It shouldn't be surprising and since it's their toy, being at their mercy should be expected.

The problem is at whose mercy you are. Circle's track record is not one of competence and none of these operations are accountable or approachable. They're also terrified of triggering their legacy masters and you're the one stuck in the middle who'll pay the price for that. You have the odds doubly or triply stacked against you.

At least with a normal bank you have a place to cover in cow shit in protest and identifiable people to blow up. With stuff like this you're nothing but an ignored email.

The most likely scenario is that it's a crime for Bitmex, not the user. But it would only be a crime for them if they were actively soliciting Americans to join despite it being against regulations.

Since they're not doing that they're not breaking any laws. As soon as they discover someone who has sneaked in then they're shut down which is upholding the laws they're subject to.

To understand the main benefits of Bitcoin it certainly helps to understand how everyday money works. If you ask most of the people around you to define that I'll bet 95% won't have a clue and if they were told it's quite possible they would refuse to believe you.

Not many people have a great deal of curiosity about things like that. Bitcoin will be fed back to the majority eventually, they won't discover it for themselves.

All markets are filled with people. Most of them are filled with the same people. It stands to reason that their behaviour will be pretty consistent across all of them.

Anyone who says it's a safe haven is a silly sausage. It's still deep in the wild bet phase.

Giving this a bump.

https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/70850/centre-appears-to-have-blacklisted-an-address-holding-usdc-for-the-first-time

100,000 USD (C) frozen.

I wonder what the story is behind this.

As ever these things are nothing more than Paypal with extra paranoia and desperation to yield to The Man. There'll be plenty more of this in future.

Ironically this is likely to fortify Tether's position.

Ranking up starts with a warm feeling in your toes, then it works its way up your legs and when it reaches the mid section your bowels let go. Pray you don't rank up when on a plane.

When you hit legendary the process is randomised which adds to the excitement as you never know when it'll happen.

I ranked up before the the merit system was introduced when it was much easier. You didn't have to do anything other than stick around shitposting enough junk for enough time. I can imagine people who ranked up entirely from merit earned must find it a very satisfying process.  



Many are here for money and the only reason they're concerned with rank is the opportunities to make more of it that it brings. If you didn't need rank for that I doubt many would care at all.

This is my 20,000th post. If I do another 20,000 I think I'll be rather disappointed in myself somehow.

I was going to threaten suicide or demand money to stay, or leave, but I'll save that for the 21,000th.

Go, me.

Just had a look at it for the first time in a long time.

If I were Roger I would close it. It's an embarrassing ghost town and while the posts haven't degenerated into Viagra ads it's only a matter of time. He either needs to import the cryototalk zombies to pad it out or put it out of its misery. But he won't.

Erm, that sure reads like a complete confirmation right there. What more do you want?

A strange little tale indeed and I've no idea what the scammer was hoping to achieve claiming to have reached a settlement.

Not really.

From previous drama.

https://github.com/bitcoin-dot-org/bitcoin.org/issues/3398



Actions speak louder than words, but in this case both align, and at no point has Cobra indicated or acted in a way to harm the wholesomeness of Bitcoin.org. No reason for him to start now.

Also hard to know what's acceptable and what isn't in the Chinese business environment. I kind of get the feeling blowing up one another's grandmothers attracts little more than a shrug. And I wonder whether having the right officials on your side means an automatic win.

What dilemma?

Cobra said he has someone lined up to take it over who is a longstanding figure in Bitcoin. Dunno who they are but he got this far without throwing it away. I expect he'll choose the right person to continue it.

I still think it should be trashed or turned into a gurning dimwit of a site.

https://twitter.com/DoveyWan/status/1280339529010868224

Looks like Micree Thingy may have completed his oust.

I know many of you looked to Jihan for guidance and leadership in the dark years. If he comes calling on you for succour then you know what to do.

Can you point to anywhere that mentions that?

I've well and truly never seen a mention of its location or ownership ever and no shortage of people have wanted to know. All of those elements can be moved easily enough too.

Yes. The whole thing must have cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars at least. Perhaps there is an amazing plan that will come to fruition that we're not capable of comprehending right now. I severely doubt it but stranger things have happened.

I would love to know their motivation. If they had told anyone they were planning to buy their way to a functioning forum anyone could've told them that idea was doomed before it started.

It's going to be an interesting psychological experiment. Part of me thinks they'll be lucky if 5% of the users stick around until then, another part wonders whether they're that deluded they'll think they'll get rich and stick around.

Perhaps the entire thing is some social scientist's PhD project.

An awful lot more trouble than it's worth. If it was a Ledger you'd only have a few attempts to crack the pin before it's bricked. If it's a Trezor each failed attempt takes longer before you can try again until it stretches out to months between attempts.

I would assume the average customs agent knows nothing about how hardware wallets work so it's possible they tried. If they did then it's a pointless exercise.

It's just as likely a clueless and dishonest employee somewhere had a fiddle too.

But let us be honest, many a crypto user is so mindless they'll assume ANY supposed stablecoin they're presented with in the wallet they're using is the real deal. I wonder how many of them realise you're supposed to have real money behind them.

That reminds me of this exchange - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZSOB-bUwCU&t=15m35s

That Pompliano bloke seems to spend his entire life talking into someone's microphone.

One special day we will be beyond minor celeb excitement being newsworthy. I'm looking forward to it.

Yup. Which is why they should take their own sweet time doing it and tell customers it'll happen when it happens. In this case it clearly has happened and they did it for their own benefit rather than the actual owner of the cashola.