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$365B wiped off cryptocurrency market after Tesla stops accepting Bitcoin

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Re: $365B wiped off cryptocurrency market after Tesla stops accepting Bitcoin

#291

Post by caeril »

pkulak wrote: post #220
sakopov wrote: post #31

Very perplexing behavior from Musk, I must say. Bitcoin's energy consumption has been front-and-center for a few years now and even more so when the bull market got hot. How does Musk decide to throw $1.5 billion worth of Tesla's cash into BTC without acknowledging this? I was expecting a little bit more due-diligence from him, but he's been absolutely consumed by crypto markets in general.

Cus he's not that bright. Isn't this the elephant in the room that no one wants to consider? Why do we have to start with the assumption that Musk is a genius, then work back from that? The dude thought covid would go away last May. He thinks it's easier to make Mars habitable than it is to keep the Earth habitable. He's thought that full self driving was 6 months away for literally 4 years now. And he didn't really…

This is really no different from any other "engineering visionary" executive, everywhere.

These types have a solid understanding of what's technically possible by the laws of physics, but wholly underestimate the feasibility of a complete implementation.

It's an open discussion whether these types are "bad" or "good". I tend to believe that hyper-optimists have a role in this world that drives progress forward. Teddy's Roosevelt's "Man in the arena", if you will.

Re: $365B wiped off cryptocurrency market after Tesla stops accepting Bitcoin

#292

Post by 77pt77 »

pkulak wrote: post #220
sakopov wrote: post #31

Very perplexing behavior from Musk, I must say. Bitcoin's energy consumption has been front-and-center for a few years now and even more so when the bull market got hot. How does Musk decide to throw $1.5 billion worth of Tesla's cash into BTC without acknowledging this? I was expecting a little bit more due-diligence from him, but he's been absolutely consumed by crypto markets in general.

Cus he's not that bright. Isn't this the elephant in the room that no one wants to consider? Why do we have to start with the assumption that Musk is a genius, then work back from that? The dude thought covid would go away last May. He thinks it's easier to make Mars habitable than it is to keep the Earth habitable. He's thought that full self driving was 6 months away for literally 4 years now. And he didn't really…

> He's thought that full self driving was 6 months away for literally 4 years now.

He might be completely aware that it's not plausible while still publicly saying otherwise for financial gain.

Re: $365B wiped off cryptocurrency market after Tesla stops accepting Bitcoin

#293

Post by kirse »

CamelCaseName wrote: post #146
freshair wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How does anyone justify these obscure tokens and coins being worth billions. The Greater Fool Theory. This stops working when you run out of fools, but the notion of "there's another sucker born every minute" probably keeps the ball rolling for a while.

Sure, but I thought there could be no more greater fools in 2013, and again in 2017. It is shocking how many fools exist.

In 2017/18 the "smart" money was early into ICOs and the "fools" are just getting into those over the past year. Meanwhile the "smart" money has moved on to DeFi and all that nonsense - DeX, yield farming (ponzi scheming), flash loans, etc. The next cycle you'll see smart money move onto something else, and they'll have figured out how to repackage DeFi to the average fool, which will come with greater linkages to the inherent financial systems.

What made the GFC such a massive bubble was how much the financial system was woven into Mortgages/CDOs. Crypto is not there yet, right now it could pop and you'd hear a few regretful stories and friends who lost a few hundred on the "Doge", but it wouldn't be a widespread disaster. Once you start seeing apps utilizing DeFi to enable average "fools" to purchase equities, fund home/auto/college loans etc that will signal a bubble with vicious potential.

Dogecoin purchases via Robinhood is probably the easiest we have right now to getting the average fool to trade their currency for memes, but that's still a small subset of gambling.

Re: $365B wiped off cryptocurrency market after Tesla stops accepting Bitcoin

#294

Post by arbuge »

I personally feel that Musk's strategy is that any publicity for his companies is good publicity, so he puts himself out there trying to connect popular themes like cryptocurrency to them in any way possible. Other practitioners of this strategy that come to mind are Richard Branson in business and Donald Trump in politics. Their number one priority above all is to dominate the news cycle, which equates to free marketing.

Given the above, I highly doubt that this (or the original adoption of Bitcoin earlier this year) is due to any deep feelings he may have about the merits or otherwise of Bitcoin itself. I also predict that he'll soon reverse himself publicly all over again.

Re: $365B wiped off cryptocurrency market after Tesla stops accepting Bitcoin

#295

Post by BoorishBears »

hinkley wrote: post #143
BoorishBears wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately that's not how the current setup works. The most successful the gambler is, the more of other's people they get to gamble. He's at that point where he could never be right again and it'd never personally affect him. I mean if Tesla goes to 100 tomorrow morning, who gets hurt more? Elon or instructional investors that are supposed to be funding things like pensions?

He has a track record of using all of his assets to save one. It worked before, so he will try it again, until it doesn't.

Why would he try it again? At this point what bet would require all of his assets like before?

Re: $365B wiped off cryptocurrency market after Tesla stops accepting Bitcoin

#296

Post by kevinbache »

He has 1) Shown us what his word is worth to the speculative market club 2) Brought about two news cycles in which Americans will be taught about cryptocurrency 3) Made the right long-term move for the environment. If crypto is indeed the currency of the future then there's absolutely no reason for us to all pile on to any version of it that requires us to pollute.

Sound familiar?

Welcome to the wide world of symbolic lessons. If this blows your mind, wait 'til you take a long look at Republicans.

Re: $365B wiped off cryptocurrency market after Tesla stops accepting Bitcoin

#297

Post by stagger87 »

varispeed wrote: post #152
sakopov wrote: post #31

Very perplexing behavior from Musk, I must say. Bitcoin's energy consumption has been front-and-center for a few years now and even more so when the bull market got hot. How does Musk decide to throw $1.5 billion worth of Tesla's cash into BTC without acknowledging this? I was expecting a little bit more due-diligence from him, but he's been absolutely consumed by crypto markets in general.

He is going to blame this on Aspergers. I think this behaviour should be illegal if it is not already.

What behavior in particular should be illegal?

Re: $365B wiped off cryptocurrency market after Tesla stops accepting Bitcoin

#298

Post by kofddfjdfdfdff »

reader_mode wrote: post #243
pkulak wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cus he's not that bright. Isn't this the elephant in the room that no one wants to consider? Why do we have to start with the assumption that Musk is a genius, then work back from that? The dude thought covid would go away last May. He thinks it's easier to make Mars habitable than it is to keep the Earth habitable. He's thought that full self driving was 6 months away for literally 4 years now. And he didn't really…

I mean you will see people here on this forum argue that bitcoin mostly uses up peak energy and unused capacity and such bullshit nonsense - it's frankly not that hard to spin a narrative that could sound plausable. But then when you see people firing up coal plants in your back yard just to mine BTC (as opposed to China) reality suddenly kicks in and it's hard to spin bullshit arround that. Regulators are really dro…

You see people firing up coal plants in your back yard? That's not an experience most people ever have.

Re: $365B wiped off cryptocurrency market after Tesla stops accepting Bitcoin

#299

Post by nprz »

UncleMeat wrote: post #284
nprz wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is utility in the bitcoin network that is not found in existing financial systems (censorship-resistant, seizure-resistant, borderless, and pseudonymous). And If you are thinking about the energy consumption of btc on a per transaction basis you are misunderstanding that the btc network should be thought of as a settlement layer, rather than a payment layer. > Bitcoin is therefore best understood as a high-inte…

> the btc network should be thought of as a settlement layer, rather than a payment layer This ruins all of the stuff you mention. Or at least restricts these nice features to the rich. People don't have access to these features if they are only used indirectly through the major institutions they work with.

All of those features remain intact, even with the eventual creation of a payment layer. There is nothing to prevent someone from transacting directly on the blockchain.
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