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Are pixie fairies behind Bitcoin's latest bubble?

amycastor.com

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Re: Are pixie fairies behind Bitcoin's latest bubble?

#91

Post by arcticbull »

rabf wrote: post #52
arcticbull wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never short crypto it's a rigged casino, first of all. Second, the fact tether is trusted and used by exchanges is more out of necessity than desire. They would die if they had to ask their so called customers to verify their identities and so both sides look the other way and pretend in a classic emperor has no clothes situation. I'm sure the tether based exchanges are squirming in their pants as tether prints anoth…

Kraken has many banking partners and do require KYC. A larger issue is that not everyone is in America but still require USD as is it is the most liquid exchange pair. I guess that this leads to many trusting USDT over American based tokenised dollars that are more subject to US courts. A better option could be DAI . though that is only backed by crypto assets thus far.

(1) Kraken is way more likely to have the money but that's not what I mean by a rigged casino. Arbitrage bots ensure that prices remain in lockstep between the frauds and the more legitimate, so while they may be good for the payouts, the price action remains as rigged as ever. I believe it's this model that Bitfinex relies on when they buy BTC with fake Tether, as they can then move it into legitimate exchanges that arbitrage bots have brought into lockstep and sell for cash.

(2) A larger issue is that not everyone is in America but still require USD as is it is the most liquid exchange pair.

Sounds like what they need is more liquid exchange pairs in global currencies instead of fictitious money.

Re: Are pixie fairies behind Bitcoin's latest bubble?

#92

Post by okokok___ »

FridgeSeal wrote: post #60
okokok___ wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean like any other market? Or just this one?

So is it a currency or a market? Because if it's a currency, it way too useless and volatile compared to EUR/USD/AUD/CAD/GBP etc. If it's a market (a la share market, commodities etc), then the volatility is fine, but what advantage does being a crypto-currency bring here? Because I'd rather invest in a normal company on the stock market instead of a crypto-currency, because at least with the former I am far, far les…

>Because I'd rather invest in a normal company on the stock market instead of a crypto-currency, because at least with the former I am far, far less concerned about yet another exchange disappearing off the face of the earth or doing something illegal...

Fine, do that.

Re: Are pixie fairies behind Bitcoin's latest bubble?

#93

Post by okokok___ »

garmaine wrote: post #62
okokok___ wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean like any other market? Or just this one?

People call other markets a bubble too.

Fair enough, see FridgeSeal's comment above though. Why are they OK with investing in an equity bubble but not a cryptocurrency bubble? They're both inflated assets.

I would say, in general, the phrase "bubble" is used much more frequently when talking about cryptocurrency than equities even though equities are more overpriced than they've ever been.

Re: Are pixie fairies behind Bitcoin's latest bubble?

#94

Post by garmaine »

okokok___ wrote: post #93
garmaine wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People call other markets a bubble too.

Fair enough, see FridgeSeal's comment above though. Why are they OK with investing in an equity bubble but not a cryptocurrency bubble? They're both inflated assets. I would say, in general, the phrase "bubble" is used much more frequently when talking about cryptocurrency than equities even though equities are more overpriced than they've ever been.

I do invest in both.

Re: Are pixie fairies behind Bitcoin's latest bubble?

#95

Post by okokok___ »

garmaine wrote: post #94
okokok___ wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair enough, see FridgeSeal's comment above though. Why are they OK with investing in an equity bubble but not a cryptocurrency bubble? They're both inflated assets. I would say, in general, the phrase "bubble" is used much more frequently when talking about cryptocurrency than equities even though equities are more overpriced than they've ever been.

I do invest in both.

Same, I'm just saying, it's starting to annoy me that the term "bubble" is being applied more frequently to Bitcoin than elsewhere.

Re: Are pixie fairies behind Bitcoin's latest bubble?

#96

Post by bascule »

wmf wrote: post #56
arcticbull wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why on earth would a legitimate whale be dropping money into bitfinex and tether lol, they barely have banking relationships. They have at times literally not had access to withdrawals — because they were pretending not to be who they are and were caught by Wells Fargo. A few times if memory serves. You think a whale is dropping $2 billion dollars of new money into tether prints via bitfinex?! What kind of mad man wo…

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/48857/former-head-of-cir...

It's almost quaint how this December 2019 article talks about "the concern surrounding the creation of large swaths of Tether in 2017", when about $2.5 billion of Tether was issued.

In the time since it was published, when Tether had issued about $4.5 billion total, there have been over $14 billion additional Tether, a 4X expansion of the total supply, or 7.5X what was described as "large swaths of Tether" in this article.

Re: Are pixie fairies behind Bitcoin's latest bubble?

#97

Post by wmf »

bascule wrote: post #96
wmf wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/48857/former-head-of-cir...

It's almost quaint how this December 2019 article talks about "the concern surrounding the creation of large swaths of Tether in 2017", when about $2.5 billion of Tether was issued. In the time since it was published, when Tether had issued about $4.5 billion total, there have been over $14 billion additional Tether, a 4X expansion of the total supply, or 7.5X what was described as "large swaths of Tether" in this ar…

IMO if a few billion is cause for an CFTC investigation then $20B merits an emergency injunction.

Re: Are pixie fairies behind Bitcoin's latest bubble?

#99

Post by crasl »

seppel wrote: post #80
Rainarrow wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> then who is selling bitcoin for tether and keeps the tether? People who believe (in varying degrees) that 1 USDT == 1 USD. In countries with strict capital controls (China, Russia, etc), USD is inaccessible to most people. And the fact that USDT has been trading at 1 USD for the most part is the proof that most of its users either believe 1 USDT == 1 USD, or they simply don't care. In these countries, you have lar…

> People who believe (in varying degrees) that 1 USDT == 1 USD. I totally get that part. But then what? With USD I can buy, e.g, a house or a yacht. With USDT I can buy what? I guess only other crypto currencies. So what is the endgame here?

Exactly. With USDT, your aim is to buy crypto low and sell them high and become bigly rich, THEN you cash out (which is the end game). It's just greed.

Notice that the general confidence in the crypto ecosystem (HODL culture), and in Tether itself (it's just a FUD, it's been so many years and nothing have happened) contribute to the desirability of USDT. Also notice that when I say cash out, I'm not talking about redeeming USDT, but buying crypto then selling the crypto on an exchange or OTC that has an off-ramp.

Re: Are pixie fairies behind Bitcoin's latest bubble?

#100

Post by crasl »

seppel wrote: post #10
amycastor wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Print tether, buy bitcoin, sell bitcoin for real money. Day traders use tether to slip in and out of positions in a volatile market. Unregulated exchanges use tethers in place of real dollars.

> Print tether, buy bitcoin, sell bitcoin for real money. But to buy bitcoin for tether, you first need someone to sell bitcoin for tether. And this guy then has tether. What is he going to do with the tether? > Day traders use tether to slip in and out of positions in a volatile market. Unregulated exchanges use tethers in place of real dollars. But day traders close their positions at the end of the day (or at leas…

> But to buy bitcoin for tether, you first need someone to sell bitcoin for tether. And this guy then has tether. What is he going to do with the tether?

He may not have an off-ramp (which means he can only sell the Tether to someone else, either directly or using cryptos as a bridge). He might be a crypto trader or even trader of other kind of merchandise and need the liquidity provided by Tether (which is for all purposes, "real" as long as the entire thing doesn't collapse)

Majority of the USDT volume come from SE Asia where countries often have strict capital control, and in these situations USDT or cryptos do provided utility by allowing people to circumvent the capital control. That's also why there's a crackdown of crypto OTC desks in China reported a few weeks ago.

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