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South Korea justice ministry prepares to ban cryptocurrency trading

reuters.com

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Re: South Korea justice ministry prepares to ban cryptocurrency trading

#141

Post by c3534l »

c3534l wrote: post #38
sputknick wrote: post #6

When I first learned about crypto currency on HN back in 2012 I was excited. It sounded like a fun technical project that could do good in the world. I bought some along the way, followed projects. Along the way it changed. Yesterday I saw a spam post on Reddit about joining a "pump and dump group", which I had to research. It's groups of people who coordinate a buy of a specific currency, spread false news about thi…

> Not only is this probably illegal Definitely illegal.

Because I can no longer edit this post, I just wanted to say that I tried doing research and I'm less sure than I was initially. But I will add that just because the SEC currently does very little regulation of crypto, that doesn't mean that federal laws don't apply to it. It just means you're more likely to get away with it and there's more uncertainty about what's allowed and how crypto is thought of legally.

Re: South Korea justice ministry prepares to ban cryptocurrency trading

#142

Post by earenndil »

olalonde wrote: post #33
sputknick wrote: post #6

When I first learned about crypto currency on HN back in 2012 I was excited. It sounded like a fun technical project that could do good in the world. I bought some along the way, followed projects. Along the way it changed. Yesterday I saw a spam post on Reddit about joining a "pump and dump group", which I had to research. It's groups of people who coordinate a buy of a specific currency, spread false news about thi…

I'd argue that there is no Bitcoin community to speak of anymore (just like there isn't an "internet community"). The technology evolved a bit but it is still essentially the same.

https://bitcointalk.org/ is pretty major. There's also a large chinese crypto website the name of which temporarily escapes me.

Re: South Korea justice ministry prepares to ban cryptocurrency trading

#143

Post by Nursie »

kindfellow92 wrote: post #139
Nursie wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really that useful to many millions of people IMHO.

Millions, yes it is... the world is a lot bigger place than you think it is.

Sorry, I don't believe being able to transfer large amounts of money around without having to trust or be limited by banks or governments is much concern to 'millions'.

There really aren't all that many people that have problems with that, who are that distrustful of existing infrastructure.

Re: South Korea justice ministry prepares to ban cryptocurrency trading

#144

Post by Chris_Jay »

usrusr wrote: post #129
snerbles wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"HODL" originated from a drunken rant on Bitcointalk during the 2013-14 bubble and MtGox exchange collapse. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=375643.0

And it's such a fascinating term! Holding is what Warren Buffett does, after having applied his unique evaluation skills before buying, hodling is what a True Believer does. "If you are not a True Believer and cash out early, you are not deserving of eventually entering the paradise of a bitcoin bet retirement." And to people who self-identify with the term, I think it might also be a kind of rhetorical last line of…

As a self-identified HODLer - I like to think it's because holding isn't nearly as easy as it sounds. Ignoring what 'Mr Market' is offering you for your property on any given day and overruling your herd-following instincts is not easy, else Warren Buffet wouldn't be such an outlier.

And yes, the HODL mantra is a way of reminding myself that I shouldn't make emotional decisions in the heat of the moment.

Re: South Korea justice ministry prepares to ban cryptocurrency trading

#145

Post by Chris_Jay »

kindfellow92 wrote: post #42
samsonradu wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, heard this 100 times already. But why does it have to be like the dot com? What if it just stays a niche market for 50 years? What you say implies that crypto is as full of potential as the internet was to make it possible for businesses to grow as big as Google, Amazon. Not mentioning of course a lot of other factors that made Google, Amazon big like political influence, globalisation, lack of competition/regu…

> Not trying to be pessimistic but genuinely curious why so many people make the analogy to the dot com period. Because most people are not creative nor critical thinkers and the extent of their brilliance is superficial pattern matching. To most people the dot-com bubble seems to fit all the patterns so by their logic it must have the same outcome. If you think critically about the differences of the crypto craze an…

I would liken it to Apple myself. First mover advantage does count for quite a bit in software.

Re: South Korea justice ministry prepares to ban cryptocurrency trading

#146

Post by Chris_Jay »

samsonradu wrote: post #35
United857 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The vast majority of crypto will ultimately collapse, just like the vast majority of dot coms failed and crashed the entire market. But... those that survived with solid fundamentals have often gone on to thrive spectacularly -- e.g. Google, Amazon. I can see something similar ultimately happening in the crypto space.

Yeah, heard this 100 times already. But why does it have to be like the dot com? What if it just stays a niche market for 50 years? What you say implies that crypto is as full of potential as the internet was to make it possible for businesses to grow as big as Google, Amazon. Not mentioning of course a lot of other factors that made Google, Amazon big like political influence, globalisation, lack of competition/regu…

The dot-com period was just the latest example of what happens when a new technology is widely adopted. Automobiles famously went through a similar period early last century. Many new entrants crowd into the field, there's a free-for-all as everyone tries to make the killer app, then through a weird alchemy of vision, execution, and luck a few brands eventually buy up or force into bankruptcy enough competitors to dominate the field. In recent history at least, explosion and consolidation of new players is the norm when a new technology is introduced.

As to your second question - which I would rephrase as 'why would this technology be widely adopted?' I would say, if the role of a trusted third party can be automated, it will be because nature abhors inefficiency. And trusted third parties aren't a niche field - not just banks but also a large part of any civil service can now replace humans with algorithms. That's a lot of disruption.

Re: South Korea justice ministry prepares to ban cryptocurrency trading

#147

Post by kindfellow92 »

Nursie wrote: post #143
kindfellow92 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Millions, yes it is... the world is a lot bigger place than you think it is.

Sorry, I don't believe being able to transfer large amounts of money around without having to trust or be limited by banks or governments is much concern to 'millions'. There really aren't all that many people that have problems with that, who are that distrustful of existing infrastructure.

There are millions of millionaires in China alone that are very concerned about the future security and mobility of their money. Now consider India, Russia, Iran. This isn’t fiction.

Re: South Korea justice ministry prepares to ban cryptocurrency trading

#148

Post by Nursie »

kindfellow92 wrote: post #147
Nursie wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, I don't believe being able to transfer large amounts of money around without having to trust or be limited by banks or governments is much concern to 'millions'. There really aren't all that many people that have problems with that, who are that distrustful of existing infrastructure.

There are millions of millionaires in China alone that are very concerned about the future security and mobility of their money. Now consider India, Russia, Iran. This isn’t fiction.

This has been thrown around for years on the BTC scene, and it's just not a killer app. Nor do I believe that such people are willing to use cryptocurrencies for such transfers, in their millions.

And that's before we get on to whether it is moral to facilitate such anyway...

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