Flashback to 2018, before FTX imploded because its vaunted risk management existed of words on paper.
The former CEO of PayPal had this to say about bitcoin.
.... it’s a colossal pump-and-dump scheme, the likes of which the world has never seen. In a pump-and-dump game, promoters “pump” up the price of a security creating a speculative frenzy, then “dump” some of their holdings at artificially high prices. And some cryptocurrencies are pure frauds. Ernst & Young estimates that 10 percent of the money raised for initial coin offerings has been stolen.The losers are ill-informed buyers caught up in the spiral of greed. The result is a massive transfer of wealth from ordinary families to internet promoters. And “massive” is a massive understatement — 1,500 different cryptocurrencies now register over $300 billion of “value.”It helps to understand that a bitcoin has no value at all.Promoters claim cryptocurrency is valuable as (1) a means of payment, (2) a store of value and/or (3) a thing in itself. None of these claims are true.1. Means of Payment. Bitcoins are accepted almost nowhere, and some cryptocurrencies nowhere at all. Even where accepted, a currency whose value can swing 10 percent or more in a single day is useless as a means of payment.2. Store of Value. Extreme price volatility also makes bitcoin undesirable as a store of value. And the storehouses — the cryptocurrency trading exchanges — are far less reliable and trustworthy than ordinary banks and brokers.3. Thing in Itself. A bitcoin has no intrinsic value. It only has value if people think other people will buy it for a higher price — the Greater Fool theory.
Cryptocurrency is best-suited for one use: Criminal activity.
The pump is back on given both political teams campaigned to legitimize crypto. Consumer protection is soooo yesterday.
Money is free speech and Crypto can use whatever bathroom it f___ing wants.
Update 11-26-24: Trump II is being advised by Cryptobros on his selection of the next Securities & Exchange Commissioner.
Update 12-5-24: Trump II, the digital Caligula, named David Sacks his Artificial Intelligence and Crypto Czar. Gotta love the Russian titles. Crypto will have fair access to either the men's or women's bathroom. It's that transcendent.
Update 12-12-24: Interactive Brokers CEO Thomas Peterffy said in a Bloomberg interview:
...frankly, I am sort of scared of cryptos, because they can go to any price because it's basically just a figment of imagination. It does not have any underlying value. The only value it has is the paper dollar, which is nothing.
