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China orders Bitcoin exchanges in capital city to close

bbc.co.uk

111–120 of 233 posts

Re: China orders Bitcoin exchanges in capital city to close

#111
post #57
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of us who have been holding since Bitcoin was worth $2 are laughing at you.

I mined up a fair amount in 2009/2010, then lost them all my after computer got fried in a power surge. If lightning had struck a few houses over, would I have cashed out or held? I suspect I would have cashed out most of them around $1k. Why did you hold?

I don't trust exchanges. I prefer to sell in cash at a Bitcoin meet up. This means I'm less susceptible to market whims. I could also simply use the bitcoins to buy things. I did at one point get a butterfly labs miner but I simply broke even on that. The only thing I wish I did was buy in more massively in the early days. I know a guy who put 5k into mining rigs. Made himself 70 btc. And then promptly sold them at $2 during the first crash. He's still kicking himself over that one.

Oh and for those of you reading this: back up your wallet.dat in an encrypted truecrypt volume with multiple cloud backups!

Re: China orders Bitcoin exchanges in capital city to close

#112
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really don't understand the capital flight argument. The Chinese economy has seen overwhelming growth in the past 10 years. If you are searching for yield, it's in China.

Some of China's growth looks bubble-ish, even to wealthy Chinese. If you think that, you might want to get your wealth out before the bubble bursts.

Yeah -- or at the very least, diversify.

Re: China orders Bitcoin exchanges in capital city to close

#113
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting theory but how can China control Bitcoin if there's nothing stopping people in other countries from mining it?

China will nationalize the domestic creation of Bitcoin. This is their sphere of influence. Thus they will control the domestic production of bitcoins. This nationalization will kick off the next leg up of the exponential growth for bitcoin. Just as the US Marshals auctioning off the Silk Road coins established legality in the American market. China will want to control capital flight and will use bitcoin as the rele…

Bitcoins are not like some manufactured physical item where a group of people can collectively seize the means of production with force to control supply of said item. It would be kind of funny if the CCP views it that way but I doubt they do. They probably have more knowledge about how Bitcoin works than everybody on HN combined.

Re: China orders Bitcoin exchanges in capital city to close

#114
post #13
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The bullshit artists that already 'invested' in this scheme will now tell you that China did not matter and the people under them will parrot it. If you're so sure that it's bullshit you're free to put your money where your mouth is and short it.

> If you're so sure that it's bullshit you're free to put your money where your mouth is and short it. Let me know when you are back to peddling Amway.

We've already asked you not to post like this, no matter what you're replying to. Could you please stop?

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: China orders Bitcoin exchanges in capital city to close

#115
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that the Chinese government also demanded DVDs of all transaction records at the exchanges. This means that the Chinese citizens who moved their Bitcoin off of the exchange will have to answer to the bean counters. How could a clever Chinese citizen avoid government scrutiny of their cryptocurrency finances under these conditions? They could trade Yuan (cash) for BTC through an underground mechanism of some sort…

They could buy the hardware and power needed to mine new coins. This seems to be the simplest solution for someone who wants to get a couple thousand bitcoins without leaving a paper trail.

there is a theory that this is the reason the majority of miners are in China. Combine cheap power from bribed officials and the mining ASICs and you have money laundering generators.

Re: China orders Bitcoin exchanges in capital city to close

#116
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cite this please.

https://www.neowin.net/news/china-experimenting-with-its-own...

I don't get it. What's the point of a country issuing a cryptocurrency? isn't decentralization the whole point of bitcoin, ethereum, etc. ?

Re: China orders Bitcoin exchanges in capital city to close

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a really good point. I live Downtown near a BitCoin ATM. The neighborhood was really posh when I moved in. Since the the BitCoin ATM was installed, home prices are down 25%, crime is WAY UP, and the transient population has exploded. People are talking about moving to Detroit to get away from the general rot and decay of the BitCoin defiled inner city. /s

There's a good argument to be made that crypto ATMs reduce violent crime by taking cash and the drug trade off the streets.

I think it was sarcasm :)

Re: China orders Bitcoin exchanges in capital city to close

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China will nationalize the domestic creation of Bitcoin. This is their sphere of influence. Thus they will control the domestic production of bitcoins. This nationalization will kick off the next leg up of the exponential growth for bitcoin. Just as the US Marshals auctioning off the Silk Road coins established legality in the American market. China will want to control capital flight and will use bitcoin as the rele…

Bitcoins are not like some manufactured physical item where a group of people can collectively seize the means of production with force to control supply of said item. It would be kind of funny if the CCP views it that way but I doubt they do. They probably have more knowledge about how Bitcoin works than everybody on HN combined.

The miner's mining Rig's are plugged into the state controlled power grid. If China wants to control the means of production, they simply follow the power hogs, remember we're talking about operations that are industrial scale. The small players have 500+ mining rigs alone. The means of production will be seized. Existing coins are a toss-up. Although since the penalty could be a death sentence, I'm sure the business's that have these will comply with what ever orders follow.

Re: China orders Bitcoin exchanges in capital city to close

#119
post #97
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting theory but how can China control Bitcoin if there's nothing stopping people in other countries from mining it?

The majority of the hash power is in China. If China can seize the miners all at once, they'll have control over the blockchain. At that point, other countries would be foolish to compete, and may focus on alternate alt currencies.

But they still can't change the blockchain. And there would still be miners outside of China.

Re: China orders Bitcoin exchanges in capital city to close

#120
post #94
post #14

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> You can't tax what you can't track. Most cryptocurrencies are actually quite trackable. Significantly more trackable than fiat currencies. There are notable exceptions like Monero and currencies specifically meant to protect privacy, but the vast majority are quite public.

I'd say they're only more easily tracked than cash . It doesn't get much easier to track than a bank or credit card account. And of course cash has its own problems (namely, it's difficult or even illegal to get and transport in large quantities while maintaining some anonymity).

At some point, you want to buy something with your money. The minute you do, tax authorities in your country can detect the discrepancy between your stated income and your lifestyle.
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