Bitcoin discussion and news

[Idaho]

Clearly peak crazy

ICOs... They may not all be scams... It's just that they look entirely like scams.

I think they are going to get stamped on fairly soon. Already getting snuffed out in a few places. I think ethereum will tank pretty hard when that happens... Which would be a good time to buy it, as it's a more interesting and complex bit of technology than bitcoin.

 

[camouflage]

more interesting and complex bit of technology than bitcoin.

That's it's problem, too complex and 'interesting'. I don't understand it, thus won't touch it. They have this concept in Eth that "Code is King", therefore when a not-hacker (down in legend as The Attacker) figured out a way to get paid lots of money somehow as per the code, they rolled back transactions and ended up with a coin split. or something.
Anyway Rootstock.

 

[Idaho]

That's it's problem, too complex and 'interesting'. I don't understand it, thus won't touch it. They have this concept in Eth that "Code is King", therefore when a not-hacker (down in legend as The Attacker) figured out a way to get paid lots of money somehow as per the code, they rolled back transactions and ended up with a coin split. or something.
Anyway Rootstock.

Yeah it's potential at the moment, and setting aside the total scam ICOs, the interesting legit ICOs are all based on stuff that ethereum can't do yet.

 

[Idaho]

yeah dont really have the cash for it, that's the other issue, lol
they guy is fine to wait, but would be nice to pay it back at lowest rate!

Still owe that half coin? Ouch...

 

[Idaho]

20BTC for an 8th, at current rates thats....£1,160!

Nearly £100k 8th

 

[sim667]

Starting 2018, using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin in Vietnam will be illegal and subject to a $9,000 fine - BlockExplorer News

Vietnam to make cryptocurrency illegal from 2018

 

[Idaho]

Vietnam is an odd one. The government started off very supportive of crypto, but have now gone full reverse. I am not sure if capital flight is the issue, or maybe the opposite - the potential of losing tax on inbound remittances.

 

[sim667]

Vietnam is an odd one. The government started off very supportive of crypto, but have now gone full reverse. I am not sure if capital flight is the issue, or maybe the opposite - the potential of losing tax on inbound remittances.

I think the notion is that they only want VND accepted, it looks like officially USD isn't accepted, but you can pay for everything in USD out there.

Government want their cut innit, can't get that with bitcoin.

 

[Ranbay]

Still owe that half coin? Ouch...

Paid some off last week, lol but yeah still owe some of it..... what goes up must come down right?

 

[Idaho]

Paid some off last week, lol but yeah still owe some of it..... what goes up must come down right?

Yes, but in what timescale?

 

[Ranbay]

Yes, but in what timescale?

He's in no rush, just going to chip away at it.

might take some time and cost me 3 times more, but hey i had a good time

plus once i move my miner into work... dum de dum....

 

[Idaho]

I've smoked my way through a few potential retirement fortunes over the last few years. What can you do eh?

 

[camouflage]

Fill your bongary an borrowing requirements with fiat next time.

 

[Ranbay]

Fuck tits

 

[ffsear]

Stuck its nose above $7000, but not for long

 

[Idaho]

The futures market being proposed for next year seems to be giving some a boner. I don't understand the significance of this personally.

There is a massive under supply in exchanges compared to demand. The scarcity of btc is the main factor.

The big jump from 6k was apparently due to someone with a massive short position getting a margin call and having to buy $48m of btc to cover.

 

[camouflage]

The futures market being proposed for next year seems to be giving some a boner. I don't understand the significance of this personally.

There is a massive under supply in exchanges compared to demand. The scarcity of btc is the main factor.

The big jump from 6k was apparently due to someone with a massive short position getting a margin call and having to buy $48m of btc to cover.

Yeah I read that post.

Have you seen those adverts on the tube? Something about getting into crypto without having to actually buy any. Sounds like bollocks to me, why not just stop by Paddy Power instead? Or create a futures market based on the ongoing war between mutually-antagonistic super-colonies of ants (Reds FTW!). Either way you don't get to walk away with a new horse whether you win or lose either (or new... ant, yeah).

 

[Poi E]

Futures might bring some more liquidity to the market but with the “dark” economy using BTC frequently and regular traders more and more, it’s becoming a useful method of exchange, and mostly beyond the ken of authorities. I work for a payments company and the dinosaurs are just figuring out what blockchain is.

 

[Idaho]

Yeah I read that post.

Have you seen those adverts on the tube? Something about getting into crypto without having to actually buy any. Sounds like bollocks to me, why not just stop by Paddy Power instead? Or create a futures market based on the ongoing war between mutually-antagonistic super-colonies of ants (Reds FTW!). Either way you don't get to walk away with a new horse whether you win or lose either (or new... ant, yeah).

That's those cfd exchanges yeah? They are just closed betting markets. You don't actually own anything, you are just betting on prices of things.

 

[Poi E]

A mate is doing that and it is one hell of a ride. He’s also leveraged

 

[Idaho]

Leveraged gambling - what could possibly go wrong?

 

[camouflage]

Leveraged gambling - what could possibly go wrong?

One could easily imagine loan-based Bitcoin buying inflating another credit bubble like what happened in 2008. When the dust settles the bottom of the crater in Bitcoin terms could be well (well) above the current price, but the fallout for society as a whole no less destructive than last time. You can't do hodl if you're underwater.

 

[Idaho]

There are a few scenarios possible from here (well there is only one scenario, but we must project a few in the hope that one of them approximates the eventual reality).

1 - based on the historical trend that it bubbles 10 times (ish) the average low of the previous cycle, then pops to 3 times (ish) that low... Then it should pop before $10k and go to $2k (ish). Which then gives us 3 main outcomes:

• a) hype cycle resumes quickly and it goes back to a new bubble
• b) full disillusionment, it drops below the long term trend and the crypto fad is over
• c) extended blow off phase, only resuming an upward trend when the second layer solutions are functional

2 - the mania increases at the same rate, caused by more exuberance and perhaps another banking collapse/large currency problem and there is a bigger rise to $15-25k until there is a major intervention by a government at the behest of the banking industry.

3 - the rise is more lumpy with surges and corrections - but the trend is upwards

4 - the rise stops but the descent is lumpy with death trashings and capitulations

If I were to spread my bets, I would put half my chips on 1c and half on 2.

 

[Graymalkin]

This popped up on my facebook feed. Apparently, the obsessive cross-checking built into the blockchain concept has created a situation where the electricity consumption required to authenticate a single bitcoin transaction is roughly equivalent to a weeks power consumption for an average American home.

One Bitcoin Transaction Now Uses as Much Energy as Your House in a Week

 

[Poi E]

Hence malware that will now use your computer to assist with distributed mining. Only so many that can be mined, unlike these annoying fiat currencies that get printed off with abandon.

 

[kabbes]

Virtually no fiat currency actually gets printed, of course. About 90% of currency isn’t even created by central banks, it’s created by commercial banks. Every time a bank grants a loan, they are creating money, and that money is purely electric in form.

 

[Idaho]

Virtually no fiat currency actually gets printed, of course. About 90% of currency isn’t even created by central banks, it’s created by commercial banks. Every time a bank grants a loan, they are creating money, and that money is purely electric in form.

It is fairly hilarious when some in the banking industry say "bitcoin isn't backed by anything". I can't decide if it's worse if they say out of duplicity or ignorance.

 

[mauvais]

It is fairly hilarious when some in the banking industry say "bitcoin isn't backed by anything". I can't decide if it's worse if they say out of duplicity or ignorance.

The difference is that the bankers' imaginary money is backed up by something - the confidence in the continued upright existence of one or more nation states. As opposed to, well, the confidence of the other people that drank the same kool-aid. Sometimes the two have got pretty close, I admit.

 

[Idaho]

It's all kool aid! Whether it be paper money, coins, gold bars, yapp island stones, cowrie shells, digits on a screen, etc.

There was a time before all of these things were even conceived as a possible marker of exchange, a time when some used them and others thought it ludicrous. And then a point at which an imperceptible shift occurred - when it no longer seemed significant whether it was sensible or ludicrous, but that it was just money.

 

[Poi E]

Awesome tool for money laundering.