Coreece

And I'm not trying to dismiss the very real dangers and concerns of crypto, just didn't want them to overshadow the big picture.

"Appalling misogynistic tripe. . .unleash the terrors of Earth! . . .Oh wait, she told the joke herself?

Right, but like I said above, Ethereum is moving to a Proof of Stake which will reduce energy consumption by 99%. Bitcoin will continue 'as is', but at this point it's mainly for larger companies and their mining farms. Some will start to incorporate newer, more energy efficient processors while others are already moving to renewable energy solutions, or both. https://cointelegraph.com/news/this-earth-day-analysts-say-bitcoin-mining-is-naturally-gravitating-to-green-energy According to a January report by the Bitcoin Mining Council, the global Bitcoin mining industry ran on an estimated 58.5% renewable energy by Q4 2021. While Bitcoin was the first major use case of blockchain technology, it paved the way for more practical applications and real world solutions: https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/ethereum-smart-contracts-tokens-use-cases "Not dubbed “the mother of dApps” for nothing, Ethereum is adding value to myriad industries with a host of novel solutions to longstanding problems." Some Examples from IBM: Supply Chain Transparency, Food Trust, Medical Records, Vaccine Distribution, etc, etc, etc: https://www.ibm.com/blockchain/use-cases/ https://www.ibm.com/blockchain/solutions "Why People are Skeptical of Crypto and Why They Change Their Minds:" Sarah Drinkwater, the community builder who saw crypto’s leftist principles Makisa Bronson, the analyst who sees Web3 as a tool for empowerment Adam Samere, the engineer bullish on self sovereignty Tyler Cowen, the economist initially turned off by crypto dogmatism https://qz.com/2086270/why-people-are-skeptical-of-crypto-and-why-they-change-their-minds/ "Inside the World of Black Bitcoin, Where Crypto Is About Making More Than Just Money:" https://time.com/6106706/bitcoin-black-investors/ "Crypto can be a driver for racial equity - When the math isn’t ‘mathing,’ the excluded find a way to win with crypto" https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/05/10/opinion/crypto-can-be-driver-racial-equity/

https://www.science.org/content/article/why-criminals-cant-hide-behind-bitcoin "When Bitcoin first emerged, law enforcement officers were "panicking," Meiklejohn says. "They thought these technologies were dangerous and made it harder for them to do their job." But as the arrests and convictions have rolled in, "there's a steady shift toward seeing cryptocurrency as a tool for prosecuting crimes." https://www.forbes.com/sites/haileylennon/2021/01/19/the-false-narrative-of-bitcoins-role-in-illicit-activity/?sh=5be9f5e23432 Janet Yellen, President-elect Joe Biden’s pick for Secretary of the Treasury, stated cryptocurrencies are “a particular concern” when it comes to criminal activity and terrorist financing. Yellen continued, “I think many (cryptocurrencies) are used, at least in a transaction sense, mainly for illicit financing. And I think we really need to examine ways in which we can curtail their use, and make sure that anti-money laundering (sic) doesn't occur through those channels.” This isn’t the first time the cryptocurrency industry has heard this misconception and done a collective eye roll. Yellen may believe cryptocurrencies are used “mainly for illicit financing” but the data shows otherwise. . . https://dailycoin.com/fiat-vs-crypto-which-is-more-popular-for-criminal-activities/ Despite the many concerns of crypto being an instrument for crime, a newly released three-yearly report by the U.S. Treasury Department says that fiat is still the preferred medium for most financial crimes. The same results were found in the 2020 report by SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication). Even though DeFi is synonymous for obscure money transfers to many, government-backed fiat is still generally the leading choice for laundering money.

I don't think you understand the variable costs/overhead of crypto mining." In some parts of Europe, energy rates have shot up so dramatically that mining one BITCOIN can cost up to $25,000 I don't think YOU understand: 1. What do video cards (GPUs) have to do with mining BITCOIN at this point in the game? ASICs have rendered them obsolete for years now due to increasing complexity and network difficulty. Ron said his son-in-law was mining CRPTO since the beginning. So he likely started out mining Bitcoin on GPUs when it was practical to do so and then switched to an Ethereum based coin when it wasn't. And now that Etherum is moving to a Proof of Stake concept, that will be obsolete too - along with a 99% reduction in energy consumption. 2. What does Ron's son-in-law have to do with Europe's energy rates? You didn't know how much he was paying for electricity or how many GPUs he was running, nor the coins he was mining and the pools which he was affiliated. So how can you understand his operating costs better than him?

Losses are part of the game and essential to a healthy ecosystem. Scared money never wins as it likely sells itself short.

Fine, you lose your investment. But initially you were talking about losing money that you never earned, as if was a realized loss.

The context here is about investments. As for core beliefs, they don't really matter in the real world. People talk a big game online, but we're all out there doing our own thing side by side, face to face and for the most part we all get along, keep calm, STFU and remain civil.

Does that even matter? Are we reading the same post? Then what was Jerry talking about when he said he felt that the world is not really better because he's here?

Like I said, there are benefits to both mindsets depending on what you're trying to do. I'm nothing like your buddy, nor you for that matter.

Some will win $500 then lose it before that gain was realized and still consider it as a $100 loss. That's why you're not taxed on it if won/lossed during a single session. But whatever, of course your're right to a certain extent. There are benefits to having both mindsets depending on what you're trying to do.

Casino chips are worthless, nontaxable and belong to the casino. Crypto is similar in that it's not taxed until it becomes a realized gain. I suppose that's why they're sometimes called tokens, you know, those things at Chucky Cheese you use to convert into tickets to buy various types of suckers?

Exactly, we don't know. There is no way humanly possible to quantify anyone's net positive or negative (butterfly) effect they have on the rest of the world. Perhaps after we die there will be some type of public ledger or printout. They may quit noticing, but that's just how our brains are rigged so we can move on. Doesn't mean that the effects of that on the rest of the world and those around us have ceased. Jerry said that he felt that the world is not really better because he's here. I contend that for most people there is no way to know that. Someone simply asked him 'why' he felt that way. My comment was just a vain attempt in goading him to actually answer the question . . .at least without another question. In the end, all we can really do is focus our attention inward and try to become the best version of ourselves as possible, and if we can do that then maybe the world becomes a better place. Fine, but what's the point? I've always felt that the pro-choice movement (as well as the spirit of humanity/freedom) was more effective and better served by distancing itself from pro-abortion type arguments. There were even liberals/progressives here saying that they're both pro-choice AND anti-abortion. Not in the angry, protesting baby killer way, but in the sense that they promoted choice and prevention to avoid abortion rather than advocating for it. That probably in itself had the most profound effect in how I then viewed the pro-choice movement.

Perhaps he should finally buy that boat he's always wanted and fish for compliments elsewhere. . .

I think with bitcoin there were plenty of warning signs and opportunities to sell. Even if you got in during that 1st year of covid you still either broke even or doubled your money even at today's price. I never invested in BTC, just used it to buy some security software and fund a few (very small) offshore investments. It was just easier that way. I'm hearing more horror stories about Luna, I mean it was a new stablecoin - "A cryptocurrency designed to hold a steady value, in sharp contrast to the extreme price volatility seen for Bitcoin and other tokens. Stablecoins are meant to be useful, not to make their owners rich by soaring in value." - and after just a couple years it was completely wiped out in one day. To keep the thread on topic, there were also a ton of big losers that bought into crypto cloud mining contracts. I know of one guy that invested 40k in an open-ended deal. After he made half of it back it started to lose money, so they sent him a letter saying that his contract is mining less than the daily maintenance fees required, so they're going to terminate the contract in 60 days or he could upgrade to a newer premium plan at a discount. So basically, they used his money to build a better facility with more powerful miners, and then wanted to charge him more so he can lose less. Apparently a lot of people got burned this way - and then they just keep building these massive mining farms that in a sense make it less "decentralized," if you will. There was another guy who successfully mined on his own, but he put up $1000 just to see what this cloud mining was about. He made $5,000, but had he just invested in the crypto itself, he would've made double that.

Sometimes, the truth hurts. lmao, I totally had you in mind when I wrote that. But ya, given how everything's going so well in the world today, it's absolutely mind-blowing how this possibly could've happened. . .

After six fairly lengthy posts - sounds like you do. Well ya, I'm nobody, right? Made the comment because after several attempts to talk about crypto in the past, it never really took off. Just comments about how it's just a scam and it'll never work and how all those people are just a bunch of idiots. . .you know, the usual.

Here's some links showing the cost and profitability of various machines: Profitability - https://www.asicminervalue.com/ Efficiency - https://www.asicminervalue.com/efficiency/sha-256

No doubt, even using a Bitmain AntMiner today at $.10/kwh will bring a loss of about -$1.75 per day. Compare that to Folding@Home which will only cost about $100-200 per year - and you can even use an old playstation3. Just FYI https://cryptopotato.com/intel-launches-new-energy-efficient-chip-for-bitcoin-mining https://www.perpetualindustries.com/gem-cryptomining.html

Pretty much, it's the same shit as anything else with larger companies sucking everything up. Those that got in late won't have the capital to continue. Larger companies will sell off their mined coins to cover operational costs - bonus if they have a good energy rate-lock. Smaller and medium sized companies will either sell or merge, while others will be out for good especially if the price stays below 20k for an extended period. With mining equities down, long term investors will start bottom-feeding when they're confident the timing is right.

I don't think it's that clear-cut Well it never is, is it? But it's not unreasonable to conclude that they played a large role - even the confidence alone can create an upward trend. Then by early 2020 it had slowly declined to about $10,000. After the WHO and Trumps covid announcement in March 2020 it dropped to $4,000 in one day. After the first stimulus checks it rebounds back to $10,000 and pretty much stays there until the end of October 2020. By the end of November 2020 it gradually climbed to about 17-19k and then spikes to about $40,000 after the December 2020 and January 2021 Stimulus checks, and then to 65,000 in April 2021 with the $1400 dollar stimulus checks. . . I have NO idea who will be the biggest losers in the end. I hope it's not poorer people hoping for a way out of their situation who were duped into this, but they always lose don't they? It's how the system is set up. You're probably right, but I think there was plenty of warning about the risk with crypto and I don't think 'poorer' people were too surprised if they ended up losing a few thousand dollars on it. Pretty sure they knew what they were getting into, but the potential for a quick fix was worth it to them, knowing that at any moment it could start bottoming out - tho maybe not as quickly as it did. And for the most part it was younger/newer investors, so maybe it served as a good lesson moving forward.

One of the many things I've learned from this place is that there's no point in writing multiple paragraphs when you can both effectively and obnoxiously illustrate YOUR point in one sentence - perhaps even with a bit of humor, if that's still a thing. Everyone who read that knows exactly what I'm talking about and it demonstrates how fucked up the mindset in this country really is - but what do you expect when it's deliberately chosen to be run by the 'best' of two evils? Yes, unfortunately. Awhile back I signed up on poker forum strictly for business issues, but I just had to click the 'supreme court' thread, didn't I? Of course they were losing their mind as expected and even understandably so to a certain extent. I was expecting it to be pretty bad especially since (to that community) it was a bit reminiscent of poker's Black Friday when many guys lost their livelihood and essentially had to move out of the country. (It's nice to see it coming back as a regulated market, but interestingly enough, only on a state by state basis.) Anyway, there were some pretty unwarranted and off-putting remarks that gave me an imbalanced view of the left in general, so I figured I'd come here to read a bit and gain some perspective from several of the left leaning democrats/liberals/progressives that I still admire here - they may or may not know who they are, but in any event, you're certainly not one of them. Anyway, sorry for the thread drift Ken, but let's face it, for the most part nobody really cares about crypto let alone mining crypto. much of the gains over the last couple years or so came from stimulus checks that people didn't need, so it was a perfect time for those with a piqued interest. Some made out, others not so much - but again no harm no foul. The biggest losers in the end will be the greedy and bad actors. Now that the charred forest is being cleared, there is room to grow.

Ya, it's hard to put a price on a lifetime of blowjobs. . .

Ya, but I think this type of warfare is more preferable over the traditional - you know, the kind where they just lineup and start shelling each other? Oh, what's that? You didn't know the country's at war? Ya man - been going on for about 2-3 years - so take off the gloves, pull no punches, get dirty and have some fun, I guess - it's gonna be awhile. . .