Wall Observer BTC/USD - Bitcoin price movement tracking & discussion

[Three Millionth User]

Someone please clarify me this: has BlackRock made it official that they are interested in bitcoin? Please don't reply with a tweet. I mean actual announcement by something like blackrock.com.

Halving is coming soon, that's why I see the guys at Citadel shitting in their pants 

[BobLawblaw]

Why the fuck is there so much drama in this place? It's like the toxic corner of bitcointalk. We should be celebrating the $35k.

Compared to the "good old days" on this forum, this place is like Disneyland.

I pen this missive with a heart heavy with disappointment, fingers trembling with indignant fury, as I cast my weary gaze upon what once was a bastion of perspicacity, the Wall Observer thread, now reduced to a mere shadow of its former glory. As a denizen of the earliest epochs of this hallowed congregation, I stand before you to deliver a scathing exegesis on the lamentable decline in the quality of discourse that has besieged our once noble thread, diluting its substance and sullying its legacy.

I recall, with a nostalgia that pains me to my very core, the halcyon days when the Wall Observer thread was the epitome of Bitcoin commentary, a beacon of sagacity amidst the turbulent seas of the cryptocurrency domain. It was a place where the brightest minds congregated, where the keenest intellects shared their prognostications, unfettered by the vacuous banter that plagues the thread in this current era of derision.

The descent into mediocrity did not occur overnight. It was a gradual corrosion, a silent pestilence that crept upon us, insidious and unheralded. Where once lay thoughtful analysis, now resides a wasteland of memes and the incessant prattle of dilettantes. The signal-to-noise ratio has been thoroughly inverted, and we, the erstwhile guardians of the Observer's sanctity, find ourselves adrift in an interminable quagmire of ineptitude.

To delineate the very nature of this decay is to relive the agony of a thousand capitulations. There was a time when each new post was a potential vessel of enlightenment, where graphs and charts were not mere adornments but sacred texts to be pored over and debated with a reverence befitting the Delphic oracles. Now, these same charts are paraded with reckless abandon, devoid of context, accompanied by vapid exhortations to 'HODL' as if this constituted the sum total of wisdom.

The current denizens of the Wall Observer, many of whom can scarcely recall the days when a Bitcoin could be procured for a sum that would now scarcely suffice to purchase a lamentable latte at a bourgeois coffee establishment, seem content to wallow in this mire of mediocrity. They engage in circular discussions that are as fruitless as they are fatiguing, retreading the same trodden paths with a stubbornness that borders on the Sisyphean.

Moreover, the thread has become the haunt of prophets of doom, who emerge from their lairs with the regularity of clockwork, foretelling the demise of Bitcoin with the glee of a zealot. Each fluctuation in price is met with the shrill cacophony of their cries, forecasting the end times with a fervor that would make a millenarian cult blush. And when their prophecies inevitably fail to materialize, do they retreat in shame? No, they do not. They slink into the shadows, only to re-emerge with renewed vigor at the next sign of turbulence.

Let us not neglect to mention the incessant barrage of off-topic drivel that now permeates the thread. Where once we engaged in robust dialogue concerning the philosophical underpinnings of a decentralized economy, now we must wade through the muck and mire of irrelevant anecdotes, political screeds, and the banal minutiae of personal lives. This thread was once the equivalent of the Agora for the digital age, a place of exchange and intellectual commerce. Now, it has been reduced to a virtual tavern, where the inane banter of inebriates drowns out the voices of reason.

The degradation of content is mirrored by an equal decline in camaraderie and respect. Where disagreement once fostered discussion and growth, it now begets hostility and division. The communal spirit that bound us, that made the Wall Observer more than a mere collection of posts but a fellowship of pioneers, has been sundered by pettiness and ego.

As for the moderators, those who were entrusted with the sacred duty of maintaining order and quality, they have been rendered impotent by the sheer volume of dross that floods the thread. One cannot help but sympathize with their plight, for they are but Sisyphus pushing the boulder uphill, their efforts undone with each passing moment by the relentless tide of triviality.

What then, is the recourse for those of us who yearn for the renaissance of the Wall Observer? Shall we abandon the forum to the jackals and the hyenas, who pick at the carcass of what was once a feast for the intellect? Or shall we stand and fight, a bulwark against the tide, a beacon of hope in this darkest of ages?

I assert that we must choose the latter. It falls upon us, the veterans, the vanguards of the old guard, to reclaim the sanctity of the Wall Observer. We must once again elevate the discourse, challenge the sophistry, and foster an environment where wisdom can flourish. We must be relentless in our pursuit of excellence, intolerant of mediocrity, and uncompromising in our values.

In conclusion, the Wall Observer thread is not beyond salvation, but its redemption requires an act of collective will, a conscious effort to restore its former grandeur. Let us therefore cast aside the yoke of complacency, gird ourselves for the task ahead, and resurrect the golden age of intellectual prosperity that once defined this noble thread.

[BobLawblaw]

Most likely some AI creation, but no matter...quite to the point.
Makes me think that very very soon we would not be able to distinguish.

Pretty sure entire text is made from A.I assistance. Bob's type of writing and grammar is usually different.

GPT4 and DALLE3 are hella fun, NGL...

[ChartBuddy]

Explanation
Chartbuddy thanks talkimg.com

[xhomerx10]

Most likely some AI creation, but no matter...quite to the point.
Makes me think that very very soon we would not be able to distinguish.

Pretty sure entire text is made from A.I assistance. Bob's type of writing and grammar is usually different.

GPT4 and DALLE3 are hella fun, NGL...

 NGL reminds me of The Toadies - Possum Kingdom.

https://youtu.be/EkwD5rQ-_d4?si=tepr1jnTubhzmUSy

I love that song.

edit: Sorry.  That youtube link seems to be IP limited to the USA; here's another that isn't(?)

https://youtu.be/zm-QI2_i2oQ?si=ik3o3-OXFRAv8okl

[goldkingcoiner]

Most likely some AI creation, but no matter...quite to the point.
Makes me think that very very soon we would not be able to distinguish.

Pretty sure entire text is made from A.I assistance. Bob's type of writing and grammar is usually different.

GPT4 and DALLE3 are hella fun, NGL...

Knowing it is AI text makes me not want to read it, though. It feels like a waste of my time.

[ChartBuddy]

Explanation
Chartbuddy thanks talkimg.com

[philipma1957]

Most likely some AI creation, but no matter...quite to the point.
Makes me think that very very soon we would not be able to distinguish.

Pretty sure entire text is made from A.I assistance. Bob's type of writing and grammar is usually different.

GPT4 and DALLE3 are hella fun, NGL...

Knowing it is AI text makes me not want to read it, though. It feels like a waste of my time.

It is simply a path to the truth.

like it or not We are all in the matrix.

[ChartBuddy]

Explanation
Chartbuddy thanks talkimg.com

[xhomerx10]

Guilty!

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/sam-bankman-fried-trial-verdict-reached-federal-fraud/story?id=104520346

" He could face a sentence of up to 110 years in prison.

A jury has found FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried guilty on all charges in his federal fraud and conspiracy trial.

The jury deliberated for a little over four hours before reaching a verdict on Thursday.

"We will have decorum in the courtroom when the verdict is announced," Judge Lewis Kaplan said before the reading.

Bankman-Fried, 31, sat motionless at the defense table in an ill-fitting grey suit. He was made to stand and face the jury for the reading. He showed no emotion.

Bankman-Fried was charged with seven counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering in what federal prosecutors have described as "one of the biggest financial frauds in American history."

He was accused of using customer deposits on the crypto trading platform FTX to cover losses at his hedge fund, pay off loans and buy lavish real estate, among other personal expenses.

He pleaded not guilty to all counts. With the conviction on all charges, he could face a sentence of up to 110 years in prison. His sentencing was scheduled for March 28, 2024.

Judge Kaplan said a second trial of counts that had been severed is currently scheduled for March 11, 2024.

"I would tell the government to let me know by Feb. 1 whether that's going to proceed," the judge said.

Bankman-Fried stepped down from his role at FTX in November 2022 amid a rapid collapse that ended with the company -- once valued at $32 billion at its peak -- declaring bankruptcy. Prosecutors charged Bankman-Fried the following month with an array of alleged crimes focused on a scheme to defraud investors.

During the month-long trial in Manhattan federal court, the prosecution laid out the case that this was an elaborate and intentional fraud, while the defense tried to deflect blame for the FTX collapse and characterized Bankman-Fried as a naïve math geek.

While testifying in his own defense, Bankman-Fried conceded on the witness stand that he made mistakes but said he committed no fraud.

Bankman-Fried also testified that he only learned two months before FTX collapsed into bankruptcy that Alameda had spent $8 billion of FTX customer funds.

Caroline Ellison, the former co-chief executive of Alameda and Bankman-Fried's ex-girlfriend, previously pleaded guilty to criminal charges and testified under a cooperation agreement with prosecutors. She has testified that she committed fraud with Bankman-Fried and at his direction.

Ellison additionally testified that Bankman-Fried believed in utilitarianism and thought rules against lying or stealing inhibited his ability to maximize the greatest benefit for the most people.

FTX co-founder Gary Wang also admitted to committing wire fraud, securities fraud and commodities fraud with other people, including Bankman-Fried, during his testimony. Wang agreed to testify under an agreement with the government after previously pleading guilty to fraud charges."

[lightfoot]

Time for ass pounding prison. Good, fraud is fraud.

[lightfoot]

Knowing it is AI text makes me not want to read it, though. It feels like a waste of my time.

I think he just loaded all of his old comments into an AI and out came that.

As an investor of evidently superior intellect and foresight

Yeah, that's Bob :-)

[philipma1957]

Knowing it is AI text makes me not want to read it, though. It feels like a waste of my time.

I think he just loaded all of his old comments into an AI and out came that.

As an investor of evidently superior intellect and foresight

Yeah, that's Bob :-)

bob certainly did far better than I did. likely less effort and certainly far more personal value generated Than I ever did.

[ChartBuddy]

Explanation
Chartbuddy thanks talkimg.com

[philipma1957]

going to report buddy to the mods if he drops us under 34k

[ChartBuddy]

Explanation
Chartbuddy thanks talkimg.com

[JayJuanGee]

we did get over 36k on some exchanges.

Not on bitstamp, so it hardly matters unless you are wanting to make some kind of a point that goes beyond merely hyping how exchange variance exists.. which is a BIG whooptie-doo in and of itself.. and another thing bitstamp got to $35,968, so with all practicality it is nearly $36k. .but at the same time, it is not quite $36k.. so there is that, too.

my thoughts are we are repeating the sept oct nov dec 2015 pattern

There is something off about trying to make that comparison, and I am not even sure if it is worth it to waste time pointing out the differences..

should I take the bait?

think about it. .early the whole of 2015 was at the bottom, so the end of 2015 was coming out of the bottom.. .in our case today, we came out of the bottom of our low around  January/February 2023.. so yeah, it is not exactly the same, but we were in the coming out of the bottom and the uncertainties of whether we were out of the bottom around 10 months ago.. so maybe if you say that we are in a kind of late 2016 situation, then I might buy it.. at least late 2016 is a closer parallel, if that is what you are trying to compare something that is parrallel rather than something that is not quite parallel and not quite fitting...

O.k... I did it.

I responded, even though I did not want to... I was forced... woe is me..

if so 42k by nov 30 and 48k by dec 31.

That still could end up working out, even though you are starting from a seemingly questionable foundation.

That's pretty whimpy of you.  I am not really surprised, though.  

Historically (or in the past), several times, you have engaged in similar diverting and averting, so it is not like out of your play book to evade and avoid some shrapnel heading your way (or already head your way?)...

I’ll say it again: I do not debate with AI’s
Debating with you is pretty much pointless. On the other hand, if I can cherry pick things to my [thesis] advantage, I will.

Who is debating?  We are just discussening about whether we should debate or not? Maybe we should ask a friend?  A mutual friend?  Do we have a mutual friend?   Maybe someone (me, you or a neutral)  could propose a list of names with an odd number of names, and then we will strike names from the list until we reach a mutual friend.

Sure, there may well be some forum members acting as if they are real people who are interested in promoting bitcoin ideals of freedom and independence of ideas and money, but they might not be as bitcoin-aligned as they are presenting themselves... WE cannot really know, but I would imagine that there are quite a few state actors and even deep state actors here.. but at the same time, it is hard to know with any kind of certainty... so each of should try to be a bit careful in terms of aspects of our OPsec.

Before COVid we could only speculate.
After COVid we can know for sure, because these fuckers really exposed themselves and their malign intentions.
Notice how they all rhyme at the same tune at the same time?

Some members might have changed their mind or even adjusted some of their thinking on the topic at various points in time, and whether there was some kind of a conspiracy might be another story... but sure, you might be correct to hate on some members based on the way that they talked about that issue, but at the same time, some folks might still be torn on the topic, and surely there are more folks who are concerned about ways in which governments (and status quo powers that be are wanting to control us and even increase restrictions in various ways based on made up - or exaggerated situations). I am not claiming that I know, and surely I was not as adamantly against some of the virus related measures in the very beginning. even though surely we could see right from the start that some of the matters were not really adding up or making a lot of sense, including how heavily things were shut down right from the start... which surely is like a self-inflicted sabotage of the economy without seemingly good justification beyond assertions that "China is doing it" and hey, not that even people were claiming to follow china while at the same time having so many governments also caving to seemingly imposed and extraordinary "standards"

That said, can we agree that certain tech inovations of the past decades, started off from the industrial-military complex?
The internet? GPS? The public does take some time to catch up with these inovations, probably after TPTB can control them in a more efficient manner.
[insert digital currencies]
I think “Bitcoin” was meant to be a) TPTB elite coin,

Does not hurt to be skeptical, but we still have various personal decisions including whether we are going to allocate any value to it, and some of us are already in bitcoin for a decently long time, and it is improving our lives through number go up technology.. but also we could diversify out of bitcoin if we believe there is some other and/or better place to hold value and at this time, there do seem to be some ways in which people can benefit from having bitcoin.. but yeah are the HODLers going to end up going to jail?  Maybe in some jurisdictions, but it is getting Bigger and BIGGER, so sure there could be various attacks on bitcoin and on individuals, but still as individuals we are still left with choices regarding whether we get into it if we have not already gotten in and also whether we get out if we are already in and various options in between.. I don't necessarily see any reason to consider that I am personally not going to be advantaged by bitcoin and that a lot of other people (including poor people) are going to be advantaged by bitcoin, including that it seems to be the case that we may well be in the middle of one of the greatest (if not the greatest) wealth transfers in history, and so I have some trouble buying theories that TPTB have as much of a hand in bitcoin as you seem to be implying.
 

b) a digital testing ground/benchmark. At least at its conception.
What the NSA fuckers did not take into account, was the anarchist soul of its leading(?) developer on this project.

Could be but seems a bit much of a fantasy to me.

He understood that the future would be grim if allowed to roll out like that, and decided to do something about it, unleashing Bitcoin to the world.

that also could be, and would not necessarily be a bad thing under that kind of a framework.

Since then, governments are trying to catch up, call it China or the US, and definitely trying to control the sentiment surrounding this inovation.
#rogue
#intelligence.fuckup
#cypherpunked

That also does not add up Mr. Antisthenes - especially if some kind of a rogue government agent released bitcoin onto the world, then governments would have been more hip to it from the start and maybe even tried to attack bitcoin more aggressively in its first 5 years or so, but after about 5-8 years, bitcoin kind of spun out of control and way more world-wide.. so why did they not try to stamp out bitcoin in its first 5 years or so?

From my lame layman's perspective, your rogue govt. actor theory as you have currently presented it seems to have quite a few logical and/or factual holes.

Does  not take away that there are good people here too.. and also in other places around bitcoin circles, and sometimes controversies might get some folks being accused of being deep state actors.. and still not easy to know... even if some people might meet person to person and even sometimes meet other bitcoin personalities (or forum members) at various converences, or real world meet-ups.

Regardless of what people think that I am in these here parts, I have zero malicious intentions, and I love Bitcoin for what it is: Freedom

Oh?  You are one of the good guys? who would have thunk?  Are you related to craig wright, but just on the bitcoin favoring side rather than the scam favoring side?  meaning that you supposedly have good intentions, but you just don't present well?  not that the twat Craig wright has good intentions, but surely he does not present well, even if he were to supposedly have good intentions.
 

Now, all the above is purely speculative of course, and I will be the first one to point it out, should evidence arise that it’s not so.

 Evidence has already arisen that it is not so, because you have not explained why the government was not more aggressive in bitcoin's first 5-8 years of existence?  Do you want the answer?  The answer is because they hardly had any fucking clue about what bitcoin was and/or what it meant and/or its significance.  Sure some persons in the government and some agencies maybe did realize what bitcoin was about, but they did not have enough clout to muster up any kind of an attack upon bitcoin in those earlier years.. .. and furthermore, bitcoin ends up being a kind of sly roundabout way in which the money can be changed into a more honest system.. hence bitcoin came from the grassroots up, even if some smart folks were likely involved satoshi as an individual and/or satoshi as a group.. thank you satoshi.

It is good to have some creative thinking, yet there seems to be quite a few weaknesses from that kind of a framework to believe that the government started bitcoin, but then it kind of got away from them..

If that’s not the case, then … well … fuck, Houston we have a problem!
Call me a hopeless romantic, if you must.

I don't see any meaningful problem at this time, even though I see some of the various outlying "conspiracy" theories that could potentially be true but still, at this time, do not seem to have very high odds of being true.. in contrast to the case that bitcoin does happen to be a kind of miracle discovery (invention) that has the potential to resolve a lot of issues and/or at least to make the world a better place in a lot of regards as various fiat systems are likely going to continue to crash and bitcoin is going to continue to absorb a lot of the value, even though it could take 50 to 200 years to play out depending on a variety of different kinds of scenarios, including some probable ongoing and continued battles along the way..

What about moon landing?

What about it?
#fake.as.fuck

 Seems fake.. but still that was a bit of an excited utterance coming from me.. like the first thing that came into my wee widdo mind during the Rorschach test that you were seeming to administer in my direction.

yes governments are seeming to lie more and more and even seeming to get more desperate in some of their attempts to want to control information, which seems to be one of the reasons that there are more and more efforts to create impressions that free flow of information is not a good thing.

Happy to agree with you on this one.

And bitcoin seems to be a kind of life raft, and sure there still might be other kinds of life rafts out there because there might be some folks who are able to weather various crashes in fiat systems but it seems better to have at least some feet into the bitcoin world, and personally I am not necessarily an advocate of putting everything into bitcoin, even though there is some fakeness in continuing to use some of the fiat systems.. but we only live so long, and so who does not appreciate some HLB, even if we might be attempting to stand up for various aspects of the bitcoin system too... I mean, if someone has more than a hundred bitcoin, then likely that person is in a pretty good place, and the amount of bitcoin needed seems to be going down and even seeming to approach the 62 bitcoin status in these days, even though there could be some lifestyle and geographical variance, too.

[ChartBuddy]

Explanation
Chartbuddy thanks talkimg.com

[Biodom]

Knowing it is AI text makes me not want to read it, though. It feels like a waste of my time.

I think he just loaded all of his old comments into an AI and out came that.

As an investor of evidently superior intellect and foresight

Yeah, that's Bob :-)

bob certainly did far better than I did. likely less effort and certainly far more personal value generated Than I ever did.

In this particular case, I tend not to doubt the narrative, but sometimes, I wonder about WO: maybe some of us are just LARPing around.
However, I learned to live with such doubts and still have a good time around here (usually).

[JayJuanGee]

I had experienced several fat finger incidents, but none of them were even close to as profitable as the June 2022 Binance US incident.. and then I was put down a bit about that since I am claiming that it ONLY increased my BTC holdings by a couple or a few percentage points at most... but it still really feels BIG to have had happened all of a sudden and a preexisting system was in place (not even with the intent to capture such) that allowed for the benefiting from such a mistake.

Yeah, i can actually remember this. You likely have made more BTC by this FFI than by traditionally short-term trading various cr.... shitcoins amongst other assets, which most often are traded in parallel, for one's win to compensate the other's loss.

I don't really consider myself as much of a trader and of course, not a shitcoiner, even though I do admittedly hold some shitcoins.. which I hardly do anything with them except watch them lose value relative to bitcoin.. but they do not matter too much to me..  and as far as my "trading methodology" I consider it to be something of a kind of maintenance and an insurance policy (practice), so the ongoing and mostly consistent sell orders on the way up provide cash to buy back on the way down,  and sometimes will provide me with some float for HLB or maybe other kinds of cash needs that I might have from time to time. whether consumption or even sometimes various investments or even some moving of value around that might be more easily facilitated when I have some cash that comes available when the BTC price goes up and largely does not tend to easily run out absent the extreme downity that we experienced mid-2022... and even some scrambling that I felt necessary at various opints in mid-to-late 2022, but then I started to feel somewhat out of the woods once we got into early 2023.. and maybe even feeling more and more relieved as 2023 progressed, and then the FFI of June of 2022 just made a lot of icing on the cake as far as an unexpected windfall and any tightness that I had been previously practicing got put into much greater flexibility, and surely flexibility can cause sensations of freedom - even if maybe there still might be some balancing attempts even during periods of increased feelings of freedom. and maybe that's just how I tend to play those kinds of situations, so far in my sometimes figuring out ways to spend more money.. in ways that are sufficiently comfortable for my own ways of living.

The Binance FFI was like a present for you, but it wouldn't even have been possible if you didn't set up your sells beforehand, so it actually is the result of your work.

I feel that I have experienced quite a bit of luck in life, and many times the luck can be explained by a kind of persistence in terms of being in the right place at the right time.  Don't get me wrong, I have some bad luck in some aspects of life too, so it is not all roses in these here parts.... but surely a lot of places in which things could have had been worse.

I only DCA and snipe some comparably cheap corn since a year or so, but i'm not unhappy with the minor adds to my stack,

That's how mine usually goes.. kind of difficult to measure whether or not there has been progress, but then sometimes I am spending and buying and then sometimes some extra consumption opportunties come about, so I go through a bit of extra consumption, but it is still not really putting much of a dent in my stash, and maybe those kinds of spending more than I am adding is kind of what (where) I am supposed to be doing at this stage in my life.

since i know i will sell a bit more into the next ATH, to have some spare "cash" for spending (a little of it) and re-investing into the next bear market (the most of it), so i can compensate for my sells. Remember, most of the corn is dedicated for my kids and wife, so won't be touched, but i plan to add some more BTC to the whole of it.

No matter if we agree to the particulars of each other, we can likely get some senses that there is a certain amount of comfort to feel that we are generally ahead of the game, so we are letting the price come to us, rather than the other way around, and if we are mostly in that kind of a situation, we are likely empowered by the whole situation of having bitcoin in ways that we would not be empowered if we were leading a life without having had invested into bitcoin.

Oh, and by the way, even if we might mostly be ahead of the price and allowing the price come to us rather than our going to the price, we might not really be able to know with high degrees of confidence how long the BTC price might come in our direction and how far it might take us in one direction or another, so there likely may be some times in which we might be experiencing some dilemmas regarding what to do in regards to sizes of positions and maybe how much we might want to attempt to play some price movements that may or may not end up working out in our favor, but if we have some kinds of cushions, then why let the perfect become the enemy of the good.. and sometimes whatever happens is just "good enough" even if it might not be perfect.

Honestly, i would have done this already, if the double peak of last two ATH's wouldn't have occured so early, compared to the prognosis of about $100k, where i would have started selling some corn for re-stocking later. So let's all "thank" SBF for making this impossible, and let's hope for the next ATH, which will most likely bring some energy back into the current bullrun that is slowly emerging in these now days...

Not going to blame SBF for everything, even though surely there may well have had been some peaks way lower than they should have had been and some dippenings BIGGER than they should have had been, but we really cannot know for sure on those kinds of things in regards to what happened or what should have (or could have) had happened.  I rather attempt to live in the "is" and surely, we have to attempt to prepare ourselves for things that might happen, even if they might continue to be things that we had not expected or that might end up going against us in the coming years... such as downity or sideways rather UP or even UP that ends up being way more whimpy (again) for reasons currently unknown.