I also have been in the space for a long time - since well before the first alts came out - approaching 8 years now. I have not only seen many scams come and go, I have personally been burned by some of them. I have also seen good projects flounder because of unproven accusations.
Let's face it, Dan Larimer is still widely being accused of being a scammer. Plenty of accusations even of bitcoin being a scam are still floating around. Although it was an early technology and probably cannot scale or do what newer technologies can do that does not mean that it was or is a scam (that being said, there are many ways to use it in a scam).
And I have most definitely seen people (some of whom you probably will have heard of) make false accusations and spread innuendo to take out a competitor or for other reasons . Just because we are in crypto, it does not stand to reason that the human foibles in the legacy spaces have been left behind.
So what I think Stan has asked all along is that the presumption of innocence, unless allegations have been proved in court, apply equally for everyone. I think that is a reasonable request. This is important because even stipulated "facts" can fit into several different theories and it is up to a court to decide which fits the hypothesis best (beyond a reasonable doubt).
That's fair enough, but what about if those involved have criminal records (Rice is mentioned as being "on probation for felony theft and tampering with government records" in the SEC report)? At what point does previous behavior predict future behavior? Stan is telling me "the SEC dropped all charges", but this post from 10 days ago says Rice is facing 120 years in prison.
When they claim to have a trading AI that can distribute "daily profits," you're telling me your bullshit meter doesn't go through the roof? So many scams in this space have claimed this exact thing and fooled and harmed so many people. There is no magic trading AI bot that can guarantee profits and, according to point 5 in the SEC summary document, no FDIC-insured bank either. If someone who was convicted previously is caught in what looks like a lie, at what point should we drop the presumption of innocence?
I'm trying to find what's real here. We all have to take responsibility for protecting this industry or the government thugs will try to justify their own violence and destructive regulation as a way to "protect us from ourselves." We have to be responsible to ask tough questions and not promote things which have a high potential to harm people.
If AriseBank is really what they claim to be, that would be amazing and I would love to see them provide services outside of the existing Central Banking cartel. Based on what I've seen from them and the way they've responded to criticisms, I'm not convinced they are trustworthy at this point. Again though, I'm keeping an open mind.