The unimportant news thread

Started by Lethevich, March 05, 2008, 07:14:50 AM

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drogulus

Quote from: greg on January 12, 2021, 11:16:46 AM
Interesting.

Does this possibility extend to all digital currency, including the top 2 (Bitcoin and Etherium)?

     Bitcoin is the greatest scam in history

In my opinion, it's a colossal pump-and-dump scheme, the likes of which the world has never seen. In a pump-and-dump game, promoters "pump" up the price of a security creating a speculative frenzy, then "dump" some of their holdings at artificially high prices. And some cryptocurrencies are pure frauds. Ernst & Young estimates that 10 percent of the money raised for initial coin offerings has been stolen.

The losers are ill-informed buyers caught up in the spiral of greed. The result is a massive transfer of wealth from ordinary families to internet promoters. And "massive" is a massive understatement — 1,500 different cryptocurrencies now register over $300 billion of "value."

It helps to understand that a bitcoin has no value at all.

Promoters claim cryptocurrency is valuable as (1) a means of payment, (2) a store of value and/or (3) a thing in itself. None of these claims are true.

1. Means of Payment. Bitcoins are accepted almost nowhere, and some cryptocurrencies nowhere at all. Even where accepted, a currency whose value can swing 10 percent or more in a single day is useless as a means of payment.

2. Store of Value. Extreme price volatility also makes bitcoin undesirable as a store of value. And the storehouses — the cryptocurrency trading exchanges — are far less reliable and trustworthy than ordinary banks and brokers.

3. Thing in Itself. A bitcoin has no intrinsic value. It only has value if people think other people will buy it for a higher price — the Greater Fool theory.


     Legit currencies, all of them, are backed by the tax power of the authority that issues them.
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greg

Quote from: drogulus on January 12, 2021, 07:28:58 PM
     Bitcoin is the greatest scam in history

In my opinion, it's a colossal pump-and-dump scheme, the likes of which the world has never seen. In a pump-and-dump game, promoters "pump" up the price of a security creating a speculative frenzy, then "dump" some of their holdings at artificially high prices. And some cryptocurrencies are pure frauds. Ernst & Young estimates that 10 percent of the money raised for initial coin offerings has been stolen.

The losers are ill-informed buyers caught up in the spiral of greed. The result is a massive transfer of wealth from ordinary families to internet promoters. And "massive" is a massive understatement — 1,500 different cryptocurrencies now register over $300 billion of "value."

It helps to understand that a bitcoin has no value at all.

Promoters claim cryptocurrency is valuable as (1) a means of payment, (2) a store of value and/or (3) a thing in itself. None of these claims are true.

1. Means of Payment. Bitcoins are accepted almost nowhere, and some cryptocurrencies nowhere at all. Even where accepted, a currency whose value can swing 10 percent or more in a single day is useless as a means of payment.

2. Store of Value. Extreme price volatility also makes bitcoin undesirable as a store of value. And the storehouses — the cryptocurrency trading exchanges — are far less reliable and trustworthy than ordinary banks and brokers.

3. Thing in Itself. A bitcoin has no intrinsic value. It only has value if people think other people will buy it for a higher price — the Greater Fool theory.


     Legit currencies, all of them, are backed by the tax power of the authority that issues them.
Regardless if it's a "scam," "legit," or not, if I decided to sell at this very moment, that's $2400 for doing almost no work at all. That's about a month of saving money while working (on a good month with no large purchases). That's all I care about, personally.

The "pump and dump" thing seems to be what happened last week, but it's back up to where it was already. If you can withstand the wave and just hold for a while, it's probably a good idea, since the long-term trend is only going upward.

And decentralized currencies, despite the volatility, probably should exist anyways, since centralization means single point of failure, so you really have to put utmost faith that correct decisions are made. Really, everything is a gamble, but more options are always better.
Wagie wagie get back in the cagie

BWV 1080

Quote from: drogulus on January 12, 2021, 07:28:58 PM
     Bitcoin is the greatest scam in history

In my opinion, it's a colossal pump-and-dump scheme, the likes of which the world has never seen. In a pump-and-dump game, promoters "pump" up the price of a security creating a speculative frenzy, then "dump" some of their holdings at artificially high prices. And some cryptocurrencies are pure frauds. Ernst & Young estimates that 10 percent of the money raised for initial coin offerings has been stolen.

The losers are ill-informed buyers caught up in the spiral of greed. The result is a massive transfer of wealth from ordinary families to internet promoters. And "massive" is a massive understatement — 1,500 different cryptocurrencies now register over $300 billion of "value."

It helps to understand that a bitcoin has no value at all.

Promoters claim cryptocurrency is valuable as (1) a means of payment, (2) a store of value and/or (3) a thing in itself. None of these claims are true.

1. Means of Payment. Bitcoins are accepted almost nowhere, and some cryptocurrencies nowhere at all. Even where accepted, a currency whose value can swing 10 percent or more in a single day is useless as a means of payment.

2. Store of Value. Extreme price volatility also makes bitcoin undesirable as a store of value. And the storehouses — the cryptocurrency trading exchanges — are far less reliable and trustworthy than ordinary banks and brokers.

3. Thing in Itself. A bitcoin has no intrinsic value. It only has value if people think other people will buy it for a higher price — the Greater Fool theory.


     Legit currencies, all of them, are backed by the tax power of the authority that issues them.

not to mention that Chinese Bitcoin miners currently control 65% of the network hash rate, so its effectively under the control of the CCP

Papy Oli

Olivier

MusicTurner

#3844
Police work, Russia, on a snowy day with Navalny demonstrations ... :-\

https://twitter.com/i/status/1353001004824932354

Some crowds in St.Pete
https://twitter.com/AlexKokcharov/status/1352986501798354945'

Man to police officer:
"If you're just arresting someone due to your quota, arrest me in stead of that elderly lady you're grabbing".
Policeman: "... well, OK then."
https://twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/1353094473950121984

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: MusicTurner on January 23, 2021, 06:29:17 AM
Police work, Russia, on a snowy day with Navalny demonstrations ... :-\

https://twitter.com/i/status/1353001004824932354

Some crowds in St.Pete
https://twitter.com/AlexKokcharov/status/1352986501798354945'

Man to police officer:
"If you're just arresting someone due to your quota, arrest me in stead of that elderly lady you're grabbing".
Policeman: "... well, OK then."https://twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/1353094473950121984

I'm part way through watching this (Putin's Palace) which you might be interested in:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipAnwilMncI

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Pohjolas Daughter

Pohjolas Daughter

vandermolen

Quote from: Papy Oli on January 14, 2021, 07:20:46 AM
Now, Boris can always blame the ravens if need be :laugh:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jan/14/tower-of-london-raven-missing-feared-dead

Yes, these are never good signs - as when a bat landed on King John's head during his coronation.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Iota

Quote from: vandermolen on January 26, 2021, 10:39:45 AM
Yes, these are never good signs - as when a bat landed on King John's head during his coronation.

Hardly a good look either I should imagine!   :laugh:

Though with him being something of a weasel himself, possibly fitting ..

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: vandermolen on January 26, 2021, 10:39:45 AM
Yes, these are never good signs - as when a bat landed on King John's head during his coronation.
I hadn't heard that story before now!  :o
Pohjolas Daughter

greg

This is whole thing with the Gamestop stock is comedy gold. Main street massacring Wall street.  ;D
Wagie wagie get back in the cagie

Karl Henning

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on January 26, 2021, 10:38:25 AM
On a lighter note:  American Airlines now offers a home wine delivery service.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/21/tech/american-airlines-wine-delivery/?hpt=ob_blogfooterold

I pledge to behave so that I do not regret learning this.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Quote from: vandermolen on January 26, 2021, 10:39:45 AM
Yes, these are never good signs - as when a bat landed on King John's head during his coronation.

Never knew that 8)
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

greg

Quote from: greg on January 27, 2021, 12:53:19 PM
This is whole thing with the Gamestop stock is comedy gold. Main street massacring Wall street.  ;D


From today:

https://mashable.com/article/discord-bans-wallstreetbets-subreddit/

"The WallStreetBets server has been on our Trust & Safety team's radar for some time due to occasional content that violates our Community Guidelines, including hate speech, glorifying violence, and spreading misinformation," wrote the spokesperson. "To be clear, we did not ban this server due to financial fraud related to GameStop or other stocks."


Ohhh right. Couldn't be a coincidence? And the reddit r/wallstreetbets is down now.

"Hate speech," yep... I guess Wall Street is a protected class now.
Wagie wagie get back in the cagie

greg

Aaand now Robinhood isn't letting people buy shares of Gamestop any more.

I put it an order last night to be fulfilled this morning, and they cancelled it. They even hid the stock from search. I wonder if doing this is even legal.

I'm only up  $80 because I didn't have enough leftover funds to add, people are making tens of thousands on this in a single day. And the original plan was to continue through Friday.
Wagie wagie get back in the cagie

T. D.

This is a really funny financial story:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/04/koss-family-executives-cash-in-44-million-in-stock-during-short-squeeze-rally.html

Internet geeks ran up the stock of Koss (headphone company), trying to create a short squeeze. They kited the stock to ridiculous levels.
So what happened? The Koss family, company executives and board members (who oughta know something about the company  ;) ) sold a truckload of stock!
In other words, the chumps who had run the company into the ground wound up making the big bucks.  :laugh: Cool.

Pohjolas Daughter

I don't know where to put this as it's certainly important (moderators plus feel free to move it):  Russia expels European diplomats over Navalny protests

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55954162
Pohjolas Daughter

MusicTurner

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on February 05, 2021, 12:32:04 PM
I don't know where to put this as it's certainly important (moderators plus feel free to move it):  Russia expels European diplomats over Navalny protests

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55954162

Along those lines, China has raised court cases against Danish parliamentarians supporting Chinese/Hong Kong dissidents, demanding extradition ...
https://hongkongfp.com/2021/01/24/meet-the-danish-politicians-wanted-by-hong-kong-for-helping-lawmaker-ted-hui-flee-the-city/

MusicTurner

#3858
Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on January 26, 2021, 10:36:21 AM
I'm part way through watching this (Putin's Palace) which you might be interested in:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipAnwilMncI

PD

The problem is that the Russian mafioso system supports deniability and lack of accountability; Putin's pal Rosenberg has now claimed that he owns the palace, but no proofs were given; likewise, Navalny's poisoning hasn't been followed by criminal investigation of the poisoning in Russia, from what I know.

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: MusicTurner on February 06, 2021, 12:22:08 AM
The problem is that the Russian mafioso system supports deniability and lack of accountability; Putin's pal Rosenberg has now claimed that he owns the palace, but no proofs were given; likewise, Navalny's poisoning hasn't been followed by criminal investigation of the poisoning in Russia, from what I know.
I know. I heard a few days ago, that someone else was claiming that it was theirs:  can we see the deed please (like one couldn't also be forged!)?  >:(

PD

p.s.  Hope that your diplomats stay safe too.
Pohjolas Daughter