7 ms·

The Bitcoin Scam

29 points by pudo 7y ago

aerodog 7y ago
He's a British MP
- ChainOfFools 7y ago
  and he could pass, with these perspectives, for an r/buttcoin regular quite convincingly as well. not that that's a bad thing. better 5 years late than never though.
  - tuesdayrain 7y ago
    r/buttcoin posters are some of the most insufferable people on reddit, and that's saying a lot. It takes a special kind of person to frequent a community specifically made to hate on something.
    - stcredzero 7y ago
      It takes a special kind of person to frequent a community specifically made to hate on something. I thought those sorts of reddits weren't that uncommon. (Though they are banned from time to time.)
oaeide 7y ago
"...reaching a peak of $20,000 for a single bitcoin before a spectacular plunge in value in December 2017 from which it has never really recovered (it is trading at $3,800 at the time of writing)." Yeah, about that....
- jVinc 7y ago
  Was just about to post that tidbit. I think people who have just about trippeled their investment in Bitcoin since February would argue that it's going through a pretty hefty recovery at the moment.
- sterkekoffie 7y ago
  I can only assume that $3800 figure came from Feb-March, meaning this article was written months before publication and not revised prior. Kind of makes sense...
- tim333 7y ago
  The present episode is quite interesting and they are merrily printing tethers which are probably being used to buy bitcoin and pump the price now that tether have dropped the insistance that tethers are backed by dollars. $1.4bn new tethers since the start of April coinciding with bitcoin going from $4100 to $9400. God knows where it ends - is there anything to stop them printing a trillion tethers and sending each bitcoin to $10 million?
  - drexlspivey 7y ago
    BTC/Tether and BTC/USD are different trading pairs. If they printed a trillion tethers tomorrow and started buying bitcoins with them presumably people at some point would be unwilling to exchange BTC for tether. The BTC price might rise to 10 million tethers but the USD price would remain unaffected, effectively breaking the peg.
    - millstone 7y ago
      Presumably tether would trade at a discount to USD today, to reflect the non-zero probability that it is a scam.
    - tim333 7y ago
      This is true although Tether can maintain USD:USDT at one to some extent if either they have the dollars or if they have bitcoin and it's going up. They can then sell their bitcoin for dollars to buy the USDT. That falls apart if bitcoin drops.
  - DINKDINK 7y ago
    Is the following an accurate summary of your position: "There actually aren't dollars that are being moved into tether's accounts but fabricated database numbers. These fabricated numbers are then exchanged for bitcoins but the other people of that trade (the people buying tethers with bitcoins) somehow never redeem these tethers. Despite the tether to dollar exchange rate not at a discount there's a mass delusion. This delusion will continue until bitcoiners buy 10 million tethers for one bitcoin. The dollar-bitcoin market doesn't affect the price/supply of bitcoin." Because that's what it appears to be. Do you know how a eurodollar works? If not, you would learn much from just that instrument.
russian_bot 7y ago
This was a very accurate analysis of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency projects. Bitcoin is primarily used for regulation arbitrage.
- stcredzero 7y ago
  Bitcoin is primarily used for regulation arbitrage. I'm unfamiliar with the term "regulation arbitrage." Is this just flaunting laws and regulations? Examples?
  - 886 7y ago
    I believe russian_bot means "taking advantage from an inefficiency". In this case, taking advantage of regulation, or non-regulation rather. https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/what-is-arbitrage/ https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/what-is-arbitrage/
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
shitgoose 7y ago
the "the new fascist and nationalist movements arising in Europe, Asia, and the Americas" sets the tone for the rest of the article. typical "left-winger" who read too many introductions.
- jc01480 7y ago
  I was hoping someone would catch this. Seems like a delusional stretch to tie this phenomenon to right-wing hate. Nice try, but that’s complete BS.
Proven 7y ago
> Central banks are actively reducing the value of savings and income through the pursuit of inflationary monetary policy, some will say. Wouldn’t the author agree? I mean, I’d there’s 20 of something and you create 2 more out of nothing, that surely doesn’t increase the scarcity of my something, does it? The criticism of lobbyists is in order but those aren’t bitcoiners, they are the same people who always abuse the government to plunder - whether it’s green tech subsidies, healthcare or financial regulation. The CO2 part is irrelevant.

The Bitcoin Scam

29 points by pudo 7y ago

aerodog 7y ago

He's a British MP

ChainOfFools 7y ago
and he could pass, with these perspectives, for an r/buttcoin regular quite convincingly as well. not that that's a bad thing. better 5 years late than never though.
- tuesdayrain 7y ago
  r/buttcoin posters are some of the most insufferable people on reddit, and that's saying a lot. It takes a special kind of person to frequent a community specifically made to hate on something.
  - stcredzero 7y ago
    It takes a special kind of person to frequent a community specifically made to hate on something. I thought those sorts of reddits weren't that uncommon. (Though they are banned from time to time.)

oaeide 7y ago

"...reaching a peak of $20,000 for a single bitcoin before a spectacular plunge in value in December 2017 from which it has never really recovered (it is trading at $3,800 at the time of writing)." Yeah, about that....

jVinc 7y ago
Was just about to post that tidbit. I think people who have just about trippeled their investment in Bitcoin since February would argue that it's going through a pretty hefty recovery at the moment.
sterkekoffie 7y ago
I can only assume that $3800 figure came from Feb-March, meaning this article was written months before publication and not revised prior. Kind of makes sense...
tim333 7y ago
The present episode is quite interesting and they are merrily printing tethers which are probably being used to buy bitcoin and pump the price now that tether have dropped the insistance that tethers are backed by dollars. $1.4bn new tethers since the start of April coinciding with bitcoin going from $4100 to $9400. God knows where it ends - is there anything to stop them printing a trillion tethers and sending each bitcoin to $10 million?
- drexlspivey 7y ago
  BTC/Tether and BTC/USD are different trading pairs. If they printed a trillion tethers tomorrow and started buying bitcoins with them presumably people at some point would be unwilling to exchange BTC for tether. The BTC price might rise to 10 million tethers but the USD price would remain unaffected, effectively breaking the peg.
  - millstone 7y ago
    Presumably tether would trade at a discount to USD today, to reflect the non-zero probability that it is a scam.
  - tim333 7y ago
    This is true although Tether can maintain USD:USDT at one to some extent if either they have the dollars or if they have bitcoin and it's going up. They can then sell their bitcoin for dollars to buy the USDT. That falls apart if bitcoin drops.
- DINKDINK 7y ago
  Is the following an accurate summary of your position: "There actually aren't dollars that are being moved into tether's accounts but fabricated database numbers. These fabricated numbers are then exchanged for bitcoins but the other people of that trade (the people buying tethers with bitcoins) somehow never redeem these tethers. Despite the tether to dollar exchange rate not at a discount there's a mass delusion. This delusion will continue until bitcoiners buy 10 million tethers for one bitcoin. The dollar-bitcoin market doesn't affect the price/supply of bitcoin." Because that's what it appears to be. Do you know how a eurodollar works? If not, you would learn much from just that instrument.

russian_bot 7y ago

This was a very accurate analysis of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency projects. Bitcoin is primarily used for regulation arbitrage.

stcredzero 7y ago
Bitcoin is primarily used for regulation arbitrage. I'm unfamiliar with the term "regulation arbitrage." Is this just flaunting laws and regulations? Examples?
- 886 7y ago
  I believe russian_bot means "taking advantage from an inefficiency". In this case, taking advantage of regulation, or non-regulation rather. https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/what-is-arbitrage/ https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/what-is-arbitrage/

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

shitgoose 7y ago

the "the new fascist and nationalist movements arising in Europe, Asia, and the Americas" sets the tone for the rest of the article. typical "left-winger" who read too many introductions.

jc01480 7y ago
I was hoping someone would catch this. Seems like a delusional stretch to tie this phenomenon to right-wing hate. Nice try, but that’s complete BS.

Proven 7y ago

> Central banks are actively reducing the value of savings and income through the pursuit of inflationary monetary policy, some will say. Wouldn’t the author agree? I mean, I’d there’s 20 of something and you create 2 more out of nothing, that surely doesn’t increase the scarcity of my something, does it? The criticism of lobbyists is in order but those aren’t bitcoiners, they are the same people who always abuse the government to plunder - whether it’s green tech subsidies, healthcare or financial regulation. The CO2 part is irrelevant.