Bitcoin: no angel investors, only Faustian bargains

The Something Awful Forums > Main > General Bullshit > Bitcoin: no angel investors, only Faustian bargains

Waltzing Along: Jun 14, 2008; There's only one
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Tether info:

QuarkJets posted:

Imagine that you run a bitcoin exchange, but you're so transparently corrupt and negligent that banks around the world all refuse to stop working with you. A loser would accept defeat and eventually declare bankruptcy, since no one would want to use an exchange that can't move actual money in/out (because bitcoin is not actually money). But Bitfinex are winners; they created a new digital currency, declared that each unit is worth exactly $1, and then produced billions of units. They claim that there's really a dollar in a vault for every Tether, but so far have turned away every auditor and never proven this, so probably they don't have poo poo. For the cherry on top call the new token USDT (which I guess stands for United States Dollar Tethers) so that the average soft-brained bitcoiner more readily associates Tethers with Dollars

You might think "surely if there's not real money backing then couldn't they be driven bankrupt by people going to them to convert Tethers for real dollars?"

Well, they prevent that by refusing to honor Tether to USD conversions. On their legal page they even say that Tethers are not redeemable and are not worth anything. So the IOU comparison is completely accurate, and for now people are trading Tethers at ~1USDT : $1 for seemingly no reason at all. Even some parts of the bitcoin community think that this is all super fishy and dubious but refuse to do anything about it because doing nothing is better for bitcoin

Compounding this is the fact that numerous academics have shown that Tethers are most often released during periods when the bitcoin price is in freefall, e.g. they're created in order to prop up the price

This recipe has some additional comedy notes:
- For months bitcoiners argued that there was no relation between Tether and Bitfinex, until it was revealed that they're literally run by the same individuals and then bitcoiners were like "well we knew that all along it's not a big deal"
- Bitfinex was subpoenaed by US Regulators, and new Tether printings mysteriously stopped. Even more mysteriously they later started printing EuroTethers (supposedly tied to Euros instead of US Dollars)
- There are numerous exchanges that have wash-trading users keeping the Tether price around $1, presumably bot activity
- Bitfinex are in the process of trying to sue their largest critic on twitter, an account named Bitfinex'ed, and apparently signed up Bitfinex'ed's lawyer for a bunch of e-mail spam, like something a 5th grader might do to a child they're not getting along with

People were freaking out when it hit $2000 about six months ago. But it has tripled since then? This is crazy.

Anyone know why it has been skyrocketing all year? It's starting to look like it might actually stick around. Which is going to make all the naysayers look pretty drat stupid. Especially the ones who could have bought in when it was "cheap." Especially in comparison to where it is now. gently caress, you could have tripled your $$$ in six months. That just doesn't happen very often.

I've heard that bitcoin is being used in many places in Japan now. Apparently businesses there look at it as a legitimate currency. Is this happening elsewhere? Is the US just slow to catch up with the rest of the world (again?)

Waltzing Along fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Mar 31, 2018

# ¿ Oct 24, 2017 01:51

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 05:04

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BloodyScab posted:

I have nothing to do with bitcoin but I love how you all have been objectively wrong about it for over half a decade now.

This is the thing I find surprising, too. It seems every time this topic comes up, a bunch of goons shout it down and joke about kiddie porn and drugs and bubbles. But it just keeps climbing and more and more legitimate uses are appearing as well. I have nothing invested other than believing the goon speak. But at this point, I wish I had just bought some or mined some on a lark and not listened to all the people who didn't do the same. Because I would have made a pretty decent amount of money for very little work.

I think at this point that is how a lot of you feel. You could have made some $$$ but didn't so now you are invested in saying it's bad rather than admitting you were wrong. It still may play out as a huge stupid scam but as time goes by, it is starting to look more and more real.

Ask yourself, if you had invested $100 in 10 bitcoins a few years back, would you have? I mean knowing what you do now?

# ¿ Oct 24, 2017 16:21

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FogHelmut posted:

What do I do with it now? Exchange it for real money? What then is it's value as a currency and not as an insanely volatile investment commodity?

A cursory google search shows a ton of online retailers that accept it. You can buy gift cards for sites that don't to fill in the gaps. But you can also use Expedia which means travel: flights/rentals/hotels. You can buy things from newegg and overstock so that covers a lot of electronics and various other home goods. And you can also just sell your bitcoin for cash.

I fail to see why bitcoin is so bad at this point. I get that it could turn out to be bad in the future. But so far goons have been 100% wrong on this one. Anyone willing to sack up and admit that you were wrong and wish you hadn't subscribed to the goonthink?

# ¿ Oct 24, 2017 16:31

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fruit on the bottom posted:

What�s the endpoint though? It can�t keep growing exponentially forever.

Exponentially, no. But if it doesn't go away, it will likely continue to grow with inflation. Also, because there are only 21 million bitcoin possible, they will eventually stop being mined which will only drive the value up. Plus a ton are just gone. Lost on old hard drives or other means of loss. I don't think anyone even knows the true number there could possibly be.

I suspect that if this thing keeps going, we will stop seeing the value of single bitcoin and it will shrink to something that people can wrap their heads around. Like 1/100th of a bitcoin. Or whatever.

# ¿ Oct 24, 2017 16:43

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Drone_Fragger posted:

To answer your question, someone with bitfinex and coinbase (or closely associated with) has several million dollars worth of both bitcoin and "dollars" (on bitfinex and coinbase) and can freely sell and buy from himself to manipulate the price. Someone looked into it and this is the main reason.

Source?

# ¿ Oct 24, 2017 21:00

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This thread is still going? gently caress. Should I close it? Or just leave it to rot?

# ¿ Nov 8, 2017 00:03

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15k?

Wasn't it 10k last week?

I don't even.

# ¿ Dec 7, 2017 16:18

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What happens when all 21 million have been mined?

Will things stabilize then? Will we have a better idea what is going to happen?

The one thing I have come to learn is that no one on either side of the pro/con bitcoin insanity really knows what will happen. And either side could end up being right.

# ¿ Dec 7, 2017 16:36

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Comfy Fleece Sweater posted:

That�s not gonna happen for 150 years

Seriously? Why so long? I know the mining will slow down but how does it work?

# ¿ Dec 7, 2017 16:47

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revwinnebago posted:

Bitcoin discovery will logarithmically-ish slow to near-zero the closer it gets to the final coin, so this is a dumb answer.

There is a much closer point when Bitcoin discovery will slow so much that it will radically affect the network. This was part of why forks have already happened. That time is like six to twelve months ago. There will be more pain points in future.

Can you either link me to some information on this or just explain?

# ¿ Dec 7, 2017 16:50

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How many cryptocurrencies are there? Can more than one survive? Is Ethereum the new bitcoin?

I think we should make gooncoins. If we all jump in on the ground floor we can cash out once the real morons jump in.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2017 15:23

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Comfy Fleece Sweater posted:

poo poo man you can make a GBSCoin in 10 minutes

Sounds good. Let's do it. How fast can we conceivably mine these things if we just copy bitcoin?

I don't mind saving a wallet full of 100k gooncoins for 10 years and cashing out.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2017 15:59

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Is there any way to make bitcoin transactions faster?

# ¿ Dec 9, 2017 01:48

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Is etherium the new bitcoin? I heard someone yammering on about it the other day. I tried googling it and it looks like bitcoin v2. And what is ripple? Burstcoin? Litecoin? Why are there so many of these things?

# ¿ Jan 2, 2018 18:25

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Elias_Maluco posted:

So out of curiosity: how lucrative really is mining bitcoins now at the present moment, and how long can it last?

No one really knows. If the price goes up enough then yes. If it goes down, then no. It's really a gamble and there are cases to be made on each side.

The one thing I would say is don't listen to GBS for advice. There is probably a non joke thread somewhere else on the forum where there isn't as much static.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2018 18:40

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Andy Dufresne posted:

Posts like this bother me more than the bitcoin fanatics. You're making an assumption that because there are strong opinions on both sides the truth is somewhere in the middle.

No. I just said no one knows and there are arguments on each side. You are making the assumption that I say it's in the middle. By stating it was a gamble I was saying it was one way or the other.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2018 19:54

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Gonna be pretty funny when the whole thing crashes down and the smugs lose everything.

# ¿ Jan 12, 2018 07:45

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Is it immoral to buy and sell bitcoin?

# ¿ Jan 13, 2018 09:32

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bobfather posted:

Buying it is not immoral. I mean, you�re the one getting screwed in that transaction.

Selling it, while also knowing that the person you�re selling to is a greater fool is pretty much the definition of moral bankruptcy.

That's what I was getting at.

I finally decided on the buttcoin mode of thought when I realized how lovely the whole game is.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2018 15:56

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Lemme know when Bitcoin is at $6000. WTF!

# ¿ Jan 16, 2018 10:52

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How low would it have to go for the haters to jump on?

I think at $10 many people, myself included, would buy 10 then sit around and see what happens. Maybe.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2018 10:57

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Once it drops to a dime you will have a bunch of fools esplaining how it can only go up up up.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2018 11:07

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It recovered? Didn't drop to 5k?

# ¿ Jan 17, 2018 06:17

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lazorexplosion posted:

I think Bitcoin is a technology not a get rich scheme. Just like electricity or the internet, Bitcoin is a technology that is changing dramatically the way we function as human beings, how we transfer value between us. Volatility is induced by those who just want to get rich, panic sells are orchestrated by whales who know exactly what kind of people recently entered the market: uninformed, anxious and inexperienced "traders" who WILL sell their coins for a loss, basically handing money over to those willing to be patient.

This is the story of Bitcoin since the beginning and with the crazy amount of people rushing to the market is only gonna get worse.

However, when Bitcoin reaches mass adoption and acceptance by the majority of the world, volatitly will be a thing of the past. Why would the world accept Bitcoin you might ask, well because it is simply better, cheaper and more efficient than what we have now.

Remember, there were sceptics of the internet, electricity, even loving toasters, there will always be resistance to innovation, it is simply our self preservation instinct kicking in. That doesn't change the fact that innovation always win.

How much did you lose?

# ¿ Jan 17, 2018 12:18

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Is bitconnect another mt gox? What is FUD?

Can someone esplain what happened yesterday? I see something about bitconnect closing. Did they take a bunch of BTC with them?

Can I buy starbux w/ bitcoin yet?

# ¿ Jan 17, 2018 14:46

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deadwing posted:

Bitconnect was a even more blatant ponzi that promised 1% gainz a day

Oh.

Also, what are the chances of a lot of those 10k buys being people who just have it set and aren't aware it is crashing?

# ¿ Jan 17, 2018 14:48

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Question for you true believers:

How much have you spent? This includes buying BTC (and other crypto) with real money. It also includes electricity and hardware. What is your total cost outlay?
How much have you actually pocketed? This includes the drugs you have bought and your kiddie porn and actual cash withdrawals.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2018 15:01

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Almost to 9700.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2018 15:33

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That twitch stream is interesting. Guy seems unfazed.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2018 15:36

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Every 50 pts it drops it bounces a bit as some people buy. Then down again. Where is that gif?

# ¿ Jan 17, 2018 15:38

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Dmitri-9 posted:

https://twitter.com/ccchristtt/status/953607261510922240

Yes!

# ¿ Jan 17, 2018 15:44

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Why are people buying at all right now?

It's been dropping consistently. Why not wait it out and buy later? Because "you" know that this is the bottom so it's time to buy? Then it drops some more.

I imagine at some point it's going to really plummet.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2018 15:53

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Looks like $9500 is the current threshold. It doesn't seem to want to go under. Buys keep propping it back over.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2018 15:57

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Climbing again. Is this idiots who are just getting to the office seeing it is low so they are buying?

# ¿ Jan 17, 2018 16:09

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Lote posted:

So there�s no way to predict how big of a crash it will be?

Once it dawns on people that the bottom could be much lower then this crash can pick up even more momentum.

That's what I am thinking. At some point people will stop buying. But it will be in phases as the believers buy a bunch. I'd buy 10 of them once it gets to $10. Maybe. But there are a number of people who will buy tons of them at many higher points.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2018 16:16

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wilderthanmild posted:

I think we will see the thread title true again before the end of the week.

If it does, I'll ask a mod to edit the title to WTF! x2

# ¿ Jan 17, 2018 16:37

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So wait. The reason video cards are so pricey right now (seem to be about 50-75% higher than they used to be) is because of this poo poo? Seriously?

# ¿ Jan 17, 2018 17:11

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Well that explains why a 1060 is $300 rather than the $175 or so it should be.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2018 17:19

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Why is the US govt allowing this ponzi scheme to continue? Because they get some tax $$ from it?
How long until Japan, China and some other big money hitters outlaw it? I'm guessing that once a critical mass of major players say no to their citizens it will die out.

# ¿ Jan 18, 2018 04:38

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 05:04

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The bohemian grove is all about crypto.

# ¿ Jan 18, 2018 16:40

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