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The “strategic reserve” exposes crypto as the scam it always was

alexkolchinski.com

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Re: The “strategic reserve” exposes crypto as the scam it always was

#81

Post by fragmede »

1659447091 wrote: post #53
bufferoverflow wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BTC is better than gold in many regards. - impossible to counterfeit - trivial to audit - easy to transfer - easier to store - its supply is actually limited (unlike gold, which is near-infinite in the universe). Most of it has been mined. Its supply will actually diminish over time, as keys get lost forever, though it's hard to tell how fast that process is.

And completely worthless in the event of war with attacks on power grids electronics etc. Gold on the other hand, I could trade for food.

Can you? What use is gold in the Mad Max era?

Re: The “strategic reserve” exposes crypto as the scam it always was

#83

Post by horsawlarway »

desumeku wrote: post #77
horsawlarway wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But this is just more "speculator" money... if I'm being pessimistic, this is an outright scam play to make the early speculators filthy rich by defrauding the US public out of their tax dollars. The whole freaking problem is that crypto turns out to suck absolute cock as a real method of paying for things (Said as someone who has actually paid for items with bitcoin, incl on the OG silk road...) How many of these fo…

Expect to be using cryptocurrency a lot more than you're used to in the future. How does native integration with Windows and all major operating systems/phones sound?

Like a scam. It sounds like a scam.

The issues with the currency are NOT just "can I actually pay you with it" (and that's STILL a big issue) it's all the surrounding work around conflict resolution.

I paid a contractor with bitcoin, he didn't do the work, he won't refund me. Now fucking what?

Court orders him to to give it back? How? They have no mechanism they can apply on the blockchain to actually enforce that order...

At least they can physically seize cash... they can't even do that here.

We're back to the days of "Buried treasure" like it's fucking pirates gold. I don't actually think the majority of users have any interest in that reality.

---

Based on your post history, I bet you think orange fuck boi's 1000 dollar bills are a great idea too. You probably have money in TRUMP coin... You seem like someone convinced they're brilliant but who will leak money like a sieve, and constantly be angry because you don't understand why.

Re: The “strategic reserve” exposes crypto as the scam it always was

#84

Post by [deleted] »

RealStickman_ wrote: post #66
s1artibartfast wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intrinsic vale is not a prerequisite for utility. USD has no intrinsic value. Yes, you can pay your taxes with it. That is a contingent value. The only intrinsic value of crypto is that it can not be unilaterally inflated away, and can be difficult to digitally seize. In this respect it is similar to gold. It lacks the physical uses of gold, but is easier to transport. No, I don't think the US government should inves…

USD is backed by the US economy and a significant portion of global trade. BTC is backed by hopes, dreams and market speculation.

[deleted]

Re: The “strategic reserve” exposes crypto as the scam it always was

#85

Post by lolc »

Wow this is going to be epic! The US govt prints dollars to prop up cryptocoins!

The sad thing is how this puts more money in the hands of bad people: This is inflating the holdings of shady orgs worldwide. And the way this admin has been bumbling its way into cleptocracy, I fully expect them to lose the keys later in a Mtgox scenario. Nobody will be able to explain how the funds were drained. They'd hired the best smart contract experts from the X roster, what more could they have done?

Re: The “strategic reserve” exposes crypto as the scam it always was

#86

Post by rifty »

cypherpunks01 wrote: post #35
peterldowns wrote: post #7

Can anyone who is pro-crypto (particularly: btc, eth) make the steelman argument for why a "strategic reserve" is necessary for these cryptocurrencies? Or even beneficial ? I've been involved in the industry in various ways for years and I fundamentally don't understand why the government owning a lot of btc/eth is advantageous. I understand the "reserve" part, but I don't understand the "strategic." I'm open to the…

The best case is an argument similar to the reason the US gold reserve exists. While the gold no longer directly backs the currency, gold is a neutral asset and wouldn't go to zero during wars/depressions, so could be sold strategically if needed to fund government in a dire situation. The claim is that BTC is also a neutral asset, meaning it's not linked to any one government or economy, and it has certain propertie…

I think the one thing with crypto assets that differs it from other strategic reserve assets is that there is no baseline demand rooted in usage and consumption. If the US was in such an emergency position that it needed to liquidate the crypto, it could be worthless and unmovable because of lack of baseline demand at that time.

Although perhaps emergency purposes aren't the only reason to have reserve assets..

Re: The “strategic reserve” exposes crypto as the scam it always was

#87

Post by cactacea »

cypherpunks01 wrote: post #35
peterldowns wrote: post #7

Can anyone who is pro-crypto (particularly: btc, eth) make the steelman argument for why a "strategic reserve" is necessary for these cryptocurrencies? Or even beneficial ? I've been involved in the industry in various ways for years and I fundamentally don't understand why the government owning a lot of btc/eth is advantageous. I understand the "reserve" part, but I don't understand the "strategic." I'm open to the…

The best case is an argument similar to the reason the US gold reserve exists. While the gold no longer directly backs the currency, gold is a neutral asset and wouldn't go to zero during wars/depressions, so could be sold strategically if needed to fund government in a dire situation. The claim is that BTC is also a neutral asset, meaning it's not linked to any one government or economy, and it has certain propertie…

Sold for what though? Dollars of course. But why not just print more dollars in the first place? Gold could be used to make payments directly and I don't see that happening with BTC.

This argument still makes no sense, what am I missing.

Re: The “strategic reserve” exposes crypto as the scam it always was

#88

Post by RealStickman_ »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #78
RealStickman_ wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USD is backed by the US economy and a significant portion of global trade. BTC is backed by hopes, dreams and market speculation.

What point are you making in relation to what I said? USD can still be devalued.

My point is that the USD has some inherent value, while BTC has none.

Re: The “strategic reserve” exposes crypto as the scam it always was

#89

Post by quantadev »

goosejuice wrote: post #55
quantadev wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything that hodls it's desirability even after a grid-down scenario.

In such a scenario you wouldn't be able to use fiat either. Guns and food would be of greatest value. Maybe we should just reserve guns and ammo?

I never claimed fiat was an asset. Nobody considers cash an asset.

I'm a software developer since 1990 so I recognize the value of blockchain technology, but I'm also smart enough to know a number in a computer ledger is not an asset.

Re: The “strategic reserve” exposes crypto as the scam it always was

#90

Post by s1artibartfast »

RealStickman_ wrote: post #88
s1artibartfast wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What point are you making in relation to what I said? USD can still be devalued.

My point is that the USD has some inherent value, while BTC has none.

I think BTC has some advantages in the attributes I described in my parent post.

Inherent or not depends on how far are you willing to stretch your assumptions.

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