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Why I’m Cryptophobic

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Re: Why I’m Cryptophobic

#441
post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, LedgerX[1] (now owned by FTX) is a reputable, regulated exchange. The longest-dated put I see for $15k is EOY 2022 and is trading at a spread of $2000-8000. You can buy puts at the $25k strike dated June 2023 for $4300-4800. [1] https://app.ledgerx.com/btc There was a link that doesn't require login but I forgot it.

I don’t know if SBF and I would ever get along personally, but you have to agree that the M&A strategy has been superb. As well as it needs to be when you’re up against Yi He, that chick gives Bill Gates nightmares: she’s a fucking force of nature.

> I don’t know if SBF and I would ever get along personally

Are your court shoes laced?

Re: Why I’m Cryptophobic

#442
post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> up until now I gave up telling people not to call cryptocurrency "crypto" — I would suggest suggesting a better term, or expect to be disappointed/it to continue.

Again, different -- This isn't a mere choice of word thing. It's that uninformed people are making harmful, and perhaps even stupid, choices because they are relying on an effectively false phrase -- where the "real version" of the thing is essentially a safety mechanism, and overzealous tech bro types absolutely incorrectly believe that their thing can replace the real thing. Now, as a lawyer, I could just sit back…

In a world where people think the phrase "autopilot" means the pilot of the plane can take a nap, I think we're doomed to disappointment.

Re: Why I’m Cryptophobic

#443
post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, LedgerX[1] (now owned by FTX) is a reputable, regulated exchange. The longest-dated put I see for $15k is EOY 2022 and is trading at a spread of $2000-8000. You can buy puts at the $25k strike dated June 2023 for $4300-4800. [1] https://app.ledgerx.com/btc There was a link that doesn't require login but I forgot it.

I don’t know if SBF and I would ever get along personally, but you have to agree that the M&A strategy has been superb. As well as it needs to be when you’re up against Yi He, that chick gives Bill Gates nightmares: she’s a fucking force of nature.

Did you mean to post that somewhere else? I’m not sure anything there relates to my comment.

Re: Why I’m Cryptophobic

#444

There needs to be some basic economics here.. Money has value because of the value of the economic transactions in which its conducted. Government-backed currencies are forced to have value in the sense they force people to use it for their taxes. The US, additionally, forces the world to use it for oil trades. Value is in those economic transactions. A currency is just a "liquifying" of that value, to make it easier…

Just using BTC to replace all of McDonald's daily debit/credit card transactions would completely destroy the system. I don't know why people think they are refuting your argument by pointing out low-volume examples like porn sites.

Gosh. Have you guys even heard about the Lightning Network? Throughput higher than visa. We're already well past the scale needed to handle the world's txns.

https://watcher.guru/news/morgan-stanley-says-bitcoin-lightn...

Re: Why I’m Cryptophobic

#445
post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you are back to having a bank… Then what's the point?

You have the option to settle down to a decentralized system. Imagine the US still on a gold standard. If you lose trust in USD because of changes in the government (election of obviously corrupt or incompetent officials), you can settle out of the US Dollar to gold, which is apolitical and allows you to be self-sovereign. The breaking of the gold standard has allowed the US government to extend its monetary base sig…

THIS. I feel like I keep smashing my head against a wall explaining the same thing to everybody. This isn't quantum mechanics. Why is this so hard to understand for others :(

Re: Why I’m Cryptophobic

#446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With sanctions against Russia the US is actually doing the opposite. Forcing them not to use the USD.

"Force." The real question is, why do they want to use the Dollar so bad?

Technology exports and the buying or licensing of American IP I guess?

Re: Why I’m Cryptophobic

#447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is this also considered an L2 chain, or not? I can't say for sure without actually seeing the tech, but if a company promises to scale cryptocurrency transactions then they're probably doing it on an L2 chain. The problems with this are obvious: trusting a single party to handle all of your transactions and not abuse that insider info is crazy. These people are going to use their power over the chain to eke out eve…

What about a decentralized L2 with zk-proofs?

I don't know, and I don't really care. Any sufficiently complicated technology is indistinguishably from magic, and I don't trust magic to manage my finances. L1 chains are simple and their trust models are transparent, I don't think any L2 chain is going to see widespread adoption when decidedly better alternatives exist.

Re: Why I’m Cryptophobic

#449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin doesn't need to be money, especially not on layer 1, to have value. USD doesn't get its value as a currency from slow and expensive wire transfers, and it gets very little value at all from being a store of value. Even if Bitcoin was primarily transferred between custodians between clients, it would still be better than USD (assuming a stable market cap) and give clients far more options while also forcing ba…

Transfers can be dirt cheap with normal money (e.g.: Single Euro Payment Area), and your banking system can be transparent enough (the US one already is), if your regulating body cares about it. The average individual neither can change it, nor cares. If many people can’t help themselves but get fleeced, as happened recently on a large scale in the crypto space, at best you can struggle to recreate regulatory agencie…

You have admitted that I was correct in refuting you: all desired qualities of the current system can exist on Bitcoin no problem.

Then you moved the goal post. If Bitcoin is pointless because it has no use case, you would have started with that point and not been drawn into critiquing an aspect reliant on the assumption it is useful.

Re: Why I’m Cryptophobic

#450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not deep. This is you getting confused about how money works. Nothing you are realizing applies specially to specific money like gold or Bitcoin - it applies to all money and frankly it makes little sense.

Would you mind elaborating please? I am not following your point. I understand cash has this same issue. Assets do not - they provide an actual value to the physical world - which is what my point was in the above statement. A crypto t shirt can still provide value as a t shirt, regardless of the value of the coins it holds. I’ll admit it’s a reach, but just to illustrate the point.

Money is important, it provides liquidity for trading. It is based on trust, so it makes sense that it can feel arbitrary, but you simply have to compare a world where you must barter assets directly between those who actually want that specific asset to realize how much of an improvement money is; meaning its not so arbitrary.

What gives money its value? Well it depends on the money. Fraud, violence, trust, in the case of Bitcoin: cryptography and game theory.

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