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{{a|myth|{{disaster cafe}}}}The [[2008 ISDA Master Agreement]], also known as the “[[Atlantis variation]]”, is an apocryphal edition of the {{isdama}}, ''almost'' completed in September 2008. It never saw the light of day, instead collapsing into a form of dark energy that powers the universe. | {{a|myth|{{disaster cafe}}}}The [[2008 ISDA Master Agreement]], also known as the “[[Atlantis variation]]”, is an apocryphal edition of the {{isdama}}, ''almost'' completed in September 2008. It never saw the light of day, instead collapsing into a form of dark energy that powers the universe. | ||
It was to be short, plainly worded, | It was to be short, plainly worded, future-proofed, agile agreement allowing counterparties to agree trading terms with little fuss and only the cursory clerical management that could be [[legal service delivery|delivered]] through unskilled personnel in low-cost jurisdictions and, eventually, robots. It used [[distributed ledger technology]]. You know, [[blockchain]]. | ||
Had it been implemented, it would have addressed the financial, infrastructural and regulatory challenges which dominated the derivatives trading market in the early 21st century. It would have consolidated documentation across a wide range of products ([[including but not limited to]] [[repo]], [[stock lending]], [[prime brokerage]], [[exchange traded derivatives]], [[commodities]] and [[emissions]]), finally moving the financial world into a stable state: a [[sunlit utopia]] in which all risks are known, all eventualities experienced and contingencies accounted for. | Had it been implemented, it would have addressed the financial, infrastructural and regulatory challenges which dominated the derivatives trading market in the early 21st century. It would have consolidated documentation across a wide range of products ([[including but not limited to]] [[repo]], [[stock lending]], [[prime brokerage]], [[exchange traded derivatives]], [[commodities]] and [[emissions]]), finally moving the financial world into a stable state: a [[sunlit utopia]] in which all risks are known, all eventualities experienced and contingencies accounted for. | ||
Risk would finally be banished for ever. | ''[[Risk]]'' would finally be banished for ever. | ||
As it was, the challenge was just too big. The project expanded — at first gradually; in the closing stages at breakneck pace — and in the final days exceeded its [[Schwarzschild radius of document comprehension|Schwarzschild radius]] altogether. There was a sudden, catastrophic implosion, and everything associated with the project — all traces of the agreement, drafts, the firm {{ISDA}} engaged to coordinate the drafting (Messrs [[Tubb Fuller Breaden Potter Bacon]])<ref>[[TFBPB]] has never been heard of since, and curiously, no record now exists of this firm before 2008, even though it was apparently a global behemoth.</ref> and several thousand members of ISDA’s document working group, seconded by their employers to contributing their “clarifications” and [[For the avoidance of doubt|doubt-avoidances]] for the greater good of the standard form simply vanished. | As it was, the challenge was just too big. The project expanded — at first gradually; in the closing stages at breakneck pace — and in the final days exceeded its [[Schwarzschild radius of document comprehension|Schwarzschild radius]] altogether. There was a sudden, catastrophic implosion, and everything associated with the project — all traces of the agreement, drafts, the firm {{ISDA}} engaged to coordinate the drafting (Messrs [[Tubb Fuller Breaden Potter Bacon]])<ref>[[TFBPB]] has never been heard of since, and curiously, no record now exists of this firm before 2008, even though it was apparently a global behemoth.</ref> and several thousand members of ISDA’s document working group, seconded by their employers to contributing their “clarifications” and [[For the avoidance of doubt|doubt-avoidances]] for the greater good of the standard form simply vanished. | ||
All — the document, the personnel, | All — the document, the personnel, the drafting miscellanea and terabytes of [[Tedium|tedia]] — are now lost to history. We now do not know what the agreement said, how it said it, or indeed whether the agreement really existed at all. And the robots — | ||
Well, speaking of robots, it is said that Roy Batty’s speech from the original ''Blade Runner'' (1982) fell through a rent in the fabric of the [[space-time continuum]] created by the implosion. Rutger Hauer adapted it, but only slightly, from this exchange, between an [[ETD]] [[negotiator]] and a mortally injured {{tag|CDO}} lawyer as he dragged his mutilated psyche away from the smoking ruins of his employer: | Well, speaking of robots, it is said that Roy Batty’s speech from the original ''Blade Runner'' (1982) fell through a rent in the fabric of the [[space-time continuum]] created by the 2008 financial markets implosion. Rutger Hauer adapted it, but only slightly, from this exchange, between an [[ETD]] [[negotiator]] and a mortally injured {{tag|CDO}} lawyer as he dragged his mutilated psyche away from the smoking ruins of his employer: | ||
“You thought you knew ''everything'', didn’t you,” [[sneered]] the hapless [[futures]] specialist. “And ''now'' look at us. ''You'' did this. You have no idea.” | “You thought you knew ''everything'', didn’t you,” [[sneered]] the hapless [[futures]] specialist. “And ''now'' look at us. ''You'' did this. You have no idea.” | ||