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Coinbase mafia shows how tight a circle holds sway over Bitcoin

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Re: Coinbase mafia shows how tight a circle holds sway over Bitcoin

#71

Post by rchaud »

Traster wrote: post #21

It is kind of funny that exchanges have become so successful for Bitcoin- since they lose 100% of the stuff that made BTC attractive in the first place. They’re centralised, regulated and transactions don’t even go on the blockchain. The result is that the number 1 way people get into Bitcoin is through a mechanism that has none of the attributes of Bitcoin.

> It is kind of funny that exchanges have become so successful for Bitcoin

When everyone's prospecting for gold, sell shovels.

Re: Coinbase mafia shows how tight a circle holds sway over Bitcoin

#72

Post by iso1210 »

WJW wrote: post #42
shawnz wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Making it easier to speculate should in theory decrease volatility and make market manipulation harder, since having more speculators should mean that the price is driven to its fair value more quickly.

This gets back to the "gambling vs investing" debate we had on the front page yesterday. What is the fair value of bitcoin? It will never provide dividends or other types of future cashflows, so that aspect of its fair value is zero. The remaining part is purely speculative in that it is based on what other people will pay for it. It is not at all clear to me that having more (relatively uninformed) speculators will…

> What is the fair value of bitcoin? It will never provide dividends or other types of future cashflows, so that aspect of its fair value is zero. The remaining part is purely speculative in that it is based on what other people will pay for it.

Do Swiss Franks pay dividends or other types of cashflows? If I have 50,000 CHF in a box in my cupboard, what value is it beyond a small amount of fuel to burn? At some point I will hope someone (perhaps someone in Switzerland) will exchange something I want for those pieces of paper.

On the other hand the Swiss Government could decide to make the money almost worthless, practically overnight (India did this with Rupees), by removing the main purpose of having the notes.

Re: Coinbase mafia shows how tight a circle holds sway over Bitcoin

#73

Post by paulryanrogers »

asdev wrote: post #65

unrelated comment: it's crazy how anti crypto and anti blockchain HN is for being a tech community

Is it? Would it be crazy how anti-homeopathy a medical forum could be?

Perhaps a tech savvy community is more aware of the flaws of BTC, and therefore more bearish on it's prospects.

Re: Coinbase mafia shows how tight a circle holds sway over Bitcoin

#75

Post by rchaud »

asdev wrote: post #65

unrelated comment: it's crazy how anti crypto and anti blockchain HN is for being a tech community

It may be because cryptocurrencies in their present state represent little other than a electricity-hungry 'store of value' rather than its considerably loftier original goals.

Re: Coinbase mafia shows how tight a circle holds sway over Bitcoin

#76

Post by 177tcca »

viraptor wrote: post #55
vbezhenar wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. I can buy bitcoins on localbitcoins and it's pretty decentralized.

The fact you got to the localbitcoins service and tell it who you do the exchange with makes it at least a centralised place of information.

So basically the consumer tech hasn't yet caught up with the technology, is what you're saying?

Once there are enough people buying and selling for cash, you'll just need to find an old payphone, or some other known meeting place, if popular technical means are legislated away.

Re: Coinbase mafia shows how tight a circle holds sway over Bitcoin

#77

Post by albntomat0 »

iso1210 wrote: post #72
WJW wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This gets back to the "gambling vs investing" debate we had on the front page yesterday. What is the fair value of bitcoin? It will never provide dividends or other types of future cashflows, so that aspect of its fair value is zero. The remaining part is purely speculative in that it is based on what other people will pay for it. It is not at all clear to me that having more (relatively uninformed) speculators will…

> What is the fair value of bitcoin? It will never provide dividends or other types of future cashflows, so that aspect of its fair value is zero. The remaining part is purely speculative in that it is based on what other people will pay for it. Do Swiss Franks pay dividends or other types of cashflows? If I have 50,000 CHF in a box in my cupboard, what value is it beyond a small amount of fuel to burn? At some point…

> Do Swiss Franks pay dividends or other types of cashflows?

There is consistent demand by the Swiss government, in the form of tax collection.

Re: Coinbase mafia shows how tight a circle holds sway over Bitcoin

#78

Post by 177tcca »

random5634 wrote: post #66
dmingod666 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are repeating my point.. My point was, why do you want to attribute gender to things where it isn't directly relevant.. How does the author know the gender breakdown of a currency where we can't even figure out who the person behind the bitcoin address is...

"Hey guys, want to get coffee" - is a historically common (and yes, now bad way) of asking if a group of folks, of any gender, want to get coffee. The insistence that someone is focusing on genital's and have a pervasion when asking this really does seem like a projection on the part of the folks making that claim, and I have noticed the genitals things come up over and over now in this context - it seriously is WEIR…

Texans had "y'all" right the entire time.

Re: Coinbase mafia shows how tight a circle holds sway over Bitcoin

#79

Post by 177tcca »

rchaud wrote: post #75
asdev wrote: post #65

unrelated comment: it's crazy how anti crypto and anti blockchain HN is for being a tech community

It may be because cryptocurrencies in their present state represent little other than a electricity-hungry 'store of value' rather than its considerably loftier original goals.

"Represent" in the public and media mind share.

What the technology actually is capable of, and is doing today, these are different things.

Re: Coinbase mafia shows how tight a circle holds sway over Bitcoin

#80

Post by dmitriid »

iso1210 wrote: post #72
WJW wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This gets back to the "gambling vs investing" debate we had on the front page yesterday. What is the fair value of bitcoin? It will never provide dividends or other types of future cashflows, so that aspect of its fair value is zero. The remaining part is purely speculative in that it is based on what other people will pay for it. It is not at all clear to me that having more (relatively uninformed) speculators will…

> What is the fair value of bitcoin? It will never provide dividends or other types of future cashflows, so that aspect of its fair value is zero. The remaining part is purely speculative in that it is based on what other people will pay for it. Do Swiss Franks pay dividends or other types of cashflows? If I have 50,000 CHF in a box in my cupboard, what value is it beyond a small amount of fuel to burn? At some point…

> If I have 50,000 CHF in a box in my cupboard, what value is it beyond a small amount of fuel to burn?

You are so close to understanding the true value of bitcoin.

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