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

Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

371–379 of 379 posts

Re: Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud

#371

Post by realusername »

tim333 wrote: post #331
realusername wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also surprised Tether hasn't imploded yet, it's opacity must have saved it in the short term

There's nothing that inherently unsustainable in Tether's basic model. Take in US$, issue tokens matching them and keep the interest on the US$. Their main problem is money laundering regs which is why they have to be opaque and offshore.

> Take in US$, issue tokens matching them and keep the interest on the US$.

Well, the issue is that they are not doing your first step, instead they are printing new ones as they want.

There's not a single audit either.

Re: Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud

#372

Post by Forgeties79 »

latchkey wrote: post #368
Forgeties79 wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to ask: Do you think it's reasonable to expect even 10% of people to set up multiple wallets for all their coins and have a system in place for constant conversion to the fiat currency of where they are for daily transactions? Because you keep glossing over/ignoring this serious sticking point. Setting up a crypto wallet and having your systems in place is not an easy task for most people - especially when mos…

So your argument is that crypto is bad because installing an app on your phone is hard? Here is another anecdote for you: https://twitter.com/BowTiedMara/status/1680184021735682049 Global remittance is ~$850B according to google. > If you move to a country like Vietnam and don't have a functional grasp of the language, you have way more problems than simply banking. I did it, don't know the language at all . Spent ye…

>my argument is that it is just for the people who need it

“It’s useful to those who deem it useful” has been your argument this whole time?

Re: Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud

#373

Post by latchkey »

Forgeties79 wrote: post #372
latchkey wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So your argument is that crypto is bad because installing an app on your phone is hard? Here is another anecdote for you: https://twitter.com/BowTiedMara/status/1680184021735682049 Global remittance is ~$850B according to google. > If you move to a country like Vietnam and don't have a functional grasp of the language, you have way more problems than simply banking. I did it, don't know the language at all . Spent ye…

>my argument is that it is just for the people who need it “It’s useful to those who deem it useful” has been your argument this whole time?

I don't have an argument, you do. I need cryptocurrency. It works wonderfully for me. I enjoy it a lot.

I pay my taxes, I don't use it for nefarious purposes. It solves a real use case for me.

I can't be the only person on this planet that feels that way, but you certainly make it out to be.

Re: Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud

#375

Post by stefek99 »

jcranmer wrote: post #14

Journalists really need to link to court documents. Although in this situation, there does seem to be quite a few of them: US v Mashinsky: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.60... SEC v Celsius: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.60... FTC v Celsius: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.60... CFTC v Celsius: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov…

This is exactly stuff I'm interested in, factual source information, as opposed to media bullshit.

Re: Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud

#376

Post by Forgeties79 »

latchkey wrote: post #373
Forgeties79 wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>my argument is that it is just for the people who need it “It’s useful to those who deem it useful” has been your argument this whole time?

I don't have an argument, you do. I need cryptocurrency. It works wonderfully for me. I enjoy it a lot. I pay my taxes, I don't use it for nefarious purposes. It solves a real use case for me. I can't be the only person on this planet that feels that way, but you certainly make it out to be.

> I can't be the only person on this planet that feels that way, but you certainly make it out to be.

Not sure where you got that impression. I was taking issue with how universally useful/better you were making crypto out to be.

Re: Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud

#377

Post by wpietri »

sowbug wrote: post #356
wpietri wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a lot of questions about people who are making $400k-$800k cash-like transactions. But as far as I'm concerned, that's another sign of Bitcoin's failure in terms of its original goals. That's a sign that Bitcoin is even less useful for productive economic activity. > market cap is $600B Sorry, but talking about "market cap" for currencies and commodities is ridiculous. What's the market cap of the US dollar? W…

Money supply (M0, M1, M2, etc.) is an important concept, no citation needed. Your quarrel seems be with the broad application of the term "market capitalization." From context, it's clear what people mean, much as it's clear what it means to "dial" a phone number on a phone that doesn't have a dial. Surely there's a better response against digital currencies than stating that Bitcoin's $607B aggregate value isn't tec…

It is clear what it means: a bunch of grifters are trying to pretend their magic beans are an actual investment like equities are. So they want a big and impressive sounding numbers, especially one that can be easily manipulated by wash trades and the like.

Re: Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud

#378

Post by wpietri »

bottlepalm wrote: post #358
wpietri wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have ignored the central part of this: volatility. Bitcoin is not a good store of value. I don't have time for people who argue so misleadingly, so I'm done here.

Cool, well the price of Bitcoin disagrees with you. Maybe you should think why after 10 years of the same tired arguments, Bitcoin is still going strong. How many years of success will it take for you to change your mind? Serious question.

Again, it's not a success. And it's hilarious that a cryptowhatever advocate is trying to complain about tired arguments.

Re: Founder of crypto lender Celsius Network arrested, charged with fraud

#379

Post by angry_albatross »

RestlessMind wrote: post #303
angry_albatross wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI is not in the same category in my book. Both may be overhyped in some ways, but blockchain technology was fundamentally a bad idea with no legitimate use cases.

> but blockchain technology was fundamentally a bad idea with no legitimate use cases. Or, you live in a bubble and haven't seen any useful examples. I have compiled some for you: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32406095

These articles are mostly promoting bitcoin as a viable currency for people in desperate situations, and yes, possibly, if you are in an extreme situation like being extorted by someone with ransomware, or in a place where your government is falling apart or targeting you as a criminal, you might have some reason to use cryptocurrency in this way. But since it does such a terrible job as a currency (extremely inefficient, slow, and irreversible transactions, price volatility, no intrinsic value, etc) it should really always be a choice of last resort.
Post reply on HN