Good morning. The US Federal Trade Commission wants to block Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard, citing (among other concerns) fears that Activision’s Call of Duty will become exclusive to Microsoft’s Xbox. But the real problem with Call of Duty is that it sucks. Minimising its player base, in our opinion, is a social good. Regrettably, the FTC has accomplished just the opposite.

The crypto flame-out

Should regulators let crypto burn? Our view, crudely stated, is yes. These poorly understood tokens should not be legitimated by financial regulators. Unhedged readers tend to agree. Alas our line hasn’t been winning the day in Washington. From The Wall Street Journal yesterday:

Pressure is mounting on the Securities and Exchange Commission to step up enforcement of key hubs of the crypto industry after the collapse of FTX last month .

The SEC has investigations under way focusing on exchanges including Coinbase Global Inc. and the US businesses of Binance and FTX, according to people familiar with the matter and regulatory disclosures, and it has fined or sued dozens of token developers over the past six years.

The SEC has said many cryptocurrencies qualify as securities that should have been sold under rules for stocks and bonds. SEC Chair Gary Gensler has said exchanges are breaking the law by selling those unregistered securities and not following rules that the Nasdaq Stock Market and the New York Stock Exchange observe.

We think the SEC should stay away, but we were struck by a thoughtful Twitter thread by Todd Phillips, a policy consultant and former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation lawyer, arguing the other way. We talked to him yesterday, and his case boils down to two points.