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Bitcoin Price Hits All-Time High of $19,786, Topping 2017 Record

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171–180 of 263 posts

Re: Bitcoin Price Hits All-Time High of $19,786, Topping 2017 Record

#171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ill grant you socialized cost of block reward is contentious and probably a distraction, though I personally stand by it. I’d argue your friends have simply deferred the conversion fee back to fiat, but I digress. There may be times when it’s less expensive, although it is also riskier, just ask the dude who lost $400K to the Quadriaga collapse.

Anyone who loses their money when an exchange collapses has not lost bitcoin, they already spent that bitcoin on a bitcoin-denominated-receivable and then lost that receivable.

Yeah and anybody who loses their money on the stock exchange, already spent that money on a security and then the security lost value. What's the difference?

Re: Bitcoin Price Hits All-Time High of $19,786, Topping 2017 Record

#172

It missed breaking the all time high on most exchanges, such as Coinbase Pro. There the all time high from 2017 was $19,892 and the highest price so far today was $19,873. If it breaks over $20k I expect a new wave of publicity that will drive the price higher, as has happened in the past. Now it is far more accessible as an impulse buy with PayPal, Robinhood, Cash app, etc offering instant purchases.

Look at the bitcoin CME futures. The all time open was 20650, and went straight down from there. Closing over that is key for sustained upside

Re: Bitcoin Price Hits All-Time High of $19,786, Topping 2017 Record

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> why spend something now when you can spend less for the same thing later That is nonsense. Sadly by repeating it enough people have started to actually believe it, and repeat it without looking at the evidence of the real world. A cheap pair of jeans, adjusted for inflation was ~$150 in 1980. Now you can get one for $10. Did no one wore jeans for 40 years? Meat, it has never been so cheap IN HISTORY to buy meat, an…

Those things got cheaper because of advances in supply chains and technology. I mean you can just do the simple mathematics. Suppose there are 100 utility units of wealth in the world - machinery, homes, anything tangible to improve lives - and 100 units of currency to match. Through human labour we produce another 100 utility units. Now each unit of currency can provide me 2 utility units. This is just a system that…

> Those things got cheaper because of advances in supply chains and technology.

That is why things get cheaper all the time, yes.

> Why in the world would I ever loan to a small business if I could see gains just by holding the money?

The same reason you do now, which is the only reason you ever lend money: by lending it (to someone more productive than yourself of course) you gain more.

Re: Bitcoin Price Hits All-Time High of $19,786, Topping 2017 Record

#174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s plenty of ways. Consider TransferWise. They generally charge 0.8% for USD-CAD and 0% for USD-INR. Pretty cheap. InteractiveBrokers allows you to exchange at market rates on the multi trillion dollar forex market for 2/10ths of a basis point ($20 per million). You’re also leaving out two steps in your calculus that really tilt the scales. You’re not paid in Bitcoin and your recipient cannot spent Bitcoin, ther…

Moving $10,000 USD to CAD on the blockchain is roughly $399 not $6. This is so disingenuous it's not even funny. There are so many countries that US residents can't send to without going through a middleman, which takes a cut. Bitcoin isn't for sending money to CAD, which of course you can do. It really shines to sending money to places that don't have nearly as much financial infrastructure. A regular wire transfer…

(1) https://transferwise.com/help/articles/2571942/what-countrie...

(2) the countries without infrastructure generally can’t afford to be spending even $6 on a transaction. Venezuela’s minimum wage is $2 per month.

(3) Bitcoin isn't for sending money to CAD, which of course you can do.

Funny how it’s always not for the thing I point out it doesn’t work for haha. Nobody can quite figure out what it is for except speculation and crime.

Re: Bitcoin Price Hits All-Time High of $19,786, Topping 2017 Record

#175
post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nonsense. Tether has never been redeemed, and even if it could be redeemed, there is no possible way that they could cover the balance of issued tethers. It’s the mother of all Ponzi schemes, clearly, and is definitely going to implode in the next big pullback.

>Tether has never been redeemed Why is this relevant when you can withdraw tethers for USD at any participating exchange? Or are you saying that None of the exchanges that support tether (eg. bitfinex) has never fulfilled a withdraw? >It’s the mother of all Ponzi schemes, clearly, and is definitely going to implode in the next big pullback. Sounds like a great way to make a lot of money. Tether is currently trading 1…

Why is it relevant? Really? It’s relevant because as soon as it’s clear the emperor has no clothes you wont be able to redeem it at any exchanges because it’s garbage.

> Sounds like a great way to make a lot of money. Tether is currently trading 1:1 with USD (yes, even at exchanges that offer real USD). It should be easy to short-sell a bunch of tether, and buy it back when in collapses. And unlike short-selling stocks, your downside should be relatively low as tethers can't realistically go above their current price.

All crypto exchanges are rigged casinos. The only way to win is not to play.

Tether absolutely swings up and down depending on how many people are fleeing into or out of cryptos at any given moment. We’ve seen like +5-7% and -20%. That’s enough to blow away any leveraged position.

Finally, of course, you neglect counterparty risk. I have to put up collateral on this short which any of these exchanges could simply run for the hills with, as they do, regularly. Seriously, who lets you short Tether except for Bitfinex - and what will they pay you out in, more Tether? They don’t have a bank account. That’s why they invented Tether.

Re: Bitcoin Price Hits All-Time High of $19,786, Topping 2017 Record

#176

Bitcoin and other compute-intensive cryptocurrencies should be banned or taxed so heavily that it's financially infeasible to use them. The amount of energy being wasted (reportedly more than seven nuclear power plants worth) on what is essentially an unproductive project is quite absurd. In a world where we should all be increasingly concerned about the looming climate catastrophe, it's wholly irresponsible for Bitc…

When I see those kind of subjective opinions getting popular, I'm glad that projects like bitcoin exists. It's really a political topic, as much as economical or tech.

Re: Bitcoin Price Hits All-Time High of $19,786, Topping 2017 Record

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone who loses their money when an exchange collapses has not lost bitcoin, they already spent that bitcoin on a bitcoin-denominated-receivable and then lost that receivable.

Yeah and anybody who loses their money on the stock exchange, already spent that money on a security and then the security lost value. What's the difference?

The GP seems to be implying that using bitcoin is risky, which is true, but as evidence cites someone who lost money while not holding bitcoin. I'm sure people also lost CAD they had been storing in Quadriga; when you put money into an uninsured bank/exchange you might lose it, losing it is not evidence that bitcoin itself is risky.

Re: Bitcoin Price Hits All-Time High of $19,786, Topping 2017 Record

#178

Bitcoin and other compute-intensive cryptocurrencies should be banned or taxed so heavily that it's financially infeasible to use them. The amount of energy being wasted (reportedly more than seven nuclear power plants worth) on what is essentially an unproductive project is quite absurd. In a world where we should all be increasingly concerned about the looming climate catastrophe, it's wholly irresponsible for Bitc…

IMO the space to watch in cryptocurrencies is distributed storage. After storage is solved we might start to see distributed compute at prices below what data centers cost.

Sia currently beats S3 at 1/6th the price.

Re: Bitcoin Price Hits All-Time High of $19,786, Topping 2017 Record

#179
post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nonsense. Tether has never been redeemed, and even if it could be redeemed, there is no possible way that they could cover the balance of issued tethers. It’s the mother of all Ponzi schemes, clearly, and is definitely going to implode in the next big pullback.

These accusations against Tether are very outdated. Read Matt Levine's take from 2019 on an ongoing lawsuit: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-04-26/things... The quintessential part is this: The New York attorney general’s filing refutes the extreme version of those doubts — Tether mostly had the dollars — but it is nonetheless a wild ride that alleges that Tether’s backing might not be as good as it c…

That article was written $16 billion imaginary dollars ago. Things move fast in the BVI.

Re: Bitcoin Price Hits All-Time High of $19,786, Topping 2017 Record

#180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin isn’t an asset class

Didnt say so but if we compare stocks to cryptos i think there is a clear winner

The parent specifically referred to Bitcoin. And I disagree. The founder shares of any big company have a par value of $0.0001 give or take so any company founders at for instance Uber would have seen the same gains or more.
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