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Bitconnect founder indicted in global $2.4B cryptocurrency scheme

justice.gov

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Re: Bitconnect founder indicted in global $2.4B cryptocurrency scheme

#91

Post by er4hn »

bogwog wrote: post #75
DonHopkins wrote: post #38

Meanwhile in other news, water is wet, the sky is blue, Putin is a tyrant with blood on his hands, and I'm SHOCKED, SHOCKED to find that GAMBLING is going on in here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjbPi00k_ME

You’re so ignorant. It isn’t gambling, it’s grass-roots investing to disrupt the centralized financial system owned by the government that’s trying to inject you with a microchip under the guise of stopping a scamdemic, just like they did to the frogs (which are all gay now) If the US constitution was originally minted as an NFT, none of this would be necessary.

You had me in the first half, I'm not gonna lie.

Considering how immutable many consider the US constitution to be, it really should be an NFT for them!

Re: Bitconnect founder indicted in global $2.4B cryptocurrency scheme

#92

Post by bnralt »

gjvc wrote: post #44
cinntaile wrote: post #2

Nice job. Now if only some people would see the difference between an actual ponzi scheme like this one and bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. That would be nice.

The common characteristic is that "early adopters" get disproportionately large returns compared to later adopters. Indeed those later adopters are financing the exit of the participants who "got in first". In this way it's like a Ponzi scheme, but the same could be said for stocks. You might call the above a simplification; that is fine -- my point is that this is a (inaccurate) linguistic shorthand -- calling somet…

It's like a stock market for companies that don't exist.

Re: Bitconnect founder indicted in global $2.4B cryptocurrency scheme

#94

Post by civilized »

logicalmonster wrote: post #45
civilized wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll ask you the same question I ask everyone who spouts nonsense - when it turns out you're wrong, will you care? Or is possessing this worldview somehow intrinsically satisfying to you, regardless of reality?

1) What exactly would I be wrong about? A good test for cognitive dissonance is comparing your predictions to reality, and I do not believe that I ever stated that BitCoin is inevitably going to become the most important currency in the world. I think crypto is great conceptually (which will never be not true) and that it may or may not succeed in the marketplace. Bitcoin itself may not succeed long-term even if cryp…

That's all well and good. The only thing I'll say is, I think you vastly overestimate how many people are programmed one way or the other. I think a few people have formed their own opinions, a few people have been politically programmed, and the vast majority have no real opinion on the goodness or badness. For them, Bitcoin is just a curiosity or a fun casino to play in.

I also wouldn't neglect that a lot of people have been programmed by crypto ideology.

Re: Bitconnect founder indicted in global $2.4B cryptocurrency scheme

#95

Post by 5350-uiop-1130 »

jmyeet wrote: post #26

Crypto may well be the biggest solution looking for a problem I've ever seen. Apart from the obvious issues (eg energy expenditure) the one myth that needs to die about crypto is that it is extragovernmental and indictments such as this and the Bitfinex laundering case recently should underline that. The simple fact is that the developed world could shut down what little utility cryptocurrencies (and NFTs) have tomor…

there is that expression, morality is how people think the world _should_ be, economics is the reality of how it _really_ is

the problem = lack of investment options, stagnant wages, inflating cost of living, being priced out

solution = gambling on crypto and making some money

speaking as a millenial. honestly crypto is the only way could ever dream of buying a house.

ive been working 15 years and saved 150k. average family home in my town is over 1 million.

and stocks are inflated, the s&p is almost at a 90 degree angle. i bought btc in 2014 and my only regret was not buying more.

Re: Bitconnect founder indicted in global $2.4B cryptocurrency scheme

#96

Post by rvz »

NelsonMinar wrote: post #72
jmyeet wrote: post #26

Crypto may well be the biggest solution looking for a problem I've ever seen. Apart from the obvious issues (eg energy expenditure) the one myth that needs to die about crypto is that it is extragovernmental and indictments such as this and the Bitfinex laundering case recently should underline that. The simple fact is that the developed world could shut down what little utility cryptocurrencies (and NFTs) have tomor…

Cryptocurrency is the solution for a very valuable problem. How do you commit financial crimes and frauds in a way just new enough to confuse people that what you're doing may be valuable?

Easy. Criminals, extremists and fraudsters use Signal for E2EE communications and MobileCoin (an untraceable, privacy cryptocurrency) to fund it all. [0]

It is what criminals and terrorists are using to make their activities impossible to trace. Got to thank MobileCoin for enabling that.

[0] https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360057625692-In...

Re: Bitconnect founder indicted in global $2.4B cryptocurrency scheme

#97

Post by FollowingTheDao »

jmyeet wrote: post #26

Crypto may well be the biggest solution looking for a problem I've ever seen. Apart from the obvious issues (eg energy expenditure) the one myth that needs to die about crypto is that it is extragovernmental and indictments such as this and the Bitfinex laundering case recently should underline that. The simple fact is that the developed world could shut down what little utility cryptocurrencies (and NFTs) have tomor…

> Crypto may well be the biggest solution looking for a problem I've ever seen.

Truth. And I have not idea why people think Crypto is a hedge against anything. It pretty much follows the stock market and gold, albeit in much higher gamma.

Re: Bitconnect founder indicted in global $2.4B cryptocurrency scheme

#98

Post by pricees »

bentlegen wrote: post #86
pricees wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to donate to a cause that Justin Trudeau finds "unacceptable." I want to send money to Ukraine. I think this week we saw problems with tradfi in the developed and developing world. And of course in the good ole US of A, I hear stories of civil forfeiture every other month.

Note that folks who claimed their bank accounts were frozen because they were “donors to the convoy” never actually verified that that actually happened [1]. At the same time the government, the RCMP, and the banks have come out and said “that didn’t happen” [2]. Last, the government ceded its emergency powers after about a week total, despite claims on HN and various thinkpieces that they would be extended in perpet…

And then there was GoFundMe and GiveSendGo. I am not arguing the politics here. I am responding to the critique that crypto is a solution in search of a problem.

Re: Bitconnect founder indicted in global $2.4B cryptocurrency scheme

#99

Post by colechristensen »

pricees wrote: post #73
jmyeet wrote: post #26

Crypto may well be the biggest solution looking for a problem I've ever seen. Apart from the obvious issues (eg energy expenditure) the one myth that needs to die about crypto is that it is extragovernmental and indictments such as this and the Bitfinex laundering case recently should underline that. The simple fact is that the developed world could shut down what little utility cryptocurrencies (and NFTs) have tomor…

I want to donate to a cause that Justin Trudeau finds "unacceptable." I want to send money to Ukraine. I think this week we saw problems with tradfi in the developed and developing world. And of course in the good ole US of A, I hear stories of civil forfeiture every other month.

And how do you feel about economic sanctions for Russia, Putin, etc? (And crypto being a way to evade them)

Do you think a cryptocurrency is any less susceptible to civil forfeiture than cash?

Re: Bitconnect founder indicted in global $2.4B cryptocurrency scheme

#100

Post by lolinder »

Tenoke wrote: post #68
kosasbest wrote: post #63

Why do people trust middlemen to handle their crypto in a safe manner? The whole idea behind crypto is that it's decentralized. Interacting with exchanges, investment platforms, etc is asking for trouble. Assume any exchange is another MtGox waiting to happen. Assume you no longer own your funds once you interact with any crypto platform. Fraud is rampant in the crypto scene and has been since the beginning. And for…

The biggest part is for onboarding. The second biggest is for lower fees. The third biggest is because it's easier.

And all three of those parts are why the crypto dream of decentralized payments for all will never come to fruition. It is simply not possible for a decentralized system to have the same convenience and low cost as a centralized system. In the end, any decentralized system will tend to have a centralized layer built on top of it that eventually makes the underlying decentralized system obsolete.

We see this everywhere: in Web 2.0, in Apple's walled garden, in Canonical's dominance in the desktop Linux space, and in the political history of basically any country you can name. Even most people who in theory support decentralization end up in practice choosing the centralized system every time.

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