Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> If this sounds far-fetched, consider that many smart and smart-sounding people have predicted Bitcoin's demise, and so far all have been utterly wrong Bernie Madoff pulled off one of the largest (literal Ponzi) scams and evidently stated that he started in the 1990s for a run of just over 15 years until being arrested in 2008, although some investigators thought that his fraudulent activities started as far back a…
It's not seemingly impossible, it's scientifically proven that the general public can't know when the price of Bitcoin will collapse. And it has nothing to do with the general public being stupid and any of that bullshit. It's called the efficient market hypothesis. If it was known that the price of Bitcoin will collapse on the 7th of June 2025, every owner would have sold their Bitcoins on the 6th of June. But then…
Former US SEC attorney: 'Get out of crypto platforms now'
301–310 of 515 posts
Re: Former US SEC attorney: 'Get out of crypto platforms now'
#302I am absolutely baffled by how much negative criticism the whole blockchain industry gets here and I would like to understand the reasoning behind it. Most of the arguments fall into these following buckets concluding to "IT MUST DIE" 1. The whole crypto is a get rich quick scheme with predatory practices everywhere. It's a wild wild west with no sort of regulations. Well, guess what, regulated industry is no differe…
This is survivorship bias, unless you own a Segway and a 3D TV
Re: Former US SEC attorney: 'Get out of crypto platforms now'
#303Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nowhere is BTC the safest way to store value, it’s got far to many risks in normal use to be particularly safe. A double speed attack doesn’t need anything particularly dystopian to happen. It doesn’t even need to result in a large transaction just someone deciding to short BTC and briefly having the computing power to destroy it. Even just a creditable attempt that fails could completely undermine it.
A double spend attack requires a specific unsafe action by the receiving end of the transaction. As long as the receiver does not accept an unconfirmed transaction they cannot be a victim to it.
Re: Former US SEC attorney: 'Get out of crypto platforms now'
#304Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's the difference if you are getting payout from a bigger fool?
There's no such thing as "payout" in free markets—someone buys your thing for money (sometimes less money than you paid for it, sometimes more money than you paid for it). So, while it might be a speculative bubble (like Beanie Babies, or Tulips, or whatever), it's certainly not a Ponzi. Also, the bigger fool theory (which is what you're conflating it with) is also not a Ponzi. This might be confusing, because many o…
Re: Former US SEC attorney: 'Get out of crypto platforms now'
#305Three highly speculative predictions: 1. The courts are more likely than not to rule that many crypto-assets -- but not all -- should be regulated as investments. It won't be fun for a lot of crypto traders. 2. Over time, the usual giant financial institutions are bound to become the dominant market makers in crypto-assets. In all likelihood, one of them will end up buying Coinbase. Those giant financial institutions…
2. Err, I can't see any big banks or other entities touching COIN, and the CRIMINAL proceedings that it will likely be embroiled in with a 10-ft pole!
3. Maybe BTC will come to 'dominate' the 'crypto' space, but that space will be a smaller and smaller part of the US (and global) economy. Although it never got very big to start with. BTC is used for approximately 0.0% of US transactions right now (rounded to nearest decimal place).
Re: Former US SEC attorney: 'Get out of crypto platforms now'
#306Re: Former US SEC attorney: 'Get out of crypto platforms now'
#307Earlier quoted context omitted.
A double spend attack requires a specific unsafe action by the receiving end of the transaction. As long as the receiver does not accept an unconfirmed transaction they cannot be a victim to it.
Even confirmed transactions aren't safe. The blockchain can be retroactively edited by anyone with enough hashing power: the only thing they need to do is to generate a longer alternative chain than the current public one.
The only way around that is to constantly spend more money on hashing power than any attacker, but that cost is effectively unbound. Trying to stop some random billionaire doing it for the lulz means sky high transaction fees forever. No problem for an actual currency in widespread use, but a serious issue for a hypothetical store of value which needs constant investment just to break even.
Re: Former US SEC attorney: 'Get out of crypto platforms now'
#308This is hilarious. So crypto exchanges selling “securities” will be driven out of the US. Ok. US users will have to first buy “approved” cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, transfer them to a non-US exchange or p2p exchange like Bisq and use a VPN to buy whatever they want. The real winners here are these lawyers and apparatchiks who have never created anything of value in their entire life.
Re: Former US SEC attorney: 'Get out of crypto platforms now'
#309Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you think crypto will remain dominant over a more traditional digital banking solution once established players recognize there's a market? If so, why?
It doesn't need to be dominant. It's such a small sliver right now that it could go 10x and still not be anywhere near dominant. There are a lot of places where the government is not strong enough to maintain a reliable currency on its own. The USA was the global currency up till now because it was universally trusted, but that's changing. The people who have profited from the international dollar are maneuvering to…