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As Bitcoin Bubble Loses Air, Frauds and Flaws Rise to Surface
NY Times ^ | February 5, 2018 | Nathaniel Popper

Posted on 02/06/2018 5:46:50 AM PST by C19fan

You did not have to be a technophobe to worry that the virtual-currency boom of the past year papered over plenty of problems.

The scale of those problems is starting to become clear as digital tokens have slid more than 50 percent in value from their peaks in early January, with steep drops on Monday pushing the value of Bitcoin specifically below $7,000.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: bitcoin; blockchain; crowdsourcing; cryptocurrency
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1 posted on 02/06/2018 5:46:51 AM PST by C19fan
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To: C19fan

The US dollar exists almost exclusively as a cryptocurrency, and when cash is completely abolished that’s all it will be.

You can speculate in anything, but that doesn’t make the thing you speculate in bad.

Are tulips bad? Do people still make money selling tulips?


2 posted on 02/06/2018 5:50:17 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (<img src="http://i.imgur.com/WukZwJP.gif" width=400>)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
The NY Times and the news media sure don't like Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

It's because cryptocurrencies can be anonymous and so can't be taxed nor controlled . Banks are not even needed. The left hates decentralization. They left want the government to own and control everything (socialism) which is the ultimate centralization.

I'm for competing interests. A privately owned for profit business that has competitors is accountable to customers and the bottom line. A government bureaucrat in a government agency like Comey or Lois Lerner are not to anyone

3 posted on 02/06/2018 5:57:34 AM PST by Democrat_media (Mueller doing coup vs Trump. Obama was adding 97,000 pages of government regulations /year)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Sure, tulips are very profitable for the local florist . . .


4 posted on 02/06/2018 6:04:34 AM PST by LRoggy (Peter's Son's Business)
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To: C19fan

Bitcoin is up about 600% from this time last year.

https://charts.bitcoin.com/chart/price

I would be glad to hear about any investment that even has the possibility of a 600% year to year upside.


5 posted on 02/06/2018 6:09:38 AM PST by taxcontrol (SStupid should hurt)
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To: taxcontrol

Would you be glad if you bought it at 18,000 dollars per coin?


6 posted on 02/06/2018 6:13:11 AM PST by babble-on
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To: taxcontrol

It is not an investment.


7 posted on 02/06/2018 6:14:59 AM PST by TexasGator (Z)
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To: babble-on; Democrat_media

Yeah exactly, how many bought in 10,000, 12,000, 14,000 .... betting their life savings, and thinking they were getting easy money as it went up to 20,000?

Trouble with cryptocurrencies is they have nothing backing them up, so they float or sink entirely upon the market’s whims. At least the US Dollar has a big rich stable industrial country behind it, bitcoin has nothing.


8 posted on 02/06/2018 6:28:31 AM PST by canuck_conservative
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To: babble-on

I didn’t so I dont care.


9 posted on 02/06/2018 7:02:01 AM PST by taxcontrol (SStupid should hurt)
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To: TexasGator

Would it be an investment if you bought it a year ago?


10 posted on 02/06/2018 7:04:01 AM PST by taxcontrol (SStupid should hurt)
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To: taxcontrol

No.


11 posted on 02/06/2018 7:08:35 AM PST by TexasGator (Z)
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To: taxcontrol

What investment loses 60% in two months!


12 posted on 02/06/2018 7:10:09 AM PST by TexasGator (Z)
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To: LRoggy

Cryptocurrencies when used as currencies will prove the same.

Even the US dollar can be vulnerable to unscrupulous speculators such as George Soros.

Speculation on anything is a Ponzi scheme. The first ones in win. The rest lose.


13 posted on 02/06/2018 7:27:09 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (<img src="http://i.imgur.com/WukZwJP.gif" width=400>)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
"Speculation on anything is a Ponzi scheme. The first ones in win. The rest lose."




14 posted on 02/06/2018 7:49:19 AM PST by dynoman (Objectivity is the essence of intelligence. - Marilyn vos Savant)
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To: TexasGator

Or gains 600% in a year?


15 posted on 02/06/2018 8:02:08 AM PST by taxcontrol (SStupid should hurt)
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To: C19fan

Buy a Bitcoin, turn it over and find there’s nothing there


16 posted on 02/06/2018 8:03:02 AM PST by butlerweave
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To: taxcontrol

Manipulation!


17 posted on 02/06/2018 8:04:58 AM PST by TexasGator (Z)
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To: TexasGator

Like the stock market, commodities market, bond market and FOREX. Just about every market in existence has to different degrees,\\ been manipulated.

Some individuals point out that there is nothing backing cyber currencies. The same can be said of fiat currency.

Others say that cyber currency exchanges can be robbed. So can banks and brokerages.


18 posted on 02/06/2018 8:18:13 AM PST by taxcontrol (SStupid should hurt)
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To: taxcontrol

If my bank is robbed I don’t lose any money.


19 posted on 02/06/2018 8:28:36 AM PST by TexasGator (Z)
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To: TexasGator
The DOW lost 22% in one day in 1987. Is the DOW an investment?
20 posted on 02/06/2018 8:52:26 AM PST by nitzy
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