According to MarketWatch, People's Bank of China (PBOC) in 2011 said:


This is $6.9-$7.7M per official.  The PBOC asked for help from Western governments to stop this.


Instead of helping, Canada and Australia provided resident visas to the Chinese if they brought over a certain amount of money.  The Chinese bought thousands of expensive houses.  Real estate is a multi-billion dollar money laundering scheme.

In 2012, the Wall Street Journal explains how the Chinese accelerated this money laundering (with the help of Western governments).  The situation has gotten so bad, that the Chinese government is taking matters into its own hands:


Yes, the U.S. government also aids and abets in money laundering.  All other types of money laundering pales in comparison.  When the government tells you that cryptos needed to be regulated to stop money laundering, their mantra is "do as I say, not as I do".

I'm surprised that somebody hasn't made a movie about Satoshi yet.

It would be just as interesting, if not more interesting to watch than Social Network.

Throughout the movie, there can be several journalists, cypherpunks, etc., even the Winklevoss twins, traveling the world to search for Satoshi.  They would meet several imposters and through challenging analysis, uncover the frauds.

Then at the end, the camera would pan over the shoulder of one of the frustrated investigators and we see a man wearing a hat and sunglasses, sipping on a martini, surrounded by beautiful women.  It's like the TV commercial of the "world's most interesting man".  The camera zooms in on his phone and we see one of his signed public addresses.

China and the West are the biggest money launderers in the world.

The Chinese people have been laundering money out to buy real estate in the West for decades.

Several years ago, China's central bank asked Western governments to help stop this.  Instead of helping, Western governments such as Canada and Australia, aided and abetted the money laundering, by offering resident visas to any Chinese who brings over $X.

Banning crypto exchanges is probably another attempt by the Chinese government to stop this money laundering.

When Western governments tell you that they want to regulate cryptos with AML, they probably want to stop outflow only, not inflow of money.

Many altcoins do not compete against Bitcoin.

Bitcoin's current application is store of value.

Ethereum's application is smart contracts or token sales.

NEM is trying to be a currency, not store of value.

Etc.

China and the West are the biggest money launderers in the world.

The Chinese people have been laundering money out to buy real estate in the West for decades.

Several years ago, China's central bank asked Western governments to help stop this.  Instead of helping, Western governments such as Canada and Australia, aided and abetted the money laundering, by offering visas to any Chinese who brings over $X.

Banning crypto exchanges is probably another attempt by the Chinese government to stop this money laundering.

When Western governments tell you that they want to regulate cryptos with AML, they probably want to stop outflow only, not inflow of money.

China and the West are the biggest money launderers in the world.

The Chinese people have been laundering money out to buy real estate in the West for decades.

Several years ago, China's central bank asked Western governments to help stop this.  Instead of helping, Western governments such as Canada and Australia, aided and abetted the money laundering, by offering visas to any Chinese who brings over $X.

Banning cryptos is probably another attempt by the Chinese government to stop this money laundering.

When Western governments tell you that they want to regulate cryptos with AML, they probably want to stop outflow only, not inflow of money.

EOS's market cap is too low if they can pull off what they claim they will.

However, their claim is lofty and they did not explain how they will pull it off.

We're likely in the 5th bubble for Bitcoin.

According to rumors, China is contemplating of shutting down Chinese exchanges.

If this is true, this is probably another attempt by China to stop their people from laundering money out of the country, to buy real estate in Canada, Australia, Europe and U.S.

Why is Wright wearing sunglasses in a dark room?

Moore’s law feels like it has slowed down in the past 5 years.  Regardless, his claim that we will have 25 trillion times more computing power in 20 years seems like a stretch.

Wright said Bitcoin is already turing complete.  How so?  He doesn't explain.

Andreas Antanopoulos is a better speaker.

Chinese government ban of Chinese ICOs forces their people to buy non-Chinese ICOs and existing cryptos.  That's good for non-Chinese ICOs and will eventually be good for all existing cryptos.

I use bitcoin to pay for expenses and for store of value (like gold).

Those are very good points:


Quite often, I don't understand their technical mumbo-jumbo, and I've worked in the technology industry for many years.

Some ICO teams are in countries that are corrupt. So, don't expect their governments to help you out if the team members are corrupt.  You also have to wonder if the country's culture of corruption is representative of the people in the country.

In regards to the SEC, their actions show that it might be the opposite.  If most of the ICOs are scams, the SEC would've gone after them or banned ICOs.  In past years, the SEC has gone after much smaller deals worth a few hundred thousand dollars.

This is not to say that the SEC won't do this shortly.  But one document from the SEC about one ICO out of the hundreds of ICOs, is not indicative at most ICOs are scams...unless the SEC does a lot more.

Regulators have flawed logic with regards to accredited investors (wealthier people). They think accredited investors are better investors. That is not true quite often and not true most of the time when it comes to technology.  Doctors and dentists do not know how to invest.  Surviving spouses may know nothing about business.  Celebrities are horrible investors. Real estate developers know less about technology than a basement dweller geek.

Regulators allow accredited investors to invest because regulators think that accredited investors can handle the loss.  This logic is flawed as well.  If a 65 year old, retired accredited investor loses 100% of his net worth, the rest of his life is screwed.  If a 20 year old, basement dweller geek loses 100% of his net worth, it's not that serious.


EOS rejected users with US IP addresses and forced users to acknowledge that they read the Purchase Agreement, which stated that US persons are not allowed to purchase.  I don't know if this will protect them sufficiently, but they did not solicit accredited or non-accredited investors from the U.S.

Last time I checked was about a week ago and I think they've raised $230 million so far.

There are already three projects doing the same or similar thing: Siacoin, Storj and Maidsafe.

I guess Filecoin investors never of heard of them or don't think much of them.

There are likely some scammers.

But the majority are not.  Most probably have good intentions, but they have either bad ideas or bad execution.

The biggest problem is not scammers.  The biggest problem is that everyone is trying to create a blockchain project.  But most of their ideas are not good fits for a blockchain.  They are trying to put anything and everything onto a blockchain, including the kitchen sink.  Some of them won't work, because not every application in the world is suited for the blockchain.

Some ideas are like WebVan. It was too early and it failed.  But grocery delivery eventually can work...20 years later.

Many ICO projects have no evidence that they can program or develop software.  Many of them say in their bios that they have software experience with titles like CTO or Developer, but there is no software or website that we can use, to confirm that they are indeed developers.

EOS has the potential to explode, but only if they can pull off what they claim they will.

But they didn't explain how they will pull it off.