Cryptocurrency. What say you?

Discussion in 'The Chatterbox' started by DaltonGang, Nov 23, 2022.

  1. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    I've resisted investing in this market, because I didn't trust it, for several reasons. Now things seem to be going wrong with the cryptocurrency market. Any opinions and insight on this subject?

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  2. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    You are talking about the recent developments with FTX, yes?

    Crypto currency isn't backed by fiat. There is no actual value backing crypto. It's worth money because a large group of people decided it was worth money. In that way, it resembles most actual currency.

    FTX is a little different. It was a crypto currency exchange, but it also had it's own crypto currency that wasn't really backed by anything other than itself. When investors lost faith in it and dumped it, it caused the whole creaking edifice to tumble, revealing some truly shady goings on between the American government, the Ukrainian government, and the American Democratic party. I won't say more, as we are already skirting the "no politics" rules here, but there are several YouTube videos that cover the subject.

    In short, the tumble of FTX wasn't a surprise to anyone who looked closely at the company. The ripple effect through crypto is due to the other crypto currencies that were being held by the exchange when it collapsed.

    Long term, this will likely have no effect on crypto, other than leading governments to call for more regulation of the sector. Indeed, long term, I believe that crypto will become the de facto currency of the world, following the collapse of the value of the Japanese Yen and closely followed by the American Dollar next year, probably shortly after this Christmas, according to analysts.

    It's a scary time to be watching the markets.

    Sorry.

    Edit: to clarify, FTX was the second largest contributor to the DNC before the 2022 midterms, and was a major democrat donor. It also donated to some GOP campaigns as well.

    Also, I believe governments will switch to some form of crypto, not adopt existing crypto.
     
    Last edited: Nov 24, 2022
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  3. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    I was not zeroing in on FTX, but FTX is a Ponzi Scheme according to many. Are the other Crypto investment companies doing similar things? Are they going yo be looked at closely??
    Who here has i vested in cryto, and what are your future plans with it?
     
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  4. poppi

    poppi Well-Known Member

    I could never really understand crypto stuff and thusly steered away from it. Always seemed to be a house of cards waiting for a breeze to blow it all down
     
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  5. stingraysrock

    stingraysrock PIF'd away his custom title

    My understanding is that faith in the dollar or faith in crypto is the same thing. Neither have intrinsic value, other than what the parties involved in the exchange value the currency. Even before the gold standard was dropped, the gold meant little, in the scheme of things, if you could not eat it, or trade it physically for things you needed, be it food or anything else.
     
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  6. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    My brother-in-law invested about 20k in various cryptocurrencies several years ago. His investment grew to around 60k at one time. Currently, he is losing his *** on crypto. He thinks it will go back up again soon.
     
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  7. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    I know a co-worker who invested a couple hundred thousand, and it grew to over 1.5 million. This was about a year or more ago. He probably isn't happy right now, because he doesn't believe in diversifying. All his retirement eggs in one basket.
     
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  8. IAmTheJody

    IAmTheJody Gillette-i Master Staff Member

    On the whole Ukraine, USA, Democratic party thing...
    https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-ftx-ukraine-democrats-laundering-996663874380

     
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  9. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    $200 million USD was donated to Ukraine through FTX. $22 million of that is accounted for.

    The rest of that money has vanished into thin air.

    Despite the recent charm campaign and war, Ukraine remains a deeply corrupt country.

    As a side note, anyone interested in the war should check out the YouTube channel PERUN. It's a look at the war from a primarily economic viewpoint, and are very high quality. Joint Chiefs of Staff presentation type level stuff.
    https://m.youtube.com/@PerunAU/videos
     
    Last edited: Nov 24, 2022
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  10. Shaver X

    Shaver X Well-Known Member

    Smart man. People investing in things they did not understand, and buying things they could not afford, is how folks lost their shirts in the Great Recession.

    Quite correct. Both are fiat currencies. The difference is that the dollar is backed and managed by a relatively stable and secure nation. Crypto currencies are not backed by anything. The general public is far more likely to lose faith in crypto currencies than in dollars, pounds or euros.

    I know someone who invested a couple hundred thousand in the stock market, and made 5 million profit in three years. Very, very risky exceptionally high return investments. He then proceeded to lose it all and go a few hundred thousand into debt. In both this case and the one you mentioned, these people were gambling, not investing.

    Crypto is great for making seni-anonymous payments, but investing in it is like rolling the dice.
     
    Last edited: Nov 30, 2022
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  11. Ron R

    Ron R Well-Known Member

    I believe this is a blessing for the banking cartel that FTX crypto currency went under and that it hurt some folks, ever since crypto came into existence it has been a threat to the banking system cartel because it gave consumers a alternative to the old banking way of life for thousands of years & that is in direct competition to beloved banking & todays governments credit system they like & prefer.
    The banks have been trying to undermine crypto currencies for years and have not found a way to destroy it before it becomes the new way of life of bartering.
    People are not educated anymore on money and the few who have control of the system like to keep it that way IMO. The 15 billion dollars FTX loss is a drop in the bucket to the banking system nowadays when they back their currency and governments are running trillion dollar deficits yearly.
    If people think I'm off a little just read the the book "The Creature from Jekyll Island": A second look at the Federal Reserve. It just makes a person aware of what goes on behind the scenes.
    If banks can make money off of Crypto currency they will control it eventually but they are still trying to figure it out and how they can profit from it. I do not think Governments want it either because how do they tax something that is a moving target and so unstable and is connected through out world with computer systems that they do not control. In My opinion is it amazing that crypto has made it this far with out imploding like the giant Bitcoin crypto currency(Banks & Governments just do not like crypto).
     
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  12. Shaver X

    Shaver X Well-Known Member

    Like this: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1099k.pdf

    Crypto exchanges are required to file a Form 1099-K for customers who trade more than $20,000 or have more than 200 transactions during the year. Anyone who sells any amount of crypto is required to pay tax on the profit. If it is sold at a loss, that can be deducted from their taxes.
     
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  13. Frijolero

    Frijolero Well-Known Member

    My initial reason to steer clear was not the crypto part, but the currency part. Currency in general is a terrible investment. Volatile and unpredictable.

    Before crypto came along, did you have the urge to invest in dollar/euro exchange fluctuation? Neither did I.

    The current financial bloodbath is not unusual at all. You just don't normally hear so much about it because currency exchange wasn't sexy until crypto came along.
     
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  14. Frijolero

    Frijolero Well-Known Member

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  15. Frijolero

    Frijolero Well-Known Member

    And I should clarify one thing. I'm not poopooing its viability as a currency. I'm short of facts either way there. I was only talking investment
     
  16. SterFry

    SterFry Well-Known Member

    I think there's more blood to come in 2023, so I'd wait.

    They can't keep pretending we're not heading for recession forever. Unemployment is rising and rate hikes aren't going anywhere and time soon. I'd wait... but if you do want to get in now I'd definitely dollar cost average.

    I don't doubt that the major coins will recover to some extent.
     
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  17. SterFry

    SterFry Well-Known Member

    If that's even true it's still money well spent. Russian military capacity has been completely crippled, and this was accomplished at the cost of less than 6% annual US military budget with zero loss of American life.
    A fantastic return on investment no matter how you cut it.
     
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  18. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    I think you are confusing money donated through FTX servers with U.S. aid. Two different things.

    And yes, short term, this has been a fantastic ROI (return of investment) if the goal is to cripple Russian military aims.

    Long term, this could backfire, if we end up needing this stuff in a protracted war with China over Taiwan, especially if it happens in the near future. It's become quite clear that whoever controls the chip factories, holds the edge in current and future wars. Outsourcing almost all American chip production to Taiwan was a strategic mistake, and not one that can be easily or quickly rectified.

    We all face a very uncertain future.
     
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  19. Herm2502

    Herm2502 off to elf practice

    It's all a bit cryptic to me.

    Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
     
  20. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    I pull up the Listed net worths of many of these Crypto Currency Co-Founders. Each worth hundreds of millions, to billions of dollars. Some are co-founders of 7 different Cryptocurrencys.
    To me, it's one big Ponzi Scheme .
     
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