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Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

nytimes.com

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Re: Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

#41

Post by kibwen »

sjg007 wrote: post #31

I really want bitcoin to succeed because it really is a great way to take back the power from corporations and the plutocracy we find ourselves in today. The fixed pool of bitcoins is slightly problematic.. would it not be better if the pool increased at 1% a year or so..? Gold made sense as a reserve since it formed a quorum among the various economies. The dollar makes sense now but so does bitcoin. The only issue…

> a great way to take back the power from corporations and the plutocracy we find ourselves in today.

In practice this is ultimately just replacing one plutocracy with another. Though really, given that the only way to make "fuck-you" money betting on cryptocurrencies is to have an excess of disposable income in the first place, it may not be so much "replacing" as "reinforcing".

Re: Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

#42

Post by josephagoss »

mattcaldwell wrote: post #21

Tether's market cap is around $2b... the crypto market as a whole clocks in at over $500b right now... what kind of effect could Tether really have, beyond the inevitable panic that will ensue?

Look at trade volume. Last time I checked tether was 10% of worldwide trade volume.

That's huge. If this volume is based on fake dollars then I think the entire space could be massively inflated.

Re: Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

#43

Post by mattcaldwell »

nlowell wrote: post #35
mattcaldwell wrote: post #21

Tether's market cap is around $2b... the crypto market as a whole clocks in at over $500b right now... what kind of effect could Tether really have, beyond the inevitable panic that will ensue?

Market cap is not the same as actual money that has flowed into the space. Tether claims that 2B actual USD exist in reserves.

Actually, they claimed that they have "sufficient resources" to back the 2B.

Re: Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

#44

Post by josephagoss »

srdev wrote: post #38
mattcaldwell wrote: post #21

Tether's market cap is around $2b... the crypto market as a whole clocks in at over $500b right now... what kind of effect could Tether really have, beyond the inevitable panic that will ensue?

Small amounts of money can have outsized effect on a market if it’s thinly traded, which crypto markets tend to be.

Volume of trades from exchanges show that daily 5% of the market cap is traded. (About $25 billion traded vs $500 billion market cap) How does this compare to Apple or another large stock?

Re: Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

#45

Post by mattcaldwell »

thisisit wrote: post #37
mattcaldwell wrote: post #21

Tether's market cap is around $2b... the crypto market as a whole clocks in at over $500b right now... what kind of effect could Tether really have, beyond the inevitable panic that will ensue?

The fallacy around marketcap is well explained the above post. Or check the link: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16279591

That doesn't actually apply here, does it? If $2B is an inflated market cap, that's good for everyone.

Re: Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

#46

Post by neuro_imager »

Enough of this already...

If Tether doesn't have the funds then its a lot like someone borrowed 2Billion to buy crypto and can't pay it back.

Bitfinex will die, tether will die (just like other scam currencies like Bitconnect) but the market will come back after a correction.

Re: Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

#47

Post by mattcaldwell »

josephagoss wrote: post #42
mattcaldwell wrote: post #21

Tether's market cap is around $2b... the crypto market as a whole clocks in at over $500b right now... what kind of effect could Tether really have, beyond the inevitable panic that will ensue?

Look at trade volume. Last time I checked tether was 10% of worldwide trade volume. That's huge. If this volume is based on fake dollars then I think the entire space could be massively inflated.

That doesn't surprise me, since Bitfinex is using it as the base for their primary trading pair.

Re: Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

#48

Post by ucaetano »

atomical wrote: post #32
ucaetano wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if joking or...

Why shouldn't we follow the example to its logical conclusion? He's clearing trying to demonstrate that it's the wild west. It's really only the wild west until the SEC starts to enforce existing laws.

Afaik wash trades aren't illegal, you just can't use the losses to lower your taxes.

So nothing wrong with my trades.

Re: Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

#49

Post by [deleted] »

atomical wrote: post #11
olivermarks wrote: post #5

"Long before news of the subpoena, Bitfinex, which is believed to host more trading than any other Bitcoin exchange in the world, had gained a reputation for a lack of transparency and a confusing structure, with European executives, offices in Asia and registration in the Caribbean." Oh boy this sounds like the banking system I was hoping cryptocurrencies would supersede...

http://www.businessinsider.com/40-percent-of-bitcoins-are-he... > According to AQR Capital Management, about 1,000 people own 40% of the world's bitcoins. I'm not sure having bitcoin oligarchs will work out great.

[deleted]

Re: Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up

#50

Post by olivermarks »

sekh60 wrote: post #20
atomical wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.businessinsider.com/40-percent-of-bitcoins-are-he... > According to AQR Capital Management, about 1,000 people own 40% of the world's bitcoins. I'm not sure having bitcoin oligarchs will work out great.

You will like this headline from The Onion: https://www.theonion.com/bitcoin-on-path-to-functioning-just...

https://youtu.be/QKO6IChjojI
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