Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Spot Bitcoin ETF receives official approval from the SEC

cointelegraph.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

351–360 of 1001 posts

Re: Spot Bitcoin ETF receives official approval from the SEC

#351

Post by dghlsakjg »

Aunche wrote: post #262
Octokiddie wrote: post #205

The strong anti-Bitcoin sentiment on HN is still amusing. It goes way back - 13 years or more. Having read many of these negative comments, I think part of this sentiment boils down to the commenter seeing no point to Bitcoin. Just this thread has examples. It must be more than a little annoying to feel very strongly that Bitcoin is pointless, but to also notice that it's still here. Year after year. If that shoe wer…

I view Bitcoin the same way I view Herbalife. I don't have any issue with the product. I'm bothered by the misleading claims made by proponents to benefit themselves.

This is really what it comes down to.

I really didn't mind bitcoin before the price exploded, it was a curiosity and interesting experiment.

Since then, it has been used to transfer a lot of wealth using outright fraud, cons, and other criminal means.

I get paid a lot of money (fiat) to program digital payment systems, and have spent time understanding the underlying technology, as well as a holding a degree in economics. I get what crypto is and how it works, and I won't go near it.

Bitcoin isn't inherently dangerous, but the way that the crypto ecosystem convinces people to gamble on a zero sum game they don't understand is absolutely dangerous. For every bitcoin millionaire, there's someone that pumped real dollars into the system. Very real harms have, and continue, to be caused by bitcoin and crypto.

Re: Spot Bitcoin ETF receives official approval from the SEC

#352

Post by cesarvarela »

epolanski wrote: post #257
rafaelero wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin is wealth in the cloud. There's immense utility in being able to digitalize your wealth, including higher mobility and, since it is a decentralized network, assurance that it won't be inflated, confiscated and that you will have the freedom to transact it with whoever you want.

Cool. Going on GitHub and downloading core code and deploying a new coin based on Bitcoin or some other crypto. I'll call it HackerNewsCoin. Didn't know it was that simple to create "wealth". What a foolishness to think that something that has no intrinsic value can constitute wealth. Don't confuse price with value. It really is true crypto combines all that people don't understand about economy with all that people…

You can also print dollar bills, and they will have no value either.

Re: Spot Bitcoin ETF receives official approval from the SEC

#353

Post by mlrtime »

FactKnower69 wrote: post #311
stefan_ wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It must be peak irony to write this on the topic of a Bitcoin ETF . None of the technology, all of the speculation.

What Bitcoin is really missing before it can finally take off is yet another layer of fees and rent seeking; can't wait to pay 1.5%(!) of my portfolio every year in expenses :)

Blackrock's BTC ETF is .12% for the first year, SPY (The largest ETF) is .09%

You know, if all the BTC haters actually knew what they were talking about we could have intelligent discussions on HN.

Re: Spot Bitcoin ETF receives official approval from the SEC

#354

Post by david_shi »

Bitcoin exists to solve the principal-agent problem that comes with delegating control of the money supply to singular institutions.

If you look at the history of empires, from the Romans to the Han, it is littered with instances of societal decline as a direct result of inflation and overspending. This unilateral currency debasement is much harder if the collective (and global) definition of money is determined by distributed networks of computers.

Maybe Bitcoin itself isn't the final form, but the fact that distributed systems and cryptography tech is out there means the cat is out of the bag.

Even if your view on the crypto industry is negative, it's important to take some time to understand why millions of people around the world are involved in it. It's not only because of the appeal of ponzi schemes.

Re: Spot Bitcoin ETF receives official approval from the SEC

#355

Post by czl »

elif wrote: post #285
clpmsf wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People will always have a want for more ways/things to bet/gamble on - it just seems to be something in our nature.

The only losers in bitcoin are the ones that stopped. Any 5+ year holding has been ridiculously profitable. In gambling, the longer you continue, the more certain it is that you will lose. Bitcoin is a uniquely ironic form of gambling if it's gambling at all.

> Any 5+ year holding has been ridiculously profitable.

The more remarkable a short history the more likely it is not sustainable: Beanie babies, tulips, etc.

In a zero sum investment for every win there is a loss. Bitcoin however is highly negative sum. For every win there are far more losses. Who do you suppose pays hourly train loads of coal turned into CO2? How many years now?

Re: Spot Bitcoin ETF receives official approval from the SEC

#356

Post by the_gastropod »

Octokiddie wrote: post #205

The strong anti-Bitcoin sentiment on HN is still amusing. It goes way back - 13 years or more. Having read many of these negative comments, I think part of this sentiment boils down to the commenter seeing no point to Bitcoin. Just this thread has examples. It must be more than a little annoying to feel very strongly that Bitcoin is pointless, but to also notice that it's still here. Year after year. If that shoe wer…

> It must be more than a little annoying to feel very strongly that Bitcoin is pointless, but to also notice that it's still here. Year after year. If that shoe were on my foot, in addition to being annoyed I'd be curious about what I was missing.

There are MLM’s that have been around for over 100 years. I feel strongly that they’re all complete scams, yet they live on. Maybe I’m closed minded for not joining Amway. But I think I’m just being sensible, tbh.

Re: Spot Bitcoin ETF receives official approval from the SEC

#357

Post by jtwoodhouse »

david_shi wrote: post #354

Bitcoin exists to solve the principal-agent problem that comes with delegating control of the money supply to singular institutions. If you look at the history of empires, from the Romans to the Han, it is littered with instances of societal decline as a direct result of inflation and overspending. This unilateral currency debasement is much harder if the collective (and global) definition of money is determined by d…

"Maybe Bitcoin itself isn't the final form, but the fact that distributed systems and cryptography tech is out there means the cat is out of the bag."

The bitcoiner argument would be that only bitcoin has reached a level of decentralization to survive, and the powers that be stand ready to crush any would-be stronger substitutes before they reach critical mass.

Re: Spot Bitcoin ETF receives official approval from the SEC

#358

Post by latchkey »

wmf wrote: post #336
ksjskskskkk wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not sure why this is being down voted. as someone who worked "internal recovery" at banks in the 90s, you'd be surprised how much stolen money is not reported anywhere if the law was iffy for freaking banks then, imagine how it is for btc

I wonder if there's a relevant difference between a fractional-reserve bank and a full-reserve custodian. I guess it doesn't matter as long as insurance pays out...

> I guess it doesn't matter as long as insurance pays out...

Pays out in what though?

Re: Spot Bitcoin ETF receives official approval from the SEC

#359

Post by yieldcrv »

Octokiddie wrote: post #205

The strong anti-Bitcoin sentiment on HN is still amusing. It goes way back - 13 years or more. Having read many of these negative comments, I think part of this sentiment boils down to the commenter seeing no point to Bitcoin. Just this thread has examples. It must be more than a little annoying to feel very strongly that Bitcoin is pointless, but to also notice that it's still here. Year after year. If that shoe wer…

HN should be a place where bitcoin improvement protocols are routinely discussed

There should have been taproot and schnorr discussions on the frontpage for years

What people are building as betas, there should be ordinals and inscription discussions about their technical implementation

But instead we get these surface level discussions about bitcoin or crypto for over a decade now. People completely missing that there are others who had the exact same information and said “okay this is how I can improve it to more closely fulfill that vision” instead of “harumph! that will never work and I dont like it so there’s that!

Post reply on HN