Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Discussion Thread

[lascavarian]

The NFT tech makes it possible for the original issuer to observe and even be a party to any downstream exchanges with other parties. I'm sure we'll see all sorts of clever applications for this, not just collectibles.

Clever, yes. This is true. NFTs seem the nearly perfect application for amplifying the most vile forms of porn. It would be nice if they had some way to determine if minors are involved but not so much...

This is ugly to discuss but the abuse of sex workers is about to explode, thanks crypto.

 

[lascavarian]

For those of you fearing missing out, there are BITCOIN available on the DOJ webpage because of you know criminals....

Personal Property Management System

gsaauctions.gov

The question about using fake credentials and Bitcoin surfaces recently related to the activities of Joel Greenberg and his reported harvesting of driver’s licenses intended for shredding. This also ties in with Matt Gaetz a bit who seems to have been using Cashapp (Kara Swisher says he should have used Bitcoin).

Greenberg seems to have also been funneling fraudulent payments for running a blockchain server. Although we don’t have a conviction of Greenberg yet, it appears he was involved in some disturbing criminal activities related to fake credentials.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/31/joel-greenberg-matt-gaetz-investigations/

Joel Greenberg, the Tax Collector Tied to US Rep Matt Gaetz, Allegedly Once Blew $90k in Taxpayer Money On a Crypto Mining Rig

And it's not even the weirdest thing on Greenberg's long, long rap sheet.

gizmodo.com

 

[jhm]

Trade Stock Tokens on Binance | Binance Blog

Today, we are launching zero-commission, tradable stock tokens. Now, you can access both cryptocurrency and traditional stock markets, all from the comfort of your Binance account.

www.binance.com

Binance is now offering Tesla stock in token form. It seems crypto exchanges will become brokerages of stocks before traditional brokerages become dealers of coin.

In unrelated news, CoinBase is expected to IPO at $100B with the assistance of Goldman Sachs, but could quickly overtake Goldman which has a market cap around $120B.

 

[jhm]

FWIW...

“Less Illicit Activity on Bitcoin Than Traditional Banking System”- Former CIA Director | Headlines | News | CoinMarketCap

Michael Morell, the former acting director of CIA published an independent paper commissioned by Crypto Council for Innovation refuting the long …

coinmarketcap.com

 

[Xepa777]

Synthetic stocks are a big deal for anyone not in the US. And fractional trading is a joke today.

Binance is not a company to promote though (very shady company). The much more interesting project to follow is a top 20 crypto project (by market cap) called Luna. Rob Maurer brought up Luna in his latest Tesla Daily video (Mirror is part of the Luna ecosystem).

It's an ambitious attempt by a bunch of UPenn alum to re-create the entire financial system on PoS blockchain. It's a unique approach to offer a strong value proposition to normal people, but power things on the back-end using Blockchain. Coinbase and Galaxy Digital are both investors in the Luna ecosystem

-

FYI, you can own synthetic TSLA shares through the Luna ecosystem and earn >50% interest rate through it.

I'm doing this myself right now.

Imagine a mobile app you download where you have 20% interest rate, can buy stocks, and have a credit card all on the same account.

 

[Xepa777]

Macro Director at Fidelity saying Bitcoin's going to the moon -

https://twitter.com/x/status/1382026394541174787

 

[TheTalkingMule]

What kind of buy orders am I putting in to secure Coinbase at the open today?

I have one at $250 and another st $321. Sufficient or do I need one at $420 as well?

 

[lascavarian]

Imagine a mobile app you download where you have 20% interest rate, can buy stocks, and have a credit card all on the same account.

When I see 20% return I see huge red flag. If T-bills pay 1.632 and you have to offer 20% return to get customers then there is a problem IMO.

 

[lascavarian]

What kind of buy orders am I putting in to secure Coinbase at the open today?

I have one at $250 and another st $321. Sufficient or do I need one at $420 as well?

Remember 98% or so of income comes from exorbitant fees of about 2.5% per transaction. Imagine how successful a bank would be if i charged 2.5% just to make a deposit? Their valuation seems very suspect IMO.

Tesla holds so much more promise IMO.

 

[JRP3]

With all the hype I wouldn't expect to get any shares near $250.

 

[juanmedina]

Remember 98% or so of income comes from exorbitant fees of about 2.5% per transaction. Imagine how successful a bank would be if i charged 2.5% just to make a deposit? Their valuation seems very suspect IMO.

Tesla holds so much more promise IMO.

Here is Kevin's take on Coinbase:

 

[TheTalkingMule]

Remember 98% or so of income comes from exorbitant fees of about 2.5% per transaction. Imagine how successful a bank would be if i charged 2.5% just to make a deposit? Their valuation seems very suspect IMO.

Tesla holds so much more promise IMO.

I thought I saw their fee quoted as 1.5%? Yeah, definitely not valuing the company for the longhaul. They're not even a bank, more of a brokerage platform. But I do think it'll go to the moon.

Nearly $2B in 1Q revenue ain't too shabby. Short term they could have some VERY impressive quarterly earnings as crypto goes mainstream and they're the Amazon of it.

 

[TheTalkingMule]

Coinbase Tumbles From Opening Price in Nasdaq Debut

Coinbase Global Inc. tumbled as much as 19% from its opening trade in its Nasdaq debut on Wednesday.

www.bloomberg.com

Coinbase Is Indicated to Open at $340 in Nasdaq Debut​

Edit: That's about $88B valuation if I'm not mistaken.

 

[JRP3]

"I think it's [Coinbase] worth closer to $5 billion or $10 billion as opposed to $100 billion," Trainer tells Yahoo Finance Live. "Look, this is the brokerage industry — it's not new. Coinbase is not reinventing the wheel here in any way. They are just trading a new product. There is no reason that the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq couldn't also potentially trade crypto."

Coinbase is really worth $5 billion, not $100 billion: strategist

The Coinbase IPO has captivated the markets. But one strategist says the company isn't worth anywhere near the $100 billion some say it is. Here's why.

finance.yahoo.com

 

[Rarity]

Coinbase is really worth $5 billion, not $100 billion: strategist

The Coinbase IPO has captivated the markets. But one strategist says the company isn't worth anywhere near the $100 billion some say it is. Here's why.

finance.yahoo.com

He might be right, but the problem with the reason that he cites is that neither the NYSE nor NASDAQ are trusted cryptocurrency markets while Coinbase is probably the most trusted market. As far as I know, neither the NYSE nor NASDAQ are trusted to be particularly high tech and they don't need to be. With a market that relies so much on trust in the chain of custody on those hashes, being the most trusted is probably very valuable and gaining that trust takes a lot of time and stumbles by your competitors.

 

[Xepa777]

He might be right, but the problem with the reason that he cites is that neither the NYSE nor NASDAQ are trusted cryptocurrency markets while Coinbase is probably the most trusted market. As far as I know, neither the NYSE nor NASDAQ are trusted to be particularly high tech and they don't need to be. With a market that relies so much on trust in the chain of custody on those hashes, being the most trusted is probably very valuable and gaining that trust takes a lot of time and stumbles by your competitors.

Coinbase's fees are absurd and won't last forever. Exchanges will be a race-to-the-bottom eventually.

With Celsius, you earn 5-6% on all the crypto you purchase and hold on their platform. There are $0 withdrawal fees. By the end of this year you will be able to (1) swap between various crypto for free, (2) withdraw crypto to cash in your bank account, and (3) buy crypto at spot prices on the market.

At that point...why would you want to use Coinbase?

 

[Mo City]

Coinbase's fees are absurd and won't last forever. Exchanges will be a race-to-the-bottom eventually.

With Celsius, you earn 5-6% on all the crypto you purchase and hold on their platform. There are $0 withdrawal fees. By the end of this year you will be able to (1) swap between various crypto for free, (2) withdraw crypto to cash in your bank account, and (3) buy crypto at spot prices on the market.

At that point...why would you want to use Coinbase?

Right now COIN sits at $420.00 with a market cap of ~$55B. Oh brother.

I agree with you until someone can explain how Coinbase can avoid a "race to the bottom" as other well-financed, user friendly, easy-to-use alternatives emerge.

 

[Rarity]

Coinbase's fees are absurd and won't last forever. Exchanges will be a race-to-the-bottom eventually.

With Celsius, you earn 5-6% on all the crypto you purchase and hold on their platform. There are $0 withdrawal fees. By the end of this year you will be able to (1) swap between various crypto for free, (2) withdraw crypto to cash in your bank account, and (3) buy crypto at spot prices on the market.

At that point...why would you want to use Coinbase?

Agreed about the fees, but trust is paramount here. Not your keys, not your coin, no? 5-6% in interest is not very appealing to me.

 

[TheTalkingMule]

Right now COIN sits at $420.00 with a market cap of ~$55B. Oh brother.

I agree with you until someone can explain how Coinbase can avoid a "race to the bottom" as other well-financed, user friendly, easy-to-use alternatives emerge.

I'm not a Coinbase believer or anything, but you realize that's precisely what everyone's said about Tesla for 8 years right?

A couple choice picks from the google news results, spring 2016:

Elon Musk’s Competition Just Got Real

Faraday Future, a Tesla rival, wants to turn cars into driving movie theaters.

www.vanityfair.com

20 cars that are way better--and cheaper--than the Tesla Model X

Test-driving 20 cars in two days, back-to-back, from $27,000 to $147,000--and comparing them all to the Tesla Model X. How did the new SUV stack up?

www.thestreet.com

 

[Mo City]

I'm not a Coinbase believer or anything, but you realize that's precisely what everyone's said about Tesla for 8 years right?

A couple choice picks from the google news results, spring 2016:

Elon Musk’s Competition Just Got Real

Faraday Future, a Tesla rival, wants to turn cars into driving movie theaters.

www.vanityfair.com

20 cars that are way better--and cheaper--than the Tesla Model X

Test-driving 20 cars in two days, back-to-back, from $27,000 to $147,000--and comparing them all to the Tesla Model X. How did the new SUV stack up?

www.thestreet.com

What do Coinbase and Tesla have in common?

Copying what Tesla is doing is near-impossible for an industry drunk in old technology. Like Elon said, building a new factory and scaling production of cars profitably is really really hard. Converting from ICEs to EVs involves a lot ore than retooling machinery, which for some reason the market just started realizing last year.

Coinbase is a software platform. What about it is hard to duplicate?