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+--- Thread: Biden, Trump, and Crypto… (/showthread.php?tid=287331)
Biden, Trump, and Crypto… - Carnos Jax - 05-22-2024
There’s been some news in the last couple of days regarding crypto and politics
Traditionally both Republicans and Democrats (including Trump and Biden) have been against crypto.
But recently Mark Cuban, whose political affiliations are with the Democrats, tweeted that a surprisingly large number of Americans hold crypto, and if the Biden administration continues to be hostile towards it, it could cost them the election.
Then Trump came out and flip-flopped, saying that he’s now pro crypto. I think the Democrats are now working behind the scenes to switch their course. An example of that is what happened to the Ethereum ETF approval this week. That ETF was expected to be approved eventually, but delayed until next year. Now in a move that caught the crypto industry off guard, it looks like they will approve it tomorrow. I’m sure Gensler got his marching orders from Biden on this.
I know many of you, as well as all my friends on both sides of the political spectrum, don’t care for crypto. Thought I just post this news to see what y’all thought. I’m not sure what to make of it when both candidates now appear to be endorsing it for their political gain.
FULL DISCLOSURE: The majority of my portfolio value is in crypto ETFs.
Re: Biden, Trump, and Cypto… - Carnos Jax - 05-22-2024
I would also like to add that I don’t know much about crypto. The only reason we’re in it is because of my brother, who I am tempted to regard as an expert. He’s been researching it since 2013, and it took him until 2020 or 2021 I believe to gain enough knowledge about it to have the confidence to invest. We started pivoting into it heavily when Musk started with the whole Twitter nonsense. As a result, we’ve sold half of our Tesla shares and put it into the ETFs. So now our portfolio value is about 70 to 80% of what it was at its peak towards the end of 2021.
Most people really don’t know what crypto is, and I’m not gonna try to change anyone’s opinion on it here. But I would caution against having the wrong ideas about it. In fact the term ‘crypto’ is really a misnomer, it should be thought of as distributed computing.
To understand what I’m talking about, you have to look at computing in three aspects….processing of information, storage of information, and communication of information. The advent of the Internet democratized the communication of information and made it accessible to a lot more people. The technology behind crypto, block chains, is to decentralize and democratize the storage of information. But there are some block chains like Ethereum that are Turing complete and can handle the processing of information as well. These are currently handled by cloud services companies like Microsoft and Amazon. These guys will be the losers in this new world, just like Novell and similar companies were the losers when the Internet arrived. This is supposedly the future according to some.
Re: Biden, Trump, and Crypto… - gabester - 05-22-2024
The "proof of work" scheme of most cryptocurrencies is energy intensive; mining requires extensive computational resources and yet there's no tangible, physical thing that crypto does that other things can't do as well and at lower cost.
Honestly, it seems like a great scheme by an incipient AI to play off humanity's innate greed, getting us to simultaneously give it more and more computing power while also dooming ourselves to environmental deflation because of its power consumption.
Even if "AI disguised as crypto" is pure science fiction, the fact that it consumed something close to 2% of US domestic energy production suggests were the world to outlaw it a la Frank Herbert's Dune's Butlerian Jihad it would modestly help mitigate climate catastrophe.
Answer me this: what can I buy with cryptocurrency that I cannot buy with conventional cash, credit cards, checking, or other payment systems?
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I'll wait.
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If it's not a truly currency as originally named due to transactional limitations and lack of goods/services with which to transact in, but rather an asset store, how can it be used to protect my wealth rather than as a purely speculative instrument?
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Given that innumerable crypto-crimes have occurred - AND BEEN TRACKED AND RECOVERED - it would seem that the touted anonymity of the currency and ability to evade government control would seem to be more about wealth tax dodges, smuggling, and all sorts of other illicit activity (dark web transactions for drugs and assassination come to mind.)
Seriously, if you want anonymity use the bills from the ATM, swap them at the pharmacy, convenience and grocery store, buy up prepaid credit cards at the big box stores, and continue to use the dark web for your naughty bits. The world will be better off for it, and there's no indication that you're NOT less tracked this way than if you're using one or more crypto wallets and running everything through a mixer.
ADDENDUM: there is value in the distributed computing/storage/validation of the blockchain, and that will continue to evolve. But as a currency - where the value from these funds, investment schemes, and transactional benefits can be hand waved at - it just swaps out the fiat of nation states for massive energy use and a collective utility that is subject to abuse in ways that a government-backed currency never could be.
Re: Biden, Trump, and Crypto… - Carnos Jax - 05-22-2024
gabester wrote:
The "proof of work" scheme of most cryptocurrencies is energy intensive; mining requires extensive computational resources and yet there's no tangible, physical thing that crypto does that other things can't do as well and at lower
If I understand it correctly, the energy use by the blockchain would be offset by the decreased energy use of the private systems they replaced, once the ecosystem matures. I don’t think mining is about currency, but rather verification of transactions on the platform (the currency is a byproduct of all this). Also, the second biggest block chain, Ethereum, uses proof of stake instead of proof of work. This plus the fact that it is Turing complete, makes my brother think that it will ultimately win out. In the end, Bitcoin will probably also transition to proof of stake, and you’ll probably have two or three major block chains, among them the two dominant players, Ethereum and Bitcoin.
As to the rest of your questions, I don’t know the answers, you would have to educate yourself on all that through your own research. The point of this thread is not necessarily to debate whether crypto is a good or bad thing, but to discuss Biden and Trump’s new positions on the issue.
Re: Biden, Trump, and Crypto… - Carnos Jax - 05-22-2024
I think part of me finds it really hard to believe that enough Americans own crypto, to matter in an election. I don’t think I have any friends or family who own crypto.
Re: Biden, Trump, and Crypto… - Carnos Jax - 05-22-2024
I also forgot to mention that there is some kind of bill moving through Congress right now that’s viewed as crypto industry friendly, and it has Republicans and Democrats breaking ranks to support it. The Democrats as a whole(?) seem to be breaking ranks with Elizabeth Warren on this.
Re: Biden, Trump, and Crypto… - graylocks - 05-22-2024
The Daily podcast just did a story on crypto’s comeback. i don’t believe political party implications were mentioned at all. another interesting listen.
The Crypto Comeback
Re: Biden, Trump, and Crypto… - sekker - 05-23-2024
This is just a surrogate for 'future thinking' vs 'old guy thinking'.
I personally believe 99% (or even higher percentage) of crypto was made up of grifters.
Even 'success' areas like Etherium - where I might have wanted to participate - was so full of BSers that it turned me off from the beginning.
Even with all of that context, I think the US should regulate and then only allow the VERY BEST grifters!
Seriously, not a statement on the financial aspect of this situation. But more of a 1A view. If folk want to have fun with digital wallets, and maybe even a few make $$, who am I to complain? Just let's be sure the overt liars are not the ones in charge.
Re: Biden, Trump, and Crypto… - SteveG - 05-23-2024
let's ask an expert!