If Patrick had only classified his investment thing as a managed hedge/mutual fund, with returns based on his investment skills as opposed to fixed interest "savings account" style returns, none of this would have been a problem. Losses would have had to be taken by the customers instead of Patrick, and his returns would have been consistent with the average hedge fund (lesson: don't invest in bitcoins, people. You'll save time by just flushing your money down the toilet).
the "average" hedge fund managed by a well-educated, certified professional typically grow at 3% per year.
If the average performance of any of the funds I invest in was that poor I'd have pulled my cash out long ago
It was an article I read for economics class years ago. Safe growth for a hedge fund is 3% per year (above inflation), but the article's subject was this wildcat manager growing at 5-6% because he was shorting poorly-managed stocks, which is like the Wall Street equivalent of check-raising in poker.
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