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Bitcoin value surges past $30k

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Bitcoin value surges past $30k

#51

Post by ipnon »

bhaak wrote: post #20

Price action is boring. I'd rather see usecases for cryptocurrencies linked here, not the same article every time Bitcoin surges above an arbitrary number.

I think a lot of coinsceptics don't own much cryptocurrency. Once I began to have more BTC in my wallet than USD in my bank account it suddenly became more convenient to make purchases online with the BTC.

Just like we have the pound, yen, yuan and dollar, I don't think any cryptocurrency will ever become the One World Currency. But when it works, it works. Just my 2 cents ...

Re: Bitcoin value surges past $30k

#52

Post by wmf »

pjkundert wrote: post #4

I wonder what will happen the next time we have a prolonged global network outage (ie. days, weeks). The next time we have a major kinetic conflict, for example... Since Bitcoin will "fork" in each network partition, and everything will work ... fine, within each partition -- right up until the moment the network is repaired, and all but one of the "forks" simply disappears. I think most people will be surprised that…

For most people this is not as bad as you might expect. Transactions on the losing chain can be replayed on the winning chain as long as they haven't been double-spent.

Re: Bitcoin value surges past $30k

#53

Post by ipnon »

jbob2000 wrote: post #40
bhaak wrote: post #20

Price action is boring. I'd rather see usecases for cryptocurrencies linked here, not the same article every time Bitcoin surges above an arbitrary number.

The only use-case for crypto is that it fills in the gaps in demand that the global banking system creates. There are a lot of people who are left out or kicked out of the banking system, but they still need financial services, so the demand remains. e.g. An IPO is too expensive, so a company pursues an ICO. Or a family in Venezuela needs money so they receive bitcoin. Or college kids wants to buy LSD so he sends the…

I think the drug and pedophile examples are in poor taste because, unfortunately, people have been purchasing both illicitly long before the introduction of cryptocurrency.

All money is amoral. It changes hands without judgement.

Re: Bitcoin value surges past $30k

#54

Post by aent »

FatalLogic wrote: post #46
pavlov wrote: post #24

Tether has printed almost two billion fake dollars in the past month. Surely a coincidence.

>Tether has printed almost two billion fake dollars in the past month. Surely a coincidence. I agree that Tether itself is a risky proposition - in my opinion. I wouldn't buy it. But prove what you said about 'fake dollars'. And then prove the connection to the Bitcoin price rise that you implied by 'a coincidence'. I don't believe you can prove this. Because if you could prove it, you would have already done so. Edi…

Just read their website. It used to say that it's backed 1:1 by USD, period. Now it says a lot of vague things, e.g.:

>Every tether is also 1-to-1 pegged to the dollar, so 1 USD₮ is always valued by Tether at 1 USD.

So it explicitly says that it is not backed by USD, but is "valued by tether at 1 USD"

> Every tether is always 100% backed by our reserves, which include traditional currency and cash equivalents and, from time to time, may include other assets and receivables from loans

That passage probably means that they print fake dollars, then buy bitcoin with it, which rises the price of bitcoin, and allows them to claim that their reserves are "fully backed"

Re: Bitcoin value surges past $30k

#55

Post by ipnon »

eloff wrote: post #8
emerged wrote: post #3

I don’t care if it’s a guarantee to be 100k tomorrow, I refuse to profit off crypto speculation. It may seem crazy to people but I like to earn money with effort.

I would seriously advise people not to speculate on crypto. The biggest use case is selling it to other speculators. That can't be sustainable. But only wanting to earn money through effort is a ridiculous notion as well. Investing your savings is a good and necessary idea.

I'd really be interested to see the volume of forex vs. circulation. My intuition is that many more dollars trade hands every day for speculation than purchases, but I could be wrong.

Re: Bitcoin value surges past $30k

#56

Post by wmf »

dralley wrote: post #6

Is there any conceivable good reason for the value to have tripled in 3 months, or is this a cycle of FOMO hysteria just like last time?

The rate of production of new BTC was reduced in the last halving in May, so demand is chasing less supply. https://digitalik.net/btc/sf_model

Re: Bitcoin value surges past $30k

#57

Post by DougN7 »

aent wrote: post #43
pavlov wrote: post #24

Tether has printed almost two billion fake dollars in the past month. Surely a coincidence.

Over 17 billion total last year. A shady company with no proof of actually holding any funds and real proof that they were kicked out of all the banks they tried to use, a court case against them and a text on their own website that says that they are not backed by USD but "some other assets" prints 21 billion fake dollars and everyone is ok with that.

I don’t understand how they can do that? Who trades with them for fake money?

Edit: Just because I say I have a billion dollars doesn’t mean someone will trade a billion dollars worth of anything with me, so who does with Tether?

Re: Bitcoin value surges past $30k

#58

Post by aent »

pavlov wrote: post #45
aent wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over 17 billion total last year. A shady company with no proof of actually holding any funds and real proof that they were kicked out of all the banks they tried to use, a court case against them and a text on their own website that says that they are not backed by USD but "some other assets" prints 21 billion fake dollars and everyone is ok with that.

The whataboutism is stunning. The cryptocurrency community doesn’t seem to mind a giant scam at the heart of Bitcoin if you just mutter something about banks and Fed and QE. “Surely real money is much worse, now let’s enjoy the pump”

I think one of the reasons it's allowed to go on is that a lot of exchanges are in on it.

This passage on tether's website specifically:

>tether is always 100% backed by reserves which include other assets and receivables from loans made by Tether to third parties

makes it sound like if you are an exchange, you can ask for a billion dollars of tether and give back an IOU written on a napkin saying you pinky promise you owe them that billion. So tether gives out free cash to anyone who asks and in exchange can print fake money of their own and sell it on bitfinex.

Re: Bitcoin value surges past $30k

#59

Post by aent »

DougN7 wrote: post #57
aent wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over 17 billion total last year. A shady company with no proof of actually holding any funds and real proof that they were kicked out of all the banks they tried to use, a court case against them and a text on their own website that says that they are not backed by USD but "some other assets" prints 21 billion fake dollars and everyone is ok with that.

I don’t understand how they can do that? Who trades with them for fake money? Edit: Just because I say I have a billion dollars doesn’t mean someone will trade a billion dollars worth of anything with me, so who does with Tether?

See my comment below, they probably co-opted a lot of other exchanges on the scheme by giving out billions for IOUs
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