this alone means it will not be the end of crypto…
As an “investment”? Yes.
As a “store of value”? Yes.
As a way of sending funds below the radar? No.
I have no issue with it surviving for that purpose. Stuff like that has always existed.
So you don’t buy the Monero hype? Honest question.
I don’t buy any kind of coin because the “market” is basically 70% manipulated.
A 2022 Report published by the US National Bureau of Economic Research found that “wash trading”, the practice of selling cryptocurrencies between related parties to influence the reported price, averaged “over 70% of the reported volume” on 29 unregulated exchanges.
Sorry about the paywall link, the NYT has a report of how bitcoin mining places an immense strain on the power grid and costs taxpayers millions each year. It also mentioned how the mining operations in TX were paid millions to pause operations during the winter storm.
There are no bitcoin mines in my state (according to the map in the article), but if there were I would be irate.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/09/business/bitcoin-mining-electricity-pollution.html
There can be a case where a demand-flexible consumer like cryptomining can support the development of greener energy sources that have curtailment issues. You’d need some regulatory control to keep it from being a negative for other consumers though.
Opened up the Coinbase app for the first time in a while… I’m back in the green! I think i was up about 200% back in the day, that dropped down to about 50%. Woot!
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I’m basically at break even. I’ll take it.
I’m in the green again. Not by much but better than red! 
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Same, I’m back in the one comma club!
Huge BTC money-laundering fraud uncovered in London.
£1.4bn investment scam in China with the proceeds converted to BTC, followed by trying to launder the
proceeds via the standard London property laundromat.
The mystery of the Hampstead mansion and the £1.4bn bitcoin haul - Subscribe to the Financial Times via @FT
go on…
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What does this mean?
“It’s Bitcoin halving season and there’s no better time to learn the basics. The next halving event is anticipated to occur today, April 19, 2024.”
You basically earn Bitcoin by solving complicated math problems. For every one you solve, you earn so many Bitcoin. I forget how many, but conceptually let’s say it’s 10. Soon they will reduce it to 5. That’s the halving.
March, 2023. Bitcoin closes at $28,478
April 19, 2024. Bitcoin closes at $64,305.
The Polymath is therefore deemed unreliable.
So theoretically the value goes up bc there’s fewer coins to be had?
I think that’s the pitch, but they know when the halving occurs so I’d expect it to be mostly priced in. IIRC there is a halving scheduled after a known quantity is mined.
There are only two reasons to have BTC: when you need to transfer/hide money covertly, and when you live in an unstable & corrupt country (Venezuela, Argentina, Zimbabwe, Nigeria).
As a store of value for the rest its always been a fail. You will always need to convert to fiat to buy real assets (house, car etc).
I am not remotely surprised some financial services companies are trying to cash in a bit on the demand (easy money for them)
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You forgot the third reason.
#3: Price Speculation
Now, I am happy to call this a form of gambling, but the bitcoin holders that I know think this is like investing in a money tree.
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