Few people in modern history have fallen faster than FTX Trading Ltd. Founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who went from a financial genius to a federal prisoner when his cryptocurrency exchange failed. Perhaps the most obvious reminder of that for Bankman-Fried is the alternative currency he has been reduced to trading in the federal penitentiary: canned mackerels.
From Cryptocurrency To Canned Fish: A New Kind Of Alternative Economy
Microeconomies exist everywhere, even in places where legal tender is not allowed. This is true for places like New York’s Metropolitan Detention Center, which currently houses Bankman-Fried. All you need for a microeconomy to flourish is a universally agreed-upon unit of currency that can be exchanged for services. Since the days of Al Capone and the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, cigarettes have functioned as the unofficial alternative currency in the federal prison system.
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However, they were banned for health reasons in 2004 and canned mackerels or “macks” as they are known on the inside, became the currency of choice among federal prisoners. Macks can be traded for a variety of services, including but not limited to:
Haircuts
Laundry services
Legal brief preparation from prison lawyers
Shoe shines and shoe repair
Canned Mackerels Even Have a Benchmark
It might be tempting to think of the mack trade inside federal prison as one lacking in any sophistication or regulation, but you would be wrong. As is the case with cryptocurrency, the value of macks even has its own benchmark: the U.S. dollar. Their value can rise or fluctuate, but the thing that makes macks so useful as an alternative currency is their shelf-life, their universal popularity and their ease of transport.
It’s a bitter irony that the same skills Bankman-Fried acquired as a cryptocurrency trader while building his criminal empire would prepare him for life as a federal inmate. Unfortunately for FTX clients left holding the bag when Bankman-Fried’s criminality was discovered, macks can’t be used to cover their losses.
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