Bitcoin breaks above $20k • Hacker News Board

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#161

Post by deweller » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 5:30 PM UTC

JoshTko wrote: post #121

_hdap wrote: post #15

I am NOT a fan of Bitcoin, but... Watch a real-time visualization of the global Bitcoin transaction flow, as it is happening right now: https://dailyblockchain.github.io/ Each square is a bitcoin address (like a cryptographic public key) Each graph component is a transaction. The components appear as transactions are broadcast into the bitcoin P2P network (but before they are verified and committed to the blockchain)…

1. Majority seems to be two accounts consolidating into one 2. Not a lot of interconnection

for (1), what you are seeing is a payment and a the "change" going back to a new address owned by the sender. This is a very common pattern of bitcoin use.

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#162

Post by tengbretson » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 5:30 PM UTC

NovemberWhiskey wrote: post #106

gruez wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Why is holding one Bitcoin appreciating so much faster compared to the USD? Is it because us as a society is perceiving the value of Bitcoin to appreciate (even though it’s illogical IMO to think so)? Same reason why asset (stocks, housing) prices have skyrocketed even though there's a pandemic going on: money printing.

And yet, somehow, during various other periods of money printing its value has crashed. So are you asserting this period of money printing is different, and if so how? edit Even the post facto explanations of Bitcoins price fluctuations generally do not seem to be agreed or understood.

Other periods of money printing have usually been in response to a crash in stocks, etc. In those situations the people that actually have valuable assets try to get as liquid as possible to take advantage of the extreme discount the stocks are available at.

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#163

Post by 1970-01-01 » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 5:30 PM UTC

Good thing its just a fad, will fail, is rat poison, is already dead, and will be the biggest scam ever, etc. etc.

https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoin-obituaries/

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#164

Post by iforgottherest » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 5:31 PM UTC

tempsy wrote: post #120

mrlala wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sigh. I 100% understand what you are saying but I also 100% disagree with it. This is all greed with no substance. Wealthy people and those who desire to be wealthy are doing everything they can to arbitrarily prop up something which does not really have value. And they seem to be winning- which is everything that is wrong with the world right now.

you can say the same thing about gold - it’s just a shiny rock. it’s an inflation protected asset, perhaps even more so than gold since there’s a known quantity of it that will never change.

When the price of gold crashes, at least you have a piece of gold. When bitcoin crashes, what do you have?

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#165

Post by JxLS-cpgbe0 » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 5:31 PM UTC

three_seagrass wrote: post #146

JxLS-cpgbe0 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ETFs are a hobby?

>ETFs are a hobby? Bitcoin is not a bundle of securities, nor is an ETF a currency. Why would you confuse the two?

I didn't. There are Bitcoin ETFs now and CME Bitcoin Futures now, as examples of institutional money invested that wasn't in 2017. Whales are holding, not trading, net inflow to NA is nothing like 2017.

Just based on a hobby currency?

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#166

Post by ad404b8a372f2b9 » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 5:32 PM UTC

_hdap wrote: post #15

I am NOT a fan of Bitcoin, but... Watch a real-time visualization of the global Bitcoin transaction flow, as it is happening right now: https://dailyblockchain.github.io/ Each square is a bitcoin address (like a cryptographic public key) Each graph component is a transaction. The components appear as transactions are broadcast into the bitcoin P2P network (but before they are verified and committed to the blockchain)…

It's almost always at least between 3 addresses, 1 green to 2 reds. Is it because exchanges take a percentage of each transaction?

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#167

Post by flyGuyOnTheSly » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 5:32 PM UTC

_sm6n wrote: post #94

It's kinda sad that the pricing or market capitalization is the only thing that is being talked about in the "cryptocurrency community", instead of focussing on how the technology can be useful for society. Like for example if you look at /r/Bitcoin, there's a sidebar with "Submit text/link NOT about price", yet virtually every post is about price, even if just indirectly (Paypal joins the cryptocurrency bandwagon an…

>It's kinda sad that the pricing or market capitalization is the only thing that is being talked about in the "cryptocurrency community", instead of focussing on how the technology can be useful for society.

The serious crypto currency developers out there who are working on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Stellar, and a few others are definitely focused on how the technology can be useful for society and they have been so for years.

That's why their prices are going up (over time, not today specifically)... because a lot of people with a lot of money see the potential value of holding them.

But yes in general 99% of the "community" you see in crypto related social media spheres only cares about price and profit, I would agree with that statement.

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#168

Post by jariel » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 5:32 PM UTC

arithma wrote: post #87

Just a question, isn't all criticism against bitcoin applicable to gold? Money/Currency/Value in general can't be reduced or derived from first principles. You always have to take into account human nature, economic activity, and most unfortunately: psychology. So all criticism about how bitcoin inherently being pointless, sounds like off-tune. I want good reasons to/NOT-to buy in. First-world country citizens kind o…

There are parallels, but gold has a 5000 year incumbency. It's outlasted not only Empires, but eras. It's valued by cultures that have no relationship with one another and no common past, totally independent.

It's physical so it can't be 'cracked' and people like physical things.

It's universal in how it is understood. Bitcoin is 'well understood' by basically 0.0001% of the population arguably not even most it's traders.

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#169

Post by alex_young » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 5:32 PM UTC

I see lots of comments suggesting that BTC is a constant store of value and that it is rising in USD terms because of ‘money printing’.

If that was the case, wouldn’t we see inflation in USD prices for a basket of goods? Isn’t inflation very close to zero?

Others say they are sick of talking about BTC price and would rather focus on its utility. This makes sense, but for the same reason above it cannot happen since on a basket of goods basis BTC is deflationary. Your options if you hold it are to buy something with it today or to hold onto it for a short period of time and buy 2 things with it later.

If BTC is actually viable as a currency, shouldn’t the goal be to get it to some kind of CPI stability?

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#170

Post by louwrentius » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 5:33 PM UTC

ur-whale wrote: post #19

louwrentius wrote: post #8

I wonder where the money comes from that funds this price. I'm very afraid that people who should know better, like pension funds, start buying this crap, in search for any return. This game of musical chairs will come down eventually.

> this crap Sounds like your opinion. Not seeing much in the way of justification.

That is true.

https://louwrentius.com/cryptocurrencies-are-detrimental-to-...