Bitcoin

[whatithink]

Dogecoin was literally setup as a joke. Musk tweeted #dogecoin but put $1.5B into bitcoin. Lots of other people/companies that are more mainstream with tons of cash could be next. This will be the driver to $100k.

He put $1.5B of Tesla's money into Bitcoin, not his own (although he may have done that too). It is somewhat ironic that Tesla invests $1.5B in something which literally consumes power to mine on a scale with entire countries (Bitcoin is apparently in the top 30 of energy consumers worldwide - compared to countries), while Tesla also received $1.5B in environment subsidies in 2020.

 

[PossessionSoccer]

He put $1.5B of Tesla's money into Bitcoin, not his own (although he may have done that too). It is somewhat ironic that Tesla invests $1.5B in something which literally consumes power to mine on a scale with entire countries (Bitcoin is apparently in the top 30 of energy consumers worldwide - compared to countries), while Tesla also received $1.5B in environment subsidies in 2020.

Agreed. Other companies could start converting a portion of their cash to BTC is the hope. And then I need GBTC to continue falling in line. Still not ready to buy and hold BTC directly.

 

[WestOfFive]

PayPal wants to build a super app. It has crazy competition.

While the rocket emojis came out for Bitcoin breaking $50k, there was another recent money milestone that met with little fanfare: the market cap of PayPal passed Mastercard. Now valued at $340B+, PayPal has seen its market value quadruple since March 2020 lows. Its surge has been driven by a user base that grew ~25% in 2020, to 377m (along with 30m merchants), powered by the pandemic forcing commerce online and the unveiling of crypto-trading services. Now, PayPal wants to create a super app The company’s CEO, Dan Schulman, laid out his plan during an investor day presentation. As reported by Protocol, Schulman notes that most consumers only “want 8 to 10 apps.” With meme-making tools making up half of them, there's an appetite for one app covering all your financial needs. PayPal plans to focus on payments, shopping, and financial services (checking, savings, investment, crypto, rewards) with these benefits:

 

[WestOfFive]

Coinbase valued above $100 billion, ahead of direct listing

Dan Primack, author of Pro Rata

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase was valued at just over $100 billion in a recent private market share sale ahead of its upcoming public listing, Axios has learned from multiple sources.
Why it matters: Coinbase could go public at a higher initial valuation than any other U.S. tech company since Facebook.
By the numbers: Coinbase generated $141 million of net income on $691 million in revenue for the first nine months of 2020, according to documents shared with investors.

• The company disclosed a $30 million net loss on $530 million in revenue for full-year 2019.
• None of these revenue numbers include 2021, during which the price and trading volume of Bitcoin has skyrocketed.

Share sale: Coinbase last month launched a secondary share sale via Nasdaq Private Markets (f.k.a. Second Market), offering up to 1.8 million shares in weekly batches.

• The goal was to help Coinbase determine a reference price for its public offering, which will be done via direct listing instead of IPO.
• The initial batch of 75,000 shares was sold on Jan. 29 at $200 per share. That worked out to a valuation of nearly $54 billion, compared to the $8 billion valuation Coinbase received during its prior venture capital round in late 2018.
• The next two batches were sold at $301 and $303, respectively.
• The most recent batch of 127,000 shares was sold Friday at $373, which works out to a valuation of $100.23 billion.

Between the lines: It's unclear if the secondary share sale is still useful to Coinbase for the purpose of determining a reference point for direct listing, given the upward surge.

• Axios also was unable to learn how much longer Coinbase plans to keep it open.

Go deeper: Coinbase offers crypto industry legitimacy

 

[WestOfFive]

Maybe they're hoping to get some quick gains from relief checks created out of thin air. Kinda like bitcoin except bitcoin doesn't create more bitcoins. Hence the ru$h.

Bitcoin Cash
Despite the name being closely related with the original crypto, Bitcoin Cash is not correlated with Bitcoin itself, rather the crypto is an offshoot of the original as a result of debates between members of the crypto community on how to resolve some of the more pressing issues in the Bitcoin blockchain, namely a spike in transaction volumes slowing down their resolution speed.

Bitcoin Cash is the product of one of these solutions, known as a ‘hard fork’, where the original blockchain architecture is used to build a new blockchain, and by extension, a new cryptocurrency.

This means that Bitcoin Cash cannot be used for transactions on the original Bitcoin blockchain and vice versa. However, the offspring of Bitcoin may find itself in a similar position to Litecoin, able to piggyback off of the bullish sentiment in the industry as well as the added benefit of being able to steal some name recognition of its parent crypto.

Bitcoin Cash is also offering a cheaper option to Bitcoin, with the digital currency trading at around US$324 apiece.

 

[WestOfFive]

A growing list of companies are looking at or even investing in Bitcoin, drawn by client demand, price momentum and arguments that it can hedge risks such as faster inflation. Tesla Inc. earlier this year disclosed a US$1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin and more recently started accepting it as payment for electric cars.

Elsewhere, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has said it’s close to offering investment vehicles for Bitcoin and other digital assets to private wealth clients. Morgan Stanley plans to give rich clients access to three funds that will enable crypto ownership. The deck of exchange-traded funds tracking the token is expanding, while Paypal Inc. and Visa Inc. have begun using cryptocurrencies as part of the payments process.

 

[whatithink]

Bitcoin Cash
Despite the name being closely related with the original crypto, Bitcoin Cash is not correlated with Bitcoin itself, rather the crypto is an offshoot of the original as a result of debates between members of the crypto community on how to resolve some of the more pressing issues in the Bitcoin blockchain, namely a spike in transaction volumes slowing down their resolution speed.

Bitcoin Cash is the product of one of these solutions, known as a ‘hard fork’, where the original blockchain architecture is used to build a new blockchain, and by extension, a new cryptocurrency.

This means that Bitcoin Cash cannot be used for transactions on the original Bitcoin blockchain and vice versa. However, the offspring of Bitcoin may find itself in a similar position to Litecoin, able to piggyback off of the bullish sentiment in the industry as well as the added benefit of being able to steal some name recognition of its parent crypto.

Bitcoin Cash is also offering a cheaper option to Bitcoin, with the digital currency trading at around US$324 apiece.

Who are these "members of the crypto community" with the power to spin up new currencies "on the fly"? I see that Bitcoin owners automatically became Bitcoin Cash owners at the time of the fork, so they doubled up?

I also see that Bitcoin has a hard limit of 21M, can't go past that ... unless you do a hard fork and call it, maybe, Biotcoin Cash and put a hard limit on that of, maybe 21M. So didn't you just double the number with some groovy computer code?

I see that it is believed that "Satoshi Nakamoto" who started the ball on this back in 2008 has 1M Bitcoins, out of a max total of 21M ... not a bad return for a computer program in 12 short years.

I also see that there are a lot of cryptocurrencies now, like more cryptocurrencies than fiat currencies, like a lot more ... All Cryptocurrencies | CoinMarketCap

As for investment companies getting in on the game ... they'll put your money in anything and charge you for the pleasure - your risk.

I'm a complete skeptic on it. Its biggest advantage is as a money laundering device as far as I can tell. I wonder how much human misery its funding. Its a godsent (or should that be devilsent) mechanism for every criminal and terrorist on the planet.

 

[StrikerOC]

Bitcoin Cash
Despite the name being closely related with the original crypto, Bitcoin Cash is not correlated with Bitcoin itself, rather the crypto is an offshoot of the original as a result of debates between members of the crypto community on how to resolve some of the more pressing issues in the Bitcoin blockchain, namely a spike in transaction volumes slowing down their resolution speed.

Bitcoin Cash is the product of one of these solutions, known as a ‘hard fork’, where the original blockchain architecture is used to build a new blockchain, and by extension, a new cryptocurrency.

This means that Bitcoin Cash cannot be used for transactions on the original Bitcoin blockchain and vice versa. However, the offspring of Bitcoin may find itself in a similar position to Litecoin, able to piggyback off of the bullish sentiment in the industry as well as the added benefit of being able to steal some name recognition of its parent crypto.

Bitcoin Cash is also offering a cheaper option to Bitcoin, with the digital currency trading at around US$324 apiece.

I had to log in and stop you from scamming people with your Bitcoin Cash promotion. Bitcoin Cash is a dead project with virtually no development of substance. Bitcoin Cash is not a "Cheaper Option" because it is only comparable in name. This is exactly how people get "rekt" in crypto...

Do not by Bitcoin Cash

 

[StrikerOC]

Who are these "members of the crypto community" with the power to spin up new currencies "on the fly"? I see that Bitcoin owners automatically became Bitcoin Cash owners at the time of the fork, so they doubled up?

I also see that Bitcoin has a hard limit of 21M, can't go past that ... unless you do a hard fork and call it, maybe, Biotcoin Cash and put a hard limit on that of, maybe 21M. So didn't you just double the number with some groovy computer code?

I see that it is believed that "Satoshi Nakamoto" who started the ball on this back in 2008 has 1M Bitcoins, out of a max total of 21M ... not a bad return for a computer program in 12 short years.

I also see that there are a lot of cryptocurrencies now, like more cryptocurrencies than fiat currencies, like a lot more ... All Cryptocurrencies | CoinMarketCap

As for investment companies getting in on the game ... they'll put your money in anything and charge you for the pleasure - your risk.

I'm a complete skeptic on it. Its biggest advantage is as a money laundering device as far as I can tell. I wonder how much human misery its funding. Its a godsent (or should that be devilsent) mechanism for every criminal and terrorist on the planet.

I can spin up a new SocalSoccer coin in 15 min., anyone can. Thats the power of Crypto.

Your skeptical reasons for crypto are foolish with just a little bit of below surface level thought...

1. Money Laundering - The US Dollar is used to launder money all over the world and US CASH is the preference for every illegal activity since it became the world reserve currency.
2. You wonder how much human misery its funding? (this was especially stupid) You should take a hard look at the currency you have in your local bank and ask yourself if the US dollar has ever funded wars, death and destruction.
(The lack of self awareness from this reasoning is disturbing I can only wonder how much else in life you conveniently overlook.)
3. Crypto runs on blockchains which are essentially giant ledgers that record every transaction. You literally can't get more transparent then that.

You are someone who would benefit from doing your own research rather then listening to FUD

 

[whatithink]

I can spin up a new SocalSoccer coin in 15 min., anyone can. Thats the power of Crypto.

Your skeptical reasons for crypto are foolish with just a little bit of below surface level thought...

1. Money Laundering - The US Dollar is used to launder money all over the world and US CASH is the preference for every illegal activity since it became the world reserve currency.
2. You wonder how much human misery its funding? (this was especially stupid) You should take a hard look at the currency you have in your local bank and ask yourself if the US dollar has ever funded wars, death and destruction.
(The lack of self awareness from this reasoning is disturbing I can only wonder how much else in life you conveniently overlook.)
3. Crypto runs on blockchains which are essentially giant ledgers that record every transaction. You literally can't get more transparent then that.

You are someone who would benefit from doing your own research rather then listening to FUD

1. Of course it is, I never said it wasn't. Its a lot easier to be anonymous on crypto and to move large amounts of "cash" at the blink of an eye vs actual physical cash, but you know that.
2. yeah, DOH!
3. They track the address, not the owner, but you know that.

Are you in it for much?

 

[WestOfFive]

1. Of course it is, I never said it wasn't. Its a lot easier to be anonymous on crypto and to move large amounts of "cash" at the blink of an eye vs actual physical cash, but you know that.
2. yeah, DOH!
3. They track the address, not the owner, but you know that.

Are you in it for much?

I am

 

[Dominic]

I am

 

[Dominic]

Bitcoin is expensive to use for transferring money, there are many cheaper ALTernatives.

 

[mlx]

Bitcoin is expensive to use for transferring money, there are many cheaper ALTernatives.

My portfolio has Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum(ETH) and Vechain(VET). If I need to transfer assets between exchanges or wallets or whatnot, I just change any of those for things like Litecoin(LTC) or Polygon(MATIC). Also, from time to time I jump into some other low cap coins that are about to explode (2x-10x) like ENJ or Filecoin or things like that that are worthless but suddenly everyone gets on them; then just sell them and go back to the main ones.

BTW, BTC, ETH and VET are pumping like crazy today; the three of those reaching all time highs multiple times.

 

[mlx]

Who are these "members of the crypto community" with the power to spin up new currencies "on the fly"? I see that Bitcoin owners automatically became Bitcoin Cash owners at the time of the fork, so they doubled up?

I also see that Bitcoin has a hard limit of 21M, can't go past that ... unless you do a hard fork and call it, maybe, Biotcoin Cash and put a hard limit on that of, maybe 21M. So didn't you just double the number with some groovy computer code?

I see that it is believed that "Satoshi Nakamoto" who started the ball on this back in 2008 has 1M Bitcoins, out of a max total of 21M ... not a bad return for a computer program in 12 short years.

I also see that there are a lot of cryptocurrencies now, like more cryptocurrencies than fiat currencies, like a lot more ... All Cryptocurrencies | CoinMarketCap

As for investment companies getting in on the game ... they'll put your money in anything and charge you for the pleasure - your risk.

I'm a complete skeptic on it. Its biggest advantage is as a money laundering device as far as I can tell. I wonder how much human misery its funding. Its a godsent (or should that be devilsent) mechanism for every criminal and terrorist on the planet.

When VISA and Master Card are settling payments in crypto currency, using the Ethereum blockchain. When Walmart, Salesforce, Mastercard Australia, BMW, etc. are tracking their information related to distribution in the Vechain blockchain; when Amazon is allowing companies to build their own decentralized applications using AWS's blockchain, which is on top of the Ethereum blockchain, when you can buy a Tesla with 1 BTC, etc, etc, is time for you to, not "believe", but accept that this is a thing.

You are not incorrect on some of your statements; but your conclusions or implications are. For example; yes, I can create right now my own crypto currency; but I still need it to be "mined" and reward the "miners" with something. It's not out of thin air. This means, sure, I come up with the "coin" but 1) no one would buy it because I don't offer anything, hence it would not have any value and 2) no decentralized nodes or miners would have any incentive to mine or validate transactions.

Regarding "privacy"; actually, it is not the case; anyone can go into the blockchain and see the assets being moved from this wallet to that wallet and so forth. Not only that, American exchanges report to the IRS your transactions; so there's no escaping taxes (unfortunately).

You should research a little bit more with an open mind. This thing is fascinating.

 

[whatithink]

When VISA and Master Card are settling payments in crypto currency, using the Ethereum blockchain. When Walmart, Salesforce, Mastercard Australia, BMW, etc. are tracking their information related to distribution in the Vechain blockchain; when Amazon is allowing companies to build their own decentralized applications using AWS's blockchain, which is on top of the Ethereum blockchain, when you can buy a Tesla with 1 BTC, etc, etc, is time for you to, not "believe", but accept that this is a thing.

The companies accepting payments are analogous to a newspaper never refusing ink. Do they quote the price in crypto only or rather, do they quote a price in $ (say) and allow payment in alternatives at an exist market rate (with a % uplift), and backed by a sophisticated hedging operation internally to minimize risk?

Cryptos are a speculative "bubble" IMV. Bitcoin has increased by a factor of about 6 since September. To be an "everyday" currency, you need stability. Society can't get paid today, only for the value of the (bit)coin in their pocket to potentially be worth 10% less tomorrow.

For example; yes, I can create right now my own crypto currency; but I still need it to be "mined" and reward the "miners" with something. It's not out of thin air. This means, sure, I come up with the "coin" but 1) no one would buy it because I don't offer anything, hence it would not have any value and 2) no decentralized nodes or miners would have any incentive to mine or validate transactions.

Your definition of value - I'm assume that's what you mean - is bizarre to me (no offense intended). It seems to say that the "coin" has value because "miners" have to buy & run specific energy intensive machines to generate "coins". How does that make something valuable? And yes, I get that if one person is prepared to pay a price, that's the value.

 

[nextgenathletics]

The more I look into Bitcoin and Crypto in general, the more skeptical I get. I understand it's explosive currently, I understand institutions are rapidly adopting it....

I am skeptical of the long term ramifications of it. I don't like how the majority of crypto (bitcoin, ethereum etc) is mined in China, I don't like how in cohesion with media/distribution and gaming platforms such as TikTok, Riot Games, Epic Games and Alibaba are becoming mainstays in American culture and businesses are now relying on these platforms to exist (specifically Alibaba). I don't like how this is seemingly and all conveniently exploding in relevance since COVID-19/The China Virus shut down the Western economies for a year.

To me, the only country truly benefiting amongst all this is CHINA. People are now talking about the American dollar being replaced by digital currency (crypto) in the future. Guess who is primed to take the world's stage as the number one superpower of this happens? You guessed it.

China seems to be the only country to have grown in influence this past year, while the Western countries have been scrambling.

I was more on the crypto bandwagon earlier, but the more I look into it, the more obvious the picture and motive is becoming.

I don't like it at all. It's not solely about the "gains" people.

 

[StrikerOC]

Bitcoin is expensive to use for transferring money, there are many cheaper ALTernatives.

Have you used a lightning network enabled wallet? Fees are pennies...

 

[Dominic]

Have you used a lightning network enabled wallet? Fees are pennies...

Yes with XLM.

 

[Dominic]

XRP could hit $3.00 after that case closes.