In the aftermath of the collapse of FTX, authorities should resist the urge to create a parallel legal and regulatory framework for the crypto industry. It is far better to do nothing, and just let crypto burn.
Yep.
As long as speculative bubbles don’t lead to systemic problems then just leave ’em be. Most especially, leave ’em be to burn out and die when their time comes. That’s the cleansing necessary for the economy.
‘would lead to calls for public bailouts when crypto inevitably erupts again’
Well yes!!!
What I’ve said all along. Crypto doesn’t need an “industry” if it’s a medium of exchange in commerce. It’s rather the point of it, isn’t it?
BiS
Yeah but…
Has it not also become a commodity ?
People buy and sell “it” rather than using “it” to buy and sell.
Although that is also what Forex does, I guess.
Gold and silver are no longer methods of exchange, but used to be. Britain financed the two World Wars with specie as well as credit.
It’s not a commodity, Ottokring. Any more than fiat is a commodity. Take away the confidence that it is exchangeable for goods & services & there’s nothing there. It’s an empty space. Zimbabwean whatevers.
You want to make a market in cm³ of vacuum, be my guest.
Actually old chap that is my point.
OK Bitcoin has currency usage, but do the others ?
Many of these other versions only exist to be traded. It all sounds a bit like bubble gum cards .
Or even better, the alien who buys 20,000 gallons of diesel for his spaceship and all the Mars Bars and Twixes he can find “Do you have change for a Zog?”
Gold and silver are no longer methods of exchange,
Who told you that? I have a gold bracelet worth about 500€. I’m sure I could find someone who’d exchange that for 500€’s worth of goods or services. The gold & sliver prices are set by the market. They’re both desirable metals. Attractive & used in industrial processes. The fact that a lot of gold is locked up in bullion reflects in the price. They are commodities with real value.
It’d be interesting to assign a utility value to crypto vis-a-vi fiat, in commerce terms. Since with fiat, governments commandeer about 50% of it’s circulation value in taxes & we’re trying to get away from that, crypto should trade at around 25% premium on fiat in purchasing power terms.
OK Bitcoin has currency usage, but do the others ?
Many of these other versions only exist to be traded. It all sounds a bit like bubble gum cards .
Yeah. And?
Sure. One commodity we’re not short of is blind stupidity. Value nil because there’s an infinite supply & little demand.
However, the stupid are a valuable resource. Who should be relieved of their wealth whenever the opportunity presents itself. ( He says with glee) If only for the educational value.
@BiS “However, the stupid are a valuable resource. Who should be relieved of their wealth whenever the opportunity presents itself.”
Spud’s business model.
It’s been clear for a long time that inflation in crypto would come in terms of the number of new coins established, given that individual coins have limited issue.
There is likely to be space for several. Some people will want one that is worthwhile in units that work with the brain (0.0003568726 BTC anyone?), some will want one that is fully anonymous and untraceable, some will find that too risky and want one fully traceable. Some will try to legislate to ban all untraceable crypto, and set up central bank cryptos, on which negative interest can be enforced, transaction taxation can be enforced, and “transaction denied, this month’s bug allowance exceeded” etc.
Bitcoin merely has first mover advantage, at least first commonly known mover advantage. It’s no better than its rivals than VHS was, and could well die entirely except as a curiosity in some future “format war”. Along the way, many coins will rise a little only to disappear, simply by not catching on.
“the Rosen Family chair in international finance at Brandeis International Business School”: somebody at Marginal Revolution once proposed a study of American Academic Titles of Nobility. I suspect that one is about equivalent to a baronet i.e. not really nobility at all.
. . . and set up central bank cryptos, on which negative interest can be enforced, transaction taxation can be enforced, and “transaction denied, this month’s bug allowance exceeded” etc.
If anyone was wondering why governments have permitted crypto up to this point, there’s your answer.
We’re already mostly cashless now with interconnected electronic systems transferring fiat. It’s a couple of small steps to centralise the systems and add blockchain. Sell it as “crypto stabilisation” with the carrot of universal basic income (maybe the Canadian pest’s infinity debit cards too).
Bish, bosh, truly joined up government for the Buttles and Tuttles to enjoy.
This made me laugh.
From 1949
https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1593641567553724416/photo/1
PJF,
Had my first hedonistic weekend in The Big Smoke for >3 years last weekend. The fact I couldn’t buy a frickin pastel de nata (among other things) with readies fully gasted my flabber.
” . . . only exist to be traded. It all sounds a bit like bubble gum cards .”
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt._Gox ?
Interesting bit on how SBF was funding masses of covid ‘research’, all aimed at boosting lockdowns, vaccines (and rubbishing the opposition, ivermectim etc) and social controls.
https://brownstone.org/articles/covid-crypto-connection-ftx-and-sbf/
I think we can now safely say that SBF and FTX will be totally whitewashed, because the alternative is just about every part of the Democrat/Big State/woke establishment being implicated in the money that has been scammed out of its demise. You could argue the whole thing was purposely run as a sort of slush fund for the usual suspects – ecofreaks, mad leftists, big state authoritarians etc etc etc, or even that the converse could be true, it was an entrapment scheme for exactly the same people. The latter would however be dependent on there being some sort of independent system of law enforcement in the US who could be relied on to follow the leads down every rabbit hole without fear or favour, which as we all know is nowhere near being true. So the former is probably closer to the truth.
Jim, it won’t be a problem.
The Soviet bloc, Apartheid South Africa, the West under Covid, PRC, Iran, every kleptocratic equatorial dictatorship, etc etc etc, show just how far a government can push its people before things snap.
And when things do snap, it’s usually got more to do with the leaders changing their minds and having a rare fit of morality and liberalism than any form of resistance from the population.
Embezzling a few hundred billion to enforce mandatory drugs and lock you down? “It’s all for the greater good! The greater good.. The greater good…”
BiS: “I have a gold bracelet worth about 500€”. If it’s a 1/2 an ounce or larger of 24 karat then you’re more or less correct, but the retail price (or what a jeweler tells you is the replacement price) is nowhere near what the gold is worth.
Others upstream: yes, most of the market in crypto is now speculation. How much is actually bought and sold with one of the cryptocurrencies versus how much is bought and sold for speculation? It’s not like any of these gives you an income stream, so they’re not investments.