241–250 of 636 posts
Commentators on crypto will simply have to get used to this - because it isn't an argument. > For that same reason, I think people can genuinely believe they're obsessed with web3 because of its inherent interestingness when in fact it’s because web3 has made them a lot of money very quickly. The nature of crypto-currencies means that you are free to invest in protocols you believe will make money - either by providi…
This told me everything I need to know.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The thing I think driving Bitcoin is that all the other assets that can absorb billions of dollars in liquidity are throughly manipulated. A trillion dollars goes into Sovereign Debt. The government can issue endless sovereign debt to dilute that. A trillion dollars goes into the stock market. The companies on the stock market can issue tons and tons of new shares to dilute that. A trillion dollars goes into paper go…
But publicly traded companies don't dilute their shareholders away. Those shares either have to be sold (meaning the company takes in proportional amounts of cash, driving the value up) or issued as compensation (which you can't just unilaterally in a publicly-traded company). Your gold example is also very contrived because the futures market doesn't literally dilute away physical gold. As for Bitcoin: You're missin…
If gold doubles, supply dramatically ramps up. Same with most commodities.
I completely agree with the author. I've been reading a lot about the EVM, and while there's some interesting technology involved, it feels unlikely to be able to support any worthwhile applications outside of blockchain finance or moving $ around the world[0] (since the code can really only directly reference the blockchain itself). It's a bit like playing with a programming language in a sandbox that has (1) has no…
ETH's current scalability problems are beyond terrible, but there are alternatives. You can use chains like Polygon or Avalanche that are EVM, so you get all of the capabilities of Ethereum, but without insane gas fees. There are non-EVM solutions as well like Solana, which has substantially higher throughput while transactions cost a fraction of a cent. Try out other chains than ETH before ruling out web3 imo. There…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The thing I think driving Bitcoin is that all the other assets that can absorb billions of dollars in liquidity are throughly manipulated. A trillion dollars goes into Sovereign Debt. The government can issue endless sovereign debt to dilute that. A trillion dollars goes into the stock market. The companies on the stock market can issue tons and tons of new shares to dilute that. A trillion dollars goes into paper go…
But publicly traded companies don't dilute their shareholders away. Those shares either have to be sold (meaning the company takes in proportional amounts of cash, driving the value up) or issued as compensation (which you can't just unilaterally in a publicly-traded company). Your gold example is also very contrived because the futures market doesn't literally dilute away physical gold. As for Bitcoin: You're missin…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not OP but I had to wire money earlier this year when I bought a house. To accomplish this, I had to drive to my nearest bank branch (1 hour drive), talk to a bank teller for 15 minutes while she filled out forms and printed out papers I had to sign, and then they told me the wire would probably arrive in time for the house signing (3 hours later). This was to send ~$15k. Compare this to sending USDC on [smart co…
You are just using a bad bank. The bank I use lets you initiate a wire via their iPhone app, and then they simply call to confirm security details etc. Far easier and safer than anything crypto has to offer. Not to mention that it’s a complete fantasy to expect all but the tiniest number of sellers to accept crypto today , so the comparison is between something that exists today and works very well, and something tha…
After seeing the other comments I guess this wire transfer issue is specific to the US. I agree that a tiny number of sellers would accept crypto payment today, but what do you mean exactly when you say it is "only imaginary"? Transferring USDC is very real and exists today. I don't expect the average person to ever transfer USDC the way it is done today, it would be a terrible user experience. But I'm trying to figure out the disconnect between what I see as a powerful financial primitive and what you see as imaginary
OK. The reason all this happening is that Bitcoin really did go to the moon. That's what powers all this speculation. If the price of Bitcoin had been stable for a decade, and it worked reliably, it would be a useful medium of exchange, but nobody would care. This is all about MAKE MONEY FAST. Bitcoin found some early use cases. Drugs first. Then getting money out of China. Money laundering. Tax evasion. Scams. Bitco…
Barring value judgements about the subject, there are some large chronology and fact checking problems with this post. The federal scrutiny of Bitcoin happened a long time ago now. The China crackdown was this year. The US agencies mentioned all started examining bitcoin in 2012 at the very latest, and had a decent grip by the next year. Left off the list is the agency with the most impactful jurisdiction- the DHS- w…
The IRS has been gradually upping the pressure. Form 1040 for 2020 included, for the first time on the main form, the question "At any time during 2020, did you sell, receive, send, exchange or otherwise acquire any financial interest in any virtual currency?" The IRS has access to Know Your Customer data from many crypto exchanges, so, anyone who checks "No" and has a crypto exchange account will get attention. Here's a history of the IRS slowly tightening its grip on cryptocurrencies.[3]
[1] https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2018-53
[2] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sec-brings-ico-crackdown-open...
[3] https://hub.accointing.com/our-crypto-platform/report-taxes/...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The thing I think driving Bitcoin is that all the other assets that can absorb billions of dollars in liquidity are throughly manipulated. A trillion dollars goes into Sovereign Debt. The government can issue endless sovereign debt to dilute that. A trillion dollars goes into the stock market. The companies on the stock market can issue tons and tons of new shares to dilute that. A trillion dollars goes into paper go…
Bitcoin can be shorted. Bitcoin prints money ( eg tether) Bitcoin just doesn't work. It's centralized now to fix it's issues. Best of all, none is regulated and the whales hold the power. Even more in the future with proof of stake. There is more dilution and misunderstanding with crypto in general then I've ever seen.
OK. The reason all this happening is that Bitcoin really did go to the moon. That's what powers all this speculation. If the price of Bitcoin had been stable for a decade, and it worked reliably, it would be a useful medium of exchange, but nobody would care. This is all about MAKE MONEY FAST. Bitcoin found some early use cases. Drugs first. Then getting money out of China. Money laundering. Tax evasion. Scams. Bitco…
I mean, I'm not sure you're wrong here, it just seems like a step was missed. Your comment is about bitcoin, but your conclusion is about a bunch of stuff that does not run on the bitcoin blockchain. What's the missing piece here?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I haven’t even seen a check in decades. It’s incredible to me that you think a piece of paper and human contact is secure.
It’s incredible that you think it isn’t.
Commentators on crypto will simply have to get used to this - because it isn't an argument. > For that same reason, I think people can genuinely believe they're obsessed with web3 because of its inherent interestingness when in fact it’s because web3 has made them a lot of money very quickly. The nature of crypto-currencies means that you are free to invest in protocols you believe will make money - either by providi…
> (stay poor lmao) This told me everything I need to know.