Bitcoin and cryptocurrency

Not seen on Monty Python:

I just bought some Bitcoin at Walmart!

Can I see it?

Well, you can't see it, actually.

If you bought it and you can't see it then how do you know you bought it?

It's in my Digital Wallet!

Really? Can I see that?

No. It's digital!

So where is it then?

It's on a digital ledger.

A what?

It's on my Smartphone.

So, can I see that?

Here you go.

That's just some numbers. What can you do with that?

Something, I guess. I haven't tried it yet.

Why did you buy it then?

Well... Alright. All the cool kids are buying it and I didn't want to feel left out.

Ah hah. So you paid money for some digital bits. A bit foolish if you ask me.
 
In the post scarcity world of post mechanization, only the man that controls the NFTs is rich.

In the era where any practical item you can wear to display wealth is too cheap, a T-shirt with cypto account printed on it is the best demo of capabilities.

In just before 100% of world capital is involved in bidding war over "good school districts."

edit:
edwest2 said:
The ongoing effort to collect real money in return for nothing.

www.cbsnews.com

Walmart shoppers can now buy bitcoin at kiosks in some stores

Cryptocurrency becoming more mainstream as largest U.S. retailer hosts Coinstar machines in 200 locations.
www.cbsnews.com www.cbsnews.com
Click to expand...
"Darknet" available for the masses? The how will the ghetto ever recover.
 
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A commercial for Bitcoin that never appeared:

[Voice-over] Announcing Bitcoin!

[Music plays as a small group dances across a stage in top hats.]

What is Bitcoin? It's Nothing!

Go ahead! Buy some Nothing. We have Nothing for you.

Buy some Nothing. Lots of Nothing. We have Nothing for you.

Get out your cash and give it away! For Nothing!

Lots of Nothing. We Have Nothing for you.

Backwards looking statement:

Bitcoin is not real money. Its origin is unknown and no one is responsible. The value of Bitcoin is entirely arbitrary and is based on the U.S. Dollar. Owners of Bitcoin can experience substantial losses overnight. Bitcoin is not FDIC insured in the United States. If you live in an emerging market, you're on your own.
 
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I remember a guy coming around the computer labs in around '94 trying to sell 'bitcoins'. 100 bitcoins for $100 was the deal, I said no thanks. Sounded too much like a con. :D

Last week they were up to US $62k.

Oh well...
 
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We all know that money based on paper is essentially worth nothing. What the currency really need is ....gold :D
 
A crypto market is an interesting place. There are some pretty sharp tools for technical analysis, so that might be a good place to start. You could put all your money in there if you wanted to, but that's a risky move. A more strategic move would be to look at the charts first and see what the market has been doing over time. You can use tools like mt5 for mac, where you can find a lot of useful indicators that will improve your trading strategy. Anyway, I think that soon crypto payments will be more popular.
 
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tech.slashdot.org

Celsius' Top 3 Execs Cashed Out $42M in Crypto Before Bankruptcy - Slashdot

Crypto lender Celsius' top three executives withdrew $42.13 million in cryptocurrency between May and June 2022, right before the company suspended withdrawals and filed for bankruptcy, new court records show. From a report: According to a Statement of Financial Affairs filed late Wednesday...
tech.slashdot.org
 
www.telegraph.co.uk

Stocks and pound surge after surprise drop in US inflation

Wall Street has enjoyed its biggest surge in two years and sterling rocketed versus the dollar after a surprise cooling in US inflation boosted hopes of a lower peak for interest rates.
www.telegraph.co.uk www.telegraph.co.uk

Bitcoin could lose 80pc of its value amid a “cascade of margin calls” in the wake of the crisis at the FTX crypto exchange, JP Morgan has warned.

Analysts at the Wall Street bank said the world’s biggest cryptocurrency could tumble to $13,000 – an 80pc drop from its peak of over $68,000.

It comes as a liquidity crunch at FTX, which was founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, sends shockwaves through the volatile sector.

Rival exchange Binance last night walked away from an emergency bailout, leaving FTX on the brink.

Bitcoin is now down by almost 60pc this year. It has fallen from just under $19,000 per coin last Friday to below $15,000 today.
Click to expand...
 
Grey Havoc said:
www.telegraph.co.uk

Stocks and pound surge after surprise drop in US inflation

Wall Street has enjoyed its biggest surge in two years and sterling rocketed versus the dollar after a surprise cooling in US inflation boosted hopes of a lower peak for interest rates.
www.telegraph.co.uk www.telegraph.co.uk

Bitcoin could lose 80pc of its value amid a “cascade of margin calls” in the wake of the crisis at the FTX crypto exchange, JP Morgan has warned.

Analysts at the Wall Street bank said the world’s biggest cryptocurrency could tumble to $13,000 – an 80pc drop from its peak of over $68,000.

It comes as a liquidity crunch at FTX, which was founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, sends shockwaves through the volatile sector.

Rival exchange Binance last night walked away from an emergency bailout, leaving FTX on the brink.

Bitcoin is now down by almost 60pc this year. It has fallen from just under $19,000 per coin last Friday to below $15,000 today.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
slashdot.org

FTX Contagion Is Spreading To the Solana Ecosystem - Slashdot

Solana's SOL is down much further than any of the other major cryptocurrencies today, all of which are down badly following the sudden unraveling of the wildly fast growing crypto exchange FTX on Tuesday. Axios reports: Blockchain principles aim to instantiate the ideals of decentralization...
slashdot.org
 
Crypto exchanges race to soothe clients’ nerves after FTX collapse (ft.com, subscription or registration may be required)

Digital asset exchanges are rushing to reassure clients that their funds are safe as the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX crypto exchange ricochets through the industry.

Binance, the world’s biggest crypto trading venue, as well as smaller rivals including Crypto.com, OKX and Derebit have vowed to publish proof that they hold sufficient reserves to match their liabilities to customers. Coinbase, the US-listed exchange, has also sought to distance itself from the crisis that has engulfed FTX, the digital asset venue founded by Sam Bankman-Fried.

The sudden collapse last week of FTX and Bankman-Fried’s trading shop Alameda Research, once viewed as pillars of the industry, has severely eroded confidence in the digital asset market. FTX had less than $1bn in easily sellable assets against $9bn in liabilities before it went bankrupt on Friday, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.

Tether’s eponymous US dollar stablecoin — the largest in the industry — has faced approximately $3bn in redemptions in the past four days, according to data provider CoinMarketCap, underscoring how traders are yanking funds out of the digital asset market.

Meanwhile, balances of ether, the second-biggest cryptocurrency, have dropped 7 per cent in the past fortnight to 22.9mn across major crypto exchanges, including FTX, according to data from blockchain analytics platform Nansen. At current exchange rates, that points to a fall of about $2bn, which suggests some investors are pulling their coins from centralised venues in favour of storing them using their own systems.

[snip]
Click to expand...
 
"digital asset market"? You give your real money in exchange for a line in a ledger. Then that real money gets invested in whatever. When some 'risky bets' fall through, the owner of your money hopes enough cash from other investments appears to offset the money that disappeared. When that doesn't happen, he can freeze withdrawals and go bankrupt. Right now, there are about 10,000 different 'coins' or tokens, but nothing tangible. Some of the companies that own these have been hacked. There can be drastic losses overnight. One company launched its token, owned most of them, and when the value hit a certain number, cashed out. Then they closed. The small number of people still holding the token saw its value drop to zero.

This is just another way to convince individuals, and even pension funds, to "invest" in crypto.

Let's go back to 2008 and the Housing Market Crash. Some "genius" invented Credit Default Swaps, a bit of financial sleight of hand. Meanwhile, those who valued homes kept valuing them at higher and higher numbers - arbitrarily. As if there was no limit to how high they could go. Well, of course there's a limit. But homes were turned into a commodity, the value was raised artificially, and a classic Wall Street "pump and dump" occurred. Then it all fell apart. People owed a lot more money than what they had on hand and went bankrupt. Long-time employees who knew my employer called him to tell him they were just just let go from their jobs.

So, whenever you see the fake word blockchain, run.

"Blockchain is a system of recording information in a way that makes it difficult or impossible to change, hack, or cheat the system. A blockchain is essentially a digital ledger of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across the entire network of computer systems on the blockchain."

It's illegal to counterfeit money so some "genius" decided to invent his own, followed by others. And once your money is in his hands, there's no telling what can happen.

And who needs to rob an actual bank when you can hack some crypto?

fortune.com

With more than $3B already stolen, 2022 is on pace to become crypto’s ‘biggest year for hacking on record’

“After four hacks yesterday, October is now the biggest month in the biggest year ever for hacking activity,” blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis said.
fortune.com fortune.com
 
www.telegraph.co.uk

Cryptocurrency market at risk of ‘cascading contagion’, warns Binance chief

The boss of the world's largest cryptocurrency trading company has warned there will be "some cascading contagion effects" from the collapse of $32bn exchange FTX.
www.telegraph.co.uk www.telegraph.co.uk

The boss of the world's largest cryptocurrency trading company has warned there will be "some cascading contagion effects" from the collapse of $32bn exchange FTX.

Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, the chief executive of Binance, who pulled out of last minute talks to rescue FTX last week before it imploded, said: "There will be a few other players who either have money on FTX and even a significant amount that may cause them trouble."

Mr Zhao pulled out of last minute talks to rescue FTX last week before it imploded, warning of "reports regarding mishandled customer funds and alleged US agency investigations".

FTX, a Bahamas-based cryptocurrency fund, filed for bankruptcy protection in the US after freezing withdrawals as it struggled to redeem billions of pounds in withdrawals.

Founded by 30-year-old entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX crashed with $9bn in liabilities. The exchange reportedly lent customer funds with its sister trading company, Alameda Research, to prop up its losses on high-risk crypto investments, as part of a web of more than 130 companies run from a multi-million-pound penthouse in the Bahamas.

Mr Bankman-Fried, known as "SBF, apologised last week and blamed the collapse on "poor internal labelling" of its company accounts. He later added: "I'm piecing together all of the details, but I was shocked to see things unravel the way they did earlier this week."

A number of other exchanges and trading companies used FTX's products for their own deposits or for completing trades, creating risks to other cryptocurrency outfits. The fallout from the crisis triggered a sharp sell-off in digital currencies. So far this month, Bitcoin is down around 20pc after the problems at FTX emerged. The company's own digital token, called FTT, has lost more than 90pc of its value.

Mr Zhao said he believed "the major impact is probably out... I could be very wrong here."
Click to expand...
 
And others are already evoking Elizabeth Holmes & Bernie Madoff...

www.commonsense.news

The $32 Billion Crypto Scammer

Sam Bankman-Fried was hailed as the next Warren Buffett. Now he looks more like the next Elizabeth Holmes. Or perhaps Bernie Madoff.
www.commonsense.news www.commonsense.news

“The Next Warren Buffett.” That’s how Fortune magazine dubbed Sam Bankman-Fried, the crypto wunderkind who wore shorts, schlubby socks, and sneakers on stage with Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. But Bankman-Fried, worth an estimated $32 billion at his height, wouldn’t just be a financial oracle like Buffett. He would also be the second-coming of George Soros: By the end of this midterm election cycle, he’d become the second largest donor to the Democratic Party.

Over the past few days, all of that has come spectacularly undone.

Now, Bankman-Fried looks, at best, like the original storyline for Michael Saylor of Microstrategy during the Dotcom bust. Or, more likely, like Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos infamy. Or, with increasing plausibility, like a less civic-minded Bernie Madoff.
Click to expand...
 
Or, with increasing plausibility, like a less civic-minded Bernie Madoff.
Click to expand...
Hey Madoff played golf and had ice cream in his jail.

86 years... yep. But, with good behavior: Who knows?
 
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"misinformation"? When was it decided to remove the word lie from public discourse? He or she lied. What's wrong with that? Meanwhile, the so-called crypto industry is shown for what it is. A hype machine, a marketing campaign. Value created out of thin air. Sad. And people talk about reform? Reform of what? A well-regulated, (mostly) honest banking industry, in exchange for what? This?
 

Binance proposes fund to save crypto from future failures​



apnews.com

Binance proposes fund to save crypto from future failures

NEW YORK (AP) — Cryptocurrency exchange giant Binance is proposing the creation of a rescue fund that would save otherwise healthy crypto companies from failure, aiming to stave off the cascading effects of last week's implosion of FTX, the world's third-largest crypto exchange .
apnews.com apnews.com


A fund against future scams? Seriously? This is 'The Future of Money'? I hope not.
 
Just a case of bad bookkeeping?

www.thestreet.com

FTX Lawyers Note 'Dozens' of Potential Probes, Question SBF Leadership in New Bankruptcy Filing

"FTX faced a severe liquidity crisis that necessitated the filing of these cases on an emergency basis last Friday," lawyers for the now-bankrupt crypto exchange told a Delaware court late Monday.
www.thestreet.com www.thestreet.com

"London's Financial Times posted details of FTX's balance sheet the day before it sought Chapter 11 protection under newly-appointed CEO John Ray, with the data indicating just $900 million in liquid assets against more than $9 billion in overall liabilities."
 

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