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$3B in Bitcoin was sold in a last-ditch attempt to save UST from collapse

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Re: $3B in Bitcoin was sold in a last-ditch attempt to save UST from collapse

#201
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tell me, what assets exactly are backing BTC which stop it from crashing just like Luna?

LUNA minted trillions of brand new tokens within the span of a day or so rendering the token worthless. This is due to the way LUNA was tied to the algorithmic stablecoin UST. It was a true ponzi. BTC's max supply is capped and the release schedule of new coins is fixed and predictable. There is no possible way that trillions of new bitcoins could suddenly be created.

Luna crashed because people lost trust in it. The only reason people have trust in BTC is because other people have trust in it. If that ever changed, there is no actual use for a BTC, and they are thus intrinsically worthless.

Fiat currency has the backing of a government. The government demands certain payments of this currency in order to own land, and also for some extra rights like mineral extraction, fishing licenses etc. Thus, as long as the government is viable and can confiscate the land of those who don't pay, there will be demand for the currency, and it will be proportional to the value the government assigns to the property and the rate of tax.

Thus, the currency is stable, because you know at the end of the day, there will always be a buyer who needs to pay their taxes.

Re: $3B in Bitcoin was sold in a last-ditch attempt to save UST from collapse

#202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “In a sense, the market is going to take that as kind of bullish.” I mean everything is a bit oversold right now on negative emotions, both in the crypto space and in the stock markets. There's probably going to be a positive bounce just because markets don't move in straight lines. There is always the chance that something else explodes due to stress tomorrow and hits the headlines and crypto and/or stocks start m…

> There's probably going to be a positive bounce just because markets don't move in straight lines. To emphasize the uncertainty in your "probably", I will point out that Luna didn't bounce: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/terra-luna/

Luna's supply hyperinflated (from 100 million Luna to 6 trillion Luna) to try to save UST's backing, as designed. That's why its price got rammed irreversibly into the ground.

Cryptocurrencies in general, and shares of stocks, do not hyperinflate.

Re: $3B in Bitcoin was sold in a last-ditch attempt to save UST from collapse

#203
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tell me, what assets exactly are backing BTC which stop it from crashing just like Luna?

LUNA minted trillions of brand new tokens within the span of a day or so rendering the token worthless. This is due to the way LUNA was tied to the algorithmic stablecoin UST. It was a true ponzi. BTC's max supply is capped and the release schedule of new coins is fixed and predictable. There is no possible way that trillions of new bitcoins could suddenly be created.

No assets though-- the only thing backing bitcoin are "greater fools"

Re: $3B in Bitcoin was sold in a last-ditch attempt to save UST from collapse

#204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “In a sense, the market is going to take that as kind of bullish.” I mean everything is a bit oversold right now on negative emotions, both in the crypto space and in the stock markets. There's probably going to be a positive bounce just because markets don't move in straight lines. There is always the chance that something else explodes due to stress tomorrow and hits the headlines and crypto and/or stocks start m…

> There's probably going to be a positive bounce just because markets don't move in straight lines. To emphasize the uncertainty in your "probably", I will point out that Luna didn't bounce: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/terra-luna/

Oh, it absolutely did, it crashed down to 4 zeros, then bounced back up to 3, roughly a +300%-1000% price movement over the course of a day. Of course, liquidity may have been incredibly low, but there were reports of people turning $40 into $400 in the aftermath of all this.

Obviously, it crashed so much, the "bottom" was anyone's guess (well.. zero is the only one that makes sense now). But there are bounces all the way down. If you drop a bouncy ball down an infinite staircase it doesn't take a straight line down.

Re: $3B in Bitcoin was sold in a last-ditch attempt to save UST from collapse

#205
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LUNA minted trillions of brand new tokens within the span of a day or so rendering the token worthless. This is due to the way LUNA was tied to the algorithmic stablecoin UST. It was a true ponzi. BTC's max supply is capped and the release schedule of new coins is fixed and predictable. There is no possible way that trillions of new bitcoins could suddenly be created.

Luna crashed because people lost trust in it. The only reason people have trust in BTC is because other people have trust in it. If that ever changed, there is no actual use for a BTC, and they are thus intrinsically worthless. Fiat currency has the backing of a government. The government demands certain payments of this currency in order to own land, and also for some extra rights like mineral extraction, fishing li…

> Luna crashed because people lost trust in it.

No. It crashed because trillions of tokens were created rendering each token worthless.

Re: $3B in Bitcoin was sold in a last-ditch attempt to save UST from collapse

#206
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LUNA minted trillions of brand new tokens within the span of a day or so rendering the token worthless. This is due to the way LUNA was tied to the algorithmic stablecoin UST. It was a true ponzi. BTC's max supply is capped and the release schedule of new coins is fixed and predictable. There is no possible way that trillions of new bitcoins could suddenly be created.

No assets though-- the only thing backing bitcoin are "greater fools"

Same fiat paper currency.

Re: $3B in Bitcoin was sold in a last-ditch attempt to save UST from collapse

#207
post #61
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So it doesnt matter whether we get records from exchanges It matters a lot. The rumor mill has it LFG directly rescued a few whales in the first sign of crisis. This is a very serious accusation I'd urge no one proclaim without definite proof. If they concentrated their usage of the reserves to keep the peg earlier, possibly anyone selling below $1 would take an immediate loss and no noticeable depeg would even happ…

> The rumor mill has it LFG directly rescued a few whales in the first sign of crisis. This is a very serious accusation I'd urge no one proclaim without definite proof. What would it change to have that information? Afaict none of this is regulated in any regard so if that happened, would there be any impact what so ever?

> Afaict none of this is regulated in any regard so if that happened, would there be any impact what so ever?

Many laws and regulations that were written before cryptocurrency existed still apply to cryptocurrency.

People can't do an end-run around existing laws by wrapping crimes in cryptocurrencies and pretending laws don't apply to them.

Re: $3B in Bitcoin was sold in a last-ditch attempt to save UST from collapse

#208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is there any proof at all that they traded it to a counterparty who actually attempted to prop up UST and didn't just run off with them? This brings up an exceedingly funny point: blockchains excel at making every transaction public (a property that nearly nobody actually wants) and simultaneously offering complete privacy to institutional actors. In other words: privacy for me, but not for thee.

Why can't non-institutional actors achieve the same level of privacy? Seems like it would be much, much easier for smaller actors since they are dealing in much smaller amounts..

> Why can't non-institutional actors achieve the same level of privacy?

Non-institutional actors are transacting over an immutable public ledger. Institutional actors are transacting via backchannels. In other words: the cryptocurrency transaction space is "schizophrenic": the traffic that supports high valuations is not settled on the chain itself, but via gentlemen's agreements. Non-institutional actors could do the same thing (and get the same privacy), but then it's just normal money laundering instead of "decentralized finance."

Re: $3B in Bitcoin was sold in a last-ditch attempt to save UST from collapse

#209

What's everyone's thoughts on Gemini dollar? Gemini claims [1] that GUSD is FDIC insured up to $250K and audited [2] by a third party called BMP [3]. I also remember reading that Gemini is used by a number of IRA custodians, so I'd assume that they're pretty heavily regulated. [1] https://www.gemini.com/dollar [2] https://assets.ctfassets.net/jg6lo9a2ukvr/VOtyB4tBb0G4FVt6Eq... [3] https://www.bpm.com/

It's a completely different ball game from UST.

UST didn't even claim to be fully backed, whereas Gemini's third-party auditing accounting firm attests to GUSD being fully backed, under the scrutiny of the New York State Department Of Financial Services.

Re: $3B in Bitcoin was sold in a last-ditch attempt to save UST from collapse

#210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “In a sense, the market is going to take that as kind of bullish.” I mean everything is a bit oversold right now on negative emotions, both in the crypto space and in the stock markets. There's probably going to be a positive bounce just because markets don't move in straight lines. There is always the chance that something else explodes due to stress tomorrow and hits the headlines and crypto and/or stocks start m…

>I mean everything is a bit oversold right now on negative emotions, both in the crypto space and in the stock markets. ...Things have corrected SLIGHTLY from an absolutely historic bubble and you think it's OVER sold? Meanwhile, we have significant inflation, rising interest rates, supply shocks that still haven't been sorted out and signs of economic slowdown. Prices have been out of touch with reality for a long t…

Stock prices are back around where they were before the pandemic. It may have already been overvalued at that time, but perhaps it is a level of overvalue that people are comfortable with as we were already there before the system got flooded with money.
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