Bitcoin currency (merged topics)

[Mr. Bill]

Facebook bans ads that promote cryptocurrency or ICOs:

New Ads Policy: Improving Integrity and Security of Financial Product and Services Ads

...We’ve created a new policy that prohibits ads that promote financial products and services that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices, such as binary options, initial coin offerings and cryptocurrency.

29. Prohibited Financial Products and Services

Policy

Ads must not promote financial products and services that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices, such as binary options, initial coin offerings, or cryptocurrency. ...

Examples

“Start binary options trading now and receive a 10-risk free trades bonus!”
“Click here to learn more about our no-risk cryptocurrency that enables instant payments to anyone in the world.”
“New ICO! Buy tokens at a 15% discount NOW!”
“Use your retirement funds to buy Bitcoin!”

We want people to continue to discover and learn about new products and services through Facebook ads without fear of scams or deception. That said, there are many companies who are advertising binary options, ICOs and cryptocurrencies that are not currently operating in good faith.

This policy is intentionally broad while we work to better detect deceptive and misleading advertising practices, and enforcement will begin to ramp up across our platforms including Facebook, Audience Network and Instagram. We will revisit this policy and how we enforce it as our signals improve. ...

[Mr. Bill]

CFTC sent subpoenas to cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and cryptocurrency issuer Tether in early December:

Bloomberg Technology, 1/30/18: U.S. Regulators Subpoena Crypto Exchange Bitfinex, Tether

...Tether’s coins have become a popular substitute for dollars on cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide, with about $2.3 billion of the tokens outstanding as of Tuesday. While Tether has said all of its coins are backed by U.S. dollars held in reserve, the company has yet to provide conclusive evidence of its holdings to the public or have its accounts audited. Skeptics have questioned whether the money is really there. ...

[FreeLancer]

We've been through 80% drops before, there's no guarantee it won't happen again.

Bitcoin has fallen almost $12k (60% drop) from it's all-time high near $20k in mid-December.

[David in MN]

I'm so sorry. You can follow this thread and quite literally watch me lose my mind as this whole shit show falls apart.

Had I been clearer I could have prevented more people from losing money.

Not advice. Hodl on. Best of luck.

[Carl]

I'm so sorry. You can follow this thread and quite literally watch me lose my mind as this whole shit show falls apart.

Had I been clearer I could have prevented more people from losing money.

Not advice. Hodl on. Best of luck.

I thought you were clear,too many just didn't heed your warning.

[Smurf Hunter]

I'm so sorry. You can follow this thread and quite literally watch me lose my mind as this whole shit show falls apart.

Had I been clearer I could have prevented more people from losing money.

Not advice. Hodl on. Best of luck.

I started with less than $100.  I bought various coins, in a few different kinds of wallets.  I learned how to move in and out of USD, as well as shape shifting from one crypto currency to another.  Even before this "crash" I think I spent 15-20% on mining fees just repeatedly moving the "money" around.  In contrast to a brokerage account, the fees for trading crypto are outrageous.

What's worse is I have mini wallets with literal pocket change that I cannot transfer or sell due to the mining fees eclipsing the equity value.  So my $12USD in Jaxx is stuck there for now

This was all educational and thank God I didn't add more zeroes to this silly game.

[FreeLancer]

What's worse is I have mini wallets with literal pocket change that I cannot transfer or sell due to the mining fees eclipsing the equity value.  So my $12USD in Jaxx is stuck there for now

Coinbase has run into the same problem, a couple million dollars of bitcoin dust trapped in individual change addresses that costs more to consolidate than it’s worth.

Crypto is an experiment, (un)fortunately, where everyone is stuck learning on the fly. 

[Mr. Bill]

Just one guy's opinion.  This guy is Steve Strongin, head of Global Investment Research at Goldman Sachs:

Fortune, 2/7/18: Goldman Sachs: Today's Cryptocurrencies Will Go to Zero, But Stronger Digital Currencies May Still Emerge

...“So, are any of today’s cryptocurrencies going to be an Amazon or a Google, or will they end up like many of the now-defunct search engines? Just because we are in a speculative bubble does not mean current prices can’t increase for a handful of survivors,” he said. “At the same time, it probably does mean that most, if not all, will never see their recent peaks again.”...

[Carl]

Coinbase has run into the same problem, a couple million dollars of bitcoin dust trapped in individual change addresses that costs more to consolidate than it’s worth.

Crypto is an experiment, (un)fortunately, where everyone is stuck learning on the fly.

But if all of the MISFIT accounts were donated to a charity then their owners could do good and get a tax deduction?

[Mr. Bill]

But if all of the MISFIT accounts were donated to a charity then their owners could do good and get a tax deduction?

https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/bitcoin-transactionfees.html

Looks like the average transaction currently costs US$4.59 (down from its high of $54.90 on 12/21/17).  So there's no way to donate tiny accounts to charity without spending more than the value donated.

[Mr. Bill]

Courthouse News, 2/6/18: SEC Chief Promises Action on Unregulated Coin Offerings

...The Securities and Exchange Commission does not have jurisdiction over cryptocurrency trading markets, but the agency considers initial coin offerings as the functional equivalent of initial public offering, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton emphasized this morning.

“ICOs that are securities offerings, we should regulate them like we regulate securities offerings, end of story,” Clayton said, testifying before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. ...

[FreeLancer]

But if all of the MISFIT accounts were donated to a charity then their owners could do good and get a tax deduction?

It’s like having a safe full of 50 million tiny envelopes, each of which contains 3 or 4 nickels and dimes, and the only way to spend or transfer the coins is to put a first class stamp on each envelope and mail them to the new owners.

If Coinbase has been paying attention they could have fixed the way their wallets process transactions so that these bits of change didn’t get stuck in limbo as mining fees increased.  It’s like they expected the free ride on mining fees to last forever.

[David in MN]

Courthouse News, 2/6/18: SEC Chief Promises Action on Unregulated Coin Offerings

This will be a lot of tinfoil so please tread lightly. If you don't understand what I'm saying please don't get offended.

Turning altcoins from ICOs to IPOs will end them. IPOs are strictly regulated and only "qualified" people (as in you have a few million) can participate. The ground floor is gone.

****IF**** I was at the SEC, I'd have much more interesting questions:

Why did the development team do everything possible to squander Bitcoin?

How come the banks only allowed call options at the literal top? This would be like your bookie telling you you can only wager on one team in the game. He only does it if he knows a fix is in. When it was initially reported it was presented as though the banks only allowed upside gambling because they knew it would go up. In reality they hoped to sell futures contracts that didn't pan out and resulted in them keeping the commission (exactly what happened).

Did the major banks know when or influence countries to outlaw or restricy crypto? When? Did this effect their (I assume fraudulent) futures pricing?

Were there trading patterns? In other words, is this a market that could have been "blind shorted"?

I'd even want to look into the idea of "holding". [This requires explanation. No one "holds" an investment. If I doubled your IRA you'd likely spread the new money across your portfolio. Hence you are either buying or selling. There is no hold. Asked if you were bullish or bearish there is no bunnyish.  A lot of people got hurt by believing you hold (never sell).]

In short, I believe we have just witnessed a financial crime. Somehow the banks sold calls (not puts) at the top. So the only people to capitalize on the decline were the bankers while their clients got a haircut. The true believers got hosed in their religion of holding and the development team saw its biggest gains by violating the white paper. To cap it off we can blame the start of the fall on government crackdowns. And the new solution is a government crackdown.

In 20 years the pulitzer will go to the young man/woman who picks through all this stuff and finds the corruption. I guarantee it's there. The SEC would be driving hard if the feds didn't want Bitcoin to die. Hell, they might have helped somehow.

Crypto will work. But not by being clunky. The Bitcoin team set us back years.

[Mr. Bill]

Plattsburgh NY bans commercial cryptocurrency mining:

Local Law P-3 of 2018

...the Common Council of the City of Plattsburgh hereby declares an eighteen (18) month moratorium, on all applications or proceedings for applications, for the issuance of approvals or permits for the commercial cryptocurrency mining operations in the City of Plattsburgh. ...

It is the purpose of this Local Law to allow the City of Plattsburgh the opportunity to consider zoning and land use laws and municipal lighting department regulations before commercial cryptocurrency mining operations results in irreversible change to the character and direction of the City.

Further, it is the purpose of this Local Law to allow the City of Plattsburgh time to address through planning and legislation, the promotion of the protection, order, conduct, safety health and well-being of the residents of the City which are presented as heightened risks associated with commercial cryptocurrency mining operations.

It is the purpose of this Local Law to facilitate the adoption of land use and zoning and/or municipal lighting department regulations to protect and enhance the City’s natural, historic, cultural and electrical resources. ...

Background in this article from Motherboard:

This City Just Passed the First Bitcoin Mining Ban in the US

...According to [Mayor] Read, Plattsburgh has the “cheapest electricity in the world” due to a hydroelectric dam on the St. Lawrence river and residents pay only 4.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. (For the sake of comparison, the US average is a little over 10 cents per kilowatt-hour). Industrial enterprises—including Bitcoin mines—in Plattsburgh pay even less: Just 2 cents per kilowatt-hour. ...

The problem is that Plattsburgh only has an allotment of 104 megawatts of power per month. The biggest Bitcoin mining operation in Plattsburgh, operated by a Puerto Rican company called Coinmint, used roughly 10 percent of the city’s total power budget in January and February.

In January, Plattsburgh went over its power allotment and was forced to purchase electricity on the open market for far higher prices. This cost was distributed among the city’s residents, some of whom ended up paying between $100 and $200 more for their electricity than usual. ...

[FreeLancer]

BTC transaction fees are way down, so now is a good opportunity to move long term holdings between wallets. Last night I payed a midrange fee (as determined by the Electrum wallet) of 65 cents per transaction and could have payed a quarter of that if I’d been willing to wait longer.

[Mr. Bill]

What's being stored in the blockchain besides transaction data?

Financial Cryptography and Data Security, 22nd International Conference, 2/26/18-3/2/18:
A Quantitative Analysis of the Impact of Arbitrary Blockchain Content on Bitcoin (18-page PDF)

Abstract. Blockchains primarily enable credible accounting of digital events, e.g., money transfers in cryptocurrencies. However, beyond this original purpose, blockchains also irrevocably record arbitrary data, ranging from short messages to pictures. This does not come without risk for users as each participant has to locally replicate the complete blockchain, particularly including potentially harmful content. We provide the first systematic  analysis  of  the  benefits  and  threats  of  arbitrary  blockchain content. Our analysis shows that certain content, e.g., illegal pornography,  can  render  the  mere  possession  of  a  blockchain  illegal.  Based  on these insights, we conduct a thorough quantitative and qualitative analysis of unintended content on Bitcoin’s blockchain. Although most data originates from benign extensions to Bitcoin’s protocol, our analysis reveals more than 1600 files on the blockchain, over 99 % of which are texts or images. Among these files there is clearly objectionable content such as links to child pornography, which is distributed to all Bitcoin participants. With our analysis, we thus highlight the importance for future blockchain designs to address the possibility of unintended data insertion and protect blockchain users accordingly.

[Mr. Bill]

Monero transactions are traceable.

Wired, 3/27/18: The Dark Web’s Favorite Currency Is Less Untraceable Than It Seems

...Despite Bitcoin's widespread use on the dark web and for other illicit applications like ransomware, scofflaws have become increasingly aware that if they're not ultra-careful in how they use it, the Bitcoin blockchain can help identify them... As a result, the online underground has increasingly switched to Monero.

But researchers now point to two distinct cracks in Monero's untraceability, one of which was fixed in its early 2017 revamp, and one that still lingers today, even as Monero coders have taken steps to fix it. Both problems relate to how Monero hides the source of a payment, essentially by mixing the coin someone spends with a sampling of other coins used as decoys known as "mixins."

The researchers first note that simple tricks allow an observer to identify some of the decoy mixins used to cover for a real coin being spent. ...

The researchers also found a second problem in Monero's untraceability system tied to the timing of transactions. In any mix of one real coin and a set of fake coins bundled up in a transaction, the real one is very likely to have been the most recent coin to have moved prior to that transaction. Before a recent change from Monero's developers, that timing analysis correctly identified the real coin more than 90 percent of the time...

...for Monero users who spent coins before its privacy improvements, indelible fingerprints could lead to their front door. And that points to a more fundamental problem for cryptocurrencies offering privacy: Any security flaw discovered in the future might apply retroactively, allowing observers to dig up old skeletons buried in the currency's blockchain. ...

[Mr. Bill]

From today's EFFector, the newsletter of the Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Report: By 2020, More Than 30% of World’s Electricity Consumption Will Be Spent Explaining Bitcoin

Scientists have released a new study claiming that if current trends continue, nearly a third of the world’s power will be used to explain how Bitcoin works by 2020. According to experts, the amount of energy required to download tweets, articles, and instant messages which describe what “the blockchain” is and how “decentralized” currencies are “the future” will soon eclipse the total amount of power used by the country of Denmark. The authors note that the average Uber driver now spends three minutes per ride explaining how the coin is “totally anonymous” and encouraging riders to install Coinbase or a similar app.

Furthermore, they warn that “alt-coins” like Ethereum and Filecoin are even more inscrutable, and explanations of them promise to waste even more time and energy in the future.


NSA Stock Rating Up 1000% After Rename to National Blockchain Agency

In a surprising turn, the NSA has announced a name change to include the word “blockchain,” which has sent the usually secretive spy agency’s stock soaring. An NSA spokesperson, wishing to remain anonymous, also stated that as a part of this rebranding the agency will now store all information it has collected about every American on the blockchain. “Since the storage is on the blockchain, it will be totally anonymous.”


National Basketball Association Sues National Blockchain Agency

The NBA has filed a trademark infringement suit against the National Blockchain Agency (previously known as the NSA). Sources within the NBA say the move was precipitated by the organization’s plans to rename itself the National Blockchain Association.

[FreeLancer]

Wikileaks Claims Coinbase Has Shut Down Its Online Store's Bitcoin Account

It's not clear if Coinbase froze Wikileaks deposited funds (crypto and/or fiat), but it's a good reminder of what happens if they suspect you're violating U.S. government financial regulations. 

The only way to hang on to crypto is to maintain absolute control of your private keys.

It's a good idea to pay your capital gains taxes, too. 

[Smurf Hunter]

I had a great uncle who allegedly buried some amount of gold decades back.  Unfortunately he went senile in his old age and relatives couldn't extract the correct location before he passed away.

While we can shake our heads at that foolishness, it's really not different than a paper wallet getting lost.

[David in MN]

Bitcoin has done the unthinkable... ended Bitcoin. With the release of the lightning network...

https://www.coindesk.com/information/what-is-the-lightning-network/

It seems on its face good. A and B go to a movie. A spends $30 on tickets and B spends $12 on concessions. Instead of 4 market moves lightning gives the theater $42 and A $8. Saves on the transfer cost of Bitcoin. Brilliant. The lightning network resolves it in a more efficient Blockchain move.

Lightning lets you pass money back and forth until you want to resolve it on the Blockchain. It's a cool way to pass a few bucks between friends and settle up with Blockchain at the end of the day.

But you don't need to settle. Suppose I had a few million in Bitcoin and used it on the lightning network. I, not the minors, collect on exchange. I am incentivized to keep funds forever in lightning without resolution in the Blockchain. In other words, I am a lightning intermediary. I am a Bitcoin BANK. And I never need to get back to the Blockchain. The currency is guaranteed just like the gold dollar in 1974. And you'll use me as an intermediary because I'm cheaper than legit Blockchain.

To any trader we immediately scream "derivatives market".

[FreeLancer]

This author argues that the only use case for gold these days is as a means for nation states to pay for wars when nobody accepts their paper anymore.  Individuals are better off with crypto.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/2018/04/30/bitcoin-is-the-new-flight-capital/#6ecf80d37320

Today you’d stash it in Bitcoin and be safe in the knowledge that you could fly away on holiday somewhere safe for a few months and your stash would be as safe as the place your hid you private keys.


This is a blow to gold so that for now when a war breaks out or a conflict starts to brew, don’t expect gold to spike like the old days. Now Etherium, Bitcoin, Ripple, Litecoin and a myriad of crypto will get the attention that gold once enjoyed.

[Smurf Hunter]

This author argues that the only use case for gold these days is as a means for nation states to pay for wars when nobody accepts their paper anymore.  Individuals are better off with crypto.

Let's unpack that statement a bit...

That implies that parties are accepting gold in exchange for munitions and other war time materials.  If gold was crap, arms dealers wouldn't accept it.
More specifically, this is the pattern of "rogue" actors who are out of favor with the global financial system and it's allies.  If France or Germany wants to buy fighter jets or missiles, Lockheed Martin will likely accept Euros or a bank FX of the same into USD.

It's when rebel armies, "failed" nation states or "terrorists" want to arm up that gold comes into play. 

What has me wondering, is logistically crypto has advantages over gold, so why are any "bad guys" still using gold?

[Carl]

  Crypto can fail as can the machine that supports it.
Gold is universally recognized as a value...even aliens come to earth to mine  and extract our gold.

[FreeLancer]

However, there is no shaking gold’s investment audience. It’s the same old types since when I was a small child, grisly old guys awaiting Armageddon and a global comeuppance.

[Carl]

Not to mention the $343 an oz price I paid for my gold and the current value that just screams how badly inflated our US Dollar has come in just a few years. Gold is a stabilizing metal...and far more portable than silver and yet more dependable than a bunch of ones and zeros that change value on the whims of the market...GOLD is an anchor to value and not a path to profit.

[Mr. Bill]

Bloomberg, 6/13/18: Tether Used to Manipulate Price of Bitcoin During 2017 Peak: New Study

Tether, one of the most-traded cryptocurrencies, shows a pattern of being spent on Bitcoin at pivotal moments, helping to drive the world’s first digital asset to a record price in December, according to research by a University of Texas professor known for flagging suspicious activity in the VIX benchmark. ...

The analysis showed a pattern of Bitcoin price support, Griffin said. First, Tethers are created by the parent company Tether Ltd., often in large chunks such as 200 million. Almost all new coins then move to Bitfinex, he said. When Bitcoin prices drop soon after the issuance, Tethers at Bitfinex and other exchanges are used to buy Bitcoin “in a coordinated way that drives the price,” Griffin said in an interview.

“I’ve looked at a lot of markets,” he said. “If there’s fraud or manipulation in a market it can leave tracks in the data. The tracks in the data here are very consistent with a manipulation hypothesis.”...

He zeroed in on 87 of the largest purchases of Bitcoin with Tether from March 2017 to March 2018. In the cases examined, new Tether had been issued within the prior three days, and Bitcoin’s price had fallen in the prior hour. What followed were increases in Bitcoin’s price -- and those gains added up.

Even though the 87 examples account for less than 1 percent of the time period examined, they amounted to about 50 percent of Bitcoin’s compounded return over that year. ...

Bitcoin purchases with Tether “strongly increase just below multiples of 500. This pattern is only present in periods following printing of Tether and not observed by other exchanges,” he wrote in the paper. To other investors, it gives the impression of a “price floor,” providing a signal for them to buy as well.

“If it was random behavior you wouldn’t see it cluster around the thresholds,” he said in the interview. “It indicates it’s a conscious strategy to provide price support.”...

The paper:
Is Bitcoin Really Un-Tethered?

[FreeLancer]

Excellent Andreas Antonopoulos post-bubble talk:  https://youtu.be/6xIq0FdmsIA

[FreeLancer]

It’s a few months old but $5900 is close to where the price fell this weekend, so the numbers and perspective are still useful.

[CharlesH]

I read recently that somewhere around $5000 is the point where Bitcoin becomes unprofitable for minors to keep maintaining the block chain.  If the price is being supported by fewer and fewer people buying up the excess, and I don’t know that’s what’s happening, is there a chance the block chain itself could be in danger soon because people start turning off their machines?