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61  Economy / Economics / Pranksters got Ch. Lagarde (ECB) to admit Digital Euro will be about tracking on: April 07, 2023, 05:41:02 PM

Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank, got pranked by pranksters posing as Ukraine's president V. Zelensky.
In the interview she gave, she admits that the Digital Euro will be all about tracking and control.

source tweet: https://twitter.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/1644116706544189441

full video: https://rumble.com/v2ddlps-prank-with-the-president-of-the-european-central-bank-christine-lagarde.html
62  Economy / Speculation / MicroStrategy Buys Another 1,045 bitcoins for $29.3m on: April 05, 2023, 08:43:38 PM

As in topic's subject: MicroStrategy Buys Another 1,045 bitcoins for $29.3m:

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/04/05/microstrategy-buys-another-1045-bitcoin-for-239m/

^ in the article there's a typo, they've spent $29.3m not $23.9m.

https://twitter.com/saylor/status/1643586872839471105?t=L7IzW6T8ltWlRp-9pB3Oow&s=19

How does it make you feel that the company that is not doing very in terms of operating profitability is further increasing its exposure to Bitcoin, and now sits at 140,000 bitcoins. I'm a little uncortable with a thought that if things go further south for them, they might be forced to dump it all on the market.
63  Other / Meta / Advertising on the forum no longer supported? on: March 30, 2023, 06:24:38 PM
I came back to bitcointalk in December 2022 after few years break. Today I realised that there doesn't seem to be any forum ads. I checked Theymos' post history and looks like the last ad auction round was 353 from July 2022.

Has the forum officially ceased selling ads? Can anyone explain what was the logic behind that decision (or just link me to relevant post)?

Is the forum only generating revenue from donations now? Doesn't seem like a viable business model.
64  Economy / Speculation / Crypto traders beaten by girls on: March 29, 2023, 09:27:20 PM
"Singaporean women ‘outperforming’ men in crypto trades, survey reveals"
https://cointelegraph.com/news/singaporean-women-outperforming-men-in-crypto-trades-survey-reveals

The dawn of mankind is officially here. A recent poll from Singapore revealed that women managed to outperform men in the manliest games of all - crypto trading:
"As per the survey data, 76% of women reported either making money or breaking even on their crypto investments, compared to just 72% of men"

Since it looks like the answers were self-reported, there's a chance that women may not be telling the truth, to make themselves look better. But maybe there's something in the female approach to trading that would explain it (i.e. higher risk aversion?).



Link to the original survey: https://www.independentreserve.com/blog/news/independent-reserve-cryptocurrency-index-irci-singapore-2023
There's a downloadable pdf, they're asking for name/email but don't verify, so you can put anything.

65  Economy / Speculation / 23 March 2023: SEC issues official warning to crypto investors on: March 24, 2023, 10:00:42 PM
"Exercise Caution with Crypto Asset Securities: Investor Alert"

https://www.sec.gov/oiea/investor-alerts-and-bulletins/exercise-caution-crypto-asset-securities-investor-alert


Quote
TLDR:  The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy continues to urge investors to be cautious if considering an investment involving crypto asset securities.  Investments in crypto asset securities can be exceptionally volatile and speculative, and the platforms where investors buy, sell, borrow, or lend these securities may lack important protections for investors.  The risk of loss for individual investors who participate in transactions involving crypto assets, including crypto asset securities, remains significant.  The only money you should put at risk with any speculative investment is money you can afford to lose entirely.

This whole statement sounds innocent and, in a sense, as pretty good and sensible advice to investors, but is probably an indication of future actions relating to US crypto crack-down.
Bitcoin doesn't seem to be in a direct thread, but if they go after stablecoins (to kill the competition and make a room for CBDC) the entire market will likely get hit.

66  Bitcoin / Bitcoin Discussion / Signature Bank didn't collapse. It got killed. [SEC Vs Crypto] on: March 24, 2023, 09:53:06 PM

I wasn't very fond of Coin Bureau youtube channel for them being notorious in shilling various altcoins, but they seemed to improve a lot and are doing pretty solid homework on legal and regulatory issues relating to Bitcoin and crypto in general.

Here's their recent video on (crypto-friendly) Signature Bank, which shows some nuances that you won't hear in the mainstream media and is related to the wider crypto crack-down (aka operation Choke Point 2.0)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YZ6TG3iXKU

Short summary (generated by Merlin tool):

✦ Signature Bank, the final pro-crypto bank in the US, was shut down by regulators despite being solvent.
✦ Signature bank developed Signet, a platform to transfer US Dollars 24/7 for its crypto clients.
✦ Signet and Silvergate are two pro-crypto banks with overlapping client bases, but differences in their service offerings.
✦ Signature Bank shut down by NYDFS, causing huge issues for crypto companies.
✦ Regulators targeted Signature Bank due to its Signet platform.
✦ The FED may be threatened by private sector competition.
✦ US regulators are targeting stablecoins as their final crypto competitor to crush.
✦ Global Crackdown on crypto may happen this summer.

Really good watch and puts things into perspective.
67  Bitcoin / Press / [2023-03-21] Forbes: $14 Trillion Earthquake: Fidelity And BlackRock Are Quietly on: March 21, 2023, 10:28:40 PM

$14 Trillion Earthquake: Fidelity And BlackRock Are Quietly Laying The Groundwork For The Next Bitcoin, Ethereum And Crypto Price Bull Run

https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2023/03/21/14-trillion-earthquake-fidelity-and-blackrock-are-quietly-laying-the-groundwork-for-the-next-bitcoin-ethereum-and-crypto-price-bull-run/?sh=540efc356759

Quote
The bitcoin price has added around 70% since the beginning of the year as traders brace for a potential Federal Reserve u-turn, helping the ethereum price rally.

Amid the brutal crypto winter that's erased almost $2 trillion of value from the market, two of the world's largest financial institutions with a combined $14 trillion in assets under management—Fidelity and BlackRock—are quietly expanding into the world of bitcoin, ethereum and cryptocurrency.
(...)
Last year, Fink predicted crypto's blockchain technology will usher in "the next generation for markets" after signing a major deal with bitcoin and crypto exchange Coinbase.

Meanwhile, Fidelity Investments has now opened up its crypto trading platform to its 37 million users to buy and sell bitcoin and ethereum commission-free, it was first reported by The Block.

To be fair, I don't recall ever hearing about Fidelity Investments before, but if that's true that they introduced Bitcoin and crypto to their 37 million user base at the beginning of March, that could've surely added some fuel to the recent mini-pump.
68  Bitcoin / Press / [2023-03-15] Forbes - How Africans Are Using Bitcoin Without Internet Access on: March 17, 2023, 10:31:01 PM
An interesting read from 2 days ago on how bitcoin transactions can be done using USSD protocol instead of the internet. It's more of a novelty as currently less than 3,000 users and this form of sending information is not encrypted, therefore not very safe - but still interesting.

How Africans Are Using Bitcoin Without Internet Access

https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2023/03/15/how-africans-are-using-bitcoin-without-internet-access/

Quote
There’s a growing population of Africans without reliable internet access that are still using bitcoin for peer-to-peer transactions thanks to a solution called Machankura.

In 2022, South African software developer Kgothatso Ngako built a tool, Machankura, for accessing bitcoin despite the continent’s mobile internet connectivity challenge. It offers a way to access the Lightning Network through an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data interface, utilizing mobile phones’ Subscriber Identity Module telecommunication network. USSD is similar to Interactive Voice Response. (...)
69  Bitcoin / Press / [2023-03-07] FT: Can bitcoin hedge inflation, and other questions to which the.. on: March 07, 2023, 11:24:14 PM
Hot off the press, a short article from the Financial Times. Nothing new here, just FT not being very fond of crypto again. The author included a few interesting links in the text, which are pretty interesting.

Can bitcoin hedge inflation, and other questions to which the answer is no

https://www.ft.com/content/f1ec9df0-091f-4e13-b7b7-cb53df3c9478

Quote
Paris-based Amundi can appear a bit bipolar about crypto. Last February it was reportedly investigating how to sell NFTs to clients while warning them about the “potentially destabilising systemic risk” of stablecoins. Former chief investment officer Pascal Blanqué called bitcoin a “farce”; his successor Vincent Mortier is more amenable:

“If inflation remains above central banks’ targets, bitcoin’s limited supply may start to attract more attention,” write Mortier and strategist Tristan Perrier:

While bitcoin spectacularly failed to protect investors against galloping inflation in 2021-22, this was a period of dramatic rises in policy and market interest rates that pressured all asset classes. If inflation is high, but not rising, nominal interest rates will also likely stop climbing and may even fall a little. This is a much more favourable environment for an asset whose supply is finite and that has a long duration in essence, as its main attraction is its future potential rather than its current status.
(...)
70  Bitcoin / Press / [2023-03-01] Forbes - The Nigerian Election And Naira Crisis Are Fueling Bitcoin on: March 01, 2023, 10:31:55 PM
Another Bitcoin-related piece from Forbes today. SHTF scenarios like this one really highlight Bitcoin's true potential as censorship-free digital cash.

The Nigerian Election And Naira Crisis Are Fueling Bitcoin Adoption

https://www.forbes.com/sites/abubakarnurkhalil/2023/03/01/nigerian-election-and-naira-crisis-is-fueling-bitcoin-adoption/?sh=5a7ba7ed35d4

Quote
The recent economic cash crisis in Nigeria, caused by the naira redesign, political climate, and economic conditions, has increased bitcoin's value proposition for average Nigerians. In Africa, bitcoin offers an indispensable financial safe haven.

Key Facts:
  • The naira redesign has exacerbated the current economic hardship faced by Nigerians and increased pressure on the unbanked.
  • Nigerians headed to the polls on Saturday to decide the next leader of Africa’s largest democracy, with economic challenges being top of mind.
  • Given the current economic climate, bitcoin is viewed by many Nigerians—especially amongst the younger generation—as a safe haven for both the underbanked and unbanked as economic conditions worsen.
(...)
71  Bitcoin / Press / [2023-03-01] Forbes - A Beginner’s Guide To The Controversy Over Bitcoin NFTs on: March 01, 2023, 10:20:35 PM

A Beginner’s Guide To The Controversy Over Bitcoin NFTs

https://www.forbes.com/sites/granteasterbrook/2023/03/01/a-beginners-guide-to-the-controversy-over-bitcoin-nfts/?sh=309b6ec24fb3

Quote
If you’ve been paying attention to the crypto industry for the last few weeks, you’ve probably seen headlines related to the controversy over NFTs on the Bitcoin blockchain. Some passionate members of the Bitcoin community are upset over this development and are strongly opposed to NFTs hosted on the Bitcoin blockchain.

In order to explain this dispute, it is first necessary to provide some background on how Bitcoin and blockchain databases work. A traditional bank spends massive amounts of money maintaining a database of their customer’s assets and transactions. For example, the Bank of America IT department maintains a database that tracks all of the money held by the firm’s 54 million customers. (...)
72  Bitcoin / Legal / SEC Chair Gensler confirms "everything other than Bitcoin is a security" on: February 25, 2023, 11:41:16 PM


https://twitter.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/1629573858104582144
Source: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/02/gary-gensler-on-meeting-with-sbf-and-his-crypto-crackdown.html

Is Gensler "our guy" now?

How do anti-altcoiners feel about this?
73  Bitcoin / Press / [2023-02-24] CNBC -For the Black community, bitcoin represents an opportunity... on: February 24, 2023, 11:57:30 PM
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/24/for-the-black-community-bitcoin-represents-an-opportunity-for-wealth-preservation.html

For the Black community, bitcoin represents an opportunity for wealth preservation

Quote
The bitcoin narrative has veered far away from early investors’ vision of it enabling economic freedom, at least in the U.S. But for many in the Black community, that narrative is still alive and it’s imperative that people stay focused on it.

Bitcoin’s core values – decentralization, censorship resistance, its peer-to-peer nature – get pushed to the side time and again as the industry tries to grow in a world run by intermediary institutions. Opening an account at a centralized exchange like Coinbase or Kraken (or, until recently, FTX) is the easiest and most common way to get into crypto. And it’s safe to bet most people are playing the speculation game, trading crypto on an exchange instead of transacting directly with another person as bitcoin was intended.
74  Bitcoin / Development & Technical Discussion / "Bitcoin’s Future Hinges on Donations, and That’s Got People Worried" on: February 24, 2023, 10:18:14 PM
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/bitcoin-future-hinges-donations-got-194653381.html
Quote
This concept seems counter to how the majority of blockchain networks approach funding. Most so-called decentralized networks are governed and funded by central foundations.

Ethereum, for example, was pre-mined via the second largest crowdsale on the Internet at the time and ongoing development is mostly funded by the Ethereum Foundation which held $1.6 billion in its coffers last year.

Bitcoin doesn’t have $1.6 billion lying around to fund development. A rough back-of- the-envelope calculation indicates $150 million to $200 million would be required every year to fund development in the entire Bitcoin ecosystem (assuming 1,000 developers receiving Google’s average $150,000 to $200,000 annual compensation for software engineers).

Is Bitcoin development being dependent on funding from crypto-businesses a potential threat? What's the worst that could happen if the funding dries up and there are only a handful of dedicated devs dedicating only their spare time? Will Bitcoin survive?

I think the $150-$200 mil/year to maintain the entire ecosystem is likely exaggerated, but what's the minimum level of funding, if any?
75  Economy / Speculation / All of the World’s Money and Markets in One Visualization on: February 15, 2023, 09:36:44 PM

I haven't seen anyone posting this before, but in November 2022 visualcapitalist.com released a new visualisation/infographic of the world's most popular market caps and money supply. This is really a great way to put things into perspective and understand how different markets compare to each other:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/all-of-the-worlds-money-and-markets-in-one-visualization-2022/

For comparison, the previous one from 2020: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/all-of-the-worlds-money-and-markets-in-one-visualization-2020/

The entire thing is to large to post it all here, but here are a few snippets:







If Bitcoin was to achieve a price of $1 million per coin, the market cap would be $19.3 trillion. Doable?
76  Bitcoin / Bitcoin Discussion / Operation Chokepoint 2.0 (Biden's administration quitet ban on crypto) on: February 14, 2023, 10:00:31 PM
Around 2013 Obama's administration launched the original, controversial operation Chokepoint when many businesses, despite operating fully legally, started losing access to banking services forcing many of them to shut down. That crackdown was not conducted by any formal, voted-for legislation, but was done indirectly by putting pressure on banks to cease support for specific types of businesses.
You can read about that in this 2014 thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=616603.0

Fast forward 10 years: Biden's administration (who was a vice president under Obama for those who don't know) is trying to do the same to the crypto sector. This is nicely explained by Nic Carter in this article:
https://www.piratewires.com/p/crypto-choke-point

Or this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV1jp4FrKlU

Also mentioned by Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2023/02/09/us-accused-of-trying-to-quietly-ban-bitcoin-ethereum-and-crypto/
77  Bitcoin / Mining / Are you hodling your old usb ASIC miners? on: February 10, 2023, 11:47:42 PM
Just came across this and thought I'd share. Apparently those bad boys are now going for ~£100 each as collectibles. I knew this will happen eventually Cheesy



I remember paying £10 (incl. postage) for mine in 2014, so that's an impressive return of over 25% p.a.
But I'm not selling. Ever.
78  Economy / Exchanges / [2023-02-09] - Crypto exchange Kraken ends staking programme and pays $30mn in.. on: February 09, 2023, 11:09:18 PM

Crypto exchange Kraken ends staking programme and pays $30mn in SEC case

https://www.ft.com/content/77312c18-899f-4460-a858-fe5439373cb5

Quote
Crypto exchange Kraken will discontinue its crypto staking programme and pay $30mn in a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as the regulator expands its crackdown on digital assets.

The settlement resolves claims from the SEC that Kraken — one of the best-known exchanges in the crypto industry — failed to register the offer and sale of their crypto asset programme. Investors would transfer crypto to Kraken, “staking” their tokens, in exchange for returns of up to as much as 21 per cent, the regulator said.

Kraken sold digital asset “staking services” to the public starting in 2019 and has marketed its staking investment scheme as “an easy-to-use platform”, the SEC said. By April last year, US investors had poured more than $2.7bn worth of crypto assets into the company’s staking scheme, which has earned Kraken approximately $147mn in net revenue since its launch, according to the agency.
...
79  Other / Meta / Forum activity by year - Chart 2009-2022 on: January 24, 2023, 10:11:57 PM

source: ninjastic.space

I was compiling the forum activity stats for my own amusement and thought I may just as well share them here (as couldn't find any similar topic).

What strikes me the most here is the enormous levels of activity in 2017 and most of all, 2018. This cannot be a coincidence and there's got to be a reason behind it. I reckon the simplest explanation would be the 2017 rally to almost $20k region (in December 2017) sparking massive interest in BTC and by extent - this forum. But it doesn't really add up, as for most of 2018 the price was free falling and the enthusiasm couldn't be too high. Also, we didn't see any significant increase with the 2021 pump.

Any theories?
80  Economy / Exchanges / Binance P2P - any experience/opinions? on: January 23, 2023, 09:20:41 PM
Some time ago I started to entertain the idea of becoming a seller on the Binance P2P Trading platform, but not sure if it's worth it, and to be fair, I don't quite understand that market.

I can get the technicalities from Binance FAQs and guidance, but struggling to understand who would actually use P2P Trading for buying, as it seems more expensive than the traditional way of using bank cards or fiat deposits. Is it targeted at people from jurisdictions where banks are banning transfers to crypto exchanges?

Has anyone ever used Binance P2P at all and would like to share their experience? Any feedback, whether from buyers or sellers, is welcome.
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