b-a-n-a-n-a-s. If you are a construction company with 500 people on a job site, I cannot imagine the Monday morning debacle of trying to test hundreds of people and wait 15 minutes for that little weird stick to turn pink, just to do it again in a week. Even worse, the mandate states that employers are responsible for covering the costs of the test, and the time spent taking the test. This will have serious profit impacts.
If I were a startup service company trying to attract talent from the big boys, I would make this my #1 slogan next week. You may be able to steal some key employees away.
OSHA is severely understaffed already, so I’m not sure how they will administer this. However, the stakes are so high that it will only take one disgruntled employee who was laid off to stir the pot and it could cost the company tens of thousands of dollars.
At GCS, we actually created a Covid tracking module using our Mach1 framework. Whether companies use this or not, technology is the only thing that will make this manageable for large companies. Pen and paper won’t cut it.
What about teachers? I haven’t heard anyone directly reference teachers but given that most schools are 100+, I assume this means all schools will now have to make the adjustment.
No matter what you feel about the vaccine mandate, I think we all agree that it will absolutely be a terrible few weeks for HR managers.
In financial news, we saw the SEC do, well what the SEC does - arbitrarily cherry-pick something and try to sue to stop it, without much rhyme or reason. This week, they took aim at Coinbase for their lending yield program which would allow customers to earn 4% for loaning out their personal cryptocurrency.
Of all things, this is what the SEC is worried about? Someone loaning out their crypto for 4% interest??? Silly.
Let’s start with the fact that there are 100’s exact offerings out there already who the SEC has chosen to ignore. Preventing Coinbase from doing this is like installing a window unit on a patio. They are basically doing what they did to Martha Stewart, which is childish and petty in the modern era. They want to make an example, but in today’s climate, all they are doing is creating more mistrust. This will bite them.
The SEC claims to do many of these to protect the consumer, but it’s bullshit. Who are you protecting when you do not allow someone to make interest off of their own money? It was guaranteed interest.
The SEC, treasury, and federal government have absolutely no room to talk about trying to uphold the integrity of money or protect investors. In the last two years, those organizations have worked together to nearly cut the value of the dollar in half and print money as if we are all playing monopoly. There are a plethora of worst decisions a person can make to lose money, or cause others to lose money.
They also cannot complain about what they created. Crypto-currency is a hedge against trust in the government, a hedge that was given the life it needed after the 2008 Wall Street bailouts. In addition, the SEC and its insiders have been gaming the system and creating special financial vehicles for decades. They started this game, they are just mad that people have figured out how to create a new game that they can play better.
No matter what the SEC does, they are going to lose this game. Their acts right now are going to seem effective, but it’s the last desperate attempt to maintain control. Even if they stop this one arbitrary program, cryptocurrency and the defi movement are here to stay. The world is moving at breakneck speed without them and, as a whole, people are fed up with the institutions winning at a rigged game.
Special shoutout to my SE LA folks who are day 12 of no power with an estimated 14+ days to go. Nearly everyone I know has stayed to help rebuild that community which is very inspirational. It’s got to be hot, sticky, and quite boring. I am thinking of everyone.