Replies

One real good verbal exchange in The Wolf of Wall Street was about how the trick to ammassing wealth is to convince everyone not to cash out, just sell and buy again. Isn't the bitcoin a bit of that?

Yes, "churning" is the name of the game.

Dodd Frank is planning a holiday for you in the form of a haircut.

Non sequitur. Dodd-Frank is an abomination, as well as Sarbanes-Oxley and number of other laws, regulations and mandates, which should be repealed, but it has nothing to do with Bitcoin. Anyway, 80% or more activity in Bitcoin has been from China and other countries with capital controls. This is just a diversionary scare tactic, which ironically, Bitcoin promoters are usually accusing critics of.

Who do you think is going to pay for this massive debt.

Another non sequitur. What does this have to do with Bitcoin, unless you imply that USD$ will be confiscated, but if you put all your money in Bitcoin "wallet" you'll happily avoid that "fate" or be able to hide your income because transactions in bitcoin are somehow "anonymous"? So were numbered Swiss bank accounts at one time. Anyway, there are other, far less speculative investments than Bitcoin. Sure, you can use bitcoins to transfer the money and immediately convert it into [other] "fiat currency" on the other end, but there are much cheaper ways of doing it, and it does not do much for Bitcoin economy, except get some miner(s) transaction fees. But I guess that's the BTC economy in a nutshell.

Interesting that you bring up BOA/Merrill Lynch. Joe Weisenthal of Business Insider had a little talk with David Woo titled ( and this may sound like Vince of SHAM WOW) THIS IS, QUITE SIMPLY, THE BIGGEST ENDORSEMENT THAT BITCOIN HAS EVER RECEIVED.

Re BoA/Merrill Lynch's currency analyst John Woo's quote - it's not an "endorsement" as the heading and the article in BI states, it's actually a warning:

Our fair value analysis suggests that to justify the current Bitcoin valuation, it will need to (1) account for at least 10% of all global e-commerce B2C transactions, (2) become one of the top three players in the money transfer industry, and (3) acquire a store of value reputation close to silver.

Obviously, these are requirements for any B2C (Business-to-Consumer) company, none of which Bitcoin currently meets or likely to meet in the near future, with the growing competition from Amazon, Paypal (eBay), Square, JP Morgan (patent on cryptocurrency and anonymous e-payment/e-transfer) and other better known and financially stable players as well as other cryptocurrencies that dilute the marketplace. Leave it to Business Insider / ZeroHedge hacks to take a quote or a fact and turn its meaning 180 degrees, as an "endorsement". No wonder the disgraced Internut pumper Henry Blodget - who has been barred from securities business - is invested in it and runs it:
Business Insider Turned Down $100M-Plus Buyout Offer: Source - FBN, by Katie Roof, 2014 January 03

Yep, I agree, you were right about ShamWOW moment. And in all caps, too.

OT: Considering marginal profitability and that the competitor TheStreet (TST) has nearly 3 times the revenues and only valued at 1.5 times sales currently, it's unlikely that $100M offer was made, but in the Internut world anything is possible.

Western Union as a business model is dead and the official funeral will be very soon along with predatory credit cards ( even the one's that are invitation only and super duper impressive).

Of course, Western Union itself is a dinosaur, and their BidPay e-payment business failed twice (even before Bitcoin scheme was a concept) but the business model is the predecessor of and the same as other transfer payments, only now the newer e-payments are cheaper and more convenient for most people, leaving Western Union with expensive infrastructure and less than stellar name in financial services.

Visa (V), MasterCard (MA) and American Express are doing extremely well and are expected to continue to do well, as more people are using reliable payment services, and they don't have a pyramid scheme built-in by design into their business/service model.

From The Case of the Disappearing Dollar Bill - B, by Alexander Eule, 2013 December 28

Cash is rapidly being displaced by credit cards and debit cards. By 2023, it could make up just 21% of transactions.
It's been a rough year for Paper currency. Nomura Securities estimates that paper payments — cash and checks — represented 45% of global consumer payments in 2013, down from 48% in 2012. A decade from now, the market share for cash and checks could be just 21% (see chart). The trend lines up with our cover story of a year ago, "The End of Cash?" (Dec. 31). ..... < snip >
..... Cash's retreat plays into the hands of Visa (ticker: V) and MasterCard (MA), a theme we addressed in depth last year. The credit-card giants run the dominant payment networks that handle the world's credit- and debit-card transactions. The stocks were up 45% and 69%, respectively, in 2013, finishing the week at $219.67 and $827.87. Both stocks are likely to be winners in 2014, as well.
A year ago, investors worried that new competition from the likes of PayPal and San Francisco start-up Square would weaken the roles of Visa and MasterCard. Instead, PayPal, which is owned by eBay (EBAY), has struggled to gain acceptance at retail locations, while Visa and MasterCard have strengthened their digital initiatives. ..... < snip >

Probably no tears should be shed for Visa, MasterCard and AmEx. Bitcoin is not even considered a competitor, and by its flawed "hybrid" design it should not be.

With all the impressive financial instruments you rattled off I wouldn't be surprised if you were heavily leveraged in the record breaking, federally pumped market. Better get your money out of there, you're about to get your head handed to you.

Yet another non sequitur. First, you are making wild and unsubstantiated assumptions about my use of financial services.

Second, you again change the subject by insulting and denigrating the financial options that far more people would use instead of bitcoins (as per your own example) in an airport of your choice (or anywhere else) where presumably TSA or other federal agency is likely to rob you of your gold, cash, diamonds or just about anything that is "not a bitcoin." I think most sane people would not try to transport bullions of gold and bags of cash through the airport, but they don't have to use bitcoins to have "cash" available to them.

And what does the stock market have to do with Bitcoin? Are you saying that Bitcoin is better investment than stocks , or that it's the only investment, or that it's better investment at this time, or that it's not an investment at all, just a store of value that can be transferred at any airport without fear of TSA?

It was another ShamWoW scare tactic, as I clearly demonstrated in my response.

Unfortunately, while trying to defend the obvious flaws of Bitcoin as a "currency" / "money" / e-payment / e-transfer / speculative investment of by design limited "ever-appreciating" commodity/asset etc., instead of arguing the facts most Bitcoin promoters prefer to change the subject and point fingers at something else ("fiat currency", gold, credit cards, stock market etc.) or divert attention by personalizing the non sequitur response. Actually, they like the confusion, so the different aspects of the "hybrid" may appeal to different constituents. Doesn't speak well of the product or its ecosystem.

Only 5 years since unbelievable 20+ years Madoff's scam unraveled and people are ready to jump into a massive pyramid scheme disguised as a virtue for all kinds of "clients" - from gold bugs to boiler room operators to technogeeks - "inequality be damned, now it's "for the masses".

Don't buy Bitcoin, leave them for me,thank you.

You are welcome.