...then they laugh at you... - London City banksters make their position clear

[thoughtfan]

I'm referring to the two pronged attack on Bitcoin last night/this morning by the FT and the BBC in their Financial News.

So far for the large part the City ignored Bitcoin as per Ghandi's quote so it is clear to me we are moving forward if they have got to the next stage, that of laughing at us This of course only leaves 'then they fight you' and 'then you win'

I will admit after the New Yorker piece the other day I would have thought the FT would have been a bit less one-sided but it is clear it is designed as a deliberate hit piece.

I saw the BBC one last night and will draw attention to a nail-on-the-head comment by youtube user 'droow' who commented: 'That woman is Angela Knight, the old boss of the British Banking Association. No wonder she doesn't want it to work. She's as much of a crook as the rest of them. She was the one who was wheeled out on the news to defend the ridiculous bankers bonuses.
"no assetts behind it" !!!! What you mean like the banks that leveraged 30x their deposits??'

So why did they do it?  

Let's get the conspiracy theory out of the way first:  They're doing it to trigger a sharp downturn so that they can get in!  I wouldn't entirely rule it out but I'd say probably not.

More likely I think is they don't like it, see it as a threat but also love the graph they can recognise from their economics studies of bubbles and naiively believe if they slap it down now they will set the scene for the 'one scandal' that apparently Bitcon is away from 'collapsing entirely'.

I am of the opinion both these pieces are a good thing for Bitcoin right now for two reasons:

i) It's a bit of a tall order but it would be nice if reverberations of bubble warnings got to the ears and got those who are about to chuck large lumps of money without thinking the risks through enough may not.  I would rather they didn't or only put a smaller amount in because it is these types who are most likely to lose their nerve when in disbelief they see the 'ever up' chart go downwards and panic sell thus exacerbating the plummet.  If fewer of these do it the buying frenzy may slow down somewhat which gives more opportunity for weak hands to get out with less damage and for a wider base of newcomers coming in at a better rate.

ii) The other thing I'm delighted about is those most likely to listen to the banksters are other banksters and if they laugh and stay away for the time being it will also prolong the opportunity for more of the likes of you and me to get on board before the big money hits and drives up the price.  Also I really like the idea of the poetic justice were a significant proportion of the population to get on board before them because the benefit of the increase in value through their money would somewhat offset the value they sucked out of the economy with their antics in recent years with fiat!

Just some thoughts

[Manstef]

I met a friend of a friend last night who works as a bond trader for one of the French banks in the city of London.

He said that he had his eye on BTC for over a year but doesn't draw any interest from his peers despite numerous attempts.
After he found out I had some coin he conceded he would put a monkey into bitcoin.

I believe were before the big money stage, yet I have seen one or two articles about hedge fund managers expressing an interest, point being that they haven't yet as their current portfolios drown the entire bitcoin market and they couldn't justify having less than a 1% share as part of the portfolio.

So what do we do to prevent the big money sucking everything out of our lifeline?

I reckon publicising it to your friends and family is key.

I must have told about 5-7 different friends and family about it and they are all interested. People love the idea, and that's what's going to keep this thing clean. That's whats going to prevent a 'bubble'.

My advice, see if you can get friend or family to move over a small, non risky amount of coin. If we all got at least one, if not more people on board, we'd have a viable, clean currency really quickly IMHO

[Killdozer]

People love the idea, and that's what's going to keep this thing clean. That's whats going to prevent a 'bubble'.

This makes no sense at all. Loving the idea has nothing to do with whether a bubble will be created or not. I bet all the people in the Holland bubble 400 years ago also loved the idea of getting rich on tulips, but so what?

[Manstef]

People love the idea, and that's what's going to keep this thing clean. That's whats going to prevent a 'bubble'.

This makes no sense at all. Loving the idea has nothing to do with whether a bubble will be created or not. I bet all the people in the Holland bubble 400 years ago also loved the idea of getting rich on tulips, but so what?

Course it does, people put misplaced trust in bubbles, BTCs are bult on absolute trust. And while they are traded on their fiat value, which they seem to be at the moment, people will always be able to opt in from the current system at any point. This is an adoption phase, sure the fiat value will go down over time but that's based on the premise all people will sell their BTC for fiat, which I strongly believe they wont.

Sure they might make a buck or two, but the reason most early adopters are in this is to change the way money works. I don't know for sure but I'd say this is the decline of current currencies, and the beginning of new ones. Basically, I have a lot more faith in BTC than $ for sure.

Tulips, houses, stock have a finite lifespan by the way, BTCs don't.

[Herodes]

I'm referring to the two pronged attack on Bitcoin last night/this morning by the FT and the BBC in their Financial News.

So far for the large part the City ignored Bitcoin as per Ghandi's quote so it is clear to me we are moving forward if they have got to the next stage, that of laughing at us

It's great! We're on their radar. Let's see who laughs last!

[Killdozer]

You don't seem to have much knowledge about how the world works.

Course it does, people put misplaced trust in bubbles, BTCs are bult on absolute trust.

This is nonsense as well, there is no such thing as absolute trust. If there was for example, no one would sell any bitcoins.

And while they are traded on their fiat value, which they seem to be at the moment, people will always be able to opt in from the current system at any point.

Aaaand the difference to tulips in this aspect is??
People were also able to opt in at any point and they were also traded in fiat...

This is an adoption phase, sure the fiat value will go down over time but that's based on the premise all people will sell their BTC for fiat, which I strongly believe they wont.

Take a look at an exchange. Each time there is a deal, that means that somebody is selling bitcoins. For fiat. Your theory doesn't hold much in practice...

Sure they might make a buck or two, but the reason most early adopters are in this is to change the way money works. I don't know for sure but I'd say this is the decline of current currencies, and the beginning of new ones. Basically, I have a lot more faith in BTC than $ for sure.

In what possible way does this statement support your idea of preventing bubbles? This could easily mean that more early adopters are coming today, and tomorrow a lot of them think that the price is too high, and down it goes.

The bitcoin replacing old currencies in the long run has nothing to do with bubbles creating and blowing all the way up to that point...

Tulips, houses, stock have a finite lifespan by the way, BTCs don't.

This isn't based on anything and just makes no sense. Nobody knows the lifespan of bitcoins, and compared to for example gold or some stocks, it has a very short history... Even if you are thinking like this, most proper smart investors don't, which, again, you can see on an exchange which clearly shows that there are a lot of people that are selling bitcoins.

[glub0x]

I must have told about 5-7 different friends and family about it and they are all interested.

I'm very curious of what you told them to make them invest. I personally failed very hard as a bitcoin evangelist so i stopped and enjoyed the ride.

[Gabi]

This is a weird situation. A bubble is a bubble because the price is too high than the fundamentals. The 2000 dotcom bubble was a bubble not because the internet was a fail, but simply because back then there weren't all the fundamentals and infrastructures that there are today for the internet. It took 10 years for it to transform from bubble to reality and even better. Today internet is much better and much more used than anyone in 2000 even dreamed  Smartphones in 2000? 
Same for bitcoin, even if it is a bit different. Price is skyrocketing BUT our infrastructures, services, shops, whatelse are growing and getting bigger and bigger.

[alexeft]

"no assetts behind it" !!!! What you mean like the banks that leveraged 30x their deposits??'

Exactly!!! What a bunch of liars hiding the truth in cryptic terminology!!!

[mobile4ever]

I believe were before the big money stage,

I believe you are right on target.


The best way to win with these new money laws that we are making is to keep making the laws. Some people just want to be head, to control, just because it is their nature to do so. Its too late for them.

[mai77]

if Obama wants to take my bitcoins away from me, he's got to pry it from my cold dead thumbdrives!

[cbeast]

if Obama wants to take my bitcoins away from me, he got to pry it from my cold dead thumbdrives!

He'll have to extract them from my m-of-n brainwallets with multiple decoy nested cipher keys. Hell, he couldn't even crack my buried keys. 

[Manstef]

You don't seem to have much knowledge about how the world works.

You're right, I don't, can you please explain it all to me :s

Course it does, people put misplaced trust in bubbles, BTCs are bult on absolute trust.

This is nonsense as well, there is no such thing as absolute trust. If there was for example, no one would sell any bitcoins.

in context, we were talking about trust in finances, i should've clarified

And while they are traded on their fiat value, which they seem to be at the moment, people will always be able to opt in from the current system at any point.

Aaaand the difference to tulips in this aspect is??
People were also able to opt in at any point and they were also traded in fiat...

A BTC noob could buy a couple of bitcoins now and still pay the same as the fiat value for goods and services (providing there isn't a major change in the meantime)

This is an adoption phase, sure the fiat value will go down over time but that's based on the premise all people will sell their BTC for fiat, which I strongly believe they wont.

Take a look at an exchange. Each time there is a deal, that means that somebody is selling bitcoins. For fiat. Your theory doesn't hold much in practice...

on the exchange yes, not when they buy a pizza though

Sure they might make a buck or two, but the reason most early adopters are in this is to change the way money works. I don't know for sure but I'd say this is the decline of current currencies, and the beginning of new ones. Basically, I have a lot more faith in BTC than $ for sure.

In what possible way does this statement support your idea of preventing bubbles? This could easily mean that more early adopters are coming today, and tomorrow a lot of them think that the price is too high, and down it goes.

By your definitition inflation of a currency is a bubble

The bitcoin replacing old currencies in the long run has nothing to do with bubbles creating and blowing all the way up to that point...

Tulips, houses, stock have a finite lifespan by the way, BTCs don't.

This isn't based on anything and just makes no sense. Nobody knows the lifespan of bitcoins, and compared to for example gold or some stocks, it has a very short history... Even if you are thinking like this, most proper smart investors don't, which, again, you can see on an exchange which clearly shows that there are a lot of people that are selling bitcoins.

Well if you do have the please make that promise of teaching me about the world, this would be much simpler then.

By the way, do you write for the FT?

[Manstef]

I must have told about 5-7 different friends and family about it and they are all interested.

I'm very curious of what you told them to make them invest. I personally failed very hard as a bitcoin evangelist so i stopped and enjoyed the ride.

Just told them what I've learnt in the last few months, actually amazed they listened.

I suppose I didn't set out as an evangelical, more started the conversation to gauge their reaction, not least as two were junior investment bankers, uiy