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Celsius Execs Cashed Out $40M in Crypto Before Halting Withdrawals for Customers

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Re: Celsius Execs Cashed Out $40M in Crypto Before Halting Withdrawals for Customers

#241

Post by cruano »

qzx_pierri wrote: post #118
umeshunni wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"techno nerds" what does this have to do with EDM?

I wouldn't lump Techno in with 'EDM' Techno = A movement that is largely an exercise in pushing computers/midi to their limit while creating inventive music. EDM = event driven marketing. pop music with a 4x4 kick drum. ...Yeah I know, semantics.

Ah yes, nothing more inventive than using the same drum synthesizer for 40 years!

Also, I'm sure it's super hard to push the limits of all 127 values of dynamic range that MIDI offers, especially when you also write all your music on common time

Re: Celsius Execs Cashed Out $40M in Crypto Before Halting Withdrawals for Customers

#242

Post by ip26 »

kranke155 wrote: post #28
jqpabc123 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What it's doing is giving techno nerds a free crash course in government, monetary policy and regulation --- or rather the lack thereof.

Pretty much. Every piece of financial regulation is being justified by crypto scams in record speed.

So you're saying crypto will eventually race pass fiat and discover new regulations we don't have yet but will eventually need?

Re: Celsius Execs Cashed Out $40M in Crypto Before Halting Withdrawals for Customers

#243

Post by netheril96 »

gitfan86 wrote: post #238
UncleMeat wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a large number of different "whole points." One of them, supported by a lot of people, is "programmable money unencumbered by banking institutions." To a lot of people, organizations like Celsius is the point of crypto. And we keep seeing this kind of garbage happen.

I hate to be a "told you so" person, but since 2010 I've been saying bitcoin is just a typical libertarian pipe dream. Yes I missed out on a large financial bubble, but I also made $0 on beanie babies, and that is fine. But my main point is that people see a problem with the government and jump to the conclusion that we should just get rid of the whole institution without understanding the history of that institution…

None of the things you mention are directly related to Bitcoin. Bitcoin has no bridges or DeFi. Only the blockchains with smart contracts (e.g. Ethereum) can have those.

Re: Celsius Execs Cashed Out $40M in Crypto Before Halting Withdrawals for Customers

#245

Post by thoughtful-p »

Yhippa wrote: post #140
jedberg wrote: post #33

Oh hey look the consequences of a monetary system that isn't backed by a legal system (that is backed up by people with guns). The reason fiat money works is because at the end of the day if you run into trouble you have the legal system to make things right. And if the perpetrator of the crime doesn't listen to the legal system, there are people with guns/violence to back that up. That's why the whole system works -…

> When the USA starts issuing it's own crypto they might solve this problem by requiring KYC to get the coins, but then of course you loose the anonymity aspect. In my mind the advantage for a US Government-backed crypto is the violence you mentioned above and convenience/traceability. The loss of anonymity I'm sure is a feature to them, not a bug.

It absolutely is.

Anyone remember the Clipper Chip[1]? CBDC's are literally that but for finance.

Being able to see who is sending money to whom is incredible valuable (even without the ability to manipulate that money, which is worth even more) - remember how much the US intelligence community values metadata.

Sure, the US government has a large amount of insight into financial transactions now, but there's a difference between "a lot" and "literally all of it".

People here seem quite comfortable with the idea of giving their own government the Clipper Chip for finance - are they so quick to forget the lessons of history?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipper_chip

Re: Celsius Execs Cashed Out $40M in Crypto Before Halting Withdrawals for Customers

#246

Post by jhugo »

quickthrowman wrote: post #159
__s wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can trade crypto in person without an exchange

Finding liquidity might be a problem though. At least, I don’t have any local market makers quoting a bid/ask for BTC or ETH.

I don't know where you are, but it's very likely that you do.

Re: Celsius Execs Cashed Out $40M in Crypto Before Halting Withdrawals for Customers

#247

Post by Bud »

redox99 wrote: post #143
jedberg wrote: post #33

Oh hey look the consequences of a monetary system that isn't backed by a legal system (that is backed up by people with guns). The reason fiat money works is because at the end of the day if you run into trouble you have the legal system to make things right. And if the perpetrator of the crime doesn't listen to the legal system, there are people with guns/violence to back that up. That's why the whole system works -…

This isn't crypto. You didn't own any crypto. Some company owned your crypto. The whole point of crypto is that you can own it (ie you and only you have your keys). We hear stories here every now and then about how their bank/paypal/etc froze their money and they are fucked. Crypto allows you to actually own your stuff. With fiat unless you hold cash, you can't do that. Crypto is about being trustless. If you give aw…

Sounds like a classic No True Scotsman fallacy to me.

"Any crypto that is actually usable by normal people isn't real crypto and any problems with that stuff doesn't count!"

Re: Celsius Execs Cashed Out $40M in Crypto Before Halting Withdrawals for Customers

#248

Post by Salgat »

redox99 wrote: post #143
jedberg wrote: post #33

Oh hey look the consequences of a monetary system that isn't backed by a legal system (that is backed up by people with guns). The reason fiat money works is because at the end of the day if you run into trouble you have the legal system to make things right. And if the perpetrator of the crime doesn't listen to the legal system, there are people with guns/violence to back that up. That's why the whole system works -…

This isn't crypto. You didn't own any crypto. Some company owned your crypto. The whole point of crypto is that you can own it (ie you and only you have your keys). We hear stories here every now and then about how their bank/paypal/etc froze their money and they are fucked. Crypto allows you to actually own your stuff. With fiat unless you hold cash, you can't do that. Crypto is about being trustless. If you give aw…

This is absolutely an aspect of crypto, and it exists because of shortcomings in the ease of use of crypto.

Re: Celsius Execs Cashed Out $40M in Crypto Before Halting Withdrawals for Customers

#249

Post by RC_ITR »

aydyn wrote: post #233
RC_ITR wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Crypto is about being trustless. People always say this, but you definitely have to trust that a group of unknown validators/miners/stakers will choose to keep working on your chosen chain, just as much as you have to trust that the bank will keep doing it's job as they promised you they would. And before you say "I don't need trust, validators have economic incentive to keep doing it, and if they don't someone else…

> And before you say "I don't need trust, validators have economic incentive to keep doing it, and if they don't someone else will", I have something to tell you about why people choose to work at banks (it's the salary). This statement supports exactly the opposite of the point you're trying to make. Think about it: * Bankers have economic incentive to work at a bank (the salary) * Validators have economic incentive…

Uhh, do bankers get paid for not doing their job?

My point is that by the same logic then banks are also trustless.

Re: Celsius Execs Cashed Out $40M in Crypto Before Halting Withdrawals for Customers

#250

Post by e63f67dd-065b »

moralestapia wrote: post #89
jedberg wrote: post #33

Oh hey look the consequences of a monetary system that isn't backed by a legal system (that is backed up by people with guns). The reason fiat money works is because at the end of the day if you run into trouble you have the legal system to make things right. And if the perpetrator of the crime doesn't listen to the legal system, there are people with guns/violence to back that up. That's why the whole system works -…

Why can't both exist though? Each with their own advantage/disadvantages, and you get to choose which one to use after considering the tradeoffs. Things I would use crypto for: * Money transfers, particularly cross border payments. Low fees, quick confirmation from all parties. * Any transaction that I would like to keep my privacy on (and this does not mean illegal things, btw). Things I would never use crypto for:…

> Money transfers, particularly cross border payments. Low fees, quick confirmation from all parties.

Let me tell you my experience with trying to remit money to my family with crypto. I really tried to give it a fair shot, because finding a cheaper way to shift money around would be really nice.

I wanted to do it via stablecoins, because I have no interest in playing the speculation game with BTC/ETH prices. So the path should be:

* I transfer money to Coinbase, and buy some USDC

* I transfer said USDC from my coinbase wallet to another exchange's wallet

* I sell USDC on said exchange for MYR

* I transfer said MYR to my bank account

* Money goes from my MYR account to my family's

Simple enough, in theory. But, the Malaysian government has granted four institutions a license to trade cryptocurrency, and three of them only trade BTC and ETH, and the last ist BTC/ETH plus litecoin, bitcoin cash, and a bunch of other ones I've never heard of.

So here I'm stuck. It sure looks like the primary audience is speculators and not people like me who actually do want to transfer money cross-border.

But is it actually cheaper though, if I chose to use ETH/BTC? Well, the target to beat is transferwise's 61 basis points (used to be 45) (I'm also a liquidity taker, since I'm not interested in playing with price movements): first is 200 bps, second is 50+10bps, third is a startup that doesn't even list fees on their website, fourth is 50 bps.

But wait, since I'm not using stablecoins anymore I have to also pay liquidity fees on the USD side. Coinbase charges 60bps, bringing the total up to 110 bps, 50 more transferwise. I'm assuming the other exchanges are around that price, but unless they're under 10bps it's not cheaper than using transferwise.

So it's really not looking so good. It's not cheaper, it's not simpler, and it involves just as many KYC checks (required in both countries, and very strict ones on the Malaysian side).

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