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> You can win instantly by offering to trade with a transaction fee so high it almost wipes out all but a cent or two of the entire arbitrage profits, because nobody else will pay a higher fee

This is like 1980s sawtooth algos in real finance.

A lot of crypto is former HF folks taking old strategies to a dumber field.

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I have really enjoyed watching crypto act like they are white knights against the evil traditional financial system and then go on to reinvent it piece by piece.
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You're assuming that the contention was with the functionality and not with who controlled it.
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The current players in crypto are the same people. And there’s noting systematic about crypto that changes this — people with money can afford to buy more mining capacity or stake more coins.
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There’s nothing evil about aiming to earn a penny or a fraction of a penny on a transaction.
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Who pays that penny?
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Whoever wants to pay an extra penny. Like any other transaction.
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That isnt cooperation. That is basic market principals in action. Bid and counter bids that whittle down the profit margin based on willingness to risk a win/loss? These are auction principals as old as time. This is reaction rather than cooperation.
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