from the convert-it-to-libra-coin-if-course dept.
The bitcoin scam worked — almost too well. In 2012, back when almost no one had heard of the digital coin, he’d started modestly, asking people he found on the dark web for $200 or $300 worth of bitcoin as a way to test out his investment scheme. He told them he could exploit the then huge price differences between various bitcoin exchanges and promised huge rewards. But once they sent the funds, he vanished into the ether to find his next stooge.
There was a certain genius criminal irony to it: He would hype an untraceable anonymous digital currency, then get paid in it.
[...] But he had a problem. It was getting harder to turn the most overhyped currency since the tulip into actual cash.
[...] All of this means that people like our guy who are very rich on paper (or, more accurately, on the blockchain) must devise highly complex methods to convert their ill-gotten gains, or risk losing quite a bit of value, said Tom Robinson, co-founder of the blockchain analytics company Elliptic. “Funds from illicit activities are just lying dormant, and they are waiting to find effective means of cashing out,” he said.
Yet if we know anything about criminals, it’s that they’re resourceful. As financial institutions and regulators the world over grapple with bitcoin’s adaptation to mainstream use, some of these criminals have devised ingenious hacks for converting their money; still others are turning to alternative coins as they seek greater privacy for their transactions and to stay ahead of the law.
(Score: 2, Funny) by fustakrakich on Tuesday August 20 2019, @04:10AM (1 child)
Donate to political campaigns, PACs, etc... and buy yourself a congress person.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 5, Insightful) by stretch611 on Tuesday August 20 2019, @09:00AM
Isn't that just transferring bitcoin from one criminal to another instead of actually cashing it out?
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @04:10AM (38 children)
I just saw my sub get put in the queue and then removed. This fake news crap meant to scam the reader gets posted instead. Good luck!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @04:19AM
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday August 20 2019, @04:30AM (3 children)
This one?
https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=35749 [soylentnews.org]
https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1166919/NASA-asteroid-warning-Apophis-God-of-chaos-2029-earth-hit-news-Apep-99942-Apophis/amp [express.co.uk]
Yeah, nah.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday August 20 2019, @12:40PM (2 children)
HEY! You rejected MY story as well!
https://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/1167921/Demi-Rose-mawby-instagram-model-bikini-swimwear-pictures-latest [express.co.uk]
HARUMPH!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @01:33PM (1 child)
I like women with a bit of meat on their bones a la Kate Upton, but that is a butt even too big for my taste. If that's what passes these days for sexy and fashionable, maybe I'll get me some Speedos and head out to the beach.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday August 20 2019, @05:08PM
Yes... married or not, it would be hard to tell Kate Upton to GTFOutta my bed, lol.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday August 20 2019, @06:34AM (32 children)
(Score: -1, Troll) by aristarchus on Tuesday August 20 2019, @06:43AM (24 children)
OH, yeah! The eds constantly send me messages like this one:
Guess I will just have to fix the problem (stupid Nazi collaborating editors!) and resubmit! Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy, White Surpremacist Fascism!
[In case you are slow, notice that there is nothing after the "following reason:", in other words, another fine aristarchus submission rejected for no reason! None! So by all means, let janrinok attempt to sucker you in to submitting under a user name, so he can send you empty rejection notices as well.] Upside is, that you can keep re-submitting, almost indefinitely. Really, asymptotically approaching infinity.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by janrinok on Tuesday August 20 2019, @07:13AM (10 children)
In your case some editors have realised that telling you what is wrong with your submissions is simply a waste of time. When you start listening to what advice we do give you will probably find that more editors will be prepared to help you.
I tend to initial all my rejections and advice. If it doesn't have my initials it probably wasn't done by me. The only exceptions are when we delete a block of subs because they have become too old. There isn't a way to initial or comment on block deletions. If you look at the bottom of your own submissions page you will probably find that it tells you that complaining about rejections is usually off-topic. For your comment here I will not moderate it.
Some of your recent submissions have contained criticism of named community members. These are totally unacceptable. Your views belong in the comments where those being criticised can respond if they choose to do so.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by aristarchus on Tuesday August 20 2019, @07:24AM (4 children)
You know, JR, "journal" tells me exactly nothing about what was wrong with a submission, other than you do not like it. But I do have to admit that you are the only Ed who even manages this small courtesy. Thank you, sir.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @03:40PM
obviously "this is so editorializish that it belongs in your journal, not on the front page"
(Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday August 20 2019, @04:06PM (1 child)
>You know, JR, "journal" tells me exactly nothing about what was wrong with a submission, other than you do not like it.
the editor does exactly that. purge what 'doesn't like'.
Youtube Facebook do exactly the same, and there is not much difference between red and black socialists in their end-justifies-the-means urge to silence whatever goes against the(ir) sacred truth.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 21 2019, @08:12PM
Nah, it is entirely consistent. FB and YT are private platforms that don't make any promises of freedom. SN is supposedly all about freedom of speech and non-censorship. Hypocrisy is an ugly trait. Do you realize you're projecting your own issues on to others?
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday August 20 2019, @06:28PM
I have written the comment 'Put it in your journal' or similar so many times that, if you cannot understand that 'journal' is shorthand for the longer instruction, you are not as intelligent as you profess to be.
But in case that is actually, in fact, the truth, in future when I write 'journal' it means publish it in your own personal journal. Please, do that and let the rest of us get on with the other stories.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by aristarchus on Tuesday August 20 2019, @07:27AM (4 children)
Oh, and
You do realize that the Trump referred to is not our defunct realDonaldTrump soylentil of late fame and ignomy? Anyone else would have plenty of opportunity, and probably even an incentive, to defend themselves in the comments, were any such submission accepted.
(Score: 3, Offtopic) by janrinok on Tuesday August 20 2019, @07:57AM (3 children)
You have mentioned others, as well you know, including myself. Don't try to paint yourself as misunderstood. Read the submission guidelines and follow them.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday August 20 2019, @06:24PM (2 children)
Moderating my reply as 'Off-Topic' is a childish thing to do. It answers your claim that you were referring to Trump and not rDT - I pointed out that that you have commented about other members of this community in your submissions in a derogatory fashion. This is not your personal site for publishing your political views or your opinions of other community members. Post a decent submission.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by hendrikboom on Tuesday August 20 2019, @07:17PM (1 child)
Well, the topic *is* about criminals and bitcoin.
This thread has drifted far off topic long before we ended up here.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @09:34PM
Agreed. To quote Monty Python and the Holy Grail, "GET ON WITH IT!"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Gaaark on Tuesday August 20 2019, @12:46PM (3 children)
"OH, yeah! The eds constantly send me messages like this"
You'd think a philosopher would think about this word 'constantly' and make better submissions.
I guess you CAN'T teach an old philosopher new tricks!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday August 20 2019, @04:19PM (2 children)
And correlation does not imply causation, my dear Gaaaaaark! You seem to assume without cause that quality is the issue, rather than the subject matter. But when the example we are comparing to is a year and half old fine "pump and dump" bitcoin article . . .
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday August 20 2019, @05:03PM (1 child)
Nooooo...I'm talking about, forget about advertising for the alt-right for a while and tell us about ancient Greece or what you ate that made you fart this morning or GODS, ANYTHING ELSE!
Philosophise about the sound of two noses clapping in the woods with fecking BEARS around!
A N Y T H I N G ! ! ! But the alt-fecking-right promotion!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday August 20 2019, @09:56PM
Promotion? It's ridicule, Gaaark. Did you not read the rejected submissions on the Traditionalist Workers Party incest incident?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Tuesday August 20 2019, @07:21PM (8 children)
Dude.
Look, I'm gonna get real here, as part of the old dude club that's been around for at least a few centuries.
I'm going to be honest with you, Aristarchus -- you were one of the original reasons I actually stuck around on this site, started reading it, and started contributing in comments and sometimes submissions (though I haven't done the last one in a while). In the midst of right-wing lunatics and trolls, you were a voice of occasional reason and insight, as well as lot of humor and wackiness (some of which tended to go so "meta" or get so random that I didn't bother to engage).
But you were one of the few foils to the predominant voices here. And now you've gone on this crusade for god knows how long of submitting insane rants that you KNOW will NOT be accepted, because they barely make sense (due to your attempts at randomness) and generally contain a huge amount of personal rant.
Look, I appreciate the kind of "aesthetic" you're going for. Sincerely. And there's a lot of smart stuff in what you say too. Unfortunately, it's being lost and neglected because you don't want to write vaguely reasonable submissions. Let the alt-right BS speak for itself. You can link to it and point it out, and many reasonable people will see the insanity there without your unhinged commentary. And if you even want to put your unhinged commentary in, submit a reasonable story, and then post an unhinged comment. I'd actually find that amusing sometimes. But what you're doing now is actually getting your message suppressed -- and for good reason. I don't want to read your bullshit in a submitted story anymore than I want to hear Khallow's or Mr. Buzzard's bullshit commentary. The submission is for drawing attention to news (or published professional commentary on news or whatever) -- then you get to spew whatever you want in comments.
I truly, truly would like to hear more from you. I want to see more of the kinds of things you sometimes submit. But the tone of a majority of your submissions is just not appropriate. I'm not an editor, but even though I'm often sympathetic to your rants, I too would reject your submissions on most occasions. And it's too much to ask volunteer editors here to edit out your nonsense just to get down to the relatively reasonable core of the submission.
I'll sympathize with you and say that sometimes people on this site make me incredibly angry. And on rare occasions, I have vented outrage at them, usually feeling very bad about it afterward. I try to keep things relatively civil and to keep rhetorical BS to places where it's appropriate (usually only in responding to other comments that already are using rhetorical BS).
You can choose what you want to do with your life. But be aware that there are some of us who appreciate your wit and intellect and would actually like to see you try to "behave" a bit so we could see your thoughts and submissions brought to the community's attention more often. But your current strategy isn't working, nor do I approve of it.
And I'll admit that I don't generally pay much attention to the subs queue, and I've only recently started really reading people's journals. If there's actual evidence that you've submitted reasonable submissions and they've been repeatedly rejected, show me -- because I want to know that, and I'll go to bat for you if you are being unfairly bullied. But right now, you are coming across as senile and unhinged.
I'll just leave you with some words of one of your elders (Heraclitus): σωφρονεῖν ἀρετὴ μεγίστη καὶ σοφίη ἀληθέα λέγειν καὶ ποιεῖν κατὰ φύσιν ἐπαΐοντας.
Cheers, my friend.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday August 20 2019, @09:48PM (7 children)
Just a taste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @10:36PM (4 children)
"Right" socialists vs "left" socialists. It is the same socialist shit that assumes the government is on your side.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday August 20 2019, @10:57PM (3 children)
In America, they have this document. It begins, "We, the people, ". In America the government is the people. Who are you and what country do you live in, where your government is so anti-social?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @11:01PM (2 children)
I am Donald Trump, I live in the White House, USA.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday August 20 2019, @11:16PM (1 child)
Ah, that would explain your lack of knowledge of the structure of American Constitutional Government. Truly, Sir, is there nothing that you do not not know?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @11:22PM
Yes, I do not know how the Clinton r
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Tuesday August 20 2019, @11:55PM (1 child)
Well, I obviously can't see the rejected ones. I just looked in the subs queue, and the only one I saw sitting there was the one on Pepe, which contains an offensive statement in quotation marks that's inserted as editorial commentary (not from the cited article), at least one misspelling, and then concludes with some random BS rambling.
If I were a volunteer editor, I wouldn't want to have clean up that crap. Sorry, man, but act like an adult and write reasonably (or just leave the personal commentary out completely), and I bet more of your submissions will get published.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 21 2019, @08:20PM
Not ari but I submitted a few stories about the alt-right with no vitriol and just a copy of the intro paragraphs for the summary. Always rejected. This is about political bias more than anything, and besides it would be quite simple for editors to actually, you know, edit?
I will acknowledge that recently the main stories have been much more neutral. I also maintain that the front page could be easily updated to be more customizable by users and allow more submissions by having groupings, hidden summaries, all sorts of possibilities. Update submission rules a bit, kind of like a Code of Conduct *tweak the beak*, and then most stories could be published.
No one wants to discuss ways of making the site more community oriented though, just more deflecting criticisms.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @04:21PM (6 children)
The sub was not rejected. It was accepted and then removed.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday August 20 2019, @06:18PM (5 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @06:23PM (4 children)
Takyon found it: https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=33189&page=1&cid=882482#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday August 20 2019, @06:37PM (3 children)
Well at 21:34 UTC this evening that story will go out. It had already been covered and is waiting to go out in today's story queue. In other words, by the time we received your story we had already processed someone else's submission on the same topic and yours became a dupe.
There was also a problem with the link which was changed by the quoted source - nothing that you could have done about that. If you look at the stories queue you will see it there. And as you are an AC, there is no point in adding your submission acknowledgement to it because you cannot receive karma even if we were to do so.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday August 20 2019, @06:40PM (2 children)
Whether you are the same AC as the story we have processed I cannot tell you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @10:39PM (1 child)
I am the same AC. And it looks like a popular story.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday August 21 2019, @04:51AM
Which is probably why an editor published it. Don't expect submissions to appear immediately, and don't underestimate the work going on in the background. When the original link was changed the submission became useless. We then had to search for alternative sources and wait for the link to be corrected again.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @04:32AM (6 children)
You're forever identified in the public ledger with your wallet ID.
Bitcoin is probably the biggest gift to law enforcement. Expect more arrests.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @01:52PM (5 children)
If you believe this is true then you're too fucking dumb to be using crypto anyway.
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by PiMuNu on Tuesday August 20 2019, @02:22PM (2 children)
Moderated down for inappropriate swearing.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @03:37PM (1 child)
moderated down for inappropriate moderation
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @09:50PM
Modded up for an inappropriate lack of swearing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @03:31PM
Please iluminate us, puny neophites, with your knowledge and tell why , from your point of view, there is true anonymity or how it could be reached. Your F language does not irradiate any wiseness.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 21 2019, @08:25PM
Ah yes, the old "filter your transactions through thousands of small transfers" method of "anonymity." That works right up until someone decides to throw some smart people at the problem. Then it is simply like piecing back together shredded documents. Time consuming and difficult, but can be done.
Bitcoin is not anonymous, though you could probably maintain anonymity if you can keep your real identity from being tied to any of the wallets used. Still gonna be a bitch to get your BTC converted to other currencies without identifying you.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Tuesday August 20 2019, @04:46AM (9 children)
If the Bitcoin is a real currency, like its proponents make it out to be, the criminals don't need to convert it to "actual cash": they're already rich in a real money that has real value!
Or maybe Bitcoin is nothing more than pretend money? Could it be?
Damn, they almost fooled me there...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @05:59AM (2 children)
They could buy drugs for buttcoin and sell them for real money on the streets.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @07:05AM (1 child)
"Buttcoin"? Is that anything like the "smart pills" we were encouraged to ingest as kids back on the farm?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @07:08AM
Toilet paper? OMG! They are talking about Trump! Must be, since Epstein just dumped all his buttcoin all over the floor of his cell. Price gotta fall after something like that.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hwertz on Tuesday August 20 2019, @08:08AM (5 children)
Well, it's a real currency as much as any other; dollars, euros, and so on have nothing concrete backing them up except whatever intrinsic value they are given, and no limit on how fast the US or Eurozone produce them. Bitcoin have nothing backing them up either, but do at least have a limit on how fast they are produced. If I go to the grocery store, I have to spend dollars; they aren't specifically excluding bitcoin though, they don't accept euros, rupee, etc. either. That said, I'm arguing bitcoin are a real currency, not recommending them; they are still far too volatile, and although production is limited they are still prone to the foibles of any other currency (bubble and subsequent price collapse maybe?)
The summary makes it sound like criminals are finding they are unable to exchange their bitcoins for conventional currency (a bank account showing more dollars or euros in it.) This is not the problem they are facing. The problem is, it's really quite easy to get bitcoins back into money in a bank account, but this in no way helps the criminal either have actual cash in hand (untraceable because it's a wad of cash) or laundered money (money in the bank, but appearing to come from a legit source rather than from exchanging a pile of shady bitcoins.)
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday August 20 2019, @01:58PM
The other fiat currencies have the authority of a government and its economy and military backing them. They generally have a central control (even if independent) of how the supply is regulated in order to cause changes to the economy, or so Trump keeps griping about. This may actually be the Achilles' heel of Bitcoin, because changing that algorithm requires cooperation. At any rate, no, Bitcoin doesn't quite count as a "real currency." And if it did you would find the major economic countries all over the world (say the G20) regulating it as if it were currency instead of a commodity.
If Bitcoin goes away tomorrow all that is lost is the capital of those who invest and/or use it where collapse of a national currency would have far more reaching impact, if it is significant to the world economy I haven't heard of it (but might not have, granted,) even if it is larger than the GDP of many nations.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Thexalon on Tuesday August 20 2019, @04:23PM (2 children)
There's something very specific that government-backed currency has that other forms of currency don't: People with weapons authorized to use them to enforce certain rules in the economy. To wit, using the US as an example:
1. You need to come up with a certain amount of the government-backed currency every year to pay your taxes. The IRS doesn't take Bitcoin, for example. And if you fail to do so, people with weapons can and will show up at your home to take things of value until the bill is paid.
2. If you look at a dollar bill, you'll notice a statement that "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private". Which means that if you, say, order food from a restaurant without making specific arrangements regarding paying the bill, and you offer cash, then you have legally attempted to pay your bill regardless of what the restaurant owner might think, and they can't claim you tried to steal from them. If they do for some really strange reason, people with weapons can show up and explain things to them.
3. Banks that collect and lend out US dollars have a lot of laws and regulations they have to follow about what they can do with their depositors' money. If the bankers don't, people with weapons are authorized to show up and explain things to them. By contrast, Bitcoin exchanges don't have those regulations, and that has resulted in losses and thefts worth millions of dollars.
As far as I can tell, a lot of the attraction of Bitcoin was that there weren't any regulations, and the believers are now finding out exactly why those regulations exist. In addition, I think it's worth pointing out that when you create something that's specifically intended to be free of government oversight, it necessarily attracts people who really really want to be free of government oversight, namely people even libertarians think are crooks.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Tuesday August 20 2019, @10:36PM (1 child)
The restaurant example is apocryphal. If a restaurant has a sign saying they only accepts cards, then they can very much refuse to accept your cash payment, or require some additional processing fee of their choosing.
The proper process would be for the restaurant to sue you or take you to small claims, for damages including but not limited to the price of the meal (e.g., additional labor fees for handling cash, counting them, driving to the bank and depositing them). These damages would then be a debt which you could pay with cash.
In practice, of course, a restaurant may very will accept cash to avoid the headache of going to court. But they are not legally obligated to accept cash for payment, even if the payment is rendered after the service.
No one is required by law to accept payment in cash. You could start a business that only accepts payment in heads of cattle if you wanted. However, if someone owes you debt (e.g. damages or failure to pay), you cannot demand that debt be settled in heads of cattle. Any contracts must first be "converted" to debt first; it is no longer a matter of paying for a service but compensating for damages/breach of contract.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 21 2019, @08:46AM
Actually! Nobody forces transactions to use cash; yes you can trade cattle for hay. But! in my jurisdiction, there is an 'offer for sale' and several other categories of what amount to an open contract that anyone can take up. And many of these categories, a seller cannot refuse a buyer if the buyer wishes to use cash, because of the method of payment. But there's an exception for large denomination bills, which generally means grocery stores turn down $50 and larger bills. So they don't need to take plastic, but if they have a dollar price in the window and haven't got a different reason to reject a buyer (no shoes, violence, whatever) and it's a public store (not one where *only* clubmembers can buy, like CostCo or the weed clubs), and the bills are $20 or lower, they can't turn away a buyer due to cash as the method of payment. Much to the chagrin of some bigger stores who would love to push all customers to a linked store-branded credit card!
I think these are laws from the 80s to reduce credit card monopolistic practices but that's just a guess.
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday August 21 2019, @01:06AM
Yeah, except one has to report every bitcoin transaction as a commodity buy/sell. Good luck with keeping yourself within the law.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @05:07AM
stop, it's not going away
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @07:23AM (4 children)
TFA from last year, what is it doing here?
Headline is designed to FUD bitcoin. Is a bitcoin crash imminent since all the criminals are cashing out RIGHT NOW!! Well, no.
TFA only describes how it is difficult for some criminals to convert their bitcoin to cash. With banks and exchanges having to validate your identity. Interesting, but the headline is just hyperbole.
In the year since the article was written, bitcoin has not exactly crashed. Submission is just hyperbole.
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @07:54AM (1 child)
But just look at the time-stamp!
Who is publishing to Vice at that early hour, a year and a half ago? And to think, we could have had a much more topical and up-to-date aristarchus submission!
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday August 20 2019, @02:53PM
Actually, what's really interesting is that according to my tracking of BTC on Coinbase, it slumped in November of 2018 and was still in slump at the time of this story (final base of the December 2017 crash. Within a couple of weeks of this (March 30) Bitcoin started climbing again, been making steady gains (for Bitcoin), and it's reached (very roughly) half of the value of the December 2017 peak.
Very interesting timing that such a story would come right before it started rising again. Maybe the bad guys started figuring it out, or managed to liquidate out of Bitcoin to something else leaving the skilled illegitimate traders in the game -or maybe they even found greener pastures by and large. Or maybe a new rise of ill-gotten booty (or ill-botted goonies) came to be.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Dr Spin on Tuesday August 20 2019, @12:54PM
You don't understand the technical jargon: In the financial press, a fall of 0.1% is "a crash" - 1% is "complete free fall".
Moral: do not trust financial reporters - ever. (If you want to know the current value of a Bitcoin - try and sell one).
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @03:34PM
Should SN require a year stamp on submissions like HN does ? in order to reduse the clickbaitness of the subject.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday August 20 2019, @04:14PM (3 children)
People buy pieces of paper from financial institutions who perpetrated frauds (libor scandal comes to mind) and nobody bats an eye.
People buy encrypted tokens from the 'net and everybody loses their mind.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday August 20 2019, @04:15PM (2 children)
wtf am I saying. perpetrated fraud? finance IS fraud, as the same money that you rise with your sweat can be printed 1000x by some guys who respond to no electors.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @06:00PM
No, it doesn't work like that. If you are bitching about fractional banking system, that has to do with *risk* management, not fraud.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional-reserve_banking#Regulation [wikipedia.org]
Fractional reserve banking doesn't "multiply" anything. It simply prevents cash from being parked in a bank. Look at the example
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional-reserve_banking#Hypothetical_example_of_a_bank_balance_sheet_and_financial_ratios [wikipedia.org]
The bank simply needs to maintain certain amount of cash at all times to cover normal operations. Otherwise they borrow and lend money, as required. The problem is when banks start to do bullshit like 15 years ago, but that has nothing to do with fractional reserve banking.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @06:08PM
it's different, imo.
I see economics/finance as a belief system, and its more like organised religion. It has prophets, rituals, it improves chances of reproduction, has sacred texts, places of worship, taboos and mitzvot? Its followers are known to hold irrational convictions about several things that resist rational analysis, dogmatic things that are STATIC AND CAN NEVER BE CHANGED.
Like religion, it has it's uses in convincing people to do stuff...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @04:52PM
what a bunch of bankster and government parasite propaganda. fuck your money laundering/kyc laws and shove your FUD up your asses.