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Tether: The Story So Far

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Re: Tether: The Story So Far

#51

Post by semiotagonal »

pg_bot wrote: post #28

Cryptocurrencies are a religion. I find the idea that anyone would want to hold a large amount of any currency idle for a long period of time baffling. Yet this is the premise that so many people who are speculating in cryptocurrency "investments" have bought into. Then you add on top of that terrible user experience, slow transaction times, and lack of any theft protection and I don't understand why any sane person…

I don't see how there is ever going to be wide adoption of a currency that is currently held in its entirety by something like 0.2% of the population, and claims to be impossible to expropriate.

When people see that kind of concentration of wealth, expropriation is a plus. Expropriation is how it gets redistributed. Nobody is going to want to make a bunch of early-adopting HODLers rich without knowing how to take most of their money as part of the bargain.

Re: Tether: The Story So Far

#52

Post by cwyers »

kemonocode wrote: post #50

While I do believe Tether is pretty sketchy and I don't trust any so-called "stablecoin", it's also pretty clear the author has an ax to grind and has had for a while. Funny how every time people say it's so easy to prove Tether's frailty, they say there's way too much counterparty risk in shorting Tether. Shorting a scam should be a sure bet, but it has yet to happen. So, buyer beware.

Why are you dismissing counterparty risk so quickly? The failure rate of Bitcoin exchanges is _high_.

Re: Tether: The Story So Far

#53

Post by cwyers »

Redoubts wrote: post #39
nostrademons wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, people have been saying that the Tether stuff is super shady and just waiting for the bubble to pop for the better part of 3 years. It's very much been an open secret.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-origin-of-the-phrase-I-am-...

Yeah, I think people are missing the joke here.

Re: Tether: The Story So Far

#54

Post by ur-whale »

> Tether has, in the words of Bitfinex CFO Giancarlo Devasini, “banked like criminals.”

And no wonder.

When the entire incumbent financial system is designed to treat innovation and disruption like a virus, the only way to make it through is to bend the rules.

The financial industry is, by virtue of being the richest, the most entrenched money skimming operation ever devised by man.

No way ever will they let newcomers, however nimble and innovative (and good for the end customer) grab a slice of the pie.

And of course, the usual "think of the children" (aka KYC and AML) argument will be used, along with every other propaganda tool available to smash the irritating newcomer into oblivion.

Re: Tether: The Story So Far

#55

Post by throwawayhhakdl »

ur-whale wrote: post #54

> Tether has, in the words of Bitfinex CFO Giancarlo Devasini, “banked like criminals.” And no wonder. When the entire incumbent financial system is designed to treat innovation and disruption like a virus, the only way to make it through is to bend the rules. The financial industry is, by virtue of being the richest, the most entrenched money skimming operation ever devised by man. No way ever will they let newcomer…

X is bad therefore !X is good

Re: Tether: The Story So Far

#56

Post by [deleted] »

spurdoman77 wrote: post #36
gamblor956 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kraken's owners have ties with/overlap with Tether's owners. There is no wholly or even just meaningfully independent platform on which you can actually short Tether.

Can you provide source for the claim? AFAIK kraken is run by Jesse Powell in the US and it is totallt separate company from finex/tether.

[deleted]

Re: Tether: The Story So Far

#57

Post by aazaa »

> The dominant use case for cryptocurrency is speculation. Speculators want to put value into the system, somehow have it become greater, and then take more value out of the system than they put in.

This chestnut gets trotted out pretty regularly. What it ignores is the economic activity, largely untraceable, relating to payments outside of the US regulated financial system.

Remember the ongoing problem in the US with blatant civil asset forfeiture abuses?

https://www.aclu.org/issues/criminal-law-reform/reforming-po...

Remember how the Department of Justice has deputized every financial institution in the US (and many outside of the US) as agents in the ridiculously ineffective wars on terror and drugs through AML/KYC regulations? Remember how that turns us all into subjects of an ongoing constitutional crisis, relegating 4th Amendment to historical footnote status? All for the sake of security theater.

These are the things that the article (and countless others) seem to ignore when discussing Bitcoin use cases.

Re: Tether: The Story So Far

#58

Post by ur-whale »

zaphar wrote: post #47
mettamage wrote: post #23

> The dominant use case for cryptocurrency is speculation. Speculators want to put value into the system, somehow have it become greater, and then take more value out of the system than they put in. Don't forget that another relevant use case is anonimized payments. Let's say you deal with weapons. A good crypto could help. Let's say you sell porn videos: in some cases, one wants to pay with crypto because they don't…

That use case is currently comparatively vanishingly small and no where near large enough to explain Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies current values. Speculation isn't just the dominant use case. It's the overwhelmingly dominant use case.

IMO, speculation isn't the dominant use case for Bitcoin is store of value (not claiming it's small).

With a major, major recession looming, with negative interest rates, and at a time where owning govt debt instrument actually costs you, where will you park your wealth?

Well, parking your wealth in Bitcoin starts to sound like a really good idea:

    - in spite of the crazy volatility: if you average out Bitcoin value over - say - a 2 years window, it's a pretty safe bet.


    - it also happens to be pretty hard for governments to get their grubby little paws on your Bitcoin stash (short of torturing the password to your private keys out of you).

    - it can be moved and spent quasi-instantly anywhere in the world, so no border headaches.

    - no other financial instrument has the dual property of being limited in supply *and* infinitely divisible (or almost). Most people focus all their mental energy on the first and completely avoid thinking about the second.

Re: Tether: The Story So Far

#59

Post by ur-whale »

semiotagonal wrote: post #51
pg_bot wrote: post #28

Cryptocurrencies are a religion. I find the idea that anyone would want to hold a large amount of any currency idle for a long period of time baffling. Yet this is the premise that so many people who are speculating in cryptocurrency "investments" have bought into. Then you add on top of that terrible user experience, slow transaction times, and lack of any theft protection and I don't understand why any sane person…

I don't see how there is ever going to be wide adoption of a currency that is currently held in its entirety by something like 0.2% of the population, and claims to be impossible to expropriate. When people see that kind of concentration of wealth, expropriation is a plus . Expropriation is how it gets redistributed. Nobody is going to want to make a bunch of early-adopting HODLers rich without knowing how to take mo…

I have never heard the lament of the no-coiner[1][2] put together so eloquently. You should have someone write music to these lyrics, you'd make a killing.

[1] https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nocoiner

[2] https://www.coindesk.com/the-problem-with-nocoiners

Re: Tether: The Story So Far

#60

Post by al2o3cr »

aazaa wrote: post #57

> The dominant use case for cryptocurrency is speculation. Speculators want to put value into the system, somehow have it become greater, and then take more value out of the system than they put in. This chestnut gets trotted out pretty regularly. What it ignores is the economic activity, largely untraceable, relating to payments outside of the US regulated financial system. Remember the ongoing problem in the US wit…

Not sure if "hey, it's not JUST for speculation it's good for criming too!" is much of an argument, but you do you.
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