Talking stocks, trading, and investing in general

[brokencycle]

You guys are forgetting about the one use case for which bitcoin, and all the other are useful for.

Moving around unlaundered money freely across the world. I’d be willing to bet that the zealots and lucky early investors are just a rounding error compared to the cartels using it to move their cash.

The minute any government shows they can tie wallets to individuals you’ll see the price collapse. Until that point, 🤷

Hasn't the government proven that? I was pretty sure the US has prosecuted people surrounding the Silk Road takedown.

 

[nootje]

Hasn't the government proven that? I was pretty sure the US has prosecuted people surrounding the Silk Road takedown.

They cracked Silk Road, not the bitcoin wallets I think.

 

[jbarwick]

That has to suck for your friend. No matter what he has, he'll never be happy.

Good thing I don't compare my Porsche to yours or Foo's. I'm pretty happy with mine.

Funny thing, he is a Porsche guy. Bought a Sport Classic of some ilk and was able to sell it for a profit. Ordered a Turbo S new in PTS and lost like $50K on it. This year (I know because he always has his newest Porsche in his Christmas card) is a 356B Speedster. Likely breaks even on that one.

 

[Texasmade]

Funny thing, he is a Porsche guy. Bought a Sport Classic of some ilk and was able to sell it for a profit. Ordered a Turbo S new in PTS and lost like $50K on it. This year (I know because he always has his newest Porsche in his Christmas card) is a 356B Speedster. Likely breaks even on that one.

No 911 R or ST? Must be killing him that he doesn't have the ultimate peak Porsche.

He needs at a minimum a 991.2 or 992.1 GT3 Touring.

 

[otc]

They cracked Silk Road, not the bitcoin wallets I think.

They definitely can track wallets to people unless you jump through a lot of hoops. Even then they are trackable with more work. That's different than *cracking* the wallets and being able to access the funds...but that doesn't matter if your goal is to catch and prosecute people (and then force them to unlock their wallets in exchange for a shorter sentance)

Once you try to actually access the money in the "real" world, it gets hard. Although if it is happening is Russia it might not matter if you are identifiable...no one is going to break up your criminal gang, so it is a great tool for getting the money into the country (can't be frozen) and then doing what you want with it.

The irony is that many of the hoops you can jump through to eliminate the traces...are hoops that open YOU up to being scammed. My understanding is that there are no truly safe and anonymous "mixers" that will comingle the stolen coins with legit coins and then pay them out to different wallets. You have to trust that the mixer isn't going to steal your money AND that they aren't keeping (or being spied on) records of the which wallets you want the stolen money paid to.

And even then, those mixers aren't perfect. If the authorities already have you under suspicion, it isn't too hard to start linking transactions. "Ok, $10m went into the mixer from a stolen wallet...and then roughly $10m came out of the mixer into these wallets we know you control..." Sure you can do it a few more times (each time risking theft or exposure), but those transactions are still completely visible on the chain.

 

[ppk]

They cracked Silk Road, not the bitcoin wallets I think.

I believe that's correct. They don't need to crack the wallet. By monitoring metadata of the transfers, the wallets, and associated bank transactions, they can build a profile.

This is similar to watching calls between phones without actually listening to conversations.

 

[the shah]

The minute any government shows they can tie wallets to individuals you’ll see the price collapse. Until that point, 🤷

You're not including Tether in this equation, which is really a driving factor behind Bitcoin.

The vast majority of purhcases are, from what I can gather, mediated via Tether, a "stablecoin." Essentially, Tether is minted (e.g. 19B minted in one month), and that is used to buy Bitcoin which drives up the price of Bitcoin. Normally, minting new Tether should cause its value to drop, but the trick is that somehow people believe Tether is backed 1:1 by USD reserves, which doesn't seem to be the case at all, so its value remains the same. And round and round we go...

 

[Black Lotus]

They definitely can track wallets to people unless you jump through a lot of hoops. Even then they are trackable with more work.

By monitoring metadata of the transfers, the wallets, and associated bank transactions, they can build a profile.

Tracers in the Dark by Andy Greenberg is a great book about this topic.

 

[Piobaire]

I sold my crypto (near the bottom) and bought a Porsche. I don't have FOMO because the older I get, 39 currently, the more I realize that I don't need to compare my goals to others goals. No outperforming on my end needed to hit where I want to be by my early 50s. Just maintain current levels and I'd be fine.

My friend who owns a pretty big auction business and his wife is a partner at a big consulting firm compares himself to all his neighbors and lives a stressful life. I don't want that. Was on his boat at his lake house one time enjoying ourselves and the only thing that grinded his gears was someone on the lake had a bigger house...no thanks.

This is the way.

 

[ppk]

I logged into coinbase and realized that I have some crypto lying around. Sold it all and going to move it into my investment account.

 

[venividivicibj]

 

[UnFacconable]

Overlay that with CEOs who've had dinner at Mar a Lago in the last 2 weeks. I think 5 out of 7 in the green have been there and it doesn't take much more than an empty compliment to get Trump to do what you want. Good for business. Bad for America.