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Bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices have fallen sharply over the last few days

forbes.com

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Re: Bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices have fallen sharply over the last few days

#121

Post by [deleted] »

bb88 wrote: post #91
unhashable wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is another misconception. Gold can be held, yes. It also is expensive to verify, transport, and protect. This has proved problematic for holders of the past. A paper system had to be built on top of Gold, which severely diluted the value proposition as gold was confiscated and stockpiled centrally. Practically speaking, very few individuals hold gold and the utility of doing so is limited when you consider how l…

This is another misconception: >Bitcoin let’s you store $1T USD of dollars in your head, transport it anywhere in the world, and there’s not a single thing anyone else can do about it. It's amazing how easy gray matter cryptography can be broken using a cheap $5 wrench.

[deleted]

Re: Bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices have fallen sharply over the last few days

#123

Post by Ididntdothis »

unhashable wrote: post #88
Ididntdothis wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing is backing up bitcoin. Almost nobody is using it to pay for things. If bitcoin went away I don’t think the regular economy wouldn’t notice anything. Only speculators would notice.

Totally. Bitcoin is not a medium of exchange (cash). It’s not useful for payments. Bitcoin is currently a bet that digital scarcity will bring back the concept of saving (SoV) so that people don’t have to invest in equities just to protect their purchasing power. Only the people making this bet will be affected if Bitcoin fails. The monetary system will keep moving forward unaffected. If Bitcoin succeeds, eventually…

“Only the people making this bet will be affected if Bitcoin fails”

Which means that it’s just a gamble of some insiders.

Re: Bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices have fallen sharply over the last few days

#125

Post by raverbashing »

unhashable wrote: post #33
glofish wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

bitcoin is not really "there" the same way as gold is. The whole point of gold is that it is a tangible asset. You can hold gold in your pocket or under your mattress and it costs nothing to store it. You can't prove you have bitcoin if you don't have internet access for example. You can't have bitcoin if miners don't run their nodes. Basically, you are depending on a resource in faraway lands to let you "own" what y…

This is another misconception. Gold can be held, yes. It also is expensive to verify, transport, and protect. This has proved problematic for holders of the past. A paper system had to be built on top of Gold, which severely diluted the value proposition as gold was confiscated and stockpiled centrally. Practically speaking, very few individuals hold gold and the utility of doing so is limited when you consider how l…

Yes I'm sure a 1T transaction in bitcoins won't trigger any suspicion by anyone and will not cause people to try and track the authors of the transaction.

I'm also sure trying to cash that out is going to be as easy as taking money out of an ATM

Unless you "cash out" in USDT (tether) or something similarly fake

Re: Bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices have fallen sharply over the last few days

#126

Post by gwbas1c »

jaltekruse wrote: post #48

I still assume it is possible and likely that something like cryptocurrency will eventually become incredibly valuable, but I see that happening only when technical and social hurdles are overcome to make it as widespread and scalable as the current credit card system for everyday transactions. Unfortunately for current cryptocurrencies, they just don't have what it takes to compete with decades of trust to get every…

> I still assume it is possible and likely that something like cryptocurrency will eventually become incredibly valuable

Probably, but whatever it is, it won't be Bitcoin and some magic software updates won't make your Bitcoins turn into whatever cryptocurrency-ish thing wins.

The other thing to remember is that cash doesn't appreciate in value. (In the US, we typically have 4% inflation every year.) If a cryptocurrency is going to work for day-to-day commerce, its value needs to be rather steady. (Either low inflation or low deflation.) This means you can't just stick a bunch of cryptocurrency in your wallet and expect it to make you rich overnight.

(Note: We don't have a lot of experience with deflation as "normal" in modern economies, so if crypocurrency comes with low deflation, like we have low inflation, we'll all have to adjust our expectations with money.)

Re: Bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices have fallen sharply over the last few days

#127

Post by gwbas1c »

adventured wrote: post #57
sna1l wrote: post #20

Bitcoin market is like the regular equities market...without the halting capabilities

> Bitcoin market is like the regular equities market No it's not. The Bitcoin market is the exact opposite: it's unnecessary and of little consequential tangible value to the real economy. The regular equity markets have a large share of the productive output of nations behind them, including the employment and taxation that goes with that. Companies that actually produce goods and services. In many cases goods and s…

> It could disappear tomorrow and other than the lost capital trapped in it, it wouldn't matter in a meaningful way; and it wouldn't matter at all to the average person.

That's because Bitcoin is a zero-sum game. No value is created or lost, it's basically just a big game of poker.

Re: Bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices have fallen sharply over the last few days

#128

Post by d-d »

It will be interesting seeing how cryptocurrency performs during and after worldwide panic surrounding the coronavirus, the fed printing a trillion USD and so forth.

I was astonished when Bitcoin rose above $30 so calling it a "crash" at $6,000 might be somewhat accurate short-term, but anything over $0.00 for randomized bits on a hard drive will always seem bananas to me.

Re: Bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices have fallen sharply over the last few days

#129

Post by sparkie »

shiado wrote: post #43

I have made a large amount of money trading cryptocurrency over the years. This correlation is spurious at best. These stories are so wrong it is hilarious. The price action of crypto is unlike any other market. What we have seen over the last month is massive legs down caused by whales flooding the market at specific times. These bart patterns are so obvious I can't believe people can't draw these incredibly easy to…

Ok, this is completely silly. No miners have the luxury of the price dropping, as it could make all of them insolvent. They depend on Bitcoin's exchange rate increasing so that the revenue generated from the block reward exceeds the cost of electricity to run the miners. They're not working large enough profit margins to take such risks.

It's non-workable anyway. If any miner has to drop out of the race, they still have an inventory of mining equipment to auction off. The highest bidder is simply going to put that equipment to reuse immediately, so there will be no meaningful reduction in overall hash rate. Any miner who attempted to cause the price of bitcoin to slump has simply shot themselves in the foot.

If the dollar cost of Bitcoin does not continue to increase sufficiently over time, Bitcoin is dead and every businessman who took out loans to buy mining equipment is going to default.

Re: Bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices have fallen sharply over the last few days

#130

Post by JTon »

d-d wrote: post #128

It will be interesting seeing how cryptocurrency performs during and after worldwide panic surrounding the coronavirus, the fed printing a trillion USD and so forth. I was astonished when Bitcoin rose above $30 so calling it a "crash" at $6,000 might be somewhat accurate short-term, but anything over $0.00 for randomized bits on a hard drive will always seem bananas to me.

Europeans of old thought the same when they saw the Chinese using paper money as a medium of exchange :) I do understand your point though
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