Crypto is Now Less So

Via Eric Peters Autos

While we’re awaiting the collapse of the dollar, let’s have a look at the collapse of crypto – aptly named because it’s so difficult to understand, the almost-axiomatic clue that  a scam’s afoot.

The value of a Bitcoin has melted away like a mid-May frost. In fact, it has almost no value left anymore – relative to the value it had just a couple of weeks ago. The crash was on par with that of the Stock Market in 1929 and probably for the same or very similar reasons.

Both being the result of speculation and other variants of flim-flammery.

The actual value of Bitcoin was . . . what, exactly?

Here we had – in a purely abstract sense – a unit of money without physical existence, based on a fictitious “coin” that was divvied up into obscure denominations – e.g., “.00000345 Bitcoin” – whose value derived from the willingness of people to accept that it had value. People were told that, unlike the physical (and digital) money printed (or conjured) at will – i.e., dollars – the value of these Bitcoins was secure from inflation – that is, from devaluation – because the supply of them was strictly limited.

Supposedly, by “miners” who had a self-interest in ensuring too many weren’t “mined” – though in fact no one ever “mined” anything, in the way that word is generally understood. Nothing was dug up out of the earth, refined and minted. Various calculations – or some such – were performed.

It was all very . . . cryptic.

Now it’s pretty clear.

I had a small amount of Bitcoin – about $230 in dollar-equivalent. Well, I  had it – about ten days ago. Now I have about $65. Where did the $165 in value I had about ten days ago go? Not even up in smoke.

It just disappeared.

For others – who had put more of their dollars into Bitcoins – the last couple of weeks have been catastrophic. They have lost thousands of dollar-equivalents. Some perhaps tens of thousands. If you didn’t put any dollars into Bitcoin, pat yourself on the back for not being tempted to do so. It was easy to give in to the temptation for the past several years, as the value of Bitcoin seemed to be on the rise and without end. Some people made a lot of dollars – if they converted them into dollars before Bitcoin crashed.

The same as back in ’29. The same as always – when doing an autopsy on a scam.

The initial buyers-in often make book; this encourages more to buy in. A frenzy of speculation ensues, driving the value of whatever it is even higher. It can be stocks in fundamentally worthless companies – e.g., the “dot.com bubble” of the early 2000s – or it can be houses whose value has been temporarily inflated far beyond what the market can bear, resulting in an inevitable crash of those ephemeral values.

Bitcoin is probably fundamentally no different. Its value – well, its former value – seems to have been purely a function of the perception that it was valuable. So long as more and more people believed it was so, the putative value of Bitcoin waxed, just as the putative value of a $500,000 1,300 square-foot house outside DC that was worth $230,000 in ’98 suddenly was by circa 2003.

But then came 2004 and – just like that – it was no more. That $500,000 house was suddenly worth $350,000 and perhaps not even that much. But at least it was still worth that – because it was, after all, still a house. It had value, as a house. Just not as much value as speculators and their dupes had added into the mix.

Bitcoin’s collapse is much worse than that because there is no value underlying it – beyond that people which people are willing to believe it has. Which it no longer has. Or at least, which it has very little of, remaining. You cannot eat a Bitcoin or live in it. It has no intrinsic value – or uses, as gold and silver have. You can’t even hold one in your hand, as you can a dollar – which also has intrinsic uses, even if all of its value as money is vitiated. It can still be used as wallpaper, for instance.

Or in the bathroom, for something else.

Of what use is a digital image, a pie-chart representation of a decimal point slice thereof on your computer screen? Can you do anything with it? Once other people are no longer willing to believe those digital representations have value, that is?

The same can and probably will happen to dollars, too. But – so far – the buying power of a dollar has only been devalued by about 15 percent, via the creation, out of thin air (and keystroke) of new dollars.

This makes a dollar look sound – relative to a Bitcoin.

But the latter does have some value – as a warning. “Money” that has no value beyond the willingness of people to believe it does is inherently dangerous. “Money” that can be devalued by the simple act of conjuring more of it into existence is worse. Dollars and Bitcoin share both flaws.

And Bitcoin has a further flaw – though it may not be regarded as such by those who’ve been touting it as the digital alternative to physical dollars. The former can be monitored, recorded and controlled in ways that are much less easy with physical currency, which can be exchanged anonymously. Bitcoin touters will claim that “blockchains” and “wallets” make Bitcoin untraceable. The fact that no one can clearly explain how makes this suspect. The fact that everything else that’s online is known makes believing Bitcoin doings aren’t seem naive, at best.

But we do know that Bitcoin isn’t worth much, all of a sudden.

Was it ever worth more than people’s willingness to believe it was worth anything?

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Two if by sea.
Two if by sea.

And who benefits from the crunched numbers the bitcoin mining delivers?

Steve
Steve

And if BTC was so successful, why hasn’t its “inventor” stepped forward à la Musk to claim credit?

General
General

You mean like the other people that made a competitor to the dollar and were crushed by the Feds?

Aunt Acid
Aunt Acid

Eric is so grounded. Thanks.

Dark Thoughts
Dark Thoughts

Just pixels on your screen.
Beanie Babies would have been a better investment.
Or Pokemon tokens.
Or Dutch tulip bulbs.
Those are at least tangible assets.

ottomatik
ottomatik

You are a moran.

Dark Thoughts
Dark Thoughts

Oh! the irony of your typo.
You should have gone with “maroon”.

ottomatik
ottomatik

If you say so.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Oh. the ironing!

ottomatik
ottomatik

Tourist.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Even cow shit would have been a better investment.

Llpoh
Llpoh

Here is an article that explains a lot, by a guy who seems to really know what he is talking about:

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/05/why-this-computer-scientist-says-all-cryptocurrency-should-die-in-a-fire

I have stood back and watched this dumpster fire with mouth agape for some time. I may be a Neanderthal, but all I could see was a giant Ponzi scheme. I mean, it was initially sold as a currency – that you can buy and sell with it. Well, turns out you can’t. So, what value does it have other than as a speculation. I mean, at least with Beanie Babies or tulips, you got something tangible.

I started looking in on c hat rooms where “experts” were discussing Bitcoin. Wow, didn’t they sound all smart. They acted like they were financial planners, talking about trends, and support levels, etc etc etc. But no one talked about whether the damn thing had any value. And boy, howdy, since the crash, the wailing has intensified.

And worse, the most moronic of the morons bought this stuff on borrowed money/ margin loans. They hocked their homes to buy. And two things happened – interest rates started up (uh-oh) and prices crashed (out-oh on steroids).

The above article makes one claim that seems certain to doom Bitcoin to the tulip bin of history: that the only people really using the stuff are drug cartels, child exploiters, etc. It seems that it is hard to trace, and unlike banks that have to report suspect transactions, bitcoin provers some anonymity. And seems like the authorities are waking up to it, and that inevitably it will get banned.

Buyer beware. Wish I had bought a few thousand at $0.05, so as to take advantage of the pigeons. And make no mistake, the ones currently controlling the price, best they can, did just that, and are plucking pigeons like mad even as we speak.

Glock-N-Load

You are one sarcastic SOB. LOL. You and Admin must be brothers from other mothers.

Llpoh
Llpoh

Moi? Surely you jest.

Dark Thoughts
Dark Thoughts

Don’t call me Shirley.

Anonymous
Anonymous

As opposed to the jewish federal reserve system, and their debt-based ‘currency?’

You should just start making gay porn of yourself getting buttfucked by jewish bankers. It would be more honest than what you do now.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Ya mean it was yet ANOTHER ‘Get rich Quick!’ scheme? The ‘marketing’ screamed it. Even if ‘They’ had said….”Get in on the Ground Floor, ANY Floor you can of the latest ‘Get rich Quick!’ idea”, it would have STILL been a ‘smashing’ success.

Oldie but a Goodie. http://mileswmathis.com/bitfraud.pdf

Fleabaggs
Fleabaggs

And it’s gone..

Glock-N-Load

“I had a small amount of Bitcoin – about $230 in dollar-equivalent. Well, I had it – about ten days ago. Now I have about $65.”

This statement cannot possibly be true. 10 days ago, 1 bitcoin was worth about $29,800. Today 1 bitcoin is about $29,000. It has not lost enough for him to lose 71%.

Anonymous
Anonymous

,.

Call me Jack

No,i have never invested in bitcoin.I have continued to invest in my grown daughter’s “emergencies” with no visible long term profit.

Llpoh
Llpoh

One does not invest in bitcoin. One speculates.

General
General

I had bought bitcoin in 2014 for 800 dollars a pop. I had watched it for a couple years before even buying any. Bitcoin has a tendency to rise quite a bit and then drop 50-80%, but the long-term trend is up.

Gold, which I also bought (although not at the time), was 300 dollars an ounce back in 2000. Now is around 2000 dollars an ounce today.

The dollar itself has lost quite a bit of value over the past 20 years. It’s difficult to assess, since the official inflation numbers are bogus.

That being said, the past doesn’t always predict the future, but what do you think is the most highly probable outcome over the next ten years?

My calculated bet is that gold and bitcoin rise in price by a significant amount, which is really the result of the dollar dropping in value, and that the bitcoin price will continue to be much more volatile than gold.

The real benefit of bitcoin is that anyone can create their own cryptocurrency and use it to create a local economy separate from the Federal Reserve.

Fleabaggs
Fleabaggs

“The real benefit of bitcoin is that anyone can create their own cryptocurrency and use it to create a local economy separate from the Federal Reserve.”

Nobody gets to create their own money and live except the Company. Not nobody, not no way, not no how.

BL
BL

The cartel does not allow competition, correct you are Flea. Fiat printed on paper or fiat crypto will be produced and guarded by the usual suspects aka the company.gov since 1871.

General
General

Actually, it’s already happened. Bitcoin and thousands of other cryptocurrencies already exist. I had a friend of mine use a cryptocurrency to buy a computer from China several years ago. And Apmex for example, accepts bitcoin in payment for gold.

There is nothing stopping a small group of people transacting amongst themselves with a known cryptocurrency or one they made themselves. The author of bitcoin, whoever he is, made the code open source. Which means, that anyone can create their own cryptocurrency and change it to what they think is better. The only real limitation is whether anyone wants to use it.

I don’t know why people think that the only cryptocurrency is bitcoin.

If, when, the dollar finally hyperinflates, people will be forced to look into other options.

VOWG
VOWG

Bitcoin in payment for gold, holy crap.

m
m

It must be true, because it’s written on a website.

Anonymous
Anonymous

You’ll be arrested for counterfeiting?

ottomatik
ottomatik

Well played General, sound analysis.

Shotgun Trooper
Shotgun Trooper

They can watch a “wallet” but don’t know whose it is. What they DO track, is when someone moves that bitcoin to cash in a bank account. BOOM. Now you’re on the radar. The bank also files a form. The tax bill comes due on whatever the up-tick is. They really don’t care about crypto as long as they can spot when it appears back as cash.

Llpoh
Llpoh

They are starting to care, as the criminal element is huge. The clock is ticking.

ottomatik
ottomatik

“They” are the criminal element.

General
General

You don’t seem to realize that quite a few people never change their cryptocurrency for dollars. In addition, some were redesigned to not be trackable, and there are websites that will change one cryptocurrency to another for a small fee.

Llpoh
Llpoh

I realize. The article posted above is quite informative. Bitcoin will fall to zilch eventually as it has no value as currency. It can’t be used as it is too clunky. And the gifts will stomp it to death one day. My opinion, anyway.

But rest assured, the big boys who have a lot of bitcoin cash it in and pluck pigeons every chance they get.,

General
General

Bitcoin may fall to zero someday, but personally, I think the dollar will fall to zero first.

Steve
Steve

Shitcoin is the perfect example of the Asch experiment phenomenon: when every one around you is telling you “This is true!”, many are pressured to put aside their very real doubts and go with the herd.

Muscledawg (not to be known as Delusionaldawg)😉
Muscledawg (not to be known as Delusionaldawg)😉

It’s too bad John McAfee killed himself. I would have liked to see him “eat his dick” on live tv because bitshit didn’t go to a million dollars.

Muscledawg (not to be known as Delusionaldawg)😉
Muscledawg (not to be known as Delusionaldawg)😉

Then again, maybe dying was a better alternative.

Paleocon
Paleocon

How Crypto Currency works… an analogy in Layman’s terms.

Not long ago, a merchant found a lot of monkeys that lived near a certain Village.
One day he came to the village saying he wanted to buy these monkeys!
He announced that he would buy the monkeys at $100 each.
The Villagers thought that this man must be crazy – How can somebody buy Stray Monkeys at $100 each?
Still, some people caught some monkeys and gave them to this merchant, and he gave $100 for each monkey.
This News spread like wildfire and people caught monkeys and sold them to the merchant.
After a few days, the merchant announced that he will buy monkeys at $200 each.
The lazy villagers also ran around to catch the remaining monkeys!
They sold the remaining monkeys at $200 each
The merchant then announced that he will buy monkeys for $500 each!
The villagers start to lose sleep!….. They caught six or seven monkeys, which was all that was left and got $500 each.
The Villagers were waiting anxiously for the next announcement.
Then the merchant announced that he is going on holiday for a week, but when he returns, he will buy monkeys at $1000 each!
He also said that his employee will be in charge, and would take care of the monkeys he bought pending his return.
The Merchant went on holiday!
The Villagers were frantic and very sad as there were no more monkeys left for them to sell it at $1000 each as was promised by the Merchant.
Then the Merchant’s Employee contacted them and told them that he would secretly sell them some monkeys at $700 each.
The news spread like wildfire. As the Merchant promised on his return that he would buy monkeys at $1000 each, they would achieve a $300 profit for each monkey.
The next day The Villagers queued up near the Monkey Cage.
The Employee sold all the monkeys at $700 each. The rich bought monkeys in large lots. The poor borrowed money from moneylenders and bought the rest of the monkeys!
The Villagers took care of their monkeys & waited for the Merchant to return!
However, nobody came!
Then they ran to Find the Employee.
However, he was not to be found!
The Villagers then realized that they have been duped buying the useless Stray monkeys at $700each, and were now unable to sell them!
This Monkey Business is now known as Bitcoin!
It will make a lot of People bankrupt and a very few people filthy rich in this kind of Monkey Business.

Dark Thoughts
Dark Thoughts

Excellent analogy!

Ken31
Ken31

This had me thinking more about my mortgage than monkeys or bitcoins.

mark
mark

Here is an interesting MORTGAGE perspective:

THE OCCULT MEANING OD MORTGAGE: WHY A MORTGAGE IS A PLEDGE TO THE DEAD

The Occult Meaning of Mortgage: Why a Mortgage Is a Pledge to the Dead

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Anonymous
Anonymous

He did send his condolences. Free Shots on the house.

ottomatik
ottomatik

I will say this having been in the space for a bit.
When articles like this come out, and the “I told you it was shit” commentary starts to elevate, it indicates buying opportunities present.
This is perhaps the beginning of such, I plan on dollar cost averaging as it moves down from here.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Not too long ago, various banks ‘packaged’ their worst performing loans, fudged tie numbers and ‘sold’ them to each other. These were then sold to various investors. Can’t remember the acronym. Might be able to still buy in?

BL
BL

A trillion dollars in crypto just vanished like a fart in the wind. People had their family nest eggs in that scam.

** This is also an exercise in joo money majick (Glock) where they vaporize inflated money supply and also get some people nearer to the “you have nothing” stage of the reset.

** It is most desired by the elites that the proles are mostly busted and “IN NEED” of everything in reset periods, (((they))) get you to the “you have nothing” stage when SURPRISE, they are ready to sell you everything that you used to have (see how that works?) in a new boom of prosperity.

Crypto crashes and stock market crashes vaporize inflated dollars, it’s just that simple. I avoid both like the plague.

ottomatik
ottomatik

But you use the FRN note, the tool of Mammon everyday right?
I know you don’t use PM’s, nobody uses PM’s for anything but stacking.
The Crypto community has the PM community beat hands down as an alternative to FRN in transactions.

Dark Thoughts
Dark Thoughts

“With the market these days if you own anything but real estate you own a popcorn fart.”
–Al Czervik

mark
mark

ottomatik,

I have turned low bought macro held PMs into serious FRN profit six times since the early 80’s. Then that profit immediately turned into other hard assets.

Three times face to face with a good dealer I researched, and three time through the post office (fully insured) with another outstanding dealer I have a 14 year relationship with. With the second dealer if you buy it from him he sells it at no charge to you…you pay shipping and insurance.

I’m talking some big numbers the last three post office times.

I have also been able to carefully barter with someone with on a ‘wealth level’ that significantly benefited us both. I’ll let it go at that.

I was going to speculate 2k into crypto early on…and wish I had…but I’m a low tech Boomer in a high tech world, so I put the 2k into silver instead.

I followed the old truism: “If you don’t fully understand something never put your hard earned money in it”.

Back in the day I did well with stocks and bonds as I always got out early and back in late, never lost a penny. I was big into I Bonds when they really paid well but that is all long cashed in and turned into other hard assets. Plus I own some serious real estate (modest working farm) that is appreciating at an insane rate.

I suspect you have forgot more about crypto than I know, but I am more than comfortable with owning PMs as well as turning them into other hard assets…I am completely done with fiat and digital Bankster hocus pocus.

Some will do well with crypto…I don’t think I would have been one…but I hope you are!

Ottomatik.
Ottomatik.

Thanks Mark, hope all is well on the homestead I’m sure you are busy. We have a new addition so have been beyond busy with the state of the State.
Im with you and have been a contrarian die hard PM investor for decades. I too have made some purchases with PM’s, some required going to cash first. They have been few and far between. I do the same as everybody else, I stack, save, I do not transact.
Crypto is different, many, not me so much, but many transact with their crypto. There are numerous intermediaries using VISA, so I know several who buy gas, groceries, trips, guns, ammo, ect with their crypto.
This is critical, crypto is a functioning competitive financial system. Whereas gold and silver really are not. I get to self bank and posses my crypto without a 3rd party, just like gold and silver, and I can transact in a modern way, unlike gold and silver. We all know the FRN system, who it benefits, who controls it, and where it is headed.
It is becoming of all who know the Mammon system to stop using it, simply out of survival at this point let alone the morality.
I appreciate the hard assets of any flavor as much as any here, hell I even traded crypto, ETH, for Palladium this dec/jan , that shit went down to like 1600 an ounce roughly, right when the 1 oz US 2022 Palladium Eagles hit the market. I was thrilled to convert ETH to Palladium at JM, but what am I going to buy with an oz of Palladium?
Limited.
I will have to trade back into crypto, or worse, fuckin FRN’s to transact.
Whatever the case I encourage all to start transacting outside of their digital plantation, even with FRN’s, use cash. The time is short, The Great Reset/Green New Deal is here. “They” have pulled the plug, a new financial system is qued up, only by developing and using an alternate one of your choosing, whatever it is, gold, crypto, firewood, whatever, will you be able to avoid becoming a servant in theirs.

mark
mark

Yea, I am cranking for a guy my age…expanded my aging chicken flock, raising ducks for the first time, expanded the gardens, new puppy – he is a blast, all the usual orchard chores, all the usual curve balls (blew a head gasket in my 20 year old Ranger pickup – fungus in the plum trees – black snake in the coop eating the eggs…shot him up in reflex, now all the girls have PTSD, zero turn mower and one tiller down…strained a ham string chasing a loose duck – jeeze what a silly old geezer move).

Constantly stacking food now…long done with PMs, put in some new defense surprises for any and all unexpected invaders of whatever ilk.

Yea, time is short…every day is a checklist day.

Best to ya buddy!

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