Author Topic: Is it too late [bitcoin]?  (Read 159389 times)

KTG

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #400 on: December 22, 2017, 08:10:57 AM »
Bitcoin is so stupid. Imagine if the US dollar behaved like Bitcoin. The US economy would be in ruin.

Stay away from this nonsense. If you do throw money at it (I refuse to call it investing) assume you will lose it, and if you win, its just like going to the casino.

thenextguy

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #401 on: December 22, 2017, 11:10:50 AM »
This is only the beginning of the bitcoin price drops!

I would think that 30% or 40% drops are right around the corner on thin transactions.

Get ready for a rush to the exit.... It's about to get messy.

This isn't going to age well.

My question to the skeptics. 

Have you ever used bitcoin, studied it, or the ecosystem? Have you read about the banks who are developing their entire future around it?
https://cointelegraph.com/news/koreas-second-largest-bank-building-secure-crypto-wallet-services

https://news.bitcoin.com/japans-sbi-crypto-businesses-mining/

Also, when would you ever considering using bitcoin? What would it take? Or do you just scream ponzi, scam, tulips until you die, regardless of how many people are using it?

Ahhem...


https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/22/bitcoin-plunges-below-12000-on-coinbase-as-rout-accelerates-now-down-40-percent-from-record.html

Uh...if you invested on the day you made that post, November 30th. You'd be up over 30% today. Nice try though.
« Last Edit: December 22, 2017, 11:12:58 AM by thenextguy »

KTG

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #402 on: December 22, 2017, 11:30:33 AM »
Exactly... you just said invested. I can invest in playing slot machines too. And when I am up I can say this was a worthwhile investment, but we all know its just gambling.

Bitcoin and others are supposed to be a currency, which needs to be stable, which they are far from. So people are not buying them to use as a currency, especially since any place that does accept them also legally has to accept their local country's currency as well, which they will already have. They are buying them because they see the value going up and don't want to be left out. That is speculation. Its essentially gambling.

Its going to be fun coming back to this thread in a few years when all this implodes, and there are tons of people who will be left crying, the congressional hearings that follow, and eventually these random currencies become sanctioned by governments. Much like the way the US prevents banks and credit card companies from dealing directly with online casinos. Yes, you can get money into and out of them, but it is a pain in the ass and time consuming. I don't doubt something similar will happen with Bitcoin and others.
« Last Edit: December 22, 2017, 11:35:14 AM by KTG »

phil22

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #403 on: December 22, 2017, 03:33:47 PM »
Exactly... you just said invested. I can invest in playing slot machines too. And when I am up I can say this was a worthwhile investment, but we all know its just gambling.

Bitcoin and others are supposed to be a currency, which needs to be stable, which they are far from. So people are not buying them to use as a currency, especially since any place that does accept them also legally has to accept their local country's currency as well, which they will already have. They are buying them because they see the value going up and don't want to be left out. That is speculation. Its essentially gambling.

Its going to be fun coming back to this thread in a few years when all this implodes, and there are tons of people who will be left crying, the congressional hearings that follow, and eventually these random currencies become sanctioned by governments. Much like the way the US prevents banks and credit card companies from dealing directly with online casinos. Yes, you can get money into and out of them, but it is a pain in the ass and time consuming. I don't doubt something similar will happen with Bitcoin and others.

do you think this downturn in bitcoin's price is fundamentally different than the downturns in 2011, 2013, or 2014?  or are cryptocurrencies categorically not able to survive long-term for some particular reason?

ILikeDividends

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #404 on: December 22, 2017, 03:51:27 PM »
Exactly... you just said invested. I can invest in playing slot machines too. And when I am up I can say this was a worthwhile investment, but we all know its just gambling.

Bitcoin and others are supposed to be a currency, which needs to be stable, which they are far from. So people are not buying them to use as a currency, especially since any place that does accept them also legally has to accept their local country's currency as well, which they will already have. They are buying them because they see the value going up and don't want to be left out. That is speculation. Its essentially gambling.

Its going to be fun coming back to this thread in a few years when all this implodes, and there are tons of people who will be left crying, the congressional hearings that follow, and eventually these random currencies become sanctioned by governments. Much like the way the US prevents banks and credit card companies from dealing directly with online casinos. Yes, you can get money into and out of them, but it is a pain in the ass and time consuming. I don't doubt something similar will happen with Bitcoin and others.

do you think this downturn in bitcoin's price is fundamentally different than the downturns in 2011, 2013, or 2014?  or are cryptocurrencies categorically not able to survive long-term for some particular reason?
Tulips didn't just disappear when the mania crashed.  There is still a market for tulips, it's just a rational market now.

Having said that, bitcoin's swoon today isn't really much different, in magnitude, then what it's had several times this year alone.  The bubble could go on for quite a long time, and reach new highs as well.  That doesn't mean it's not a bubble.  It just means there's enough disagreement about that to keep it going, at least for now.
« Last Edit: December 22, 2017, 03:55:20 PM by ILikeDividends »

aspiringnomad

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #405 on: December 22, 2017, 04:19:43 PM »
Exactly... you just said invested. I can invest in playing slot machines too. And when I am up I can say this was a worthwhile investment, but we all know its just gambling.

Bitcoin and others are supposed to be a currency, which needs to be stable, which they are far from. So people are not buying them to use as a currency, especially since any place that does accept them also legally has to accept their local country's currency as well, which they will already have. They are buying them because they see the value going up and don't want to be left out. That is speculation. Its essentially gambling.

Its going to be fun coming back to this thread in a few years when all this implodes, and there are tons of people who will be left crying, the congressional hearings that follow, and eventually these random currencies become sanctioned by governments. Much like the way the US prevents banks and credit card companies from dealing directly with online casinos. Yes, you can get money into and out of them, but it is a pain in the ass and time consuming. I don't doubt something similar will happen with Bitcoin and others.

do you think this downturn in bitcoin's price is fundamentally different than the downturns in 2011, 2013, or 2014?  or are cryptocurrencies categorically not able to survive long-term for some particular reason?

For cryptocurrencies to survive as currencies, rather than just vessels for the human speculative impulse, then their value relative to the price of goods needs to remain relatively stable. For that, supply will need to fluctuate to adapt to fluctuating demand. Bitcoin fundamentally can't do that, so IMO, it's already obsolete as a currency. But I don't think it's a stretch at all to think that some other current or future cryptocurrency might eventually be adopted and widely used as a currency - perhaps with a monetary policy administered by some decentralized algorithm, though I have no idea how that might work.

libertarian4321

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #406 on: December 22, 2017, 04:21:19 PM »
It really is the dot-com bust all over again.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/long-island-iced-teas-stock-rockets-nearly-500-after-changing-name-to-long-blockchain-2017-12-21?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo

OMFG

I just read that too.

What's a good name for the impending bust? The dotcom era led to the dotbomb. The bitcoin era has a...bitless crash?

Reminds me of the late 90s, when essentially every company that built a web site, became a ".com play" people worked themselves into a lather to buy it.  Didn't matter if the company made a profit or even had significant sales.  Just needed a .com web site.

Even quaint, mundane little companies.  I still remember sometime in 1999? almost falling out of my chair when some analyst called "Vermont Teddy Bear" an internet play because they added a web site, with the resulting ridiculous price surge.

libertarian4321

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #407 on: December 22, 2017, 04:32:41 PM »
Exactly... you just said invested. I can invest in playing slot machines too. And when I am up I can say this was a worthwhile investment, but we all know its just gambling.

Bitcoin and others are supposed to be a currency, which needs to be stable, which they are far from. So people are not buying them to use as a currency, especially since any place that does accept them also legally has to accept their local country's currency as well, which they will already have. They are buying them because they see the value going up and don't want to be left out. That is speculation. Its essentially gambling.

Its going to be fun coming back to this thread in a few years when all this implodes, and there are tons of people who will be left crying, the congressional hearings that follow, and eventually these random currencies become sanctioned by governments. Much like the way the US prevents banks and credit card companies from dealing directly with online casinos. Yes, you can get money into and out of them, but it is a pain in the ass and time consuming. I don't doubt something similar will happen with Bitcoin and others.

I still haven't been able to find a single store in San Antonio, a city of 1.3 Million people, that accepts Bitcoin.  One of the malls has a Bitcoin ATM, but none of the stores in the mall takes Bitcoin.

I also found a Bitcoin ATM at a Quickie Mart type store in SA.  I asked if I could pay for my gas, coffee, and chips with Bitcoin.  They said "no, we don't accept Bitcoin, we just have the machine for people who want to buy Bitcoin (apparently, they take an 8-10% commission on each Bitcoin purchase)."

Bitcoin is about as much "currency" as a truck load full of anvils.  Sure, you might be able to find someone, somewhere who will take that anvil (or Bitcoin) in exchange for a product or service, but it's kinda hard to do so.  Not exactly "currency."

aboatguy

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #408 on: December 22, 2017, 07:31:39 PM »
In my honest opinion it is safer to run around olongapo with no condoms than to trust bitcoin as a long term investment.

Happy Holidays, No  Hell no fuck that, Merry Christmas!

Mike   

MaaS

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #409 on: December 22, 2017, 09:24:45 PM »

PDXTabs

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #410 on: December 23, 2017, 10:13:33 AM »
I still haven't been able to find a single store in San Antonio, a city of 1.3 Million people, that accepts Bitcoin.  One of the malls has a Bitcoin ATM, but none of the stores in the mall takes Bitcoin.

...

Bitcoin is about as much "currency" as a truck load full of anvils.  Sure, you might be able to find someone, somewhere who will take that anvil (or Bitcoin) in exchange for a product or service, but it's kinda hard to do so.  Not exactly "currency."

How many local stores have you found that accept gold bullion? Does that make it a bad inflation hedge?

I don't invest in BTC, but I have used it for half a dozen online transactions.

GuitarStv

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #411 on: December 23, 2017, 10:57:26 AM »
How many local stores have you found that accept gold bullion? Does that make it a bad inflation hedge?

To answer your first question . . . about as many as I've found that accept bitcoin.

To answer your second . . . No.  It's a bad inflation hedge, bad low interest rate hedge, bad tail risk hedge, AND a bad replacement for currency (https://www.cfapubs.org/doi/pdf/10.2469/faj.v69.n4.1).

PDXTabs

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #412 on: December 23, 2017, 12:29:15 PM »
To answer your second . . . No.  It's a bad inflation hedge, bad low interest rate hedge, bad tail risk hedge, AND a bad replacement for currency (https://www.cfapubs.org/doi/pdf/10.2469/faj.v69.n4.1).

Sure, absolutely. I don't invest in gold because I live in a developed nation with a trustworthy fed. Not all of my friends and family can say the same.

theolympians

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #413 on: December 23, 2017, 01:12:35 PM »
Bitcoin scares me. It just seems to be currency speculation without the stability of a currency. The time to buy was a few years ago when it was cheap. It will have to make even more extraordinary gains to make more modest growth.

"Everyone" at my work is talking about it. Their main argument for doing so is "it just keeps going up!" Many have bought small amounts of bitcoin and other so-called crypto-currencies. That tells me if you were a huge investor it is getting close to the time to dump it. Stupid money is being fed into it.   

I don't have a dime into it, though I wish when it was around a penny each! LOL

theolympians

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #414 on: December 23, 2017, 01:17:14 PM »
One serious question: Is anyone paying capital gains tax, or any applicable tax (when you convert bitcoin back into dollars? I never have traded any currency and don't know what would apply.

PDXTabs

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #415 on: December 23, 2017, 03:11:46 PM »
One serious question: Is anyone paying capital gains tax, or any applicable tax (when you convert bitcoin back into dollars? I never have traded any currency and don't know what would apply.

I haven't realized any capital gains on cryptocurrency, but I absolutely do plan to pay capital gains tax when I do.

Lews Therin

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #416 on: December 23, 2017, 04:20:02 PM »
One serious question: Is anyone paying capital gains tax, or any applicable tax (when you convert bitcoin back into dollars? I never have traded any currency and don't know what would apply.

CRA (Canada tax agency) has a FAQ that talks about Bitcoin. I'm guessing there must be some sort of guideline in most countries... it's been in existence long enough that people want to tax it :D

sol

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #417 on: December 23, 2017, 04:57:31 PM »
I read one report that said on any given day, approximately 30% of all bitcoin trades involve North Korean money laundering.  It's a way for them to avoid UN sanctions on their financial markets.

Just saying.  Sometimes operating outside the traditional financial sector isn't quite the moral high ground that some people wish it could be.  Are you comfortable supporting a terrorist state, if it could make you money?

maizefolk

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #418 on: December 23, 2017, 05:08:38 PM »
Hey sol, do you happen to have a link to that report handy? Would be curious to read a bit more about how that statistic was estimated.

sol

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #419 on: December 23, 2017, 05:29:23 PM »
Hey sol, do you happen to have a link to that report handy? Would be curious to read a bit more about how that statistic was estimated.

I don't remember where I read it, but google can probably point you in the right direction.

https://www.google.com/search?q=bitcoin+in+north+korea

thenextguy

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #420 on: December 24, 2017, 10:36:19 AM »
I read one report that said on any given day, approximately 30% of all bitcoin trades involve North Korean money laundering.  It's a way for them to avoid UN sanctions on their financial markets.

Just saying.  Sometimes operating outside the traditional financial sector isn't quite the moral high ground that some people wish it could be.  Are you comfortable supporting a terrorist state, if it could make you money?

What a load of crap! Of course, there would be no bitcoin without the internet, so I guess everyone on this forum is supporting terrorists!

sol

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #421 on: December 24, 2017, 11:22:15 AM »
What a load of crap! Of course, there would be no bitcoin without the internet, so I guess everyone on this forum is supporting terrorists!

I think the specifics were not that North Korea was just buying and holding 30% of the bitcoins in the world, but that they were hosting the tumblers that anonymize bitcoin purchases to make them untraceable.  The tumblers execute thousands (millions?) of tiny bitcoin transactions in order to obscure the blockchain histories.  They're a necessary step if you want it to be truly anonymous.  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-14/north-korea-s-bitcoin-play

North Korea also likes bitcoin for investment purposes, because it's one of the very few things they are allowed to legally export for profit.  They have large coal reserves, and so lots of cheap power, but there are sanctions on exporting raw coal.  There are no sanctions on burning your coal to run bitcoin mines and then selling the bitcoins anonymously.  http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/12/technology/north-korea-bitcoin-hoard/index.html

We also know that several of North Korea's global ransomware attacks demanded payment in bitcoin.  How else would North Korean hackers get paid for unencrypting your files, if the're not allowed to use regular banks?  It sounds like they mostly made immediate conversions from bitcoin to other crypto currencies, again as a way of anonymizing their crimes.  https://www.wsj.com/articles/its-official-north-korea-is-behind-wannacry-1513642537

And North Korea is clearly responsible for several of the major bitcoin heists from the exchanges, especially the ones in South Korea.  http://fortune.com/2017/12/22/north-korea-bitcoin-heist/

So no, I don't think it's quite as simple as "using the internet supports bitcoin terrorists."  North Korea is a terrorist state, that is super involved in bitcoin because it allows them to skirt sanctions.  I think this is probably the single biggest threat to the bitcoin "industry", that the UN may decide to sanction and restrict it because it's a tool used primarily by terrorists and criminals.  https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/895564/North-Korea-news-World-War-3-latest-bitcoin-price-Kim-Jong-un-nuclear-Donald-Trump

The global financial system may by universally corrupt, but it does have some benefits.  One of those benefits is that the world's financial powers can use it to restrict rogue states that threaten us with nuclear weapons.  Bitcoin's founders may have had high ideals about subverting a corrupt system, but there is definitely a reason why bitcoin's primary uses have been in black markets and it's NOT because criminals love their digital freedom.


« Last Edit: December 24, 2017, 12:23:27 PM by sol »

maizefolk

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #422 on: December 24, 2017, 12:00:53 PM »
What a load of crap! Of course, there would be no bitcoin without the internet, so I guess everyone on this forum is supporting terrorists!

I think the specifics were not that North Korea was just buying and holding 30% of the bitcoins in the world, but that they were hosting the tumblers that anonymize bitcoin purchases to make them untraceable.  The tumblers execute thousands (millions?) of tiny bitcoin transactions in order to obscure the blockchain histories.  They're a necessary step if you want it to be truly anonymous.  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-14/north-korea-s-bitcoin-play

Thanks for posting a link sol, but having read through it I didn't see any reference to evidence that bitcoin tumbers being hosted in North Korea, although it sounded like maybe they might sometimes be used by North Koreans (which seems plausible). Did I miss something?

If folks genuinely want to be anonymous, generally they are going to use a currency like Monero or ZCash. The coins you receive back from a bitcoin tumbling service may not be linked to your own misdeeds, but they are pretty darn certain to be linked to SOMEONE's misdeeds. Also with the current spike in transaction fees (we're now on the 3rd day over $50/transaction), it would surprise me a lot if bitcoin tumbling was still economically viable.

sol

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #423 on: December 24, 2017, 12:39:09 PM »
Thanks for posting a link sol, but having read through it I didn't see any reference to evidence that bitcoin tumbers being hosted in North Korea,

I haven't been able to relocate the source where I read the 30% number, sorry. 

KTG

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #424 on: December 25, 2017, 10:00:35 PM »
Here we go:

Israel is the latest country to signal a crackdown on cryptocurrencies

Israel's stock market regulator has proposed bans on stock exchange listings for firms based on cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/25/israel-may-ban-bitcoin-cryptocurrency-companies-from-tel-aviv-listing.html





Padonak

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #425 on: December 26, 2017, 03:43:32 PM »
In my honest opinion it is safer to run around olongapo with no condoms than to trust bitcoin as a long term investment.

Happy Holidays, No  Hell no fuck that, Merry Christmas!

Mike

I had to google it to understand the reference. But why did you pick olongapo of all places, not say Manila or Cebu?

sol

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #426 on: December 26, 2017, 03:53:29 PM »
I had to google it to understand the reference. But why did you pick olongapo of all places, not say Manila or Cebu?

Personal experience?

Padonak

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #427 on: December 26, 2017, 03:57:49 PM »
I had to google it to understand the reference. But why did you pick olongapo of all places, not say Manila or Cebu?

Personal experience?

Are you assuming my gender?

sol

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #428 on: December 26, 2017, 04:00:51 PM »
I had to google it to understand the reference. But why did you pick olongapo of all places, not say Manila or Cebu?

Personal experience?

Are you assuming my gender?

I can't possibly see how.  Did I use a gendered pronoun?

maizefolk

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #429 on: December 26, 2017, 04:08:53 PM »
I am guessing sol meant "personal experience?" as speculation about why aboatguy used Olongapo in their original post on Dec. 22nd and not more widely known cities like Manila.

I am guessing Podanak read the same "personal experience?" as a question by sol about whether Podanak had traveled to Manila or Cebu as a customer in the sex trade (which, if conforming to gender stereotypes would imply that Podanak was male).

If these guesses are correct, hopefully that helps clear things up. If the guesses are incorrect, please disregard and carry on.

Indexer

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #430 on: December 26, 2017, 09:37:37 PM »
Here we go:

Israel is the latest country to signal a crackdown on cryptocurrencies

Israel's stock market regulator has proposed bans on stock exchange listings for firms based on cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/25/israel-may-ban-bitcoin-cryptocurrency-companies-from-tel-aviv-listing.html

Quote from the article: "Shares of Blockchain, which on Sunday changed its name from Natural Resources, have soared some 5,000 percent in the past few months since it announced it would shift its focus from mining for gold and iron to mining cryptocurrencies."

What?  I assume the company executives know that specialization in mining gold doesn't translate to mining bitcoin, but do their investors know that?

Let's pretend for a second this was their real strategy, which I doubt. What do they do with their existing mining equipment, mining employees, land rights, assets, debts, etc.? That is all worthless mining bitcoins. Are they going to sell it all and buy server farms? How long will that take? Are they going to lay off the existing workforce? What will the severance and/or unemployment benefit costs be? How long will the layoffs take? Do they have any crypto experts now? Will they hire more? What will that cost? How long will it take to hire the new employees? How long will it take for the crypto side of the business to reach profitability? Will the new cash flows cover existing debts? Speaking of debts, how much new debt will the company have to take on to finance all of this? How will this new business compete with existing crypto companies who already have experts, server farms, and who don't have all of this additional baggage? This all sounds incredibly risky, time consuming, and less viable than their existing business. Anyone thinking about this rationally wouldn't drive the stock price up 5,000%, they would be driving it down while insisting on leadership changes.

Conclusion: it's irrational exuberance

sol

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #431 on: December 26, 2017, 10:38:59 PM »
Both articles basically say it's inconclusive that crypto is being used to effectively finance terrorism:

That's probably fair, in broad terms.  I haven't heard of ISIS going all in on bitcoin.

But North Korea totally is.  I don't think they're doing it for the traditional reasons that terrorist networks need to raise money, like paying for desert training centers and paying off the families of suicide bombers.  They're doing it because it operates outside the traditional financial sector, which is currently allied against them.  And isn't that kind of the point of crypto currencies, to operate outside the traditional financial sector?  My understanding is that is exactly why they were created in the first place.  It seems almost tailor-made for places like North Korea that need to circumvent traditional banking.

Bitcoin has been a hugely profitable investment for some people, as lavish press coverage has brought in thousands and thousands of new investors to be the greater fool.  We've seen this story play out before, when an asset class gets too popular and prices spike beyond all reasonable expectations of profitability.  Dotcoms did it.  Iceland's currency did it.  Tulip bulbs did it.  I'm not saying bitcoin is trash, because I rather like the idea, personally.  I'm just saying that the market price of bitcoin, and the firms associated with it, has become totally disconnected from the normal rules of economics by the explosive interest from get-rich-quick public investors.  Just like with tulip bulbs.

And that sort of cash cow, however fleeting and/or technologically savvy it may be, is always going to attract organized crime and rouge nations looking to make a quick buck.  It sounds like North Korea is trying to cash in.  Maybe they're failing at it, I don't know, but they're certainly trying.  They've stolen a bunch of bitcoins, and they've run spearfishing campaigns to steal more, and they've ransomed a bunch with the WannaCry attack, and now they're mining them and actively developing exploits to steal more in the future.  Their stolen bitcoins are mostly traded for other digital currencies, and then into cash they can use to finance a regime that is currently under economic sanctions and unable to raise funding in other ways.  I suspect it's a tiny fraction of their total national revenue, but it's not zero and if you've bought or sold bitcoins before then it sounds like there's a very real chance that you've transacted with North Korea.

And like I said before, that's why I think bitcoin is a risky investment.  Not because the price is crazy volatile, or because I think it's insecure (though it has proven to be both of those things), but because I think it is potentially threatened by the international banking system locking it down, or at least making it much harder to exchange for normal money, because of it's historical involvement with places like North Korea (and with child porn, murder for hire, drug running, etc).  I think that's the real threat to bitcoin.  Civilized society might try to say no thank you, and then it won't matter how good your blockchain is.  If they make it too hard to convert it into groceries, it's just another online gaming megasword item, invaluable to the right gamers but worthless to the rest of us.

YttriumNitrate

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #432 on: December 27, 2017, 01:26:10 PM »
It's in full mania mode now, so the end game (collapse) is likely near.
Don't forget the old saying that the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.


My typical gauge for determining if a correction/collapse is coming is to watch and see if the particular investment is discussed on Christmas day at the gathering of my extended family.* If bitcoin is not discussed two weeks from now, then my prediction is that bitcoin is good until 2019.

**I purposefully won't be bringing up the topic to see if someone else does.
Update from YttriumNitrate Family Christmas 2017: Bitcoin was mentioned on Christmas day (not by me). If I had any bitcoin, I'd be selling now.

ChpBstrd

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #433 on: December 27, 2017, 01:41:43 PM »
After this bubble, we will read back over this thread. What will we think?

I predict the discussion will seem remarkably detailed, when simple bubble pattern-recognition was all there ever was to talk about.

The various technical-yet-vague justifications will seem fascinating, but catastrophically misapplied. The fact that many of the people who lost their life savings on the cryptocurrency fad also lived through the housing and dot-com bubbles will seem like a puzzle.

sol

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #434 on: December 27, 2017, 02:07:27 PM »
Just to pile on, after my posts above, Richard Spencer has declared bitcoin "the currency of the alt right."  Yea, no thanks.

After Nazis literally marched in Charlottesville, American extremist groups started pushing digital currencies as a way to avoid government control.  They didn't like having their social media accounts suspended, and bitcoins can't be taken away from them.  It's all part of their protest.  They helped fuel the demand that has inflated the prices so much.  Thanks, hate groups!

14.88 bitcoins were semianonymously donated to the Nazi website dailystormer after it went offline.  1488 is a reference to a nazi slogan.  Nazis love bitcoin!

And why shouldn't they?  It lets them, like North Korea, avoid restrictions placed on them by traditional financial institutions.  It's like digital gold.  I seem to recall the Nazis were very fond of hoarding literal gold, too, for identical reasons.

Is this the price we must pay for freedom?  Sometimes I wonder how many crypto enthusiasts have thought through the consequences of these things.  Somehow, I doubt satashi nakamoto was trying to help out the Nazis.

BattlaP

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #435 on: December 27, 2017, 02:32:24 PM »
But sol, Nazis also use the US dollar! Surely you aren’t in favour of removing the US dollar?? /s

ILikeDividends

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #436 on: December 27, 2017, 02:57:04 PM »
But sol, Nazis also use the US dollar! Surely you aren’t in favour of removing the US dollar?? /s
That's not really a comparable example.

There are federal banking controls on reporting cash transactions to the government which don't exist for crypto currencies.  The lack of these controls make crypto transactions much more attractive for cloaking illicit activities.
 
Federal Banking Rules on Withdrawing Large Sums of Cash
https://finance.zacks.com/federal-banking-rules-withdrawing-large-sums-cash-1696.html

Quote
A 1970 anti-money-laundering law known as the Bank Secrecy Act spells out the rules for large cash withdrawals. In general, banks must report any transaction involving at least $10,000 in cash. That includes not only withdrawals but also deposits, currency exchanges (such as swapping dollars for euros or Japanese yen) and the purchase of traveler's checks. The law also requires banks to check identification on any transaction that would trigger a report. In other words, even if your bank doesn't usually ask for ID with withdrawals, it must do so for withdrawals over $10,000.
« Last Edit: December 27, 2017, 03:03:53 PM by ILikeDividends »

maizefolk

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #437 on: December 27, 2017, 05:50:03 PM »
I saw the white supremacist article and wondered if it would show up in this thread.

To have a meaningful debate we'd need to know two things: 1) how significant are the negative uses as a proportion of the total use of the technology* and 2) how large is the benefit for negative actors of using the technology relative to their next best option.**

Since we don't have good data on either of these things with regard to cryptocurrencies and either north korea or white supremacists, any discussion is going to boil down to us having different assumptions about what the most likely "real" answer is for #1 and #2 above. Doesn't seem like a particularly fruitful topic for discussion to me.

*Roads are used in the commission of almost every bank robbery, yet bank robberies make up a tiny fraction of the uses of roads, so banning roads to cut down on bank robberies would be silly. In contrast, KTW ammunition ("cop killer bullets") are used in only a small fraction of total crimes, yet a large fraction of the total civilian use cases for KTW ammunition were criminal, resulting in a federal ban.

**If you want to inject heroin, and you don't have access to a needle, the next best alternative is ... I'm honestly not sure, I don't know much about heroin, but I'm pretty sure it's a lot less effective than a needle, so there are lots of efforts (rightly or wrongly) to control access to IV needles. Because the next best alternative is an awful lot worse.

In contrast, if you want to smoke pot, and you don't have access to proper rolling paper, you could substitute a piece of newspaper, and probably make a joint which worked about as well (again I don't have experience). So laws to control access to cigarette paper isn't a great way to control marijuana use. Because the next best alternative is only a bit more inconvenient than the thing you would ban.

phil22

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #438 on: December 27, 2017, 05:58:00 PM »
Just to pile on, after my posts above, Richard Spencer has declared bitcoin "the currency of the alt right."  Yea, no thanks.

...

And why shouldn't they?  It lets them, like North Korea, avoid restrictions placed on them by traditional financial institutions.  It's like digital gold.  I seem to recall the Nazis were very fond of hoarding literal gold, too, for identical reasons.

Is this the price we must pay for freedom?  Sometimes I wonder how many crypto enthusiasts have thought through the consequences of these things.  Somehow, I doubt satashi nakamoto was trying to help out the Nazis.

"free as in liberty" decentralized currencies have been invented.  "it's too late" -- they can't be uninvented and they can't be killed by banning them.  bad people will use them, and good people will use them.  yes, that's the price we pay for freedom.

how does bitcoin help the nazi cause?  and if it did, what's the problem?  nazis are free to gather and say whatever they want.  if you're against the free movement of money, are you also against the first amendment?

do you sit in the comfort of an American home paid for with freely-open global investment options as you disparage anything that helps prospective investors in China looking for a way to get some of their money out of China?  are you against corruption-resistant smartphone-based banking for the billions of unbanked people around the world?

do you trust governments to be in charge of currencies for the long term?  governments which can be headed by people like Putin, Erdogan, Trump, Assad, Kim, Maduro, and Mugabe?  governments that fiddle with inflation however they want, get into trillions of dollars of debt, and use taxpayer money to fund unpopular wars, corrupt government contracts, pet pork barrel projects, and copious amounts of golf?  i'm not against taxation or governments in general, but they have proven time and again that they are terrible with managing money on a good day, and criminally corrupt on a bad day.

if you're against the free movement of money then you're probably against libertarianism in general.  that's a valid position but i'm surprised to see it so often on this board.  financial independence is only possible because of freedom and privacy we enjoy with our careers, our investments, and our money.

ILikeDividends

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #439 on: December 27, 2017, 06:33:54 PM »
Banning roads would have far-reaching detrimental effects outweighing whatever harm they might prevent in the success of bank robberies. A dubious assumption, since bank robberies are as old as banking.

Likewise, banning IV needles would also have far-reaching detrimental effects.

Banning cigarette rolling paper would at least have negative economic consequences for companies, employees, and taxing authorities that profit from their legitimate use, and would likewise be pretty useless in discouraging marijuana consumption.

I'm not necessarily advocating banning crypto currencies because of neo-Nazi or NK exploitation.  My point is, that even if they were banned, what far-reaching detrimental effects would that ban have?  In my life, personally, that would be a giant ZERO effect.  There is nothing in my life that I need that I cannot get easily without using that technology at all, or ever.

Conversely, I use roads every day.  And IV needles have, upon various occasions, saved my life.  If cryptos disappeared tomorrow, I wouldn't even notice it.  For bad actors, it helps solve an obvious problem.  For the vast majority of hard-working honest folks, it really is nothing more than a novelty.

Having said all that, I do have libertarian leanings, and I wouldn't support a ban of crypto currencies any more than I would support outlawing casinos.  People that want to roll the dice should be allowed to own dice.
« Last Edit: December 27, 2017, 06:53:26 PM by ILikeDividends »

KTG

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #440 on: December 28, 2017, 05:37:34 AM »
Oh another government stepping up:

Bitcoin drops 11% as South Korea moves to regulate cryptocurrency trading

Bitcoin fell on Thursday, marking the latest gyration following a major sell-off at the end of last week.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/28/bitcoin-drops-11-percent-as-south-korea-moves-to-regulate-cryptocurrency-trading.html

Nate79

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #441 on: December 28, 2017, 11:50:03 AM »
I'm waiting for the US govt to come down hard on crypto currency thru the N. Korea angle and the sanctions.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk


maizefolk

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #442 on: December 28, 2017, 12:33:02 PM »
There is nothing in my life that I need that I cannot get easily without using that technology at all, or ever.

Crypto is fledgling tech. You're also never fully cognizant of what you're missing until it exists (like the modern internet).

Yup. So the North Korea/white supremacist debate just boils down to whether the person posting thinks there are significant benefits (existing or potential) to the technology, which is the same debate people have been having for pages and pages on this thread already.

sol

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #443 on: December 28, 2017, 12:55:01 PM »
debate just boils down to whether the person posting thinks there are significant benefits (existing or potential) to the technology

I still don't see any. 

Bitcoins are just digital objects.  They don't have any value on their own, they serve no useful purpose.  Credit cards and paypal are both easier ways to buy things online, and they work more seamlessly with our existing financial structures.

Most objects have SOME intrinsic value.  If you buy a ton of oranges or pork bellies, you can eat them.  If you buy a building you can live in it or rent it out.  Bitcoins don't appear to have any intrinsic value at all, since they can't do anything.  The only thing they are good for is selling to someone who values them more highly than you do, which is the same thing good old US dollars are already good for.  Except dollars are much more widely available and accepted, hold their value better, are more anonymous, are easier to exchange into other formats, can be converted into a physical form for offline transactions, and are easier to manipulate for economic policy reasons.

The ONLY added utility that I can see bitcoin providing is that they can be easily traded outside of the banking restrictions of the kind we place on organized crime, rogue states, and terrorist networks.  After being traded they can be converted back into real money, which is deliberately more difficult to trade if you are a criminal or rogue state or terrorist.  So their great advantage is that they subvert the existing power structure, but for most of us the existing power structure is working just great, thanks. 

The blockchain idea is cool.  Conceptually, I like it.  But I don't see any reason for all of the hype, like there is literally NO chance bitcoins are ever going to supplant normal money in the global economy (for a variety of reasons). I can see some nation states using similar technology (not bitcoin) to back their currency, but the national currencies will still exist and bitcoin will not exist in any meaningful way.  I mean tulip bulbs still exist too, but not as an investment.
« Last Edit: December 28, 2017, 01:01:20 PM by sol »

maizefolk

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #444 on: December 28, 2017, 01:05:27 PM »
Yup. And given that you hold that point of view (that there is no potential societal value to the technology of cryptocurrencies*), it makes complete sense to me that you'd feel things like the use of bitcoin by undesirable actors (north koreans and white supremacists) is enough to condemn the technology.

*Which is a separate debate from "the current price of bitcoin at this particular point in time is the result of a bubble" debate. I think pretty much everyone on this thread is on the same side of that second debate.

sol

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #445 on: December 28, 2017, 01:13:11 PM »
Yup. And given that you hold that point of view (that there is no potential societal value to the technology of cryptocurrencies*), it makes complete sense to me that you'd feel things like the use of bitcoin by undesirable actors (north koreans and white supremacists) is enough to condemn the technology.

Let's slow up a second, there.  I don't "condemn" the technology.  I like the technology.  It's just a useless and overhyped technology with no long term role in our society, like fidget spinners and the Macarena.  Whether or not "undesirable actors" also use bitcoin is totally secondary to my opinion about its utility.  It was a scam long before any of that happened.

I can see a long term use for blockchain technology.  I see zero long term use for bitcoin, other than as a historical artifact for niche collectors interested in the "first" example of the technology, like dudes who collect Model T cars.  Bitcoin will be easily surpassed by superior examples of digital currencies, because it was poorly designed to be a global currency in a global economy, just like the Model T was poorly designed compared to modern cars.  Except you can't polish a bitcoin and put it in a museum.

BattlaP

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #446 on: December 28, 2017, 02:29:29 PM »
But sol, Nazis also use the US dollar! Surely you aren’t in favour of removing the US dollar?? /s
That's not really a comparable example.

There are federal banking controls on reporting cash transactions to the government which don't exist for crypto currencies.  The lack of these controls make crypto transactions much more attractive for cloaking illicit activities.
 
Federal Banking Rules on Withdrawing Large Sums of Cash
https://finance.zacks.com/federal-banking-rules-withdrawing-large-sums-cash-1696.html

Quote
A 1970 anti-money-laundering law known as the Bank Secrecy Act spells out the rules for large cash withdrawals. In general, banks must report any transaction involving at least $10,000 in cash. That includes not only withdrawals but also deposits, currency exchanges (such as swapping dollars for euros or Japanese yen) and the purchase of traveler's checks. The law also requires banks to check identification on any transaction that would trigger a report. In other words, even if your bank doesn't usually ask for ID with withdrawals, it must do so for withdrawals over $10,000.

Just for your own internet education, ‘/s’ is a sarcasm tag.

ILikeDividends

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #447 on: December 28, 2017, 02:36:28 PM »
[
Just for your own internet education, ‘/s’ is a sarcasm tag.

Ah, sorry about that. My internet school practiced a more explicit tag.

<SARCASM>
Guess I'm just an old HTML fogy.
</SARCASM>

;)
« Last Edit: December 28, 2017, 02:39:34 PM by ILikeDividends »

zoltani

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #448 on: December 28, 2017, 04:47:31 PM »
Just to pile on, after my posts above, Richard Spencer has declared bitcoin "the currency of the alt right."  Yea, no thanks.

After Nazis literally marched in Charlottesville, American extremist groups started pushing digital currencies as a way to avoid government control.  They didn't like having their social media accounts suspended, and bitcoins can't be taken away from them.  It's all part of their protest.  They helped fuel the demand that has inflated the prices so much.  Thanks, hate groups!

14.88 bitcoins were semianonymously donated to the Nazi website dailystormer after it went offline.  1488 is a reference to a nazi slogan.  Nazis love bitcoin!

And why shouldn't they?  It lets them, like North Korea, avoid restrictions placed on them by traditional financial institutions.  It's like digital gold.  I seem to recall the Nazis were very fond of hoarding literal gold, too, for identical reasons.

Is this the price we must pay for freedom?  Sometimes I wonder how many crypto enthusiasts have thought through the consequences of these things.  Somehow, I doubt satashi nakamoto was trying to help out the Nazis.


This kind of reminds me of the early 2000s commercials that claimed if you smoke pot you fund terrorism. Take a behavior that you (government) don't agree with and tie it to nefarious activities to shame people into the behavior you desire. Good show, i say.

sol

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Re: Is it too late [bitcoin]?
« Reply #449 on: December 28, 2017, 05:07:47 PM »
This kind of reminds me of the early 2000s commercials that claimed if you smoke pot you fund terrorism.

Nah, trading bitcoins and smoking pot aren't necessarily good for you, but neither are they evil because of terrorism.  They're just bad for you.

In this case, the analogy between bitcoin and opium is probably more apt, since terrorists have historically grown and processed opium explicitly to fund terrorist activities.  Is it the only way terrorism is funded?  Certainly not, but it is one way.

I make the same argument about oil, btw.