Crypto - Bitcoin XRP ETH DarkMoon NFTs

[neeneko]

FFS, after 6 years of these constant grift society GOP sucker clubs how do they have any money left to steal?

Why do you think there has been so much energy going into mainstreaming right wing ideas? They have gutted the whales already, now they need the mass market in order to keep growing.

[Gregg]

What gets me is the fact that there are a whole lot of these nudnicks who 20 years ago were the loudest ones screaming about "there is NOTHING that backs worthless Federal Reserve Notes" and I essentially quit trying to explain (its kind of complicated but the actual answer is better than gold, really). Now they are holding up garbage that truly isn't backed by anything beyond thoughts and prayers and something something something no government can control something something money of the people something something tulips and South Seas Trade. I am so glad I started building cars and quit building money because its a lot easier to explain to idiots.

[Frater I*I]

(its kind of complicated but the actual answer is better than gold, really).

I remember a line from the show "Billions" concerning a guy calling the main villain about investing in gold because the gold standard is coming back...

"No Pete, the gold standard is never coming back, and if it did, this world would be so fucked I’d buy space travel and not gold.”

[Phoenix520]

I was in a convenience store kinda half an hour away from a couple of cities but not really in very populated area ( Santa Paula) and I saw a bitcoin ATM. On thé Home Screen it says
1bitcoin = 43,000 USD.

WTF? I thought it was like when they market-tested grocery store scanners in the Piggly Wigglys. But no.

Googling tells me they’re a thing. I say again, WTF? Do you make deposits and withdrawals just like regular ATMs there? I’d think using one would drastically raise your chances of being frauded on… somehow.

[MN-Skeptic]

This was on CBS Sunday Morning today. I've always enjoyed David Pogue's reports.

[raison de arizona]

Guy Buys NFT For $2.9 Million, Asks for $48 Million, Is Offered $3600
What is anything truly "worth"? This dude is finding out

Sina Estavi is a “crypto entrepreneur”, who last year bought a digital token representing Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s first ever tweet. He paid $2.9 million for it, and this month sought to make good on his “investment”, putting it up for auction with an expectation it could net him $48 million. It did not.

As CoinDesk report, Estavi put the NFT up for sale on April 9, hoping to get around $50 million for it, and then donate “at least $25 million” of that sum to charity. That’s an ambitious sum for something we can all see, screencap, download and/or enjoy below for the cost of just a few seconds of our time:

https://kotaku.com/nft-jack-dorsey-sale ... 1848791322

[RTH10260]

the origin of this stupidity

Jack Dorsey sells his first tweet ever as an NFT for over $2.9 million

Published Mon, Mar 22 20213:07 PM EDT Updated Wed, Mar 24 20212:10 PM EDT

Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, sold his first tweet as an NFT, or nonfungible token, for over $2.9 million on Monday when bidding ended on the “Valuables” platform, which is run by Cent, a blockchain-powered social media network.

The tweet, which says, “just setting up my twttr,” was first posted by Dorsey on March 21, 2006.

NFTs are digital assets, including jpegs and video clips, that can be bought and sold, just like physical assets. And since they run on blockchain, a decentralized digital ledger that documents transactions, ownership and validity of each can be tracked.

Though there was a bidding war over the NFT of Dorsey’s tweet between tech entrepreneur Justin Sun and Bridge Oracle CEO Sina Estavi, ultimately, Estavi’s bid of over $2.9 million won, the site says. Estavi also bid $1.1 million to own the NFT of a recent tweet by Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, which was also listed on “Valuables.”

″By bidding on Jack Dorsey’s first tweet of history and Elon Musk’s NFT, I wanted to emphasize the importance of NFTs on [the] future of crypto and tech sphere,” Estavi recently told CNBC Make It. In addition, “I wanted to encourage involving in charities in the crypto space.”

According to “Valuables,” the tweet itself will “continue to live on Twitter,” but the winning bidder would own the NFT, “signed and verified by the creator,” like a virtual autograph. “Valuables” also requires users to log on to the platform via their Twitter account to verify that tweets listed for sale are done so by their true creators.

In March, Dorsey said that all proceeds from his NFT sale would be converted to bitcoin and donated to GiveDirectly, a charity giving cash to people living in poverty. Dorsey’s gift will specifically go to its Africa Covid-19 response.



https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/22/jack-do ... llion.html

[tek]

Estavi’s auction also came at a time when NFT sales tracked on Opensea—the single largest marketplace in the space—were down around 50% in 2022, from almost $5 billion in January down to $2.5 billion in March. This decline has sparked moves from “blue chip” NFT owners to search for “alternative uses” for their tokens, which is a fascinating development, in that it implies there was ever a use in the first place.

[Dave from down under]

Steve Bannon and a bitcoin…

What could possibly go wrong…

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-18/ ... /100991522

[Gregg]

Steve Bannon and a bitcoin…

What could possibly go wrong…

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-18/ ... /100991522

Great plan to take down the CCCP.

Send us money. It's like a pyramid scheme without the need to act like its not a scam.

[RTH10260]

insert P. T. Barnum quote here...

[raison de arizona]

Sick of people calling everything in crypto a Ponzi scheme. Some crypto projects are pump and dump schemes, while others are pyramid schemes. Others are just standard issue fraud. Others are just middlemen skimming of the top. Stop glossing over the diversity in the industry.

[humblescribe]

Ponzi schemes and pyramid schemes are for all intents and purposes, identical.

[raison de arizona]

Ponzi schemes and pyramid schemes are for all intents and purposes, identical.

My rough understanding was always that ponzi schemes simply required investment from the victim, whereas in pyramid schemes the victim is active is recruiting other downstream victims.

[Suranis]

Well, the differences are kinda subtle at first glance, btu they are there.

https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answer ... yramid.asp

Ponzi vs. Pyramid Scheme: An Overview

Pyramid schemes and Ponzi schemes have many similar characteristics based around the same concept: unsuspecting individuals get fooled by unscrupulous investors who promise them extraordinary returns in exchange for their money. However, in contrast to a regular investment, these types of schemes can offer consistent "profits" only as long as the number of investors continues to increase. Once the number tapers off, so does the money.

Ponzi and pyramid schemes are self-sustaining as long as cash outflows can be matched by monetary inflows. The basic differences arise in the type of products that schemers offer their clients and the structure of the two ploys, but both can be devastating if broken down.

Key Takeaways

Both pyramid schemes and Ponzi schemes involve unscrupulous investors taking advantage of unsuspecting individuals by promising them extraordinary returns in exchange for their money.
With Ponzi schemes, investors give money to a portfolio manager. Then, when they want their money back, they are paid out with the incoming funds contributed by later investors.
With a pyramid scheme, the initial schemer recruits other investors who in turn recruit other investors and so on. Late-joining investors pay the person who recruited them for the right to participate or perhaps sell a certain product.

Ponzi Schemes

Ponzi schemes are based on fraudulent investment management services—basically, investors contribute money to the "portfolio manager" who promises them a high return, and then when those investors want their money back, they are paid out with the incoming funds contributed by later investors. The person organizing this type of fraud is in charge of controlling the entire operation; they merely transfer funds from one client to another and forgo any real investment activities.

The most famous Ponzi scheme in recent history—and the single largest fraud of investors in the United States—was orchestrated for more than a decade by Bernard Madoff, who defrauded investors in Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. Madoff built a large network of investors that he raised cash from, pooling his almost 5,000 clients' money into an account he withdrew from. He never actually invested the money, and once the financial crisis of 2008 took hold, he could no longer sustain the fraud. The SEC values the total loss to investors to be around $65 billion.12 The controversy sparked a period in late 2008 that is known as Ponzi Mania, in which regulators and investment professionals were on the hunt for other Ponzi schemes.

Pyramid Schemes

A pyramid scheme, on the other hand, is structured so that the initial schemer must recruit other investors who will continue to recruit other investors, and those investors will then continue to recruit additional investors, and so on. Sometimes there will be an incentive that is presented as an investment opportunity, such as the right to sell a particular product. Each investor pays the person who recruited them for the chance to sell this item. The recipient must share the proceeds with those at the higher levels of the pyramid structure.

One key difference is that pyramid schemes are harder to prove than Ponzi schemes. They are also better protected because the legal teams behind corporations are much more powerful than those protecting an individual. One of the largest accused pyramid schemes was with the nutritional company Herbalife (HLF). Even though they were labeled as an illegal pyramid scheme and paid out more than $200 million in damages, their products still sell, and the stock price looks healthy.3

[humblescribe]

The fact that both schemes use Peter's money to pay Paul and so forth results in the same implosion once new funds dry up.

Both mechanisms rely partly on word-of-mouth to attract new money. Was Bernie Madoff running a Ponzi Scheme or a pyramid scheme? I submit that it started out as a pyramid scheme (70s) and morphed into a Ponzi scheme later.

Regardless, innocent people get seduced by greed and easy money.

[MN-Skeptic]

A financial analyst I respect talked to a financial group I belong to and brought up cryptocurrencies. Apparently her daughter had put money into cryptocurrencies. They were discussing it while eating out, and their waiter chimed in "I invested in that too!". But when the analyst asked her daughter to explain what cryptocurrency is, her daughter could not. Basically, her daughter invested because that's what everyone was talking about. The analyst's advice: Don't invest in something you don't understand.

I don't get cryptocurrencies. I don't get NFTs. I'm not going to trust my retirement money to cryptocurrencies or NFTs.

I'm real curious to see where cryptocurrencies and NFTs are in 10 years.

[RTH10260]

A financial analyst I respect talked to a financial group I belong to and brought up cryptocurrencies. Apparently her daughter had put money into cryptocurrencies. They were discussing it while eating out, and their waiter chimed in "I invested in that too!". But when the analyst asked her daughter to explain what cryptocurrency is, her daughter could not. Basically, her daughter invested because that's what everyone was talking about. The analyst's advice: Don't invest in something you don't understand.

I don't get cryptocurrencies. I don't get NFTs. I'm not going to trust my retirement money to cryptocurrencies or NFTs.

I'm real curious to see where cryptocurrencies and NFTs are in 10 years.

Cryptocurrencies should be handled the same way as precious metals or foreing currencies. Don't deal in them when you cannot assess the volatility. For retirement fonds stick to nominal US$ investments. But even the stock market can have bad developments in the future.

Cryptocurrencies are here to stay. But not every new creation will find its market place. One important point is that no single entity can create and own all tokens. The cryptocurrencies that will prevail will have the democratic model where anyone can potentially mine tokens.

NFTs on the other hand are just a temporary fad and mainly scams, nobody will seriously speak about them in a couple of years.

Once lawmakers have created proper legislation NFTs possibly under a different name will have a future for shared ownership of an object. Say a consortium to own a racing horse. Legislation is needed to properly bind the token to the underlying object, not to the initiator of the project. Possibly compare to company shares not traded on an exchange.

[raison de arizona]

An Appalachian town was told a bitcoin mine would bring an economic boom. It got noise pollution and an eyesore.
Supporters of the crypto plant promised an expanded tax base and job creation. What residents say they got was the constant din from massive computers and equally massive cooling fans.

It started as a low hum one day last spring. Then it got louder, and soon some residents said the noise was like a jet engine idling on a nearby tarmac.

The unincorporated clutch of homes and churches at the base of the Appalachian Mountains offers expansive vistas of lush farmland, thick woods and towering ridges in all directions. Neighbors know one another. Most residents have family bonds spanning generations or moved to this tranquil patch to escape city noise.

Instead, the noise came to them in April last year when the Tennessee-based firm Red Dog Technologies opened a plant in Limestone to mine (or create) new bitcoin, the original and still-largest cryptocurrency.

Companies forced out of China began scouting new locations across rural America. Appalachia, more accustomed to coal-caked helmeted workers than tech-savvy blockchain enthusiasts, saw an influx of miners.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... ppalachia/

[Suranis]

I wonder why no-one has thought of generating electricity from all that heat. Oh ya. Criminals.

[Suranis]

Shitcoin is having the Luna blues

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/10/bitcoin ... 1-peg.html

Bitcoin investors are panicking as a controversial crypto experiment unravels
Published Tue, May 10 20227:01 AM EDTUpdated 4 Hours Ago
Crypto investors are keeping a close eye on UST, a controversial stablecoin, as the organization that supports it is sitting on billions of dollars in bitcoin.
Terra’s UST token sank below 70 cents late Monday, as holders continued to flee the controversial stablecoin.
Traders worry the project might have sold, or will sell, a large portion of its bitcoin to prop up UST.
Bitcoin is now down 50% from its November all-time highs.

Investors in bitcoin are in panic mode as the controversial terraUSD stablecoin slips further from its intended $1 peg.

TerraUSD, or UST, sank below 70 cents for the first time late Monday, as holders continued to flee the token in what some have described as a “bank run.” The token fell as low as 62 cents before regaining ground to trade at 90 cents Tuesday, according to Coinbase data.

Created by Singapore-based Terraform Labs in 2018, UST is what’s known as an “algorithmic” stablecoin. Part of the Terra blockchain project, it’s meant to track the value of the dollar, like fellow stablecoins tether and USDC.

However, unlike with those cryptocurrencies, Terra doesn’t have cash and other assets held in a reserve to back its token. Instead, it uses a complex mix of code — alongside a sister token called luna — to stabilize prices.

It’s important for bitcoin investors as Luna Foundation Guard, an organization supporting the Terra project, is sitting on billions of dollars in bitcoin that could potentially be dumped onto the market at any point.

″Every professional investor in crypto has one eye on UST today, watching to see if it can maintain its peg to the dollar,” said Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management. “There’s clearly significant risk in the market.”

Russians suddenly cant launder money through their Botcoin. The Marks have a

40% of bitcoin investors are now underwater, new data shows
Published Mon, May 9 20223:37 PM EDTUpdated Mon, May 9 202210:58 PM EDT
Key Points

Bitcoin is off nearly 55% from its November peak, and 40% of holders are now underwater on their investments, according to new data from Glassnode.
In the last month alone, 15.5% of all bitcoin wallets fell into an unrealized loss, as the world’s most popular cryptocurrency plunged to the $31,000 level, tracking tech stocks lower.
Bitcoin’s close correlation to the Nasdaq challenges the argument that the cryptocurrency functions as an inflation hedge.

Bitcoin plunges below $32,000 and Galaxy’s Mike Novogratz expects more volatility: CNBC Crypto World

Bitcoin is off nearly 55% from its November peak, and 40% of holders are now underwater on their investments, according to new data from Glassnode.

That percentage is even higher when you isolate for the short-term holders who got skin in the game in the last six months when the price of bitcoin peaked at around $69,000.

In the last month alone, 15.5% of all bitcoin wallets fell into an unrealized loss, as the world’s most popular cryptocurrency plunged to the $31,000 level, tracking tech stocks lower. Bitcoin’s close correlation to the Nasdaq challenges the argument that the cryptocurrency functions as an inflation hedge.

Analysts from Glassnode also noted an influx of “urgent transactions” amid this latest sell-off, in which investors paid higher fees, indicating they were willing to pay a premium in order to expedite transaction times. The total value of all on-chain transaction fees paid reached 3.07 bitcoin over the last week — the largest yet recorded in its dataset.

“The dominance of on-chain transaction fees associated with exchange deposits also signaled urgency,” continued the report, further supporting the case that bitcoin investors were seeking to de-risk, sell, or add collateral to their margin positions in response to recent market volatility.

During the sell-off this past week, more than $3.15 billion in value moved into or out of exchanges, the largest amount since the market hit its all-time high in November 2021.

Also, anyone wanna buy a Beanie Baby?

[Estiveo]

Estiveoshot_20220501_091224.jpg

[Gregg]

NFTs created and used for digital art purposes aim to provide its owners the "original" artwork.[9][10] Bored Ape NFTs owners are considered in possession of "a unique unit of data recorded in a digital blockchain, which permanently records its provenance or sales history.

Translated... We sell you a .gif file (actually its AVIV whatever that is) for (currently ~$300,000) and you get the picture.

Its online, so anyone who wants it can copy it for free, but you get the fine distinction of owning it and get a non-framed Certificate of Authenticity.

And we get $300K, so its a win win!

[Gregg]

Actual BYC image, which you can see for free, use for free, print and hang on your wall for whatever Walmart charges for it, but you don't get the Certificate of Authenticity.

You also cannot use it for commercial purposes but they difference between and NFT and just owning the rights to the image escapes me.

Anyhow, if you want the CofA, its on auction, current bid is $309,000 but two days left so bound to sell for more.

[Gregg]

I have sat here for half an hour trying to figure out how in the world someone has managed to convince people they need to pay more then most people make in 5 years for the right to use a cartoon image for their phpBB avatar. Am I the only one who found a clever picture in google and got someone to size it for me to use as mine? For free?

(sorry Mark Getty, I figure you won't notice)

I mean, the more you read people trying to explain the value created blah blah blah the more you want to go burn every school that offers and MBA to the ground to keep children from using fancy buzzwords to destroy civilization.

Just look at the wiki for BAYC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bored_Ape and tell me if that makes any more sense than David Merrill Van Pelt trying to explain stamping "legal tender" on dollar bills and calling it redeeming lawful money so he doesn't have to pay income tax.