8 ms·

Nocoiner predictions: 2021 will be year of comedy gold

33 points by amycastor 6y ago

dogwater 6y ago
bitcoin will never be below $30k again you had 10 years to listen
disruptalot 6y ago
The same tired arguments as ever: miner death spiral, not scarce, ponzi, tether etc. But with a new timeline. I'm sure it'll happen this year!
- garaetjjte 6y ago
  Well the USDT should implode at last. I think it would be even healthy to bitcoin in the long run.
- jayd16 6y ago
  You act like it hasn't been barely 3 years since the last massive crash. You need it to happen every other year?
  - ur-whale 6y ago
    Obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbZ8zDpX2Mg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbZ8zDpX2Mg
- xiphias2 6y ago
  It probably won't stop until Bitcoin adoption rate gets over 50%. Right now it's closer to 0.1%-1% (maybe more in the US).
solotronics 6y ago
Always funny to read articles like this from people who refuse to get it. Related! A nice list of all the articles claiming bitcoin is dead and why. https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoin-obituaries/ https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoin-obituaries/
seibelj 6y ago
Bitcoin is a novel innovation that is actually useful to some people - it is artificial digital scarcity and a decentralized payment network that is separate from government or any centralized entity. It is totally voluntary. Ethereum is also an absolutely fascinating technology. Some people become “experts” and refuse to see innovation when it is staring themselves in the face. The world can’t change to these people. Also regulation has been in the crypto space for years, dunno why these guys think it is some sudden new thing.
- vorpalhex 6y ago
  Yes, Bitcoin is excellent for money laundering.
  - CryptoPunk 6y ago
    So is cash. Being free from government control can be a lifeline for those living under repression or kafkaesque regulatory morass. This is what life is like for the less privileged under the anti-money laundering regime: https://www.reddit.com/r/MakerDAO/comments/de0sys/kyc_is_absolutely_not_acceptable_for_makerdao/ https://www.reddit.com/r/MakerDAO/comments/de0sys/kyc_is_abs...
    - vorpalhex 6y ago
      Why does KYC exist? Well, people were: 1. Engaging in human trafficking, which is really unfortunate for the poor and often non-white females who are being trafficked 2. Sponsoring terrorism, which sucks for the again young and often non-white females in schools that are being blown up, the women in markets getting shrapnel wounds, and the children losing parents 3. Funneling arms to terrorists, which allows them to resist police forces and continue forcing young people to be unwilling participants in the drug trade, prostitution and other pretty subpar life outcomes So yes, it's really inconvient to have to deal with KYC and miss out on that sweet stock growth on foreign markets - I encourage your example to work with his local government to pass the appropriate laws to join the world economy.
randomhodler84 6y ago
Flagged. Comment removed.
cwhiz 6y ago
This is the first I have heard of this Tether and Bitfinex story. Seems extremely shady. Does anyone have more details? However, I don’t really understand the distinction between Tether minting coins and people buying gold ETFs.
- seibelj 6y ago
  Tether has a very powerful place in the crypto ecosystem - it is the most widely used stablecoin. It was revealed in a court filing that it was not fully backed, it was like 70%, because governments seized some of the funds (according to Tether). This broke a fundamental promise Tether made - that all USDT was fully backed 1 for 1 with USD in bank accounts. To remedy this, Tether now states USDT is backed 1 for 1 with cash and cash equivalents. For example, Tether released an "IOU" coin called UNUS SED LEO (LEO)[0] that trades at the amount of USD missing. Therefore Tether states it is now fully backed. The veneer of sketchiness is actually preferable to a lot of crypto traders, who live in fear of various governments. This is why USDC is not as popular as USDT - many traders prefer a "vaguely sketchy" coin that is less likely to have their funds frozen by court order. All that said, I worked at a company (Circle) that redeemed and minted billions of dollars of Tether back in 2017 / 2018. Tether serves big trade desks and is extremely popular in Asia, while USDC has become more popular in DeFi and is bigger in the west. Tether is not a giant ponzi scheme - it really has assets, and huge desks regularly mint and redeem billions of dollars. [0] https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/unus-sed-leo/ https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/unus-sed-leo/
  - freeAgent 6y ago
    Tether’s total supply didn’t exceed 2B at any point in 2017 or 2018 and it certainly didn’t fluctuate by anywhere close to that, particularly on the down side, during that period. I think either your dates are wrong or you’ve vastly overstated how much Tether Circle “redeemed” (please explain exactly the redemption process you used) over that period.
    - seibelj 6y ago
      https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/48857/former-head-of-circle-otc-says-theres-more-to-the-tether-narrative https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/48857/former-head-of-cir... I worked with Dan. Circle Trade was the second biggest desk back then after Cumberland. You don’t do all billions at once, that was in total.
onelastjob 6y ago
Hard to say exactly what the effect of regulators cracking down on Tether will actually be. If Tether gets delisted from exchanges and isn't redeemable for USD, then obviously Tether holders will get burned. But what effect exactly will this have on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies? I would expect that before Tether gets delisted, insiders will trade their Tethers for Bitcoin, pushing up the Bitcoin price, and then probably immediately sell that Bitcoin for USD (or USDC), as they will expect the cryptocurrency market to crash once the Tether news becomes public. While these buyers of Bitcoin will immediately sell for USD, they will create a lot of volume in Bitcoin trading, which could push the price up. So maybe we see a quick, sharp run up in Bitcoin price and volume along with a lot of Tether selling before news about Tether breaks publicly followed by a crash of the entire cryptocurreny market.
senectus1 6y ago
Not only that but 2021 is likely to be the year of Linux on the Desktop... right?
corona-research 6y ago
Rubini... lol
- ur-whale 6y ago
  I do agree that it is really hard to take Rubini seriously. Much of that has to do with the way he expresses itself: he's really obnoxious to listen to and one has to make a great effort to get past that 100-foot wall of aggression to try and understand if there's any value in his arguments. I have honestly tried, and once you peel off the tone and posturing, I must confess there isn't much to be found.
rarefied_tomato 6y ago
Weaver's claim about Tether being a vehicle to inflate the price of Bitcoin is odd. The main Tether-BTC transacting I'm aware of is in high frequency trading. Any longterm position in Tether is effectively against BTC (electing to instead hold a tokenized USD). Furthermore, Tether has a market cap only 1/16 of BTC. You can say either are flawed individually, but their valuations are independent. China also has a geopolitical incentive to promote crypto and counter the USD's current status as the reserve currency. The capability for the US to inject USD into itself while retaining a worldwide demand is undoubtedly at the forefront of China's mind.
- jayd16 6y ago
  >but their valuations are independent. The key complaint is that they are, in fact, NOT independent. You can use one to manipulate the other under the guise of being backed by USD when in reality its backed by loans backed by BTC (or some other permutation).
- throwaway6734 6y ago
  one theory I've seen on tether inflation involves loaning tether via margin to people to buy bitcoin, which then pushes up the price of bitcoin, which then allows the tether loaner (that also holds bitcoin) to loan more tether as it's now backed by more valuable assets
- pestatije 6y ago
  No, what they are all saying is that issuers of Tether tokens are buying bitcoins with their proceeds. They so know because of bitcoin's stupendous price rise. And as the reasoning behind it they are pointing to Tether issuers' imminent facing of regulatory and criminal scrutiny.
- ur-whale 6y ago
  >Tether being a vehicle to inflate the price of Bitcoin is odd I'm not so sure. I'm a great supporter of Bitcoin, but: a) Tether worries me a great deal, especially if you dig into the background of the folks behind it. Unless tether lets itself be properly audited and proves cash reserves, it can indeed, in a rater straightforward manner, be used to manipulate BTCUSD b) The current price action also worries me a great deal: it's IMO likely going to go through more 2018-like volatility events (i.e. a x5 haircut to shed speculators) through 2021 thereby lending temporary credibility to the nocoiners arguments. I'd much prefer to see Bitcoin price be either stable in value or growing slowly. But the nature of the beast makes that proposition a difficult one until it reaches its "natural" capitalization (whatever that may be - some say that of gold).
_hdap 6y ago
Here is the Michael Saylor interview (mentioned in the article): https://youtu.be/Cg10yYZjK94?t=1h10m0s https://youtu.be/Cg10yYZjK94?t=1h10m0s This is the CEO of MicroStrategy who mainstreamed Bitcoin investment, saying stuff like: "Bitcoin is a swarm of cyber hornets serving the goddess of wisdom, feeding on the fire of truth, exponentially growing ever smarter, faster, and stronger behind a wall of encrypted energy” Background from Wikipedia: On MicroStrategy's quarterly earnings conference call in July 2020, Saylor announced his intention for MicroStrategy to explore purchasing Bitcoin, gold, or other alternative assets instead of holding cash. The following month, MicroStrategy used $250 million from its cash stockpile to purchase 21,454 Bitcoin. MicroStrategy later added $175 million of Bitcoin to its holdings in September 2020 and another $50 million in early December 2020. On December 11, 2020, MicroStrategy announced that it had sold $650 million in convertible senior notes, taking on debt to increase its Bitcoin holdings to over $1 billion worth. On December 21, 2020 MicroStrategy announced their total holdings include 70,470 bitcoins purchased for $1.125 billion at an average price of $15,964 per bitcoin. Saylor, who controls 70% of MicroStrategy's shares, dismissed concerns by observers that the move is turning MicroStrategy into a Bitcoin investment firm or exchange-traded fund (ETF).
- olalonde 6y ago
  He does seem like a bit of a lunatic but I'm not sure that it says much about Bitcoin. If you ever watch YouTube, you'll find there are similar characters in real estate, stocks, forex, etc.
  - 37ef_ced3 6y ago
    Michael Saylor is the guy who "legitimized" Bitcoin He is frequently mentioned in Bitcoin discussions as evidence that Bitcoin is mainstream: a rational, safe investment, good enough for MicroStrategy to invest hundreds of millions When you actually watch him talk, the credibility vanishes
    - dwaltrip 6y ago
      > Michael Saylor is the guy who "legitimized" Bitcoin This is greatly overstating his role and impact.
olalonde 6y ago
Typical nocoiner, always focused on price...
- ur-whale 6y ago
  Yeah, agree 100%. I'll go one step further and argue that some of the scenarios described in the article are not unreasonable. What they fail to see is that if these actually come to pass (e.g. Tether collapse), it will actually good for Bitcoin in the long run. Money badger don't care.
karaterobot 6y ago
If you're going to write an article like this, it would be more honest to admit that you thought the same things were going to happen last year, and the year before that, but they didn't.
frankenst1 6y ago
Nocoiner Frances Coppola: "Bitcoin is not scarce because each coin is subdivided into satoshis". These comments are entertaining but seem to get more ridiculous with every year.
- anonisko 6y ago
  *more desperate every year
- jldugger 6y ago
  Kinda depends on what you mean by scarce. Expensive? Subdivision doesn't help. Illiquid? satoshis help there.
  - dwaltrip 6y ago
    The quote uses the word "scarce" in a way that implies that the supply isn't limited, which is obviously false.
- pg_bot 6y ago
  I mean you can't technically guarantee the scarcity of bitcoin. Even though it is the source code that there should be 21 million, you can just fork the repo and start again from scratch and call the first bitcoins mined epoch-1 and subsequent coins as bitcoin epoch-n. The public will come to understand any coins mined using the bitcoin protocol as bitcoins if this comes to pass.
  - glerk 6y ago
    Forks of Bitcoin have already happened multiple times. Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV also claim to be the original Bitcoin, but the mainstream view is that the chain with the highest hashpower, highest trading volume and highest price is the real Bitcoin. Which chain is the real Bitcoin is entirely determined by the community and I don't see a plausible future where a sizeable chunk of the community agrees to increase the max supply.
    - 6y ago
CyberRabbi 6y ago
As someone who casually bought a bunch of BTC in late 2013 just for fun and never really did anything with it since then, I think the salt mine of btc hater blog posts that come out every time there is a new spike in value are the comedy gold.
- mmmBacon 6y ago
  Did the same with some extra cash I had around but a bit later than you. I think one can trace some of the hate to simple sour grapes and jealousy. I’m also confused why one would wish an economic crash on anyone.
elevenoh 6y ago
Network effects' power law nature, desire for a-political money, capital flowing into areas of least constraint & friction etc. seem to be just beginning.
andy1973 6y ago
This article is a comedy...
miguelmota 6y ago
People like Amy Castor, Peter Schiff, Nouriel Roubini, etc don't seem to fundamentally understand that intrinsic value is completely subjective and that bitcoin being a borderless, trustless, and scarce resource is what makes it valuable to many. Focusing on the negative aspects and neglecting the upsides of what cryptocurrencies have unlocked for millions of people worldwide is short-sighted.
- CyberRabbi 6y ago
  I think the key things for Bitcoin are that it’s not forgeable and it’s transferable. Anything that satisfies those two conditions will eventually be used as a reliable store of value.
zadler 6y ago
Have I stepped into an alternate dimension where any Bitcoin thread on hacker news is not dominated by discussion of whether or not bitcoin is a fraud or even needed?
- LiquidSky 6y ago
  No need to restate the obvious at this point.
tzone 6y ago
Is this satire? The very first comment: "He believes the bitcoin ecosystem is running low on cash", is provably false since it is not just Tether that is increasing in MarketCap. USDC + PAX dollars have also increased in MarketCap to ~5 billion total now. USDC and PAX are both regulated by US financial regulators, including NY. There are plenty of ways to be skeptical of Bitcoin or Ethereum or rest of the Crypto, but this article is not it.
suikadayo 6y ago
I do find it odd that Bitcoiners who tend to be incredibly, incredibly outspoken about Ending the Fed, and QE money printing, call any criticism of Tether as FUD in a cult manner, or shrug it off as non-issue. It was/is effectively a fractional reserve, where they admitted in court in the past that Tether wasn't completely backed by cash. It does seem a little convenient that they aren't ideologically consistent, and against Tether because it just so happens to help prop up the price of Bitcoin.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

33 points by amycastor 6y ago

bitcoin will never be below $30k again you had 10 years to listen

The same tired arguments as ever: miner death spiral, not scarce, ponzi, tether etc. But with a new timeline. I'm sure it'll happen this year!

garaetjjte 6y ago
Well the USDT should implode at last. I think it would be even healthy to bitcoin in the long run.
jayd16 6y ago
You act like it hasn't been barely 3 years since the last massive crash. You need it to happen every other year?
- ur-whale 6y ago
  Obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbZ8zDpX2Mg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbZ8zDpX2Mg
xiphias2 6y ago
It probably won't stop until Bitcoin adoption rate gets over 50%. Right now it's closer to 0.1%-1% (maybe more in the US).

solotronics 6y ago

Always funny to read articles like this from people who refuse to get it. Related! A nice list of all the articles claiming bitcoin is dead and why. https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoin-obituaries/ https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoin-obituaries/

seibelj 6y ago

Bitcoin is a novel innovation that is actually useful to some people - it is artificial digital scarcity and a decentralized payment network that is separate from government or any centralized entity. It is totally voluntary. Ethereum is also an absolutely fascinating technology. Some people become “experts” and refuse to see innovation when it is staring themselves in the face. The world can’t change to these people. Also regulation has been in the crypto space for years, dunno why these guys think it is some sudden new thing.

vorpalhex 6y ago
Yes, Bitcoin is excellent for money laundering.
- CryptoPunk 6y ago
  So is cash. Being free from government control can be a lifeline for those living under repression or kafkaesque regulatory morass. This is what life is like for the less privileged under the anti-money laundering regime: https://www.reddit.com/r/MakerDAO/comments/de0sys/kyc_is_absolutely_not_acceptable_for_makerdao/ https://www.reddit.com/r/MakerDAO/comments/de0sys/kyc_is_abs...
  - vorpalhex 6y ago
    Why does KYC exist? Well, people were: 1. Engaging in human trafficking, which is really unfortunate for the poor and often non-white females who are being trafficked 2. Sponsoring terrorism, which sucks for the again young and often non-white females in schools that are being blown up, the women in markets getting shrapnel wounds, and the children losing parents 3. Funneling arms to terrorists, which allows them to resist police forces and continue forcing young people to be unwilling participants in the drug trade, prostitution and other pretty subpar life outcomes So yes, it's really inconvient to have to deal with KYC and miss out on that sweet stock growth on foreign markets - I encourage your example to work with his local government to pass the appropriate laws to join the world economy.

randomhodler84 6y ago

Flagged. Comment removed.

cwhiz 6y ago

This is the first I have heard of this Tether and Bitfinex story. Seems extremely shady. Does anyone have more details? However, I don’t really understand the distinction between Tether minting coins and people buying gold ETFs.

seibelj 6y ago
Tether has a very powerful place in the crypto ecosystem - it is the most widely used stablecoin. It was revealed in a court filing that it was not fully backed, it was like 70%, because governments seized some of the funds (according to Tether). This broke a fundamental promise Tether made - that all USDT was fully backed 1 for 1 with USD in bank accounts. To remedy this, Tether now states USDT is backed 1 for 1 with cash and cash equivalents. For example, Tether released an "IOU" coin called UNUS SED LEO (LEO)[0] that trades at the amount of USD missing. Therefore Tether states it is now fully backed. The veneer of sketchiness is actually preferable to a lot of crypto traders, who live in fear of various governments. This is why USDC is not as popular as USDT - many traders prefer a "vaguely sketchy" coin that is less likely to have their funds frozen by court order. All that said, I worked at a company (Circle) that redeemed and minted billions of dollars of Tether back in 2017 / 2018. Tether serves big trade desks and is extremely popular in Asia, while USDC has become more popular in DeFi and is bigger in the west. Tether is not a giant ponzi scheme - it really has assets, and huge desks regularly mint and redeem billions of dollars. [0] https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/unus-sed-leo/ https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/unus-sed-leo/
- freeAgent 6y ago
  Tether’s total supply didn’t exceed 2B at any point in 2017 or 2018 and it certainly didn’t fluctuate by anywhere close to that, particularly on the down side, during that period. I think either your dates are wrong or you’ve vastly overstated how much Tether Circle “redeemed” (please explain exactly the redemption process you used) over that period.
  - seibelj 6y ago
    https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/48857/former-head-of-circle-otc-says-theres-more-to-the-tether-narrative https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/48857/former-head-of-cir... I worked with Dan. Circle Trade was the second biggest desk back then after Cumberland. You don’t do all billions at once, that was in total.

onelastjob 6y ago

Hard to say exactly what the effect of regulators cracking down on Tether will actually be. If Tether gets delisted from exchanges and isn't redeemable for USD, then obviously Tether holders will get burned. But what effect exactly will this have on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies? I would expect that before Tether gets delisted, insiders will trade their Tethers for Bitcoin, pushing up the Bitcoin price, and then probably immediately sell that Bitcoin for USD (or USDC), as they will expect the cryptocurrency market to crash once the Tether news becomes public. While these buyers of Bitcoin will immediately sell for USD, they will create a lot of volume in Bitcoin trading, which could push the price up. So maybe we see a quick, sharp run up in Bitcoin price and volume along with a lot of Tether selling before news about Tether breaks publicly followed by a crash of the entire cryptocurreny market.

senectus1 6y ago

Not only that but 2021 is likely to be the year of Linux on the Desktop... right?

corona-research 6y ago

Rubini... lol

ur-whale 6y ago
I do agree that it is really hard to take Rubini seriously. Much of that has to do with the way he expresses itself: he's really obnoxious to listen to and one has to make a great effort to get past that 100-foot wall of aggression to try and understand if there's any value in his arguments. I have honestly tried, and once you peel off the tone and posturing, I must confess there isn't much to be found.

rarefied_tomato 6y ago

Weaver's claim about Tether being a vehicle to inflate the price of Bitcoin is odd. The main Tether-BTC transacting I'm aware of is in high frequency trading. Any longterm position in Tether is effectively against BTC (electing to instead hold a tokenized USD). Furthermore, Tether has a market cap only 1/16 of BTC. You can say either are flawed individually, but their valuations are independent. China also has a geopolitical incentive to promote crypto and counter the USD's current status as the reserve currency. The capability for the US to inject USD into itself while retaining a worldwide demand is undoubtedly at the forefront of China's mind.

jayd16 6y ago
>but their valuations are independent. The key complaint is that they are, in fact, NOT independent. You can use one to manipulate the other under the guise of being backed by USD when in reality its backed by loans backed by BTC (or some other permutation).
throwaway6734 6y ago
one theory I've seen on tether inflation involves loaning tether via margin to people to buy bitcoin, which then pushes up the price of bitcoin, which then allows the tether loaner (that also holds bitcoin) to loan more tether as it's now backed by more valuable assets
pestatije 6y ago
No, what they are all saying is that issuers of Tether tokens are buying bitcoins with their proceeds. They so know because of bitcoin's stupendous price rise. And as the reasoning behind it they are pointing to Tether issuers' imminent facing of regulatory and criminal scrutiny.
ur-whale 6y ago
>Tether being a vehicle to inflate the price of Bitcoin is odd I'm not so sure. I'm a great supporter of Bitcoin, but: a) Tether worries me a great deal, especially if you dig into the background of the folks behind it. Unless tether lets itself be properly audited and proves cash reserves, it can indeed, in a rater straightforward manner, be used to manipulate BTCUSD b) The current price action also worries me a great deal: it's IMO likely going to go through more 2018-like volatility events (i.e. a x5 haircut to shed speculators) through 2021 thereby lending temporary credibility to the nocoiners arguments. I'd much prefer to see Bitcoin price be either stable in value or growing slowly. But the nature of the beast makes that proposition a difficult one until it reaches its "natural" capitalization (whatever that may be - some say that of gold).

_hdap 6y ago

Here is the Michael Saylor interview (mentioned in the article): https://youtu.be/Cg10yYZjK94?t=1h10m0s https://youtu.be/Cg10yYZjK94?t=1h10m0s This is the CEO of MicroStrategy who mainstreamed Bitcoin investment, saying stuff like: "Bitcoin is a swarm of cyber hornets serving the goddess of wisdom, feeding on the fire of truth, exponentially growing ever smarter, faster, and stronger behind a wall of encrypted energy” Background from Wikipedia: On MicroStrategy's quarterly earnings conference call in July 2020, Saylor announced his intention for MicroStrategy to explore purchasing Bitcoin, gold, or other alternative assets instead of holding cash. The following month, MicroStrategy used $250 million from its cash stockpile to purchase 21,454 Bitcoin. MicroStrategy later added $175 million of Bitcoin to its holdings in September 2020 and another $50 million in early December 2020. On December 11, 2020, MicroStrategy announced that it had sold $650 million in convertible senior notes, taking on debt to increase its Bitcoin holdings to over $1 billion worth. On December 21, 2020 MicroStrategy announced their total holdings include 70,470 bitcoins purchased for $1.125 billion at an average price of $15,964 per bitcoin. Saylor, who controls 70% of MicroStrategy's shares, dismissed concerns by observers that the move is turning MicroStrategy into a Bitcoin investment firm or exchange-traded fund (ETF).

olalonde 6y ago
He does seem like a bit of a lunatic but I'm not sure that it says much about Bitcoin. If you ever watch YouTube, you'll find there are similar characters in real estate, stocks, forex, etc.
- 37ef_ced3 6y ago
  Michael Saylor is the guy who "legitimized" Bitcoin He is frequently mentioned in Bitcoin discussions as evidence that Bitcoin is mainstream: a rational, safe investment, good enough for MicroStrategy to invest hundreds of millions When you actually watch him talk, the credibility vanishes
  - dwaltrip 6y ago
    > Michael Saylor is the guy who "legitimized" Bitcoin This is greatly overstating his role and impact.

olalonde 6y ago

Typical nocoiner, always focused on price...

ur-whale 6y ago
Yeah, agree 100%. I'll go one step further and argue that some of the scenarios described in the article are not unreasonable. What they fail to see is that if these actually come to pass (e.g. Tether collapse), it will actually good for Bitcoin in the long run. Money badger don't care.

karaterobot 6y ago

If you're going to write an article like this, it would be more honest to admit that you thought the same things were going to happen last year, and the year before that, but they didn't.

frankenst1 6y ago

Nocoiner Frances Coppola: "Bitcoin is not scarce because each coin is subdivided into satoshis". These comments are entertaining but seem to get more ridiculous with every year.

anonisko 6y ago
*more desperate every year
jldugger 6y ago
Kinda depends on what you mean by scarce. Expensive? Subdivision doesn't help. Illiquid? satoshis help there.
- dwaltrip 6y ago
  The quote uses the word "scarce" in a way that implies that the supply isn't limited, which is obviously false.
pg_bot 6y ago
I mean you can't technically guarantee the scarcity of bitcoin. Even though it is the source code that there should be 21 million, you can just fork the repo and start again from scratch and call the first bitcoins mined epoch-1 and subsequent coins as bitcoin epoch-n. The public will come to understand any coins mined using the bitcoin protocol as bitcoins if this comes to pass.
- glerk 6y ago
  Forks of Bitcoin have already happened multiple times. Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV also claim to be the original Bitcoin, but the mainstream view is that the chain with the highest hashpower, highest trading volume and highest price is the real Bitcoin. Which chain is the real Bitcoin is entirely determined by the community and I don't see a plausible future where a sizeable chunk of the community agrees to increase the max supply.
  - 6y ago

CyberRabbi 6y ago

As someone who casually bought a bunch of BTC in late 2013 just for fun and never really did anything with it since then, I think the salt mine of btc hater blog posts that come out every time there is a new spike in value are the comedy gold.

mmmBacon 6y ago
Did the same with some extra cash I had around but a bit later than you. I think one can trace some of the hate to simple sour grapes and jealousy. I’m also confused why one would wish an economic crash on anyone.

elevenoh 6y ago

Network effects' power law nature, desire for a-political money, capital flowing into areas of least constraint & friction etc. seem to be just beginning.

andy1973 6y ago

This article is a comedy...

miguelmota 6y ago

People like Amy Castor, Peter Schiff, Nouriel Roubini, etc don't seem to fundamentally understand that intrinsic value is completely subjective and that bitcoin being a borderless, trustless, and scarce resource is what makes it valuable to many. Focusing on the negative aspects and neglecting the upsides of what cryptocurrencies have unlocked for millions of people worldwide is short-sighted.

CyberRabbi 6y ago
I think the key things for Bitcoin are that it’s not forgeable and it’s transferable. Anything that satisfies those two conditions will eventually be used as a reliable store of value.

zadler 6y ago

Have I stepped into an alternate dimension where any Bitcoin thread on hacker news is not dominated by discussion of whether or not bitcoin is a fraud or even needed?

LiquidSky 6y ago
No need to restate the obvious at this point.

tzone 6y ago

Is this satire? The very first comment: "He believes the bitcoin ecosystem is running low on cash", is provably false since it is not just Tether that is increasing in MarketCap. USDC + PAX dollars have also increased in MarketCap to ~5 billion total now. USDC and PAX are both regulated by US financial regulators, including NY. There are plenty of ways to be skeptical of Bitcoin or Ethereum or rest of the Crypto, but this article is not it.

suikadayo 6y ago

I do find it odd that Bitcoiners who tend to be incredibly, incredibly outspoken about Ending the Fed, and QE money printing, call any criticism of Tether as FUD in a cult manner, or shrug it off as non-issue. It was/is effectively a fractional reserve, where they admitted in court in the past that Tether wasn't completely backed by cash. It does seem a little convenient that they aren't ideologically consistent, and against Tether because it just so happens to help prop up the price of Bitcoin.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]