291–300 of 517 posts
question for HN. If tether has been so successful at avoiding scrutiny while also making money, why is it that we don't see more tethers? It seems like a very easy way to make money.. given the authorities are asleep at the wheel ?
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> They’ve also spread an idea that money printing is the singular source of inflation, which isn’t true at all. Bitcoin, for example, is an inflating asset due to hype-driven demand. Uh, I'm very much of the opinion that your average BTC fan isn't exactly educated about macroeconomics, but this sentence makes absolutely no sense. Inflation isn't a thing that happens to a currency, it's a thing that happens to an econ…
Inflation can happen to assets, and PragmaticPulp is analyzing Bitcoin as an asset, not a currency. Given that even when you buy stuff with BTC, you're buying a product or service denominated in USD, their analysis is generally more correct than arguing that Bitcoin should be analyzed as a currency.
Actually PragmaticPulp was doing both.
In the comment I quoted, they stated:
> They’ve also spread an idea that money printing is the singular source of inflation, which isn’t true at all.
This is specifically referring to currency inflation.
They then went on to say:
> Bitcoin, for example, is an inflating asset due to hype-driven demand.
As you say, this is asset inflation.
These should not be compared like this, which is why I noted that "this sentence makes absolutely no sense." I stand by that statement.
I'm waiting patiently for the whole Tether printing scheme to fall and crush to finally purchase Bitcoin / Ether. However I'm not viewing them as inflation hedges so long as Bitfinex / etc. are allowed to continue with their obvious money printing scheme. When most crypto trading volume is traded at trustworthy exchanges which actually hold dollars as much as they say they do, I'll trust $/BTC to be a fair market. It…
Cryptocurrency isn’t the only way to escape USD inflation. Investors have been investing to avoid inflation long before Bitcoin was invented. Investing in virtually any asset other than cash will, almost by definition, shield you from inflation. Inflation is an increase in asset prices, resulted in reduced buying power. You only need to invest in assets (stocks for example) and minimize holdings in cash if your goal…
Bitcoin will probably always outshine the other "just coins" because it was the first. Why get another coin if this one works fine for monetary transactions?
Similarly with the functional ones: Ethereum will probably always outshine the other "Global Turing Machines" because it was the first. We don't really need another one—assuming it can adapt to changes in efficiency with hard-forks as needed.
The rest of them really ought to provide another service underneath to become valuable.
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ya that is wrong. not sure where coinbase is getting their data from. keep in mind the total crypto market cap is 1.5 triilion. so tether alone doing 200b is an absurd statement. Total daily volume across all exchanges is only just getting to 50b these days
“Every exchange and crypto market reporting Tether volume is wrong.” Some person on the internet, with no source to back the claim.
I've been following Tether for quite a long time. I have no absolute proof it is a scam but the writing is on the wall. Here are some facts. - The current Market Cap of USDT is 34 Billion Dollars. It was 4B this time last year. Since the value is pegged this means there has been an influx of cash of 30 B into this shady company in the last year alone. Who invested this money? We have no idea since Tether doesn't disc…
There is an easy way. Swap USDT to USDC on Curve. Deposit USDC on Coinbase. Convert USDC to USD on Coinbase. Withdraw USD.
I'm not saying I disagree with your overall thesis. But this specific point makes it sound like USDT is some sort of roach motel ("you can get in, but you can't get out"). That's not true, it's fairly easy to get back to USD at low cost. The fact that USDT is trading at near parity with USDC on Curve indicates that most of the market doesn't perceive a risk.
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It’s more important than that. Cryptocurrency proponents have been trying to downplay the Tether situation for years. One of the common dismissals was the idea that if what Tether was doing was truly fraudulent, some government institution would step in to intervene. Proponents pointed to the lack of intervention as a signal that Tether was operating above board. This also reveals new facts and numbers about the scal…
I don't disagree that Tether is likely a big fraud, but my point is that even the regulated financial system is full of questionable accounting and long-running, undiscovered fraud. Remember Bernie Madoff? His fraud lasted 17 years before falling apart. It would be nice if Tether eventually falls apart too, but the world will never run out of fraudsters and hucksters.
Bernie Madoff's scheme fell apart because it was centralized, and so, once you arrested Madoff, it was over. The end.
There's no one at the center of Bitcoin. There are big players, sure, but they are all replaceable. It's happened before and it will happen again. And each time one exchange or big player is arrested, shut down, or slinks away having stolen enough money to sate themselves, someone new can seamlessly slip in and start hyping Bitcoin and taking a percentage from the new rubes without missing a beat.
I honestly don't think it will ever go away, completely, for good, no matter how often it booms and busts. When I'm in a nursing home I'm going to be getting calls from boiler rooms trying to convince me to move my retirement savings into Bitcoin, I'm convinced.
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So invest in toilet paper?
Tuna cans. The $/volume ratio of toilet paper is horrible, and in case of a real big emergency the other end is more important.
Any kind of dry bulk food will also work as long as you take proper measures to keep mold and insects out. Bonus points if you can also keep oxygen out. (Grains often contain a surprisingly large amount of lipids that can go rancid.) In the kind of emergency where you'd be seriously worried about the "other end", you could very well exchange a bag of rice or sugar for a handgun or a bottle of motor oil.
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ya that is wrong. not sure where coinbase is getting their data from. keep in mind the total crypto market cap is 1.5 triilion. so tether alone doing 200b is an absurd statement. Total daily volume across all exchanges is only just getting to 50b these days
“Every exchange and crypto market reporting Tether volume is wrong.” Some person on the internet, with no source to back the claim.
Fake volume related to a recent Tether piece in the WSJ: https://medium.com/@nic__carter/assessing-bitcoins-liquidity...
Bitwise presentation to the SEC regarding fake volume among exchanges: https://www.sec.gov/comments/sr-nysearca-2019-01/srnysearca2...
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It is supremely ironic that we’re supposed to believe that the best way to escape money printing is to buy a cryptocurrency that was invented out of thin air, which is continuously mined (during most of our lifetimes) out of thin air by doing useless calculations. Or even worse, a basket of multiple crypto currencies, where the number of available crypto currencies and crypto assets grows larger every day.
BTC has been the #1 asset over the last 10 years. In many individual years it has out performed every other asset. It has this year by a large amount. At some point the dissenters will have to admit they were wrong. The reality is, BTC is here to stay and is a valuable hedge that is independent of any corporation, government, or central bank.
Maybe that means something, maybe it doesn't. If I had some way of knowing, I'd have a lot more money than I am now. It's worth remembering, though, that prices are just that: prices. Nothing more, nothing less.