Crypto Conversation

[swood1000]

Historical perspective:

[OldPhiKap]

^^^ “This time it’s different”

[JasonEvans]

Wow, color me shocked that Bitcoin has plunged 50% in the past month. I mean, who could have seen that coming?

The surge (and predictable plunge) in value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is actually a really bad thing for them. If they want to be a legit form of currency, they need stability, not volatility. We know that a dollar is worth a dollar and buys a dollar's worth of stuff. But, if I told you that the dollar you are paying for something might be worth $1.25 in a week or it might be worth $0.75, that is going to make it much more difficult for us to do a transaction. It adds an element of uncertainty to the transaction. Rather than talking about it in terms of a dollar, what about in terms of buying a car or a house? Suddenly those wild price swings aren't so good.

-Jason "I see Bitcoin has stabilized a bit today" Evans

[YmoBeThere]

Wow, color me shocked that Bitcoin has plunged 50% in the past month. I mean, who could have seen that coming?

The surge (and predictable plunge) in value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is actually a really bad thing for them. If they want to be a legit form of currency, they need stability, not volatility. We know that a dollar is worth a dollar and buys a dollar's worth of stuff. But, if I told you that the dollar you are paying for something might be worth $1.25 in a week or it might be worth $0.75, that is going to make it much more difficult for us to do a transaction. It adds an element of uncertainty to the transaction. Rather than talking about it in terms of a dollar, what about in terms of buying a car or a house? Suddenly those wild price swings aren't so good.

-Jason "I see Bitcoin has stabilized a bit today" Evans

No worries, I'll just use my winnings from the Movie poll.

[fuse]

Not sure what the future holds for cryptocurrencies and blockchain, still of the opinion that both are solutions in search of a problem.

[gofurman]

Not sure what the future holds for cryptocurrencies and blockchain, still of the opinion that both are solutions in search of a problem.

Sure it's here but to invest in Bitcoin you can use GBTC investment trust. No exchange. Like a fund ETF. Easy to buy and sell. But a steep premium to actual currency

[Ggallagher]

Not sure what the future holds for cryptocurrencies and blockchain, still of the opinion that both are solutions in search of a problem.

At least from what I've read so far, it looks like blockchain already is getting established as a mainstream application. Cryptocurrencies on the other hand are still all over the place.

There was an article in the last few days in the WSJ about IBM furnishing blockchain programming for the Maersk shipping lines. It described the significant cost associated with the paperwork involved in managing shipping operations. Moving that work into a blockchain seems to provide decent benefits in cost and efficiency.

[left_hook_lacey]

Well, it turns out 50 cent has made almost $8 million in bitcoin. He made the decision to accept bitcoin as payment for his new album back in 2014. He collected over 700, which at the time was worth about 400k. It's worth almost $8 million now. He actually forgot he even had it. Money just falls in the lap of some people.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mark...-it/ar-AAv8uyX

[Rock-of-Truth]

Well, it turns out 50 cent has made almost $8 million in bitcoin. He made the decision to accept bitcoin as payment for his new album back in 2014. He collected over 700, which at the time was worth about 400k. It's worth almost $8 million now. He actually forgot he even had it. Money just falls in the lap of some people.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mark...-it/ar-AAv8uyX

Yeah .. he "forgot" he had $ 7 million during a bankruptcy hearing. Ooops.

[JasonEvans]

Man orders $4500 worth of bitcoin mining equipment... gets a copy of The Boss Baby on DVD instead.



-Jason "hey, it is an Oscar nominee. It is not like they sent him The Emoji Movie" Evans

[left_hook_lacey]

Man orders $4500 worth of bitcoin mining equipment... gets a copy of The Boss Baby on DVD instead.



-Jason "hey, it is an Oscar nominee. It is not like they sent him The Emoji Movie" Evans

"What's a DVD?"

--All of my kids

[JasonEvans]

"What's a DVD?"

--All of my kids

"What is Bitcoin?"

--All of your kids kids

[OldPhiKap]

Uhhh . . .

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/cr...ord-2019-02-04

. . . is this a problem?

[JasonEvans]

Uhhh . . .

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/cr...ord-2019-02-04

. . . is this a problem?

Yeah, I saw this story this morning and was howling with laughter. Have they tried guessing his password? It can't be that hard to guess, can it?

A lot of folks think this may all be a scam to fake the CEO's death and steal the money.

the strange circumstances of Cotten’s death spurred accusations that his demise was either faked or the pretext for an exit scam by other parties with access to the holdings, according to CCN.

As CBC noted, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce froze $26 millions worth of QuadrigaCX’s assets in January 2018 “after finding irregularities with payment processing,” and a document from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in 2018 concluded that “$67-million worth of transactions ended up improperly transferred into the personal account of Costodian Inc, the payment processor.” The issue was resolved, though according to CoinDesk, QuadrigaCX says the legal fight as well as ongoing issues with payment processors has “severely compromised” their ability to access tens of millions of dollars’ worth of holdings held by the processors.

So, the company was in trouble with regulators and the CEO mysteriously died in India, taking with him the only password to access $200 mil with of cryptocurrency... I smell something fishy.

[budwom]

Good Bitcoin action up here in the tundra...a bunch of Bitcoin miners showed up here with ultra large operations because the area near Plattsburgh/Massena (near the home of Dick and Dave's great adventure, Escape from Dannemora)
has a lot of ridiculously cheap power, courtesy of the St. Lawrence Seaway...2.7 cents per Kw...trouble is, the area has a quote in terms of cheap power consumed, and once all the Chinese servers showed up, the locals found
their power bills going up by close to 50%...there's been a moratorium on new operations since then...I guess they should also make sure everyone's password is up to snuff...

[OldPhiKap]

Yeah, I saw this story this morning and was howling with laughter. Have they tried guessing his password? It can't be that hard to guess, can it?

A lot of folks think this may all be a scam to fake the CEO's death and steal the money.



So, the company was in trouble with regulators and the CEO mysteriously died in India, taking with him the only password to access $200 mil with of cryptocurrency... I smell something fishy.

Thanks for what Paul Harvey would call “the rest . . . of the story!”

[Acymetric]

As somewhat of a "tech guy" I feel like I should be all on board with Bit Coin (although I'll admit I kick myself every day for not messing with it back when people were making home rigs to mine bitcoins in its infancy before it got to the point where it required these massive processing centers purely from a "could have made a pretty penny" angle) but I feel like the whole thing is just so damn stupid. Other than illicit transactions and moving money out of countries that make it hard for money to leave (which I suppose is a subset of illicit transaction) I just don't understand the hype and attraction (or the massive valuation). There are a lot of sharp folks here, can someone enlighten me?

[-jk]

As a tech guy, Bitcoin is a good example of why we need some regulation in the marketplace.

-jk

[HereBeforeCoachK]

As somewhat of a "tech guy" I feel like I should be all on board with Bit Coin (although I'll admit I kick myself every day for not messing with it back when people were making home rigs to mine bitcoins in its infancy before it got to the point where it required these massive processing centers purely from a "could have made a pretty penny" angle) but I feel like the whole thing is just so damn stupid. Other than illicit transactions and moving money out of countries that make it hard for money to leave (which I suppose is a subset of illicit transaction) I just don't understand the hype and attraction (or the massive valuation). There are a lot of sharp folks here, can someone enlighten me?

I have not invested in bitcoin or any crypto, but I have researched them, so I'll just list what the attraction was to me, at least enough to spend some time and a few bucks on research:

1. Chance to make huge returns, and sometimes with just a little investment.
2. US dollar with all the debt is almost a fiat currency itself...keeping it's dominant position in the world because everyone else is in bigger mess than we are.
3. Privacy
4. The whole issue of blockchain technology opens up a lot of things besides crypto currencies.

I remember when it was at about 9 cents....then it jumped to 20 thousand. Man, some folks hit it big (and some lost it big too).

[PackMan97]

I have not invested in bitcoin or any crypto, but I have researched them, so I'll just list what the attraction was to me, at least enough to spend some time and a few bucks on research:

1. Chance to make huge returns, and sometimes with just a little investment.
2. US dollar with all the debt is almost a fiat currency itself...keeping it's dominant position in the world because everyone else is in bigger mess than we are.
3. Privacy
4. The whole issue of blockchain technology opens up a lot of things besides crypto currencies.

I remember when it was at about 9 cents...then it jumped to 20 thousand. Man, some folks hit it big (and some lost it big too).

The biggest issue I see right now with cryptocurrencies and maybe blockchain is the power needs of mining and transactions. They simply aren't sustainable. I believe the current estimated transaction cost is something like 400 kwH of energy to calculate. That's enough to energy to power 14 homes for a day. As bitcoin is used more, that cost can only increase. I just don't see how it can survive under it's own weight.

I don't know if this is an issue to bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, or blockchain in general but it's definitely a problem.