Who knows about Bitcoin?

[Silver]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-0 ... -free-fall

"It's Not Really About Bitcoin Price Surging, It's Fiat Currencies In Free Fall"

Dec 4, 2017 1:56 PM

Authored by Joseph Young via CoinTelegraph.com,

According to Stefan Molyneux, a highly regarded Canadian podcast host, it is more important to recognize the free fall of fiat currencies, more so than to acknowledge the exponential growth rate of Bitcoin.

Molyneux says:
“It's not so much that Bitcoin is going through the roof - it's that fiat currencies are in free fall, but only Bitcoin is noticing.”
The decline of fiat currencies

For many decades, governments have had absolute control over the global finance sector and monetary policy through the fiat currency system. Through it, central banks such as the US Federal Reserve have obtained the ability to inflate the supply of reserve currencies and to manipulate the world’s most widely utilized form of money.

In an interview with Fox Business, major electronics retailer Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne stated that fiat currencies will continue to fall over the next few years, as investors and the market move onto separate money and state.

As fiat currencies decline, the only form of decentralized currency that is Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the market, will eventually overtake reserve currencies.


“You think that’s a bubble? What do you think that fiat currency you carry around in your purse is? This dollar stuff, it’s just some fiat currency based on … the surplus taxing authority of the US Treasury of which I assert there is zero ... It’s about time the world switches to real money. Either gold or Bitcoin,” said Byrne.

Currently, the two forms of money or assets that are not subjected to the control and manipulation of governments are Bitcoin and gold. But, as demonstrated by the Indian government in late 2016, because of its physical attributes, gold can be confiscated and repossessed by the authorities at their will.

With Bitcoin, confiscation of user funds and assets is not possible, if users store their Bitcoin on a non-custodial platform in which they have full control over their private keys and funds.

One major advantage Bitcoin has over gold is its transportability. Gold is a viable store of value given that investors can store large amounts of money in the asset. But, it is difficult to transfer gold, especially through borders.

Bitcoin will continue to prosper as fiat currencies decline

Considering that Bitcoin remains as the only viable alternative to fiat currencies, the decline of government-issued money will continue to lead more investors and general consumers into the Bitcoin market.

As such, Byrne noted that Bitcoin price could reach $1 mln in the long-term if Bitcoin begins to take over reserve currencies and challenge the gold market.

“We have all these currencies since Bretton Woods, fluctuating against each other, and maybe the dollar hasn’t gone to zero against these currencies but all of them have gone down 95 percent ... versus something that they can’t control like … gold and Bitcoin. So Bitcoin may be on its way to a million for all we know,” adds Byrne.

[Silver]

Well, who is glad they listened to crazy ol' Uncle Silver and bought some Bitcoin a month ago? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

[Silver]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-0 ... ough-15000

[harakim]

...
The explosive rise of Bitcoin (BTC) has taken the investing world by storm, and for good reason. Over the past six months alone BTC has quadrupled in value. Since 2012, it has risen over 200,000%. To put that into context, had one invested 10k in 2012 they would be worth over $20 million today. The graph below shows the meteoric rise.
...

This is not true as anyone who had many bitcoins will tell you. They are hard to hang on to for various reasons.

[Silver]

...
The explosive rise of Bitcoin (BTC) has taken the investing world by storm, and for good reason. Over the past six months alone BTC has quadrupled in value. Since 2012, it has risen over 200,000%. To put that into context, had one invested 10k in 2012 they would be worth over $20 million today. The graph below shows the meteoric rise.
...

This is not true as anyone who had many bitcoins will tell you. They are hard to hang on to for various reasons.

You're right. It's a big "if." Don't ever buy bitcoins with your grocery money. The best way to store them is on a piece of hardware not connected to the Internet.

[Silver]

Definitely read all of this article. Charts and links at the link.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-0 ... tcoin-read

If You Don't Own Any Bitcoin, Read This

by Tyler Durden
Dec 9, 2017 11:26 AM

Authored by Adam Taggart via PeakProsperity.com,

This week it hit $19,000. What's next?

Wow. Just....wow.

Bitcoin's price has gone 'beyond exponential' this week. Just yesterday, as I started working on this article, it shot up 22% -- from $14,000 to $17,000 (hitting an intraday high of over $19,000).

And that's after a mind-blowing upwards rocket ride over the past several months.

I think it's safe to say that the vicious melt-up in price over such a short timeframe has surpassed the expectations of even the starriest-eyed Bitcoin fanboys.

The whole world, especially the 99.99% of us that own zero cryptocurrency, is asking: What happens next? And, What should I do?

Is this insane trajectory going to continue for a lot longer? Do I need to get in now to avoid missing this once-in-lifetime fortune-making opportunity?

Or is this a classic bubble blow-off top? Is this the deadliest time to enter, right before the price implodes?

An Expert's Take

I had the chance to ask these questions Wednesday to a long-time veteran in the digital currency space. We met at a gathering of online media 'mavens'; this guy has published news and analysis on cryptocurrencies since 2011, for both investors and developers. He knows the space exceedingly well.

Unsurprisingly, he holds a lot of Bitcoin. I didn't ask directly how much; but knowing that he was covering the space back when Bitcoin traded in the single-dollars range, my conservative mental math quickly concluded he's probably worth more than most people I've met in my life.

So here what I learned during my chat with him:

He thinks the current price action is "nuts": To his veteran eye, the current frenzy is a speculative mania and will end in a massive sell-off, resulting in huge losses for those buying in at these prices. He's watched Bitcoin long enough to have seen it experience several 70%+ corrections. In his mind, this will simply be the latest one. And there will be more in the future, he predicts.
But he's not worried in the long run: Like many longtime crypto investors, he sees a much higher price potential for Bitcoin. But to reach that level and sustain it will take years. The currency will need to be much more widely held among the general populace and used in a material percentage of transactions (i.e., not just being held by speculative investors). Until then, he expects lots of volatility (both up and down) of the sort we're seeing now.
He admits that Bitcoin could lose out to a superior successor: When asked if the capital currently flowing into Bitcoin could flee for a better crypto 'mousetrap' in the future, he says "sure". Which is why he has diversified holdings across a number of cryptocurrencies and watches new entrants into the the space closely. But one advantage Bitcoin increasingly has over the rest of the crypto field is scale. He gave a highly-technical argument for how the blockchain actually has limited value without a platform to offer it sufficiently critical scale. "Does Bitcoin offer that critical scale yet?" I asked. "Probably not yet" he answered, "But it's much closer to it than any other competitor at this time. And it's growing faster than the rest." Translation: Bitcoin is the odds-on winner at this point.
He expects the world's central banks to criminalize the cryptocurrencies: We talked about the central banking cartel's longstanding monopoly of the money supply and its historic ruthlessness for squashing all competition. He agreed that the central banks would like nothing more than to replace the current cryptos as well as all paper fiat currencies with digital sovereign versions. And he predicts they will likely try to do exactly this. How successful will they be? Uncertain. He can certainly foresee a time when they ban ownership of Bitcoin and its brethren, criminalize transacting with them, and shut down the exchanges. Though while the cartel may be able to seriously curtail Bitcoin et al, he doesn't see it succeeding in driving them to extinction for several reasons. One he offered that I hadn't heard before (but have since verified) is that private investors have put a network of satellites up in space dedicated to making it possible to transact in Bitcoin anywhere on Earth even if the terrestrial networks are taken down by the authorities or natural disaster.
His overall takeaway? Don't buy at today's prices; wait for a correction (it could be a really big one). But once it happens, buy in and hold, as he sees the price going much, much higher over the next decade.

By the way, I'd share this guy's name with you but he asked me not to. Given how stratospheric Bitcoin has risen over the past year, he says his biggest priority right now is to fly under the radar and have as few people as possible be aware of his crypto holdings. Apparently this has recently become a real concern for Bitcoin investors who have suddenly become overnight multi-millionaires (Or hundred-millionaires. Or in the case of the Winklevoss twins, even billionaires). A vast windfall like this makes you an alluring target to criminals.

Just one more unexpected consequence of this crypto mania we're watching play out in real time.

The Peak Prosperity View

The above expert's views match well with those of our team's outlook here at PeakProsperity.com.

Charles Hugh Smith, who has been writing about Bitcoin for us since it traded below $600 has long had a price target of $17,000 -- which seemed unattainably high even just one short week ago. That underscores how insane the price moves of the past few days have been.

With the $17,000 milestone hit so quickly, does he think a large correction could ensue? Very possibly. (I should make clear though, he remains quite bullish about Bitcoin's long-term future potential).

Davefairtex, our resident charting expert, notes that his model now shows Bitcoin's level of overvaluation at "nosebleed" levels with a daily RSI of over 98 and the forecaster clearly predicting a reversal:



And reader mrees999, our community's most-respected educator on the cryptocurrency space -- and one of the biggest advocates earlier in the year for buying Bitcoin -- offered the following words of caution yesterday:

I probably wouldn't get in now. It's gotten irrational with FOMO. I'm selling into this rally and waiting for a massive correction once the bit shorts come in with the futures trading about to begin.
(Again, I should point out that mrees999 remains robustly optimistic about Bitcoin's longer-term future price potential.)

To the above, I'll simply add two additional pieces of data to show how quickly Bitcoin has outstripped any sort of rational justification for its recent price explosion.

The first is this chart below, which shows how Bitcoin's price has blown above the maximum Fibonacci extension between its previous swing low and yesterday's swing high (note: this chart was created before the price continued higher to $19,000):



(Source)

And lastly, here's a table showing the accelerating compression of time it has been taking for Bitcoin to hit each new $1,000 price milestone:



(Source)

That right there, folks, is the madness of crowds. It's a FOMO-driven mania to make the South Sea Bubble blush.

Advice For Those Who Missed The Rocket Ride

So, if you've been feeling like the loser who missed the Bitcoin party bus, you've likely done yourself a favor by not buying in over the past few weeks. It is highly, highly likely for the reasons mentioned above that a painful downwards price correction is imminent. One that will end in tears for all the recent FOMO-driven panic buyers.

To that point: as I'm finishing up this article, Bitcoin has retraced back to $15,100. That's a 21% loss in less than 24 hours for those who bought at yesterday's $19,000 high. If yesterday indeed proves to have been the blow-off top, that loss could get a lot uglier quickly.

But even if it doesn't, what can those of us who don't currently hold any cryptocurrency do as we wait for the dust to settle here?

Here's our current guidance:

Open an account with a crypto exchange: While we maintain Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies are in a bubble right now, we reiterate our position that they are worth having exposure to in your portfolio -- albeit not at today's prices. So, while waiting for (possibly much) lower prices after the inevitable blow-off top, you should open an account with a leading crypto exchange (like Coinbase, Kraken, Bitfinex or Bitstamp), so that you'll be positioned to buy when the insanity is over. These exchanges require a fair amount of personal information that they use in account verification, and some of them take a surprising amount of time and effort to set up before your account is approved and/or funded to transact. So get all of that out of the way now, while your waiting on the sidelines.

Build cash: We've been beating this drum for a while because it's not just Bitcoin that's in a bubble. As laid out in previous reports, nearly all financial assets are dangerously over-valued in today's financial markets. Keep building your cash reserves as "dry powder" to deploy when the next big market correction hits. Chances are likely that at some point in the next 0-2 years, you'll have the opportunity to buy cryptos, stocks, bonds and real estate at generous fractions of the prices seen today.

Hold on to your precious metals: Holders of gold and silver have watched Bitcoin's moon-shot with a lot of understandable envy. This is the kind of massive re-pricing boom they expected the precious metals to experience as world fiat currencies inflate away their purchasing power. Were PM investors wrong? Did they pick the wrong horse in this race? Should they have piled into the cryptocurrencies instead? While it has been a painful five years, we expect precious metals holders will be rewarded in the end. Separate from the current emotion-driven FOMO blitzkreig, the reasons informed investors are buying Bitcoin have heavy overlap with the rationale for owning gold and silver. Capital will return to the PM market as soon as the current nested set of financial bubbles begins bursting. And if you think the jump in Bitcoin has been tremendous as a money tsunami has flooded into this small market, remember that Bitcoin's market capitalization is now substantially larger than that for all the world's above-ground silver. How high could we see silver go when that metal become en vogue again?

Practice emotional resilience: Hey, Bitcoin could still rally higher from here -- much higher. It's still a small market with a lot of hot money fighting to enter it. How long the mania will last is unknowable -- we could be seeing the end of it right here (Bitcoin's price dropped below $15,000 as I wrote the last paragraph), or it could still go on for a lot longer than we can imagine. If it does, don't let the twin devils of fear and greed compel you to be one of the "last fools" to jump in before a correction takes hold (remember: that's how Isaac Newton lost his fortune in the South Sea bubble). And don't beat yourself up for not being one of the very few people to make millions from this craze. It's like being jealous of lottery winners. Instead, focus on the real wealth in your life (hint: it's much more than the money in your bank account), take time to appreciate what you have, and plan on sustainable ways -- instead of speculative ones -- to increase it. Those looking for some guidance on how to best do this can find our thoughts here.

Don't Ignore The Revolution

While we've made the case that Bitcoin's current run-up has been "too far, too fast" and a painful correction is highly likely, the new cryptocurrency era is a bona fide revolution. The underlying technology of the blockchain will transform industry and commerce on a similar scale as the Internet has.

While we urge prudence and caution regarding the conditions under which you invest in the cryptos, we don't recommend you ignore their significance.

Charles Hugh Smith has written several reports for us designed to demystify the digital currency space and help you understand the future value that the blockchain promises to unlock for society.

If you feel you don't yet have a good grasp on all this, make his report Understanding The Cryptocurrency Boom your mandatory reading over the next few days.

Written just a few short months ago, when Bitcoin was a mere $2,600(!), this publication and its excellent companion report, The Value Drivers Of Cryptocurrency, explain in layman's terms the real utility value of digital currencies and why a long-term view can justify prices that may ultimately be much higher than where they are today.

Don't let ignorance or a sour-grapes frustration from missing out on the first big run make you blind to the revolution underway. Whether you participate in it or not, and at what price, is up to you. Just make sure your decisions are well-informed ones.

Click here to read Understanding The Cryptocurrency Boom (free to all readers).

[BeNotDeceived]

As of this moment, one Bitcoin is worth $11,825.70, which is up 7.6% in the last 24 hours.

Did you know you don't have to buy one whole Bitcoin to begin your cryptocurrency journey?

Have you ever heard of Litecoin? It is only $104.16 right now.

And don't forget, never spend your grocery money on any investment.

I just bought 0.1 litecoin off ebay, what are good wallets

[Silver]

As of this moment, one Bitcoin is worth $11,825.70, which is up 7.6% in the last 24 hours.

Did you know you don't have to buy one whole Bitcoin to begin your cryptocurrency journey?

Have you ever heard of Litecoin? It is only $104.16 right now.

And don't forget, never spend your grocery money on any investment.

I just bought 0.1 litecoin off ebay, what are good wallets

Have you heard of the Ledger Nano S. Ultimate safety.
https://www.ledgerwallet.com/

Congrats on getting your your first crypto.

[Hogmeister]

Bitcoin is a religion. I have no faith in it. It is not founded on sound principles and it will not save the human race.

[BeNotDeceived]

As of this moment, one Bitcoin is worth $11,825.70, which is up 7.6% in the last 24 hours.

Did you know you don't have to buy one whole Bitcoin to begin your cryptocurrency journey?

Have you ever heard of Litecoin? It is only $104.16 right now.

And don't forget, never spend your grocery money on any investment.

I just bought 0.1 litecoin off ebay, what are good wallets

Have you heard of the Ledger Nano S. Ultimate safety.
https://www.ledgerwallet.com/

Congrats on getting your your first crypto.

Please note: UPS refuses to deliver post office boxes.

I know UPS does deliver to PO Boxes; it's all we use on Saipan.

Coinbase won't verify, prolly the same reason, but they're aren't being helpful.

Trying with https://shakepay.co/; awaiting email response. They do Dash, but not litecoin, and even link a visa card to your account. airBitz has apps and https://chain.group/ looks interesting (ebay guy sent me a link)

[Silver]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/petertchir ... b3b30013c7

DEC 16, 2017 @ 12:18 PM 15,944 The Little Black Book of Billionaire Secrets
If Art Isn't A Bubble, Maybe Bitcoin Isn't Either

Peter Tchir , CONTRIBUTOR

If Blue on Blue Isn't a Bubble - Why is Bitcoin? (source Getty)

I am getting tired of reading article after article comparing the rise of Bitcoin to tulips (link). Or the rise of Bitcoin to the South Sea Company bubble (link). Maybe the detractors are just comparing it to the wrong asset that is difficult to value but continues to rise in price. Someone paid $450,300,000 for a Leonardo da Vinci painting of dubious provenence that quite frankly struck me as ghastly (link).

If Bitcoin, or cryptocurrency pricing is supposed to be "rational", then why shouldn’t art be subject to the same standard? The cost of material for most art is only a fraction of the alleged ‘value’. Why does Bitcoin need some inherent value, while art doesn’t?

Basically, if $450 million for a painting isn’t a bubble – why are we so sure that Bitcoin has to be a bubble?

Can you really get that much aesthetic value from looking at that painting? Maybe it’s just me, but I remember rushing around the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa and being disappointed. I’ve seen that and other famous ‘must see’ paintings and usually walk away wondering what was so special. Yes, maybe I am just too plebian to understand the meaning. When I look at Black on Grey or Orange and Yellow, I think I can understand exactly what the artist was thinking – “If I can sell this, I have a whole series to color combinations to foist on the public!”

Maybe it is the attention you receive for owning it? If I had $450 million to plunk down on something, I’d own a part of a sports team as I think you get a lot more attention and perks from owning part of a sports team than a piece of art.

Then why aren’t we bombarded with daily rants about the art world being crazy?

What would the Sunday paper be without an Arts session?
How embarrassing would an Art History degree look if art collapsed.
What would all the auction houses do?
What stores would fit between the confectionaries and real estate stores in a typical vacation town?

There is an infrastructure that has been built up to support the concept of art as value and one designed to push the price ever higher and it has worked for a very long time. Every few years it seems that there is some unbelievable record setting price at auction, only to be surpassed by some new record.

The art world has also been very smart to create ‘‘entry’ level gateways for would be art collectors. These lithographs, sketches, numbered prints are the art world’s equivalent of LiteCoin, BitCash, Ripple, Ethereum, etc.

While I cannot fathom why art sells for what it does, it has sold at prices that defy most market related measures of value for decades, if not centuries and is not subjected to daily comparisons to tulips or South Sea corporations. Maybe Bitcoin shouldn’t be compared so blithely to tulips either.

I am not sure what the long term path for cryptocurrencies are, but the detractors need to start coming up with better arguments – as the cryptos are tulips argument just doesn’t cut it.

Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed are those of Peter Tchir. This info is for educational and/or entertainment purposes only, so use at your own risk. He's not a broker-dealer or advisor of any kind.

[Silver]

1929 Today.jpg (42.16 KiB) Viewed 1704 times

[Silver]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-1 ... -wars-loom

US Military Rushes To Study Blockchain As 'Hybrid Wars' Loom

by Tyler Durden
Dec 20, 2017 2:05 AM

President Trump signed into law the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act on Tuesday, a $700 billion defense policy bill that mandates for a “briefing on cyber applications of blockchain technology.” Language within the bill is part of a much wider effort to modernize the United States military, before decades of hybrid wars breakout (see: US Army Is Preparing For Decades Of Hybrid Wars.)

The blockchain study, according to the bill text (Sec.1646), will create “an assessment of efforts by foreign powers, extremist organizations, and criminal networks to utilize such technologies;…[and] an assessment of the use or planned use of such technologies by the Federal Government and critical infrastructure networks.”

Further, the study is to be delivered to Congress “not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this act.” Coin Desk adds while the study is set to be prepared by the Department of Defense, the final report could include input from other federal agencies and departments.

Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the heads of such other departments and agencies of the Federal Government as the Secretary considers appropriate, shall provide to the appropriate committees of Congress a briefing on the cyber applications of blockchain technology.

So you ask, what is blockchain? And why would the Department of Defense be interested in this technology?

blockchain uses.png (529.64 KiB) Viewed 1686 times

Coin Desk further notes,

And though it constitutes a minor element in major funding law, the measure, proposed by Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, could help spur investigation into possible blockchain uses within the U.S. government, some observers say.



“Blockchain was clearly one of the technological capabilities that Congress meant for agencies to look at, and what they were trying to do was create dollars with some flexibility to them so that agencies would have their own discretion on what they invest in,” Trey Hodgkins, senior vice president of public sector at the Information Technology Industry Council in Washington, D.C., told CoinDesk last month.

And lastly, a 2016 military doctrine from the United States Airforce (USAF) outlines the future importance of blockchains in cyber defense systems,

The ability of the USAF to prevail in the highly contested environment of 2040 will be dictated by its ability to defend cyber-enabled systems, and the data within them, from compromise and manipulation. Yet contemporary cyber defense is faltering, and incremental improvements seem unlikely to overcome an exponentially growing cyber threat. Thus, an entirely new model for cyber defense strategy is needed.



Blockchains are a new information technology that inverts the cyber security paradigm. First, blockchain networks are trustless; they assume compromise of the network by both insiders and outsiders. Second, blockchains are transparently secure; they do not rely on failure-prone secrets, but rather on a cryptographic data structure that makes tampering both exceptionally difficult and immediately obvious. Finally, blockchains networks are fault tolerant; they align the efforts of honest nodes to reject those that are dishonest.



As a result, blockchain networks not only reduce the probability of compromise, but also impose significantly greater costs on an adversary to achieve it. The Air Force should research and develop blockchain technology and leverage it for national defense.

[Silver]

Cryptocurrency Maximalist‏
@cryptoSqueeze

I've noticed this trend among my IRL frens.
Buying $1000 phone - No problem
Buying $30k car - No problem
Buying $300 Beats Headphone - No problem
Investing in #Crypto? - "I'm thinking like $100 first. Might be too much. What do you think?

Get your priority straight guys!

Kiyosaki.jpg (87.96 KiB) Viewed 1624 times

[nvr]

Some thoughts: Groups with knowledge of operating sytem back doors or zero-hour vulnerabilities are able to raid bitcoin wallets stored on computers and servers.
The originators of bitcoin has the largest share of the coins minted and got these at a minimal investment. Now, it takes a government-sized budget to continue to be able to mine bitcoins and be worth the effort.
Bitcoin and other crypto currencies can be tracked by government through the ledgers.
For these reasons and others, I suspect government / NSA is behind the creation of Bitcoin.

Furthermore, there's no way to spend or use bitcoin without power and internet infrastructure intact.
While bitcoin is not inflationary by design, it can be forked, and multiple other competing cryptocurrencies have been created which effectively results in inflation or an uncontrolled increase the total supply of crypto coins

[Silver]

Some thoughts: Groups with knowledge of operating sytem back doors or zero-hour vulnerabilities are able to raid bitcoin wallets stored on computers and servers.
The originators of bitcoin has the largest share of the coins minted and got these at a minimal investment. Now, it takes a government-sized budget to continue to be able to mine bitcoins and be worth the effort.
Bitcoin and other crypto currencies can be tracked by government through the ledgers.
For these reasons and others, I suspect government / NSA is behind the creation of Bitcoin.

Furthermore, there's no way to spend or use bitcoin without power and internet infrastructure intact.
While bitcoin is not inflationary by design, it can be forked, and multiple other competing cryptocurrencies have been created which effectively results in inflation or an uncontrolled increase the total supply of crypto coins

There are beneficial uses for Blockchain as well. I intend to learn about those as much as possible.

[nvr]

Yes, I agree on some possible beneficial uses of blockchain - ethereum seems like it could have some useful application with the ability to execute contracts faithfully as expected etc. In ethereum's case, the currency is serving the purpose of the protocol rather than w/ Bitcoin where it's all about the currency and everyone's speculating on just that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSN5BaCzsbo

[iWriteStuff]

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01- ... bad-things

And it's very bad, because bad people can use crypto to buy drugs and stuff.

I'm guessing half the thugs on the street talking about "Benjamins" won't spend a lot of time rapping about "satoshis". The US Dollar is far more utilized in the drug trade than Bitcoin ever will be.

[Silver]

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01- ... bad-things

And it's very bad, because bad people can use crypto to buy drugs and stuff.

I'm guessing half the thugs on the street talking about "Benjamins" won't spend a lot of time rapping about "satoshis". The US Dollar is far more utilized in the drug trade than Bitcoin ever will be.

It's almost a tenet of the Gospel to believe that if the banksters are against it, it must be a good thing.

Mnuchin, a law-breaking traitor, serving alongside Trump.

[ParticleMan]

[Zathura]

Cryptocurrency Maximalist‏
@cryptoSqueeze

I've noticed this trend among my IRL frens.
Buying $1000 phone - No problem
Buying $30k car - No problem
Buying $300 Beats Headphone - No problem
Investing in #Crypto? - "I'm thinking like $100 first. Might be too much. What do you think?

Get your priority straight guys!
Kiyosaki.jpg

This is all of my closest friends. even seeing my 1k turn into 3k in a week isn’t enough for them.

[Silver]

stanford.jpg (279.5 KiB) Viewed 1129 times

These people assembled at Stanford University to hear a speaker at the Bitcoin Meetup. His name is Charlie Lee, creator of LiteCoin.

Even if you never intend to invest in a single cryptocurrency, you should still try to understand what all those words mean.

[Silver]

https://hackernoon.com/resistance-to-cr ... 2613bed63a


Phil Glazer

Jan 15

Resistance to Cryptocurrency as Explained by Behavioral Economics
Of all the attention that cryptocurrencies have received, the most fascinating phenomenon I have witnessed in the past year has been the strong, almost visceral, negative reaction that some people have towards the technology. If nothing else, cryptocurrencies have provided food for thought on a number of topics, including what constitutes a “currency” and various psychological quirks like FOMO (fear of missing out) and loss aversion. In this piece, I will examine the response to cryptocurrency from different groups, like governments, banks, and investors, using the lens of behavioral economics, which is the study of psychology as it relates to the economic decision-making processes of individuals and institutions. This piece does not advocate for or against the adoption of cryptocurrencies or comment on recent price fluctuations.


The Biases
Humans have a well documented set of gaps in thinking that are broadly referred to as “cognitive biases,” which are a consequence of our inability to handle too much information, a need to respond quickly to our environment, and the limitations of a finite memory. Understanding these biases can sometimes help explain behavior that cannot entirely be justified rationally.


Authority bias: the tendency to attribute greater accuracy to the opinion of an authority figure (unrelated to its content) and be more influenced by that opinion.

Status quo bias: a preference for the current state of affairs. The current baseline (or status quo) is taken as a reference point, and any change from that baseline is perceived as a loss.

Loss aversion: people’s tendency to prefer avoiding losses to acquiring equivalent gains: it’s better to not lose $5 than to find $5.

Egocentric bias: the tendency to rely too heavily on one’s own perspective and/or have a higher opinion of oneself than reality.

Response From Banks
Some of the loudest critics of cryptocurrency have come from the executive ranks of the banking system, and it is understandable why: if cryptocurrencies can achieve a fraction of what has been promised then portions of the current banking system are at risk of being replaced. Cryptocurrencies would allow many transactions (payments, lending, etc.) to take place outside of the traditional banking system, representing a loss of revenue from fees for incumbents. Loss aversion comes into play as those in the banking system picture the pain of loss in being displaced and gain little in comparison from imagining the benefits that come from lower-cost banking and lending being offered at scale (even though this would be great for consumers). Additionally, authority bias is at play (or, in this case, its corollary) because a technology that some suggest to be world changing has essentially been built by an online community of software developers, some of which operate anonymously. The fact that such a meaningful innovation came from mostly outside of the network of established institutions (the bank’s engineers, university research labs, etc.) makes it more difficult to accept and evaluate by its merit.

Response From Governments
Governments are cautious about cryptocurrency because it may enable bad-actors through granting near anonymous movement of money and even potentially offers an alternative (and threat) to government issued fiat currency. Status quo bias is strongly present here, especially from the perspective of a regulator. Simply put, cryptocurrencies are a massive headache for governments and regulators because they introduce something completely new to them that is highly technical in nature. Inevitably, whenever new technology pops up, people gradually find ways to use it to do things that were never possible before and in ways that cannot always be anticipated, which means regulators must play catch up and run around putting out fires. Additionally, cryptocurrencies going mainstream in 2017 has led to numerous concerns for consumer financial protection — the projects are still highly technical in nature and volatile price swings are the market norm which means that consumers may put funds into a project without fully appreciating the risk involved. Like banks, governments also exhibit a form of authority bias (in this case, its corollary) and have a particularly hard time engaging with the quality of technology being presented because of its source.

Response from Investors
In general, many investors aren’t sure what to make of cryptocurrency. Is it a “currency”? Is it an “asset class”? Is it something else entirely? One thing that is certain for many investors (or at least the more vocal investors) is that egocentric bias is at work. Whether an investor believes that cryptocurrencies are massively undervalued relative to what influence they might have in a few years or that cryptocurrencies are unfathomably overvalued, they hold strong convictions about what is truly going on and aren’t shy about expressing these opinions. Historically, humans have been terrible at predicting the impact of new technology and cryptocurrencies may emerge as a winner or a loser, but one thing that is true is that people overestimate the certainty with which they predict how the future will play out. Realistically, the most honest opinion may be that it is too hard to know now what the impact of cryptocurrencies will be. Given how many intelligent people are working on the technology, perhaps it is best not to dismiss it at first blush and to continue rooting for technologies that offer the promise of improving our lives (which cryptocurrencies do, rampant price speculation aside).

Conclusion
Only time will tell what impact cryptocurrencies will have. If they are for real, this is just the beginning and further innovation and development can be expected to take place in the coming years. In the meantime, it may be valuable to evaluate the reactions of different groups with respect to the positions they hold and the cognitive biases that color human thinking.

[Dick]

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[BeNotDeceived]

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