No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250 • Hacker News Board

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#411

Post by pault » Tue, Nov 20, 2018, 9:58 PM UTC

kevingrahl wrote: post #384

AndrewGaspar wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Discounting the sensitive data issue (I don't know what keeping that confidential is worth to you), a few hundred bucks for what I presume is a good chance at a 1000x up-side doesn't seem like much of a gamble to me.

I assume you have more disposable income than me. For me this would be a gamble and like I said the chance of data recovery isn’t to high in my case that’s why I haven’t done it mainly. I had someone who works with HDD’s take a look at it and he assumed that most likely the platter itself was severely damaged/scratched. And there was something about the encryption in addition to the scratches that would’ve made recov…

Sell it as-is for €1,000 to someone that is willing to take the risk. :D

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#412

Post by asdff » Tue, Nov 20, 2018, 10:03 PM UTC

hndamien wrote: post #401

pavel_lishin wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The electricity usage will remain high, OR a 51% attack will happen. The electricity usage can never drop without severe risk to the entire system. Sounds like the best argument against bitcoin I've heard yet.

The forking also seems to have had some unintended consequences of changing the use of hash power such that the main chain is more vulnerable.

It also ruined the concept. In its most innocent terms, bitcoin is for sending money to people. What happens when person A has all their wealth tied up in Bitcoin Cash #1 and person B has it all in bitcoin cash #2. What coin does person C who wants to send something to person D use? With every new coin, the argument for switching to bitcoin for transactions weakens.

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#413

Post by asdff » Tue, Nov 20, 2018, 10:07 PM UTC

ojr wrote: post #324

overcast wrote: post #4

That's what happens when you screw over the general public in a giant pump and dump. There is just no more money left to steal. First time was for the early adopters at $1000, second time was for the late majority at $19,000. You're not going to see that happen again.

I sold around $14k after holding for years, and I was thinking about placing a short at $6500 but decided not to, the best traders in this space make money on the way up and down

How do you know how to position if up and down is determined by random bouts of speculative buying? Or in this case, egos clashing in a completely different crypto. There is so much more data and tangible information to guide you with traditional investments which may also have their speculative runs, but are more often based on the objective success of an asset that can be easily estimated, determined, and predicted.

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#414

Post by petre » Tue, Nov 20, 2018, 10:11 PM UTC

conanbatt wrote: post #248

simias wrote: post #20

Since the article states "the trigger for the latest sell-off is unclear" I'm really curious if somebody here could venture a guess about the reasons for the sudden drop. The Bitcoin Cash fork seems suspiciously correlated but is it big enough news to cause such a turmoil? Being a cryptocurrency-skeptic I won't pretend that I don't experience a little bit of schadenfreude when I see CC crash, however if I'm trying to…

For all the hype, bitcoin really is not worth its price to me. I would not sacrifice 4k to have 1 bitcoin for its use today. Its expensive, slow and inconvenient to transfer. When it hit 18k-20k last december it was absolutely nuts. Bitcoin is not there: it has no mainstream product market fit. Its pretty useless. And it hasn't been fulfilling its expectations of not being so.

It was quite useful to people getting money out of China.

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#415

Post by kevingrahl » Tue, Nov 20, 2018, 10:30 PM UTC

pault wrote: post #411

kevingrahl wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume you have more disposable income than me. For me this would be a gamble and like I said the chance of data recovery isn’t to high in my case that’s why I haven’t done it mainly. I had someone who works with HDD’s take a look at it and he assumed that most likely the platter itself was severely damaged/scratched. And there was something about the encryption in addition to the scratches that would’ve made recov…

Sell it as-is for €1,000 to someone that is willing to take the risk. :D

While 1k does sound somewhat enticing that disk was my secure storage holding all my passwords (albeit old ones), ssh keys, wallet seeds, pgp keys, 2FA backups, payslips, bank statements.. you name it it’s probably on there..

I just keep it in case I get some unexpected money that would allow me to get it fixed securely under supervision. I’m a tiny bit paranoid about that particular disk falling into the wrong hands even if it’s broken :)

And well.. I didn’t exactly loose any money on it since I didn’t buy those coins with real money so I’m not too frustrated about it.

But it was a great lesson advocating for redundancy! Now I have everything storage related in pairs. One storage server at home, one offsite etc.. (I didn’t loose everything, most stuff wasn’t that important)

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#416

Post by na85 » Tue, Nov 20, 2018, 10:36 PM UTC

andrewla wrote: post #388

habitue wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's this big wall between "buying illegally" and "buying anything". The only reason people are using it to buy things illegally is because they can't use normal methods like credit cards. It's strictly more annoying and higher friction to use than a credit card for non-illegal purposes. It's kind of like those free speech platforms. If you're a free speech anything goes platform, but everyone who isn't saying ter…

I don't see it being higher friction per se; spending Bitcoin and most other cryptos is actually pretty easy (modulo fees, which I'll grant is a not great area right now). If you look at Bitcoin more as a cash replacement than a credit card replacement, then it works better, and there really is no "cash" alternative in online systems, which is fine, mostly, for consumers, but not great, mostly, for vendors. Credit ca…

>The biggest problem with adoption of Bitcoin as a spending platform is price volatility

Are you sure it's not the fact that nobody seems to be able to securely store bitcoin/other crypto, and that when your bitcoins get stolen there's zero recourse, unlike fiat currency where banks are regulated?

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#417

Post by pavel_lishin » Tue, Nov 20, 2018, 10:51 PM UTC

asdff wrote: post #412

hndamien wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The forking also seems to have had some unintended consequences of changing the use of hash power such that the main chain is more vulnerable.

It also ruined the concept. In its most innocent terms, bitcoin is for sending money to people. What happens when person A has all their wealth tied up in Bitcoin Cash #1 and person B has it all in bitcoin cash #2. What coin does person C who wants to send something to person D use? With every new coin, the argument for switching to bitcoin for transactions weakens.

I mean, that argument works for any currency. All my wealth is in US Dollars, all my cousin's wealth is in Russian rubles.

What does Person C use to send something to Person D? Whatever Person D deems as acceptable.

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#418

Post by thedeepself » Tue, Nov 20, 2018, 11:21 PM UTC

jayd16 wrote: post #338

apo wrote: post #308

Having seen four of these major wipeouts over the years, here's the pattern for this highly cyclical spectacle: 1. Nobody cares about Bitcoin. If you tell anyone you bought it, they either shrug or laugh. 2. Bitcoin refuses to die. The long-predicted technology show-stoppers never happen and the network keeps chugging. A small but dedicated group of users continues using it on a regular basis. 3. Speculators who had…

You'll notice that absent from this cycle is any kind of productive use or innovation with bitcoin. Its all cyclic hype.

money outside govts and banks, money that crosses borders, publicly verifiable tamper-proof transactions, and more. BTC has plenty of value.

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#419

Post by nothrabannosir » Tue, Nov 20, 2018, 11:57 PM UTC

pavel_lishin wrote: post #356

nothrabannosir wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not if it has to be issued in the country of residence, like mkohlmyr reported. For me that would be basically unachievable. Well, I could retake a driving test here, I guess. That’s quite a bar to clear, if you ask me.

I find it difficult to believe that a local identification card is a high bar to clear. If you live in a country, surely you have some legal status there, which implies some sort of identification, no? How long would I be able to live in London without needing a local ID card?

Welcome to the EU. You know that “freedom of movement” that everyone keeps talking about re Brexit? That’s what this is. I can live here without any limitations.

But actually getting ID, that’s not an EU matter, that’s national. So it’s bound to the UK. Here, after 5 years living here you get to apply for official residency status. 10 years; nationality. But regardless of that you can live here (until Brexit).

So, yes. I’m not making this up. I’m not trying to prove a point out of spite. This is my life, and that of every EU migrant here, that I know.

None of which could be a CB user, if that requirement is enforced.

Re: No End in Sight for Crypto Sell-Off as Bitcoin Breaches $4,250

#420

Post by hndamien » Wed, Nov 21, 2018, 12:27 AM UTC

pavel_lishin wrote: post #417

asdff wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also ruined the concept. In its most innocent terms, bitcoin is for sending money to people. What happens when person A has all their wealth tied up in Bitcoin Cash #1 and person B has it all in bitcoin cash #2. What coin does person C who wants to send something to person D use? With every new coin, the argument for switching to bitcoin for transactions weakens.

I mean, that argument works for any currency. All my wealth is in US Dollars, all my cousin's wealth is in Russian rubles. What does Person C use to send something to Person D? Whatever Person D deems as acceptable.

Hence medium of exchange, not so much store of wealth.