udo wrote:

Elon's Crypto Moves / Tweets are worth keeping an eye on over next week or Two..

I think Elon's got his own things to worry about at present...aka an overpriced software platform called Twitter that he's now trying to work out how it makes money for him.

a very telling point i heard today is the chip makers stocks have gone down due to reducing demand for chips because of the fall of cryptos

proof enough for me the whole thing is a resource hungry, bubbled up produce nothing, environmental disaster, dumb technology...

donweather wrote:

Supafreak wrote:

The poor fool has only 1 billion left

Don't believe that. He's filed for bankruptcy and shutdown his exchange so no one can withdraw THEIR crypto!!!

Yeah I would have no idea, never heard of the bloke, just read the link that malben put up , it is cnn so who knows . https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/09/business/sam-bankman-fried-wealth-ftx-ct… That would leaves SBF’s net worth at about $1 billion — a 94% collapse and the biggest one-day loss by a person tracked by the index.

https://coingeek.com/sam-bankman-fried-reveals-how-defi-works-like-ponz…

https://twitter.com/BondHack/status/1590690124635213826?s=20&t=kCDkSPA06x6SXg4qZrqavA

What’s happening with crypto lately is exactly what many ‘boomers’ and ‘dinosaurs’ said was going to happen. It might have great potential but right now, today, it’s equivalent to the luxury item that gets crushed when cash flow gets tight.

Meanwhile, this ftx story is really becoming a bizarre basket case as things get untangled.

https://fortune.com/2022/11/11/sam-bankman-fried-crypto-empire-ftx-alam…

flollo wrote:

Here's something interesting I just saw:

"BlackRock and Citadel allegedly caused one of the largest #crypto crash of the last years. The two investors allegedly borrowed 100k #BTC from Gemini, swapped 25K of #BTC into #TerraUSD (#UST), called Terra Foundation suggesting they’d want to sell a large chunk of BTC for UST, and hinted to buy them at discount to avoid moving the market. https://lnkd.in/dAi_yJm2

Terra ($Luna) agreed to buy BTC for UST at a discount, lowering its own UST liquidity and reserves significantly. After which, BlackRock and Citadel dumped all UST and #BTC causing massive slippage and triggering a cascade of forced selling in both assets.

At the same time, this also triggered a cascade of withdrawals from another large crypto, $AnchorProtocol, holding large quantities of $Luna. The withdrawals were more than Anchor could repay, triggering a further sell-off in $Luna, thus further breaking the $1 peg of UST/USD.

#BTC currently trading below $27,000 (down 32.2% in 1 week) can now be bought by BlackRock and Citadel much cheaply, they can repay their loan, and pocket billions in difference. Meanwhile, over $300bn of long positions in stable and altcoins were wiped out, and $Luna tumbled from $86 to $0.16 in less than a week.

While BlackRock and Citadel denied the claims, only the actions of very large institutional investors could trigger such a tumble by two of the largest #cryptocurrencies. This was pure market manipulation. It is surprising that the largest investors in the world and loud advocate for ESG and Ethical investment is allegedly behind such actions. At which point trading and investing becomes market manipulation? Is #crypto investing supposed to align to #ESG standards, or is it still considered no man's land due to lack of regulations?"

Apparently, BlackRock was one of the big backers in FTX, and they’ll take a hit from the crash. Serves them right.

It was amazing that established investment funds got into the crypto game. The hope of huge returns was just too tempting.

wasn't it alleged that blackrock concocted the master plan to take out that other coin?

Yes, it was. And a competitor to FTX, Binance, made damaging comments about FTX’s liquidity, leading to a run on FTX’s deposits.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/11/binance-ftx-collapse…

Poetic justice for BlackRock, which stands to lose from the FTX collapse.

What we're seeing in crypto is quite frightening. The exchanges should be a service that let users buy and sell crypto for a fee. However, they are not just taking fees, they are operating like a bank with a fractional reserve and spending users' funds god knows where. There is no governance, and no clear-cut rules of the game, it's pretty much the wild west. If all users would withdraw funds we would have a crypto bank run' but in this case, no one will bail the system out and it would completely crash. Crazy times.

Bitcoin down 65 K aud from this time last year..

Can someone do a quick refresher on the benefits of cryptocurrency?

thermalben wrote:

Can someone do a quick refresher on the benefits of cryptocurrency?

None at all Ben.

flollo wrote:

What we're seeing in crypto is quite frightening. The exchanges should be a service that let users buy and sell crypto for a fee. However, they are not just taking fees, they are operating like a bank with a fractional reserve and spending users' funds god knows where. There is no governance, and no clear-cut rules of the game, it's pretty much the wild west. If all users would withdraw funds we would have a crypto bank run' but in this case, no one will bail the system out and it would completely crash. Crazy times.

So central banks are the devil we know?

Could take that view and apply it to all manner of current events.

thermalben wrote:

Can someone do a quick refresher on the benefits of cryptocurrency?

As a currency there isn't any, it's often slower than other transaction systems, often more expensive and secure wise it always made me kinda nervous doing a transaction, at least if your money goes missing with PayPal, or Wise or a bank you have a chance of recovery no chance with Crypto.

BTW. When I say slow i mean slow i remember times waiting an hour or hours and the more people that use it the slower it is so imagine if everyone used it, as it is ive read it can even sometimes take days for a transaction, while systems now like Wise or PayPal are close to real time even for sending money to say an Indo bank account and cheap now too. (not like the old days)

The biggest and only real benefit is it's harder to trace so good for criminal activities or if you are anti banks or anti establishment or something, but as far as i understand you still need to cash out through a bank account, you could probably find someone who will give you cash for Crypto but you would be getting a terrible exchange rate.

Smooth talker Jack Mallers
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/09/27/jack-mallers-crypto-paymen…
https://finbold.com/strike-ceo-says-platform-can-integrate-bitcoin-ligh…
I Wonder if the Goat is still holding Bitcoin..

Crypto is a wealth transfer mechanism.

Your wealth transferred to a hedge fund bank account.

Thanks for coming.

monkeyboy wrote:

Crypto is a wealth transfer mechanism.

Your wealth transferred to a hedge fund bank account.

Thanks for coming.

Monkeyboy. You seem to know a bit about crypto. Thermalbens initial question was what are the benefits of cryptocurrency, say, compared to other investments (risks). Care to elaborate ? Thanks.

thermalben wrote:

I've just rejigged my memory from two years ago, when I posted (in this thread):

"Kodak is pivoting to blockchain with “KODAKCoin, a photo-centric cryptocurrency to empower photographers and agencies to take greater control in image rights management. https://t.co/a7pp5zWZHY"

Kodak share price had bottomed out around $3.20 (following a peak of $36 in 2014), and subsequently tripled to around $10 after the cryptocurrency announcement.

So, how has it gone?

Not well. This article from Dec 2018 (almost a year later) sums things up in great detail: "The KodakCoin ICO failed, and now everyone wants their money" Kodak's share price was back down to $5 within a few months, and then spend most of 2019 and the first half of 2020 between $2-3.

Then, on July 31st, the share price rocketed from $2.10 up to $21.85. What happened?

"The enormous rally in Kodak (KODK) shares has no end in sight, after the Trump administration announced the company will be transformed into a pharmaceutical producer under the Defense Production Act. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced the company would receive a US$765 million loan to launch Kodak Pharmaceuticals, which will produce generic active pharmaceutical ingredients to reduce America’s dependency on foreign drug makers. The plan is it for the company to make ingredients used in generic drugs to help fight the coronavirus. The company’s shares have skyrocketed on the news."

But, the good news didn't last long: within a month, the share price was back down to $6 ("Kodak's stock tumbles again, after disclosure that investors have converted debt into nearly 30 million common shares") and it's been hovering in the $7-8 range ever since.

Who would have thought an iconic camera brand would pivot twice - once to cryptocurrency, and then a second time to coronavirus vaccines?

Just to add a coda to my earlier posts on Kodak: it seems that - just like Kodak Coin - Kodak Pharmaceuticals didn't come through either.

Back in early 2020, President Donald Trump announced the company would receive a US$765 million loan to launch Kodak Pharmaceuticals (so the stock price rallied again).

Then, in August 2020 the loan was put on hold.

On July 28, we signed a Letter of Interest with Eastman Kodak. Recent allegations of wrongdoing raise serious concerns. We will not proceed any further unless these allegations are cleared.

— DFC Invests (@DFCgov) August 7, 2020

https://www.wxxinews.org/business/2020-08-08/federal-agency-puts-a-halt…

In November 2020, "A top Kodak official said the company still plans to move ahead with its pharmaceutical business, even if it doesn’t get a government loan."

https://www.wxxinews.org/business/2020-11-12/kodak-will-still-pursue-th…

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4515236-eastman-kodak-stock-with-the-p…

AlfredWallace wrote:

monkeyboy wrote:

Crypto is a wealth transfer mechanism.

Your wealth transferred to a hedge fund bank account.

Thanks for coming.

Monkeyboy. You seem to know a bit about crypto. Thermalbens initial question was what are the benefits of cryptocurrency, say, compared to other investments (risks). Care to elaborate ? Thanks.

Simply put.

Crypto is unregulated. The exchanges are unregulated. It appears most exchanges have been funded by venture capitalist and/or hedge funds - so basically, huge money looking for a place to go but also looking to make big money - then...how do they do this. Well, one way would be to lend each other money or buy each other's coins - basically a ponzi scheme which will ultimately fail as they always do.

If you have money in any of these exchanges get it out.

If you own crypto and you want to keep it then you should have it on cold storage, NOT on an exchange - they will loan it out and use it as collateral and you are totally unprotected and you will not get your money back or your crypto...it ends up somewhere....

WTF is one of the largest pension funds in Canada doing investing in this dog shite....crazy.

Financial assets like shares, ETFs, bonds ARE regulated (badly at times). And you should always have your cash in a segregated account (not pooled with other people), and all your assets in your own name/s.

monkeyboy wrote:

AlfredWallace wrote:

monkeyboy wrote:

Crypto is a wealth transfer mechanism.

Your wealth transferred to a hedge fund bank account.

Thanks for coming.

Monkeyboy. You seem to know a bit about crypto. Thermalbens initial question was what are the benefits of cryptocurrency, say, compared to other investments (risks). Care to elaborate ? Thanks.

Simply put.

Crypto is unregulated. The exchanges are unregulated. It appears most exchanges have been funded by venture capitalist and/or hedge funds - so basically, huge money looking for a place to go but also looking to make big money - then...how do they do this. Well, one way would be to lend each other money or buy each other's coins - basically a ponzi scheme which will ultimately fail as they always do.

If you have money in any of these exchanges get it out.

If you own crypto and you want to keep it then you should have it on cold storage, NOT on an exchange - they will loan it out and use it as collateral and you are totally unprotected and you will not get your money back or your crypto...it ends up somewhere....

WTF is one of the largest pension funds in Canada doing investing in this dog shite....crazy.

Financial assets like shares, ETFs, bonds ARE regulated (badly at times). And you should always have your cash in a segregated account (not pooled with other people), and all your assets in your own name/s.

Monkeyboy. Thanks so much, a great explanation. I know where not to put my hard earned. Looks like its under the mattress as usual.

flollo wrote:

What we're seeing in crypto is quite frightening. The exchanges should be a service that let users buy and sell crypto for a fee. However, they are not just taking fees, they are operating like a bank with a fractional reserve and spending users' funds god knows where. There is no governance, and no clear-cut rules of the game, it's pretty much the wild west. If all users would withdraw funds we would have a crypto bank run' but in this case, no one will bail the system out and it would completely crash. Crazy times.

Had a very good friend in mid high school whose parent allegedly did the same to client money that was entrusted to them; they became fugitives, were caught and it really fucked him up.

stunet wrote:

So central banks are the devil we know?

Could take that view and apply it to all manner of current events.

Physical gold and silver in a free float, 100% physical reserve banking, laws in each country that they must balance the budget each year. You'd think you'd get Amish levels of growth, but it would be much greater actually without the crushing debt-load, real, and a lot less volatile, with much higher lending standards and lower moral hazard. I call it the 'barbarous relic' system. No central banks so caveat emptor.

monkeyboy wrote:

AlfredWallace wrote:

monkeyboy wrote:

Crypto is a wealth transfer mechanism.

Your wealth transferred to a hedge fund bank account.

Thanks for coming.

Monkeyboy. You seem to know a bit about crypto. Thermalbens initial question was what are the benefits of cryptocurrency, say, compared to other investments (risks). Care to elaborate ? Thanks.

Simply put.

Crypto is unregulated. The exchanges are unregulated. It appears most exchanges have been funded by venture capitalist and/or hedge funds - so basically, huge money looking for a place to go but also looking to make big money - then...how do they do this. Well, one way would be to lend each other money or buy each other's coins - basically a ponzi scheme which will ultimately fail as they always do.

If you have money in any of these exchanges get it out.

If you own crypto and you want to keep it then you should have it on cold storage, NOT on an exchange - they will loan it out and use it as collateral and you are totally unprotected and you will not get your money back or your crypto...it ends up somewhere....

WTF is one of the largest pension funds in Canada doing investing in this dog shite....crazy.

Financial assets like shares, ETFs, bonds ARE regulated (badly at times). And you should always have your cash in a segregated account (not pooled with other people), and all your assets in your own name/s.

That was good monkeyboy. Do you remember what happened to pooled cash when MFGlobal went down?

This is a very good read re: the state of FTX's balance sheet. Kinda sums up the way I always assumed most crypto worked (and hence why I've never had any interest in it). Of course, I may be terribly wrong - but the events of the last year or so certainly haven't been of any surprise to me.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-11-14/ftx-s-balance-she…

stunet wrote:

flollo wrote:

What we're seeing in crypto is quite frightening. The exchanges should be a service that let users buy and sell crypto for a fee. However, they are not just taking fees, they are operating like a bank with a fractional reserve and spending users' funds god knows where. There is no governance, and no clear-cut rules of the game, it's pretty much the wild west. If all users would withdraw funds we would have a crypto bank run' but in this case, no one will bail the system out and it would completely crash. Crazy times.

So central banks are the devil we know?

Could take that view and apply it to all manner of current events.

Not really the same thing. I'm talking about the exchanges, not the actual currencies like Bitcoin. A fair comparison would be something like FTX to CMC markets where you go to buy shares. Monkeyboy wrote a good post highlighting issues and that Bloomberg article themarlben shared is also very good.

velocityjohnno wrote:

monkeyboy wrote:

AlfredWallace wrote:

monkeyboy wrote:

Crypto is a wealth transfer mechanism.

Your wealth transferred to a hedge fund bank account.

Thanks for coming.

Monkeyboy. You seem to know a bit about crypto. Thermalbens initial question was what are the benefits of cryptocurrency, say, compared to other investments (risks). Care to elaborate ? Thanks.

Simply put.

Crypto is unregulated. The exchanges are unregulated. It appears most exchanges have been funded by venture capitalist and/or hedge funds - so basically, huge money looking for a place to go but also looking to make big money - then...how do they do this. Well, one way would be to lend each other money or buy each other's coins - basically a ponzi scheme which will ultimately fail as they always do.

If you have money in any of these exchanges get it out.

If you own crypto and you want to keep it then you should have it on cold storage, NOT on an exchange - they will loan it out and use it as collateral and you are totally unprotected and you will not get your money back or your crypto...it ends up somewhere....

WTF is one of the largest pension funds in Canada doing investing in this dog shite....crazy.

Financial assets like shares, ETFs, bonds ARE regulated (badly at times). And you should always have your cash in a segregated account (not pooled with other people), and all your assets in your own name/s.

That was good monkeyboy. Do you remember what happened to pooled cash when MFGlobal went down?

I do. And I knew some VERY good traders who lost millions.

So...I know this is a Bitcoin thread and I'm not having a dig at crypto . Just the exchanges and a warning to anyone who thinks their money or crypto or whatever is "safe". Below is a paragraph from a popular exchange's terms and agreements that users clicked by when they signed up:

"Other than under its registration and enrollment with AUSTRAC, XXXXXX Australia is not licensed or authorised (and is not required to be licensed or authorised) by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (“APRA”), or any other Australian regulator in respect of the Digital Asset Services (described in Section 2.2) or Additional Services (described in Section 2.3) are not currently regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Reserve Bank of Australia, or any other regulator in Australia. The Digital Asset Services and Additional Services are not within scope of the jurisdiction of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, and your Digital Assets and fiat are not subject to protection under the Australian Financial Claims Scheme. "

I'm not implying this particular exchange is unsafe; but an email I received today did prompt me to close my account.

Golden Rule with your hard earned money: "it’s not what you make. It’s what you keep."

ftx, seems to have been a lotta back scratching going on...

and, it helps to have the regulators in one's back pocket

might be a bit o spewing and wondering how to get some of their investments back amidst such a seedy trail

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6315580276112

monkeyboy wrote:

So...I know this is a Bitcoin thread and I'm not having a dig at crypto . Just the exchanges and a warning to anyone who thinks their money or crypto or whatever is "safe". Below is a paragraph from a popular exchange's terms and agreements that users clicked by when they signed up:

"Other than under its registration and enrollment with AUSTRAC, XXXXXX Australia is not licensed or authorised (and is not required to be licensed or authorised) by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (“APRA”), or any other Australian regulator in respect of the Digital Asset Services (described in Section 2.2) or Additional Services (described in Section 2.3) are not currently regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Reserve Bank of Australia, or any other regulator in Australia. The Digital Asset Services and Additional Services are not within scope of the jurisdiction of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, and your Digital Assets and fiat are not subject to protection under the Australian Financial Claims Scheme. "

I'm not implying this particular exchange is unsafe; but an email I received today did prompt me to close my account.

Golden Rule with your hard earned money: "it’s not what you make. It’s what you keep."

Care to share who (company) your email today was from?

thermalben wrote:

This is a very good read re: the state of FTX's balance sheet. Kinda sums up the way I always assumed most crypto worked (and hence why I've never had any interest in it). Of course, I may be terribly wrong - but the events of the last year or so certainly haven't been of any surprise to me.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-11-14/ftx-s-balance-she…

Paywall

Might be visible if you click through via Twitter link (below):

This is a rough newsletter, and could be slightly off; there is also obviously a chance of typos etc. https://t.co/XQ4Pl6A6Gn

— Matt Levine (@matt_levine) November 14, 2022

thermalben wrote:

Might be visible if you click through via Twitter link (below):

https://twitter.com/matt_levine/status/1592218431646216194

Thanks Ben but still no luck.

donweather wrote:

monkeyboy wrote:

So...I know this is a Bitcoin thread and I'm not having a dig at crypto . Just the exchanges and a warning to anyone who thinks their money or crypto or whatever is "safe". Below is a paragraph from a popular exchange's terms and agreements that users clicked by when they signed up:

"Other than under its registration and enrollment with AUSTRAC, XXXXXX Australia is not licensed or authorised (and is not required to be licensed or authorised) by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (“APRA”), or any other Australian regulator in respect of the Digital Asset Services (described in Section 2.2) or Additional Services (described in Section 2.3) are not currently regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Reserve Bank of Australia, or any other regulator in Australia. The Digital Asset Services and Additional Services are not within scope of the jurisdiction of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, and your Digital Assets and fiat are not subject to protection under the Australian Financial Claims Scheme. "

I'm not implying this particular exchange is unsafe; but an email I received today did prompt me to close my account.

Golden Rule with your hard earned money: "it’s not what you make. It’s what you keep."

Care to share who (company) your email today was from?

Coinbase.

Actually asking for an ID Validation. I've had an account for 3 years, never funded it; just for research purposes. I'm in no way saying anything about their finances or practices, I've no idea or any interest.

monkeyboy wrote:

donweather wrote:

monkeyboy wrote:

So...I know this is a Bitcoin thread and I'm not having a dig at crypto . Just the exchanges and a warning to anyone who thinks their money or crypto or whatever is "safe". Below is a paragraph from a popular exchange's terms and agreements that users clicked by when they signed up:

"Other than under its registration and enrollment with AUSTRAC, XXXXXX Australia is not licensed or authorised (and is not required to be licensed or authorised) by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (“APRA”), or any other Australian regulator in respect of the Digital Asset Services (described in Section 2.2) or Additional Services (described in Section 2.3) are not currently regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Reserve Bank of Australia, or any other regulator in Australia. The Digital Asset Services and Additional Services are not within scope of the jurisdiction of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, and your Digital Assets and fiat are not subject to protection under the Australian Financial Claims Scheme. "

I'm not implying this particular exchange is unsafe; but an email I received today did prompt me to close my account.

Golden Rule with your hard earned money: "it’s not what you make. It’s what you keep."

Care to share who (company) your email today was from?

Coinbase.

Actually asking for an ID Validation. I've had an account for 3 years, never funded it; just for research purposes. I'm in no way saying anything about their finances or practices, I've no idea or any interest.

Ok thanks. ID validation as in KYC? That's pretty standard for most exchanges these days. There's only a select few that allow accounts without KYC.

donweather wrote:

monkeyboy wrote:

donweather wrote:

monkeyboy wrote:

So...I know this is a Bitcoin thread and I'm not having a dig at crypto . Just the exchanges and a warning to anyone who thinks their money or crypto or whatever is "safe". Below is a paragraph from a popular exchange's terms and agreements that users clicked by when they signed up:

"Other than under its registration and enrollment with AUSTRAC, XXXXXX Australia is not licensed or authorised (and is not required to be licensed or authorised) by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (“APRA”), or any other Australian regulator in respect of the Digital Asset Services (described in Section 2.2) or Additional Services (described in Section 2.3) are not currently regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Reserve Bank of Australia, or any other regulator in Australia. The Digital Asset Services and Additional Services are not within scope of the jurisdiction of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, and your Digital Assets and fiat are not subject to protection under the Australian Financial Claims Scheme. "

I'm not implying this particular exchange is unsafe; but an email I received today did prompt me to close my account.

Golden Rule with your hard earned money: "it’s not what you make. It’s what you keep."

Care to share who (company) your email today was from?

Coinbase.

Actually asking for an ID Validation. I've had an account for 3 years, never funded it; just for research purposes. I'm in no way saying anything about their finances or practices, I've no idea or any interest.

Ok thanks. ID validation as in KYC? That's pretty standard for most exchanges these days. There's only a select few that allow accounts without KYC.

I Id'd when I opened it way back but it wasnt KYC - KYC is part of the financial services act which Coinbase isnt part of. However, it's good practice.

I've no idea what extra validation they wanted but I'm certainly not giving any official Id over - no idea where it will end up, hard enough with Government backed health care companies !

As I said KYC is pretty standard practice for most crypto exchanges these days. In fact I think FTX required it recently which is why I extracted all my funds from them.

https://dailyhodl.com/2022/11/14/billionaire-mark-cuban-says-ftx-blowup…

monkeyboy wrote:

donweather wrote:

monkeyboy wrote:

So...I know this is a Bitcoin thread and I'm not having a dig at crypto . Just the exchanges and a warning to anyone who thinks their money or crypto or whatever is "safe". Below is a paragraph from a popular exchange's terms and agreements that users clicked by when they signed up:

"Other than under its registration and enrollment with AUSTRAC, XXXXXX Australia is not licensed or authorised (and is not required to be licensed or authorised) by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (“APRA”), or any other Australian regulator in respect of the Digital Asset Services (described in Section 2.2) or Additional Services (described in Section 2.3) are not currently regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Reserve Bank of Australia, or any other regulator in Australia. The Digital Asset Services and Additional Services are not within scope of the jurisdiction of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, and your Digital Assets and fiat are not subject to protection under the Australian Financial Claims Scheme. "

I'm not implying this particular exchange is unsafe; but an email I received today did prompt me to close my account.

Golden Rule with your hard earned money: "it’s not what you make. It’s what you keep."

Care to share who (company) your email today was from?

Coinbase.

Actually asking for an ID Validation. I've had an account for 3 years, never funded it; just for research purposes. I'm in no way saying anything about their finances or practices, I've no idea or any interest.

https://help.coinbase.com/en/coinbase/managing-my-account/update-my-acc…

Musk and twitter finally turning a corner and getting things right now??

I can’t believe it. Twitter suspended crypto for impersonating a real asset class.

😏 pic.twitter.com/8X5Hdt9O2o

— Jeffrey Kleintop (@JeffreyKleintop) November 16, 2022

donweather wrote:

https://dailyhodl.com/2022/11/14/billionaire-mark-cuban-says-ftx-blowup…

Yes, he’s right about it being a banking issue, but the reason for his crypto investment is a bit weak. If any crypto organisation comes up with a killer app, all the others will copy it so if there is a big payday, as unlikely as that is, it will be spread across numerous cryptos, diluting the profit. Also, it wouldn’t stop a private business, or group of businesses, from offering the same, faster service at a cheaper price.

How long do you think Bitcoin will last? At current prices, there is $100K in mining coins up for grabs every 10 minutes, but that will halve in about 18 months. If the coin price also falls by 50% in that time, the mining reward pot will be only 25% of what it is today. With ongoing power price rises there will be a squeeze of profits at some stage and miners will start to drop off the network.

That might open up an opportunity for hackers to mount a 51% attack. With the surplus, cheap power in Russia they could operate at a profit longer than the miners who pay higher prices for their power.

Or punters might pile in again and pump up the price and the show will go on for a while longer. It’s a textbook case of greater fools theory and it will fall apart at some stage.

Nevertheless, it was a clever piece of work by the developer(s).

this ftx story just gets weirder by the day

its like the big bang theory in a penthouse

but with more people, more money, more pharmaceuticals, more sex, less hot chicks, and a resident good doctor

https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/the-psychopharmacology-of-the-ftx

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.news.com.au/finance/money/investing/co…

The greatest irony is that the very thing crypto-crusaders say crypto will replace is it's only measure of value or store of real wealth.....

Does anyone know if Ecuador is Dollar-cost averaging ... sorry, Bitcoin cost averaging ......

A year after El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender and required all businesses to accept it, the experiment has failed due to falling cryptocurrency prices and a lack of use of the government's Chivo e-wallet app to buy goods or send money.
https://www.itworldcanada.com/post/el-salvadors-bitcoin-plans-fail

And now China is moving in:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/15/china-el-salvador-ec…

When they start to laugh, the gloss has worn off:
https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/i-invested-in-crypto-but-i-m-gl…

And the ASX is taking a bath on their blockchain project:
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/significant-challenges-asx-sc…

Killer crypto Apps should have emerged quite quickly given the large number of smart and well funded people working on crypto. Mostly it has become a multitude of
Ponzi schemes of various scales dressed up in tech mumbo jumbo. There have been many many killer apps outside of blockchain in the past decade with wide adoption and heavy use - e.g. Spotify. But big clunky databases recording every transaction, with a token attached, are just are not that useful.

I was always amazed to hear stories of individuals (or even companies) betting big on crypto.

But a country throwing everything on black?

Coaster wrote:

A year after El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender and required all businesses to accept it, the experiment has failed due to falling cryptocurrency prices and a lack of use of the government's Chivo e-wallet app to buy goods or send money.

https://www.itworldcanada.com/post/el-salvadors-bitcoin-plans-fail

And now China is moving in:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/15/china-el-salvador-ec…

When they start to laugh, the gloss has worn off:

https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/i-invested-in-crypto-but-i-m-gl…

And the ASX is taking a bath on their blockchain project:

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/significant-challenges-asx-sc…

Good links. Ah, it was El Salvador.

QOTD: What would one bitcoin be worth if it was valued in bitcoin ?

This article giving the insights of the the man appointed to manage FTX has some hilarious quotes, and I don’t use the term hilarious lightly.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-18/ftx-bankruptcy-report-sam-bankma…

A good summary from Ian Verrender:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-14/cryptocurrency-crash-sam-bankman…

The thing that gets me the most on these is the pictures, funnily enough. It's hard to make physical a digital token, so they use images of coins, coloured gold, to infer value. Gold coins these digital currencies certainly are not! It sparks a pedantic nerve...

My dreams of owning a space station in virtual reality, and charging other players rent for game-space, lie in ruins; swept away in the entire chaos of this year's events.