Announcement

Collapse

Economics 301 Guidelines

This is the area where economic theories and trends are discussed.

Balance your checkbook before participating.

Forum Rules: Here
See more
See less

Bitcoin versus other monies.

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Though the MSM seems to be portraying FTX head Sam Bankman-Fried (very interesting and ironic name btw) as a naive young man who meant well, zerohedge debunks that view and shows how much of a meticulous con artist he was, using multiple fake accounts to launder money to himself and his friends, while lying his behind off to everyone about how much capital protection he had.

    His associates also seemed to have the same mentality, so it's not just naivety (which is bad enough), but an underlying moral character flaw.

    It also shows how all these tech companies (including Robinhood, which is tied to the stock market) are essentially intertwined, most of which run by young people with the same hubris and reckless mentalities.

    (Warning the "s" word used in a referenced tweet)...
    FTX Held Just $900MM In Liquid Assets Vs $9BN In Liabilities As Video Emerges Confirming Alameda Knew It Was Pilfering Client Funds

    And these were the folks everyone, including mainstream financial networks, were elevating as tech savvy gurus that would reshape the investment landscape.

    To add yet another element of shadiness to all this, after the poop hit the fan, FTX was apparently "hacked" via a backdoor that SBF implemented into his system so he could drain money without raising red flags to any of his investors. You really can't make this stuff up.

    FTX Hit By Mysterious $662 Million Outflow Amid Revelation That SBF Implemented Bookkeeping "Backdoor"

    Comment


    • Originally posted by Sparko View Post
      the biggest problem I see with crypto is that nobody actually uses it as money to buy things or pay for services. Other than hackers and crooks trying to extort people or buy things on the dark web. Most people just use it as an investment, hoping to make money off of it rising in price, like a stock. They are basically stocks with nothing behind them but hype. No company or product. Ghost stocks. And no regulations. Anyone can create a coin and hype it. That is why they are so volatile.

      I have some money in crypto, but just enough to play around with it. If I make some money great, and if I lose it all, it won't hurt me.
      You use it to buy drugs online from overseas, don't you?

      I'm always still in trouble again

      "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
      "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
      "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

      Comment


      • Originally posted by Sparko View Post

        Right now the biggest scam seems to be NFT's. It reminds me of the Beanie Baby craze. People are paying thousands and millions to "own" a digital trading card basically. A card that anyone can just copy freely. All they are buying is a digitally signed certificate that says they own a specific copy of that image. Like buying a signed print I guess, but anyone can copy it al they want just not the certificate. It's insane.
        Watch this

        he calls NFTs "Beanie Baby Ghosts"


        Comment




        • Sam Bankman-Fried.
          Elizabeth Holmes.

          These are the fraudsters society looks up to as heroes.

          Comment


          • Yes, this is the man we could trust with billions of dollars of other people's money and a man that the entire financial sector apparently looked up to...



            He literally looks like a drug addict tweeking uncontrollably.

            Btw, he apparently was neck dip in the DNC and its coffers, including his mother who was a major fundraiser for the democrats. Not sure at this point how significant that is, just sayin...

            Comment


            • Changpeng Zhao of Binance, the one that pulled out of rescuing FTX at the last minute, looking for more dupes investors, looks to the Arab nations for a bailout of the crypto industry to keep it from collapsing...

              CZ Hopes UAE Will Anchor Crypto Bailout Fund As Dubai, Abu Dhabi Emerge As New Crypto Power Centers

              With bitcoin tumbling to a two year low and desperate to find a bottom as every day a new - and extremely levered - shoe seems to drop as the fallout of the FTX bankruptcy claims more victims, many have been looking to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao whose dump of FTT tokens crushed FTX, and who has emerged as the last "White Knight" in the crypto space after revealing last week that he is trying to put together a "rescue fund" for distressed crypto players.

              Yet not even CZ is big or rich enough (his wealth is $14.5 billion, down from $81.3 billion in January) to singlehandedly become crypto's JPMorgan (and after so many media references to his criminal peer SBF as "the new JPMorgan", we doubt he even wants that designation). So who does CZ go to when he needs some extra cash? Why none other than the new beating heart of the crypto world, the place where so many Russian oligarchs...

              ... and crypto exiles now live ("Three Arrows Capital Moving Headquarters to Dubai From Singapore") the United Arab Emirates whose two megacities, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, are emerging as the new centers of the post-crypto financial world after also serving as core anchors of the old, petrodollar-based regime.

              According to Bloomberg, Changpeng Zhao and several deputies met with investors in Abu Dhabi last week in an effort to raise cash for a crypto industry recovery fund. Zhao and his team held meetings with potential backers last week, including with entities affiliated with United Arab Emirates National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed, who oversees a large financial empire, said the people.

              Details on the size of the fund and the projects to support are still not decided and it’s likely several weeks before the vehicle takes off, the people said.

              “CZ’s meetings in Abu Dhabi were all focused on general global regulatory matters -- specifically how Middle Eastern regulators could lead the globe by exploring more aggressive proof of custody requirements for crypto exchanges,” a Binance spokesperson said.

              Of course, there is much more to it than that: CZ has realized that in a world where both Chinese and western governments view crypto with distrust and are willing to crush it over the threat it poses to their doomed fiat systems, the rich gulf states - and here the UAE is the undisputed leader - will be the primary venue for future crypto development; now he just has to convince the local officials to allocate some of their oil wealth to crypto.

              Zhao himself moved to Dubai last year and has built close ties with the UAE leadership. After FTX’s bankruptcy, Zhao tweeted that Binance would form a recovery fund “to help projects who are otherwise strong, but in a liquidity crisis.”

              Comment


              • Speaking of JP Morgan...

                They are trying to get into the crypto business themselves.

                https://www.investopedia.com/jpm-crypto-wallet-6831467

                Comment


                • I read an interesting article yesterday comparing Bitcoin to crypto. It claimed that Bitcoin was set-up to avoid frauds like this while all other crypto-coins by their very nature are likely to be used in frauds and scams. Don't know how much is true.
                  "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6

                  "Theology can be an intellectual entertainment." Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by Thoughtful Monk View Post
                    I read an interesting article yesterday comparing Bitcoin to crypto. It claimed that Bitcoin was set-up to avoid frauds like this while all other crypto-coins by their very nature are likely to be used in frauds and scams. Don't know how much is true.
                    Bitcoin is no different than most other coins. It was the first. In fact, in most of those Ransomware attacks the hackers demand payment in bitcoin. It's just recently that it appears the FBI is developing tools to track who owns the wallets. Like I said above they can easily see each and every transaction on the block chain ledger, but the wallets are just a number. Basically an encrypted address that you can easily send coin into but only the owner can access to take coins out. There is no name associated with it, unless you are on one of those exchanges like FTX, or Coinbase. Then they basically own the wallet and just assign it to you when you get an account. Many times they make you verify your identity when you sign up so they do know who owns those wallets. But you can create your own offline wallet that nobody knows who owns it. And store your coins there. So tracing those is much harder.

                    Comment


                    • Watching all the crypto news beyond FTX has been interesting over the last month. Lots of bankruptcies and layoffs. In one bankruptcy case, I read the judge ruled the depositors didn't own their coins.

                      Sure looks like this was an interesting idea badly executed by a lot of people.
                      "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6

                      "Theology can be an intellectual entertainment." Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

                      Comment


                      • The moral: When a supposed genius comes along and claims to have a brilliant idea for a company and to make everyone rich but you need to give him your money first, run the other way.

                        Elizabeth Holmes, Now this guy. Oh and there was this guy who faked an electric truck company, Nikola. https://techxplore.com/news/2022-10-...rm-guilty.html

                        Comment


                        • Bill Clinton knocking 'em out of the park..




                          One dude you want to avoid at all cost getting investment advice.

                          Comment


                          • I have been watching the crypto news and it's not good. Investigations, bankruptcies, and businesses warning of potential for failure. I can agree with the statement that we are in "crypto winter."

                            Beyond you have some money to gamble with in the hopes of a high return, is there a reason to invest in crypto at this time?
                            "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6

                            "Theology can be an intellectual entertainment." Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

                            Comment


                            • Originally posted by Thoughtful Monk View Post
                              I have been watching the crypto news and it's not good. Investigations, bankruptcies, and businesses warning of potential for failure. I can agree with the statement that we are in "crypto winter."

                              Beyond you have some money to gamble with in the hopes of a high return, is there a reason to invest in crypto at this time?
                              Kind of funny how the big selling point they pushed for Crypto is that it was not tied to the stock market or banks. And yet when the stock market went down, so did crypto. The stock market is currently in chaos, going up and down (mostly down) and so is crypto.

                              Comment


                              • Originally posted by Sparko View Post

                                Kind of funny how the big selling point they pushed for Crypto is that it was not tied to the stock market or banks. And yet when the stock market went down, so did crypto. The stock market is currently in chaos, going up and down (mostly down) and so is crypto.
                                One: maybe because the companies that sold Crypto took the money and invested in the stock market. When their investments went down, it took the value of the crypto with it.

                                Two: maybe the financial world is now so intertwined that there is no investment independent of the stock market anymore. I've got suspicious of any investment that claims to be independent of the stock market.
                                "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6

                                "Theology can be an intellectual entertainment." Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

                                Comment

                                widgetinstance 221 (Related Threads) skipped due to lack of content & hide_module_if_empty option.
                                Working...
                                X