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U.S. Secret Service Launches Cryptocurrency Awareness Hub

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Re: U.S. Secret Service Launches Cryptocurrency Awareness Hub

#111

Post by jimmydorry »

andruby wrote: post #30
lupire wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> market cap is about equal to that of PNC Bank, America's 7th largest bank. PNC Market cap, or assets they hold? A currency is not the same as the bank that holds it. Also, how big is PNC compared to #1?

For USDT, you could make the case that it is comparable to the assets banks hold from customers. The creators of USDT claim that every holder can exchange it back to 1USD each. Although legally this is very different from a bank, I would argue that economically, it’s similar.

That hasn't been true for many years.

USDT creators originally claimed that every Tether was backed with USD, but then switched away from that years ago (if my memory serves me correctly). They now mention that they are backed by reserves, assets, etc.

USDT creators have for a long time said that they are not obliged to honor every redeption and will instead only selectively allow redemption. (The implicit understanding is that they will honor Tethers that exchanges require exchanged, but not from users directly).

Banks by design hold a fraction of what their clients deposit with them. This is one of the key mechanisms by which the economy expands... so a comparison against some "ideal" USDT is apples to oranges, but ends up being closer than expected when you use the actual USDT operating model.

Re: U.S. Secret Service Launches Cryptocurrency Awareness Hub

#112

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

anfogoat wrote: post #108

Wow to that video. I have thing about aggrandizing law enforcement and seeing over the top propaganda so I was forced to stop watching at the 30 second mark but that there exists a law enforcement agency for whom it is legal to even plan on producing such a thing is a problem in and of itself. Thinking about the supply of voters who absorb this sort of thing hook line and sinker is devastatingly depressing. And where…

I personally know somebody who works in this space and quite often gets victims their money back after being scammed.

Re: U.S. Secret Service Launches Cryptocurrency Awareness Hub

#113

Post by YoungWeb »

anfogoat wrote: post #108

Wow to that video. I have thing about aggrandizing law enforcement and seeing over the top propaganda so I was forced to stop watching at the 30 second mark but that there exists a law enforcement agency for whom it is legal to even plan on producing such a thing is a problem in and of itself. Thinking about the supply of voters who absorb this sort of thing hook line and sinker is devastatingly depressing. And where…

And why were they all stock trading? "We are cool and do donuts in our chargers"... lol Like at least have etherscan up ? "Did you get that address?" XD I mean, if their aim is to help people get stolen funds , ok. But, that is a slippery slope. The whole idea of crypto is self sovereignty.

Re: U.S. Secret Service Launches Cryptocurrency Awareness Hub

#114

Post by mwigdahl »

danuker wrote: post #61
lupire wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the USG perspective, no good smart contracts exist, because good contracts are impossible to create on the existing Blockchain architecture. From USG perspective, a good blockchain requires all nodes to be registered banks with KYC. But that's not important because no one is really interested in those, because the purpose of Blockchain is to avoid regulation.

> the purpose of Blockchain is to avoid regulation Citation needed. I use Blockchain as resilient storage for the accounting of a scarce digital asset.

How about https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf?

Right in the introduction: "What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party."

"Trusted third party" includes regulators, among a wider array of other institutions.

Re: U.S. Secret Service Launches Cryptocurrency Awareness Hub

#115

Post by danuker »

lr4444lr wrote: post #105
johndevor wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait until you hear about fiat currencies.

You can pay your taxes, fines, and court ordered debts with fiat currency. It's arguably THE MOST stable thing in a functioning society above pure barter.

Try saving for retirement. At 2% inflation (the target rate), after 20 years you'd lose 1 - (.98 ^ 20) = 33.2% of the purchasing power of your savings.

But right now, inflation is 7.5% year-over-year. And that's the official measure, which uses "owners' equivalent rent" based on a survey, instead of actual rent prices.

In the past 20 years (Jan 2002 - Jan 2022), the CPI went from 177.7 to 281.933, or a 58.6% increase. This means a 2.3% average inflation rate.

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/inflation-cpi

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/owners-equivalent-rent....

Re: U.S. Secret Service Launches Cryptocurrency Awareness Hub

#116

Post by jimmydorry »

prox wrote: post #33
Consultant32452 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prediction: Western currencies are on the way out. The US in particular can never repay its debt, it can't even normalize interest rates because it can't afford the interest. What will replace it is government-issued crypto-currency that will give them total control over how you spend money. If the Mayor of New York doesn't want you to buy soda, your currency will not be capable of being traded for soda in NYC.

Isn’t that exact opposite of what pro cryptocurrency folks usually mention? That it’s untraceable and able to give power to the common people?

I think you mean: "permissionless" and "self-custodial". Yes, a GovCoin would be antithetical to the current crop of crypto. That doesn't preclude a GovCoin from being wildly popular and useful though!

Re: U.S. Secret Service Launches Cryptocurrency Awareness Hub

#117

Post by nightski »

AlexandrB wrote: post #78
nrzd wrote: post #52

I’m blown away by how anti-crypto this discussion is. I hadn’t realized how negative the prevailing sentiment is on Hacker News. One argument seems to be that cryptocurrency is purely speculative, which is apparently a dirty word. What about the stock market? What about any kind of investment? If you truly believe that cryptocurrency is the basis for a superior economic system, isn’t it rational and wise to put some…

> One argument seems to be that cryptocurrency is purely speculative, which is apparently a dirty word. What about the stock market? What about any kind of investment? Most other assets represent ownership of... something. A company, a commodity, property. Cryptocurrency is closest to either a fiat currency without the government backing that typically tries to stabilize those. Or to more exotic and abstract financia…

This is just one person's opinion, but even with PE ratios, profitability, or any financial statement you can read determining the value of a company's stock (not the same as the company itself) is almost as hard as bitcoin.

If you can reliably price a stock based on any measure of company value then you could be very rich very fast.

There is a reason they say don't stock pick just buy an index fund and hold.

Re: U.S. Secret Service Launches Cryptocurrency Awareness Hub

#118

Post by Blackstone4 »

nrzd wrote: post #52

I’m blown away by how anti-crypto this discussion is. I hadn’t realized how negative the prevailing sentiment is on Hacker News. One argument seems to be that cryptocurrency is purely speculative, which is apparently a dirty word. What about the stock market? What about any kind of investment? If you truly believe that cryptocurrency is the basis for a superior economic system, isn’t it rational and wise to put some…

>One argument seems to be that cryptocurrency is purely speculative, which is apparently a dirty word. What about the stock market? What about any kind of investment? If you truly believe that cryptocurrency is the basis for a superior economic system, isn’t it rational and wise to put some of your savings there?

I feel like it is a black and white and naive view to categorize every financial instrument as purely speculative. They exist along a spectrum ranging from on one hand, sound investments (i.e. US treasuries), all the way to more speculative plays like sports betting. Where an asset sits on the spectrum is a subjective to the eye of the beholder but concensus among investors at this time would probably place US treasuries, blue chip corporate bonds, US stocks in the sound investment half and crypto in the more speculative half. In part because new technology which makes some wary and in part because crypto is a form of currency where most participants appear to be 'investing' on the basis they can sell it to someone else at a higher price. Which sounds fine but normally stocks or US treasuries are underpinned by interest payments, dividends or promise of future dividends through earnings growth whereas most crypto does not have an of these characteristics.

I am blown away by the number of people claiming to be knowledgeable crypto investors who are dismissive of other investment types as speculative when they themselves appears to have little to no knowledge of the history of investing and why things are the way they have been.

Re: U.S. Secret Service Launches Cryptocurrency Awareness Hub

#119

Post by dataangel »

AlexandrB wrote: post #78
nrzd wrote: post #52

I’m blown away by how anti-crypto this discussion is. I hadn’t realized how negative the prevailing sentiment is on Hacker News. One argument seems to be that cryptocurrency is purely speculative, which is apparently a dirty word. What about the stock market? What about any kind of investment? If you truly believe that cryptocurrency is the basis for a superior economic system, isn’t it rational and wise to put some…

> One argument seems to be that cryptocurrency is purely speculative, which is apparently a dirty word. What about the stock market? What about any kind of investment? Most other assets represent ownership of... something. A company, a commodity, property. Cryptocurrency is closest to either a fiat currency without the government backing that typically tries to stabilize those. Or to more exotic and abstract financia…

Satoshi actually had a theory for Bitcoin pricing. He thought it would behave like gold, where over the long run the price converges to the cost of mining it. The cost to run the miners is a floor on the price, because if miners mine unprofitably eventually they go bankrupt.

Re: U.S. Secret Service Launches Cryptocurrency Awareness Hub

#120

Post by lolinder »

concinds wrote: post #77
nrzd wrote: post #52

I’m blown away by how anti-crypto this discussion is. I hadn’t realized how negative the prevailing sentiment is on Hacker News. One argument seems to be that cryptocurrency is purely speculative, which is apparently a dirty word. What about the stock market? What about any kind of investment? If you truly believe that cryptocurrency is the basis for a superior economic system, isn’t it rational and wise to put some…

Most of the anti-crypto critiques in Silicon Valley bring up these exact arguments: it's speculative, and it enables scams. At its root, it's a hatred of the "get rich quick" aspects of crypto. It evokes the same contempt that old-wealth (people with butlers) have for new-wealth (people with Lamborghinis): that they're childish, didn't earn their privileges, and need to be reined in. It's class signalling. Thankfully…

> At its root, it's a hatred of the "get rich quick" aspects of crypto. It evokes the same contempt that old-wealth (people with butlers) have for new-wealth (people with Lamborghinis): that they're childish, didn't earn their privileges, and need to be reined in. It's class signalling.

My hatred of get-rich-quick schemes has nothing to do with class signaling. I hate such schemes because they're almost universally scams designed to siphon money from poor people to someone who already has money. I hate them because I see friends and family spending their entire lives throwing away everything chasing get-rich-quick.

So, yes, that crypto has become a focal point for get-rich-quick is a huge red flag to me, but it's unfair of you to summarily dismiss that concern as snobbish.

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