Paypal launches cryptocurrency in the UK

E

edwest4

ACCESS: Top Secret
Joined
8 November 2007
Messages
4,804
Reaction score
3,902
A very, very bad idea. Akin to burning actual, real money. So-called crypto is unregulated and in the U.S., not insured by the FDIC and can lose value overnight. The desire to create buyers of crypto is not a good thing for the average person.

www.cnbc.com

PayPal launches its cryptocurrency service in the UK

PayPal will let British customers buy, hold and sell digital currencies, starting this week.
www.cnbc.com www.cnbc.com
 
Cryptocurrency in the UK,
It’s coming today - may-be!
And it’s gonna beeee…
Anarchy!

(Apologies to the Sex Pistols)
 
UK based cryptocurrency operations are regulated by the banking regulator, which recently ordered at least one company to shut down, but that just meant they switched operations to their non-UK parent.

The cowboys are difficult to regulate, but if you're someone like Paypal, there will be regulation.
 
edwest2 said:
So-called crypto ... can lose value overnight.
Click to expand...

That's pretty much the definition of currency speculation, which plenty of people do in non-crypto currencies. It's an investment, without a guaranteed payback, not a savings account with a set rate of interest.
 
Why would any average person want this? Yesterday, on a business/investor site, there was a headline that stated: "Bitcoin roars past 50,000." Well, by the end of the day it had dropped below 50,000. And can I just hand over 50,000 to own one Bitcoin? No. I have to play a game called "mining." I have to solve a puzzle in order get my Bitcoin. And the more people who want a Bitcoin, the harder the puzzle.

What's actually happening is money ownership. Yes, in the U.S., someone owns your money. Prior to a private national bank issuing paper currency with the words Federal Reserve Note, there were United States Notes. So, today the Federal Reserve owns the money and gets a cut from it. Prior to that, the U.S. Government issued and owned paper money.

Back to Bitcoin. Even though it does not exist as a real, physical currency, there is not an unlimited supply. So, who controls the number of Bitcoins issued? Don't know.

If I have 100 Dollars U.S., it will be worth 100 Dollars into the future. With Bitcoin, I give them real money in exchange for what? A Billionaire plaything? No. Definitely no.
 
edwest2 said:
With cryptocurrency, I give them real money in exchange for what? A Billionaire plaything? No. Definitely no.
Click to expand...
You also purchase the undying and eternal wrath of the entire pc gaming community for spiking GPU prices past 3x msrp and launching the careers of a million scalpers and scammers. These criminals won't be going away just because the computer components markets recover, either.
 
dannydale said:
edwest2 said:
With cryptocurrency, I give them real money in exchange for what? A Billionaire plaything? No. Definitely no.
Click to expand...
You also purchase the undying and eternal wrath of the entire pc gaming community for spiking GPU prices past 3x msrp and launching the careers of a million scalpers and scammers. These criminals won't be going away just because the computer components markets recover, either.
Click to expand...

Yes, well, it's not my fault that chips and machines are burning electricity to play their little game. Regarding Billionaires, I'll quote a so-called comedian who I strongly dislike: "Hey Dad! Let's send a monkey to Mars!"

Just imagine waking up one day in possession of billions of dollars. What to do? 'I know, I'll start my own MoNeY !!! People will give me REAL money in exchange for my FAKE money. And soon, I WILL rule the world !!! I'll own everything !!! Banks will DIE !!!'

Or words to that effect.
 
edwest2 said:
And can I just hand over 50,000 to own one Bitcoin? No. I have to play a game called "mining."
Click to expand...

Bitcoin ownership and mining are completely separate things. Yes, you can just deposit $50,000 for the ownership of a bitcoin, but you can also deposit $5 for 0.0001 bitcoins (and vice versa, there are even ATMs that payout from Bitcoin accounts). Whereas mining is a consequence of the bitcoin blockchain mechanism (which is used to ensure the security of bitcoin transfers between people) being fundamentally borked. It works as a security mechanism, but it isn't scalable - there's a finite endpoint, and it's a powerhog that's making a measurable change in global energy emissions because its set up as a competitive mechanism - solve the keycode to be used for a block of transfers, get a bitcoin in payment, which means multiple teams setting out to beat each other.

The closest analogue most of us take part in is share ownership, which is fundamentally little different, and what's going on with bitcoin is speculation similar to what we saw with Gamestop at the start of the year, and similar to the currency speculation that has been the norm for decades, but has increasingly opened up to small traders with the availability of internet trading platforms.
 
This adds nothing. It's fake money. People should ignore/avoid it.

Meanwhile, banks - real banks - are watching this along with regulators. They know what it means. FOREX trading involves real money.
 
From what I have seen, this is a currency used by con merchants and thieves. I really believe it should be rooted out and banned.
 
Foo Fighter said:
From what I have seen, this is a currency used by con merchants and thieves. I really believe it should be rooted out and banned.
Click to expand...

So like the US dollar, then ;)

Which is actually a more serious point than it looks, money laundering uses a host of different mechanisms, shutting one down will just push people into another. Cyber currency makes it easier from one point of view, but on the other hand opens up the potential of law enforcement getting hold of the entire set of transaction records, which is not something you can say about the traditional bulging suitcase full of used notes.
 
It just dawned on me...
- Krypto was Superman's dog (or Superdog).
- Elon dropped bitcoin and embraced Dogecoin
- Paypal is part of Musk early history, 20 years ago.

So it just a matter of dogs ? Krypto the super dog versus dogcoin ?
 
edwest2 said:
People are using a lot of electricity to "mine" Bitcoin? Seriously?

www.bbc.com

Why China's bitcoin miners are moving to Texas

Beijing's crackdown on cryptocurrency sends bitcoin entrepreneurs moving to the wild wild west.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
Click to expand...

Seriously enough it makes measurable differences in national level electricity consumption. At over 120 Terawatt Hours/year Bitcoin mining worldwide exceeds the electricity consumption of Argentina or the Netherlands - and that's a six month old figure so it's probably more than that by now.
 
I think its a great news. Cryptocurrency is becoming popular in every country. Anyway, I don't recommend you to use PayPal for crypto transactions if you want to keep your privacy.
 
How is cryptocurrency a good idea? Paying real money for a line of code? That's it?
 
From today's Barron's:

Dogecoin Surges as Tesla Begins Accepting the Crypto for Merchandise Purchases​



By
Joe Woelfel
Updated Jan. 14, 2022 9:44 am ET / Original Jan. 14, 2022 4:41 am ET



Dogecoin surged Friday after Tesla began accepting the cryptocurrency for merchandise purchases on the electric-vehicle maker’s website.

Dogecoin has risen 12% over the past 24 hours to $0.191774, according to CoinDesk. Dogecoin has gained 12% in 2022.

In a tweet early Friday, Tesla (ticker: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk said, “Tesla merch buyable...
 
At just over 19 cents, I can afford 10 Doggy Coins but will have to wait until they're worth $40,000 each until I can buy anything from Tesla.
 
Your concerns about PayPal launching cryptocurrency in the UK are valid – the crypto landscape can be a rollercoaster. I've had my share of doubts too, but I've been checking out AI trading platforms like Immediate Edge to navigate the ups and downs. It's true that crypto lacks traditional regulation and insurance, but it's also opened doors to innovation and potential gains. I believe there's room for both caution and curiosity. It's all about personal choice and making informed decisions. Keep sharing your insights – it's discussions like these that help us see different angles.
 
Last edited:
On a perhaps alarming note:
tech.slashdot.org

Crypto Is Quietly Thriving in Sub-Saharan Africa: Chainalysis Report - Slashdot

Small retail payments in Sub-Saharan Africa are powering exceptional crypto adoption and usage, with the region conducting the world's highest proportion (80%) of crypto retail payments of less than $1,000, according to a report by blockchain data firm Chainalysis. From a report: The report also...
tech.slashdot.org
 

Similar threads

Please donate to support the forum.

Back
Top Bottom