over 3 years ago· edited over 3 years ago· History
Ryan
Binance is buying them
Quite likely Binance will back out once theyve done the due dilligence & studied the books imho. Or they may do an "offer" to try & help stem the collateral damage of complete FTX failure to themselves.
The fall of FTX & its "poster boy leader" Sam Bankman Fried is pretty shocking. Greedy & (potentially)criminal people gonna do what greedy & (potentially) criminals do I guess. FTX/Alameda/FTT/SOL/more was always a very murky co-mingled world.
FTX exchange going under now. Stay away from crypto ponzi schemes and exchanges where you do anything but withdraw bitcoin out to your own wallet. Store your bitcoin in your own wallet, look after your keys, don't buy sh*tcoins.
By 'crypto ponzi schemes' I hope you're including Bitcoin, which is one of the biggest ponzi's in modern history.
Down to $17,400 now. Such a great hedge against inflation and store of value that it is down about 74% in a year in nominal terms, or over 80% in real terms.
The "store of value" and "hedge against inflation" arguments purported by Bitcoin proponents is frankly insane, and is set to wipe out life savings and ruin many lives.
Obviously I'm not, but you knew that. Not sure if you noticed but the volatility of stocks and bonds is now approaching similar levels to bitcoin, depending on the timeframe you apply. There are currently no hedges against inflation, or real stores of value out there. It's a pretty scary outlook in the world economy right now, and long-term bitcoin will out-perform all of it in my opinion, as I have consistently said. I have explained at length, in many many posts, as to why I believe you are wrong on the talking points you keep repeating. Without you having argued effectively against them (again, in my opinion), I am left only with the the words of Satoshi Nakamoto; “If you don't believe me or don't get it, I don't have time to try to convince you, sorry.”
FTX exchange going under now. Stay away from crypto ponzi schemes and exchanges where you do anything but withdraw bitcoin out to your own wallet. Store your bitcoin in your own wallet, look after your keys, don't buy sh*tcoins.
By 'crypto ponzi schemes' I hope you're including Bitcoin, which is one of the biggest ponzi's in modern history.
Down to $17,400 now. Such a great hedge against inflation and store of value that it is down about 74% in a year in nominal terms, or over 80% in real terms.
The "store of value" and "hedge against inflation" arguments purported by Bitcoin proponents is frankly insane, and is set to wipe out life savings and ruin many lives.
Obviously I'm not, but you knew that. Not sure if you noticed but the volatility of stocks and bonds is now approaching similar levels to bitcoin, depending on the timeframe you apply. There are currently no hedges against inflation, or real stores of value out there. It's a pretty scary outlook in the world economy right now, and long-term bitcoin will out-perform all of it in my opinion, as I have consistently said. I have explained at length, in many many posts, as to why I believe you are wrong on the talking points you keep repeating. Without you having argued effectively against them (again, in my opinion), I am left only with the the words of Satoshi Nakamoto; “If you don't believe me or don't get it, I don't have time to try to convince you, sorry.”
over 3 years ago· edited over 3 years ago· History
BlockFi just paused withdrawals....(not totally unexpcted due to their link with FTX) Plenty of "chatter" about Nexo & crypto.com Contagian is a very real threat to all exchanges.
over 3 years ago· edited over 3 years ago· History
Yes. These are great developments for Bitcoin. A difficult part of bitcoin education is learning the difference between bitcoin and the rest of "crypto", and also realising the importance of taking proper custody of your bitcoin. I spend most of my bitcoin time with newbies trying to help them understand this. These events are exposing those truths, in the harshest of manners, making that job a lot easier. Fantastic stuff.
Yes. These are great developments for Bitcoin. A difficult part of bitcoin education is learning the difference between bitcoin and the rest of "crypto", and also realising the importance of taking proper custody of your bitcoin. I spend most of my bitcoin time with newbies trying to help them understand this. These events are exposing those truths, in the harshest of manners, making that job a lot easier. Fantastic stuff.
Yep, indeed. There is BTC + "everything else" & the distinct differntial should always be noted, but as we know, the term "cryptocurrency" just gets lazily banded around as a "catch-all".
Whilst so unfortunately hurtful & damaging for so many people on an individual level, I find the SBF/FTX blow up quite fascinating & disturbing on so many levels. There is so much to unpack...
Every cycle, every failure, some people will stay, learn & carry on whilst others will leave. Each to their own. Rinse & repeat.
over 3 years ago· edited over 3 years ago· History
Bitcoin meetup was fantastic, a highlights thread for anyone interested;
Bitkiwi II, our second NZ bitcoin meetup, was a great success! NZ's #bitcoin community is growing 🧡 Here are the highlights 👇🧵 pic.twitter.com/iN9sHZzfy3
over 3 years ago· edited over 3 years ago· History
To chime into the FTX conversation above...
Calling FTX (and by extension crypto) a Ponzi scheme shows a lack of understanding about what has actually caused FTX's downfall.
Yes there is Ponzi scheme like behaviour surrounding the FTT coin (and some disturbing behaviour from FTX's CEO), but fundamentally FTX (the exchange) gave customer money to Alameda (the trading firm) to trade against, and Alameda lost it. It is quite simply stealing.
Crypto - an inherently worthless asset - is no more or less a ponzi scheme than any other asset. It holds value because people believe it has value. No different to fine art, gold, or money.
The stuff coming out of the bankruptcy filing is straight-up insane - FTX "lent" SBF 1 billion for personal use (and that after he styled himself as an overly generous philanthropist) - FTX used customer funds to buy houses for employees - Didn't even hold a list of employees and what they did - Did not keep any books or records of digital assets - Alameda Research exempted from auto-liquidation on FTX - Built software to hide misuse of customer funds - $400m in unauthorised transfers on the day they filed for bankruptcy - Billions in non-crypto investments but no books or records of any of it - SBF made all business decisions on apps that auto-deleted after time, and encouraged all employees to do the same
over 3 years ago· edited over 3 years ago· History
paulm
The stuff coming out of the bankruptcy filing is straight-up insane - FTX "lent" SBF 1 billion for personal use (and that after he styled himself as an overly generous philanthropist) - FTX used customer funds to buy houses for employees - Didn't even hold a list of employees and what they did - Did not keep any books or records of digital assets - Alameda Research exempted from auto-liquidation on FTX - Built software to hide misuse of customer funds - $400m in unauthorised transfers on the day they filed for bankruptcy - Billions in non-crypto investments but no books or records of any of it - SBF made all business decisions on apps that auto-deleted after time, and encouraged all employees to do the same
Yep.. when the the new CEO (John Ray lll) who oversaw the Enron bankruptcy says "Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls & such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here." its gotta be bad:-)
I dunno...it's pretty believable that an unregulated system attracts grifters.
For sure, grifters & criminals gonna do grifter & criminal things wherever they are....I worked in the highly regulated banking world long enough to know that :-)
So I have a son who bought USDT crypto. He can’t recall his password, had an option to get his password reset for 10%. Might be throwing good money after bad…. He now doesn’t know what to do or if he’ll ever see that money again. Was about 7k worth when I first heard about it 5 months ago. The site he used to go to for dealing with it doesn’t appear to be up any more.
So I have a son who bought USDT crypto. He can’t recall his password, had an option to get his password reset for 10%. Might be throwing good money after bad…. He now doesn’t know what to do or if he’ll ever see that money again. Was about 7k worth when I first heard about it 5 months ago. The site he used to go to for dealing with it doesn’t appear to be up any more.
Any suggestions.
pay the 10% to get the password back, better to spend $70ish to keep access to the rest.
over 3 years ago· edited over 3 years ago· History
Im not an expert at all, but lots of red flags here. I wouldn't give this site any money or payment details until you find out they are legit. Have never heard of a website charging to reset passwords.
Also for future reference storing 7k on an exchange if you aren't actively trading sounds like a bad idea. Particularly if it isn't one of the big ones (binance, coinbase).
It doesn't sound like the people he's talking to were the people he bought the crypto from, as he said the exchange shut down.
More likely it's opportunistic people who are trying to con people who've lost assets in one of the many exchanges which have shut down.
@ClubOranje, if that's the case your son might be a creditor and may get back some money through the bankruptcy process. I'd look to see if the exchange went bankrupt and if so who's handling the bankruptcy, or, if not, to see if there's any class action lawsuits that he can join in on.
It doesn't sound like the people he's talking to were the people he bought the crypto from, as he said the exchange shut down.
More likely it's opportunistic people who are trying to con people who've lost assets in one of the many exchanges which have shut down.
@ClubOranje, if that's the case your son might be a creditor and may get back some money through the bankruptcy process. I'd look to see if the exchange went bankrupt and if so who's handling the bankruptcy, or, if not, to see if there's any class action lawsuits that he can join in on.
not how I read it, but if it is a thrid party that's offering a way to get your password then the "SCAM ALERT" should be screaming.
Thanks for your replies guys. The lad is learning some things about life, and making mistakes is part of the process. It’s good he is prepared to try things, and he hasn’t ‘lost’ his money, he just can’t access it currently. What I’ve learnt about USDT, also known as Tether, in the last few days is it appears to be a safe stable crypto, tied to US dollar. Tether.to website has info about it for those interested.
I need to have another talk with him about what exactly he has/had and whether this is the key, site password or what exactly he needs.
(@theProf, hope your handle is not because you are a maths professor; pretty sure 10% of $7k is more than $70. ;-)
over 3 years ago· edited over 3 years ago· History
ClubOranje
Thanks for your replies guys. The lad is learning some things about life, and making mistakes is part of the process. It’s good he is prepared to try things, and he hasn’t ‘lost’ his money, he just can’t access it currently. What I’ve learnt about USDT, also known as Tether, in the last few days is it appears to be a safe stable crypto, tied to US dollar. Tether.to website has info about it for those interested.
I need to have another talk with him about what exactly he has/had and whether this is the key, site password or what exactly he needs.
(@theProf, hope your handle is not because you are a maths professor; pretty sure 10% of $7k is more than $70. ;-)
No one is doubting what USDT/Tether is (or if it's legit), the problem is if he purchased it on an exchange then he doesn't really hold it, the exchange (which may or may not be a legit one) does. E.g I could hold a bitcoin on a dodgy exchange, but if i can't convert/withdraw it to my NZD bank account in $ or to my own bitcoin wallet it's worthless - which isn't a problem with bitcoin it's a problem with choosing to hold it on an dodgy exchange. The fact they are wanting to charge for a password reset indicates that likely he will never be able to withdraw the USDT as it sounds very dodgy.
An example would be if you have $1,000 on a sports betting website (it's held in the sports betting website bank account, not your own)... if you can't withdraw it back to a NZD bank account then really it's worthless even if the site says you have $1,000. In some cases the site will be legit and let you withdraw, but some sites will not let you... in your sons case it sounds likely he will never be able to get his Tether off the site into something he really controls.
If an exchange or bank holds custody of your assets, then the assets do not exist at all until you withdraw them. All you have is an IOU. This is exactly how the banking system works, but it works because banks (well, NZ ones in recent times at least) have "earned" that trust by never failing to deliver on that IOU when cash has been withdrawn. It is also backstopped in places like NZ by way of the government taking the role of "lender of last resort" e.g. bailing out the banks when they fail, which they inevitably do in economic downturns, as the fractional reserve system means that none of them hold enough money to be able to pay out all of their customers should they demand it. If you purchase bitcoin (or other cryptocurrencies) and do not personally have custody of it, then you are wearing risk, and that risk varies with the entity you are using. The system is not regulated and does not have a "lender of last resort" like the fiat banking system, so the risk is larger to the individual. We have been discovering recently just how big that risk really is. Entities like Celsius, FTX etc, were seen as large and trustworthy, but that has proven not to be the case. This means that your perception of risk with exchanges that are still supposedly solvent (Binance, Crypto.com etc) should also now be adjusted, given what we've seen with similar sized entities. The safest way to hold bitcoin is to have full custody of it yourself, by either purchasing it straight to your own "cold storage", or withdrawing it from an exchange immediately or soon after its purchase on that exchange. If anyone would like more information on how to do that, then I'm happy to provide it in here, or you may DM me. I provide no financial advice or opinions on what you should purchase, or what lies ahead in this world, but am happy to simply speak to my experiences with tools/wallets etc.
Thanks for your replies guys. The lad is learning some things about life, and making mistakes is part of the process. It’s good he is prepared to try things, and he hasn’t ‘lost’ his money, he just can’t access it currently. What I’ve learnt about USDT, also known as Tether, in the last few days is it appears to be a safe stable crypto, tied to US dollar. Tether.to website has info about it for those interested.
I need to have another talk with him about what exactly he has/had and whether this is the key, site password or what exactly he needs.
(@theProf, hope your handle is not because you are a maths professor; pretty sure 10% of $7k is more than $70. ;-)
USDT/Tether certainly has an "interesting" history which leads many to say the words "safe & stable" should never be used in the same sentance as tether ;-)
If the "defunct site" he was using was NZ based ie. Cryptopia, which is currently still going through the liquidation process (since 2019) he may join the claim to try & get something back.
Havent posted here in while. Our meetups are growing nicely, plenty of bitcoiners coming out of the woodwork. Bitkiwi III at the Fork and Brewer last month was awesome. Heres a summary if you're interested: https://twitter.com/Bitkiwi1/status/1625077514224959495?t=BMz7LOuit4Om1ep_dQaKyA&s=19
We have two bitcoin educators coming to give talks: One for newbies, "What is Money: An introduction to Bitcoin", and one for the more knowledgeable bitcoiners, "A technical introduction to Bitcoin wallets". With recent economic events, more people are starting to wake up to the issues with the outdated fractional reserve banking system. Come and learn about the future!
almost 2 years ago· edited almost 2 years ago· History
Interesting re-reading this thread after all this time...
If you are interested in Bitcoin at all, we (Bitkiwi) are doing a lot more in this space these days. We hold quarterly events around NZ, two in Wellington and two in other NZ cities per year. Our next event is in Christchurch on July 20th, which will involve a live panel discussion hosted by Cody Ellingham, host of NZ's biggest Bitcoin podcast, The Transformation of Value. Here's some info on our events: https://kiwibitcoinguide.org/home/bitkiwi-meetups/ We'll be back in Wellington on October 26th for the next event after that.
Lots of stuff going on in the NZ Bitcoin community now, it's grown exponentially since we first got involved. Perhaps now is a good time to start learning about Bitcoin!
I started this thread three years ago. If you're curious about Bitcoin in any way, I would recommend reading from the beginning, and making your own conclusions, with the benefit of three years of hindsight.
I see PSG publicly revealed yesterday that they've implemented a Bitcoin treasury strategy, the first major football club to do so (that we know of). There's a couple of small clubs around that have done it, now we'll see it start to spread upwards. Outside of football it's becoming more and more common, with many companies looking for the best place to store cash, and finding Bitcoin is the answer. Lines up with what we're seeing at nation state level, and below. Most people heard the White house announcement but that's just the most public example. 19 US states are currently in progress with bills to establish bitcoin reserves, with three having passed already. It's widely believed at least 10 nation states are holding Bitcoin now as part of a formalised strategy, and more and more are making noises all the time. A lot of big news like this in Bitcoin over the past year or so, but doesn't seem to get much airplay in the media. I wish more regular people would do the work and understand it, so they can get front run these big players and build a better future for themselves.
I see PSG publicly revealed yesterday that they've implemented a Bitcoin treasury strategy, the first major football club to do so (that we know of). There's a couple of small clubs around that have done it, now we'll see it start to spread upwards. Outside of football it's becoming more and more common, with many companies looking for the best place to store cash, and finding Bitcoin is the answer. Lines up with what we're seeing at nation state level, and below. Most people heard the White house announcement but that's just the most public example. 19 US states are currently in progress with bills to establish bitcoin reserves, with three having passed already. It's widely believed at least 10 nation states are holding Bitcoin now as part of a formalised strategy, and more and more are making noises all the time. A lot of big news like this in Bitcoin over the past year or so, but doesn't seem to get much airplay in the media. I wish more regular people would do the work and understand it, so they can get front run these big players and build a better future for themselves.
"I dont like the internet because big companies use it" Everyone will use Bitcoin one day, every single day, no matter their opinion on it now. It's a natural progression of economic technology. I've led thousands of horses to the water now, it's sad watching them mostly go thirsty. Everyone will benefit from it one day, when it becomes the unit of account and improves the world exponentially. But if you study it and understand what is coming now, while it's still incredibly early, you have an opportunity that no other generation may have.
