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What I Think of Bitcoin

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Re: What I Think of Bitcoin

#201

Post by MrMan »

andy81 wrote: post #183
kgkyltpgllg wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> more tether being created out of nothing How do you know that? Can you see Tether USD bank account, and can confirm that no USD is deposited there when Tether is created?

From the article that caused the panic- https://crypto-anonymous-2021.medium.com/the-bit-short-insid... The last nail in the coffin was when I found out about the lack of visible reserves. If Tether Ltd. really was taking in 1 USD for each Tether it issued, then it should have as many dollars in its bank account as there are issued Tethers. And it turns out we can check if that’s true! Tether Ltd.’s bank is Deltec ba…

This is a great clue. I don’t have an opinion but there is enough noise around all this stuff to keep me on the sidelines. I will go back to my ETH staking ruminations.

Re: What I Think of Bitcoin

#202

Post by MrMan »

itsoktocry wrote: post #41
lalaland1125 wrote: post #24

This post should be mostly discounted because Ray doesn't really seem to be aware of the true risk of the Tether scam, the biggest component of and risk to Bitcoin's value. For those not aware, Tether is a "stable coin" that issues tokens that supposedly represent dollars and can be used as a medium of exchange. However, it's widely suspected that Tether is unbacked and printing fake dollars and even Tether itself ha…

> Ray doesn't really seem to be aware of the true risk of the Tether scam Every day that goes by it's becoming more clear that Dalio's "genius" was nothing more than a product of being in the right-place-right-time of an extraordinary 20+ year bond run and Chinese money connections.

60/40 portfolio with leverage

Re: What I Think of Bitcoin

#203

Post by MrMan »

nine_zeros wrote: post #10
learnstats2 wrote: post #6

Here Ray Dalio says he views Bitcoin as a gold-like asset. This is the first time I have felt that Bitcoin has some value: as a commodity that wealthy people put their wealth into when they have nothing better to do with it. People are not buying gold because they ever plan to use the gold.

For the wealthy, it's truly a hedge or an insurance policy. Even if America and the dollar collapses, bitcoin will keep the elites rich.

I don’t think it will, if things get like that. They will need to find a safe place to hide, which Bitcoin cannot provide

Re: What I Think of Bitcoin

#204

Post by MrMan »

hootbootscoot wrote: post #172

What I think about bitcoin and crypocurrencies in general that are based upon a "proof of work" with no tangible production of anything useful in society? They are a giant waste of electricity. Even renewably-sourced electricity is in finite supply, even near large hydro-electric dams or geo-thermal plants, and thus this deprives the world of metal smelting or other energy-intensive activities we urgently NEED to ada…

These people don’t care

Re: What I Think of Bitcoin

#205

Post by MrMan »

For my money buffet > Dalio, this superficial framing of The Whole topic is a case in point.

Who challenges dalio on his submerged assumption that a gold-like store of value is really of any value to rank and file investors compared to the stock, bond and real estate markets?

He should be equally criticized for obsessing about gold as for being attracted to Bitcoin.

Re: What I Think of Bitcoin

#206

Post by loceng »

gruez wrote: post #104
loceng wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apples to oranges comparison: gold actually has a use, and its value is kept in check by that - it's tied to the physical world, to reality, and gold also wasn't/isn't an attempt to replace a transactional layer. I'm sure there are more differences that make it incomparable - certainly that pro-Bitcoiners will simply dismiss the differences saying they're unimportant, irrelevant. Edit to add: qualitative comments reb…

>Apples to oranges comparison: gold actually has a use, and its value is kept in check by that Is it? According to one source[1], the overwhelming majority of the gold use is for speculation (investment/central banks) or quasi-speculation (jewelry). [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/299609/gold-demand-by-in...

If gold was dirt and had no fallback value, would it . Interestingly the marketing that gold is so valuable, more so diamonds, to artificially inflate its price mimics Bitcoin well. Bitcoin's also called a Ponzi-like scheme because in the end, if everyone in society adopts Bitcoin, it actually has no additional value to the last one stuck holding the bag - you've just transferred all wealth through a system that unnecessarily, unreasonably, transfers wealth weighted towards earlier adopters from later adopters.

Re: What I Think of Bitcoin

#207

Post by seanhunter »

andrepd wrote: post #147
seanhunter wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UK and US banks absolutely do have reserve requirements and they are neither 1% nor 0%. I have no idea where you're getting that from. The reserve requirements vary by type of bank and type and risk weighting of asset. Here is the documentation that explains the capital requirements for a regulated entity (not just banks, but including banks) in the UK https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/glossary/G1567.html

Capital requirements, not reserve requirements.

Reserve requirements are capital requirements. "reserve" here is capital that you reserve to withstand losses in particular classes of assets.

There are also requirements for particular proportions of the capital base to be held in liquid assets (cash and near cash) in order to pay back deposits etc.

//edited to make the point about liquidity

Re: What I Think of Bitcoin

#208

Post by rohit89 »

ballofrubber wrote: post #187
carleverett wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A good medium of exchange should have: - Little to no transaction fee - Near instantaneous transaction time - stable value The characteristics of Bitcoin that make it such a good store of value make it really bad at these. Computation-heavy proof of work creates a secure and immutable network, but also makes it more expensive and slows down transaction times. It's scarcity makes it a speculative asset prone to booms…

> - Little to no transaction fee - Near instantaneous transaction time That can be done with Bitcoin today. Download a lightning capable wallet in the appstore of your choice and post an invoice, I can instantaneously pay that to your wallet with near zero fees. > stable value That is basically what I was saying earlier, we don't know the correct price yet. However bitcoin is only volatile upwards (if your time horiz…

Can you point me to some blog/video that really lays out how all this is supposed to work. I don't necessarily mean the technical side but how a bitcoin world would look like.

Re: What I Think of Bitcoin

#209

Post by Synaesthesia »

bitxbitxbitcoin wrote: post #39
Synaesthesia wrote: post #35

I don’t get how Bitcoin can become a viable currency or store of value in the future. It’s almost exclusively owned by a small group of individuals. Are we gonna accept that level of centralisation? Of course not.

Do you think that centralization of Bitcoin is worse than centralization of USD?

It is probably yeah.
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