> Isn't the whole point of the story that they weren't allowed to sell when they exercised their options?
The story most applicable to cryptocurrencies is the one where the stock was publicly traded [1]. Those exercisers chose not to sell.
(With respect to ISOs for private stock, yes, it's different. Best practice is not to exercise until you have a plan for paying taxes. This could be lining up a loan or a secondary sale, or only exercising what you can pay for.)
