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CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

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Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#231
post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can you not see what the importance of this new infrastructure? I come here and read these comments and am just at a loss for words at this point. Forget Bitcoin and look at Ethereum. This tech is so powerful I am in some ways scared of it and you call it a fad. The gulf between our interpretations drops my jaw to the floor :)

Can you name some use cases that aren’t trading crypto derivatives or crypto debt? Ethereum is certainly more interesting than Bitcoin but the use cases so far seem to be more speculation.

One use case:

Buying something without a credit card online.

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#232
post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can simplify this even more. Open an InteractiveBrokers margin account and request a debit card. Fund the account, purchase gold (futures, GLD, whatever) and spend on your IBKR debit card. This will pull from your margin. Your margin interest is ~1% and tax deductible. Settle up your account as you see fit.

I use IBKR margin, but didn't realize it was tax deductible!? Thanks for the tip!

Yes, you can use it to offset capital gains. Also, depending on your largesse, consider tax-aware borrowing. [1]

[1] https://csq.com/2018/04/geoffrey-berlin-private-wealth-tax-a...

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#233
post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does that mean? How does "crypto" guarantee that someone has the reserves necessary to back the stable coin in circulation? Whenever cryptocurrency interacts with the "real" world, you're trusting someone to verify that the real world state corresponds to the state recorded in the blockchain. I have yet to see a satisfactory solution for this. You're also trusting someone to verify that all this software is free…

Backed by crypto means for every stablecoin worth 1 USD someone has locked away for example 1.5 USD in crypto. Whoever locked the crypto away and created the stable coin needs to buy it back to unlock the crypto again. If the price of the stabelcoin would drop below 1 USD everyone who created them and sold them would make a profit buying it back lower. This essentially makes the coin stable. I'm not going into furthe…

>Backed by crypto means for every stablecoin worth 1 USD someone has locked away for example 1.5 USD in crypto.

In order to do that, someone would need to match every USD coming from you with 0.5 USD from their own pocket.

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Take crypto out of the equation, what are the implications of the fed issuing a programmable currency? Many financial services would become obsolete. What do I need a stock broker for? What do I need a bank for? You have Wall St and other sophisticated investors profiteering and competing against the general public, devaluing our purchasing power, making leveraged trades because they know the public will hold the bag…

If the fed did a cryptocurrency, it would be backed by the full might of the US Government — and all the things that the government can do if it decides to print more money. This also includes military and police powers. Which brings me to the other point: currencies are governed at both ends; at issuance and at use. If you use a crypto that’s not approved, the government can simply arrest you for using one of its co…

I agree. That's why China is doing it.

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#235

Tangentially related. Cryptocurrency is just a side effect of blockchain. Once blockchain technology matures and if one day we see blockchain to store files and blockchain to run cloud services, then will the US government censor it as well? If they will, how? It is practically impossible. You can upload anything there, including child porn, instructions on making bombs, videos that contain brainwashing propaganda fo…

My stance is: forget about this "blockchain" rhetoric thing. What was interesting for cryptocurrencies was the ability of producing scarce, unique, digital assets. That was groundbreaking. Then other cryptocurrencies expanded on that. Write only data structures themselves are not new and not that valuable on their own. But the interesting thing is the decentralized, trustless structures it enables. And just pinning t…

Give me a blockchain that isn't inherently structured like MLM-Ponzi schemes (and unbiased people who use it not claiming the contrary) and then we're talking.

Likewise, I'd suggest that pinning the problems you suggest are solved with "decentralized, trustless structures" - ignores the fact of reality, the physical world and real trust networks, centralized organizations, that reflect the state of society; Bitcoin et al may be a bridge but attempting to circumvent and ignore the positives of institutions is a bad idea.

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#236
post #231
post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you name some use cases that aren’t trading crypto derivatives or crypto debt? Ethereum is certainly more interesting than Bitcoin but the use cases so far seem to be more speculation.

One use case: Buying something without a credit card online.

Finally, I can purchase something without recourse in the event that I'm defrauded.

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#237
post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hell, Satoshi Nakamoto probably is the NSA.

Bingo. I’ve always thought it was the NSA, CIA, or maybe UK or Israel but I doubt the latter two. Especially since Satoshi’s wallet is so large and hasn’t moved. Bitcoin has to make it much easier for 3 letter type agencies to follow money.

Unfortunately it's almost definitely a smart nerd (using this as a compliment here) who passed away.

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#238

Tangentially related. Cryptocurrency is just a side effect of blockchain. Once blockchain technology matures and if one day we see blockchain to store files and blockchain to run cloud services, then will the US government censor it as well? If they will, how? It is practically impossible. You can upload anything there, including child porn, instructions on making bombs, videos that contain brainwashing propaganda fo…

> if one day we see blockchain to store files and blockchain to run cloud services As a user of both types of services, I don't see what bringing them to the blockchain would do for me.

Like, uncensored AWS? You are free to run your own Parler without getting booted from AWS?

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#239

Instead of killing it by banning it, I suspect they could kill it by buying it. If the Fed wanted to "invest" in Bitcoin, it would kill it by soaking up liquidity and creating a liquidity-squeeze. Because the amount in circulation is fixed, it wouldn't have to buy all of the Bitcoin -- just enough to kill any utility. This is a downside of an asset with a fixed quantity. Once the community discovered the liquidity-sq…

The FBI did once own a significant amount of Bitcoin after busting the Silk Road, but auctioned most of it off.

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#240
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PoS is replacing PoW at scale. It's time for new arguments.

When is it replacing PoW? I've heard this promise for years now. Time for new rebuttals.

Beacon chain is live with 100k validators. Merge is due late 2021 Sharding 12 months from now
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