You may like this article, which was slightly before my time in the industry, but I remember all the names.

Market Rap - Bernard Madoff, the Mafia, and the Friends of Michael Milken

And that's why I don't trust anyone with their sales pitches, you never know who is on the other side and what their edge is. . .

So it’s down to 16,700 today, just because two of its major backers are pulling out doesn’t mean it won’t die a fast and terrible death. Buy at 60,000 sell at 800 bucks, what a deal? FTX filed for bankruptcy this weekend; if gold backed cryptocurrency is floundering, it’s all a wash. The “house of cards” will fall on its lynch pin this week.

Financial slime balls aside, the promise of crypto is secure, anonymous ways of sending money to anyone anywhere. It cuts the banks out of the equation...which lowers cost. It is decentralized, meaning everyone has a copy of the ledger, not just the insiders at the bank. It has the potential to completely change the financial world. And, with contracts (and other stuff I don't understand), it can go much farther.

But

If I want to hold bitcoin, I need to make damn sure I don't lose my pass phrase. If you lose that you can never recover the bitcoin. If you have somebody else hold your coins...well we all saw how that can go just last week. Finally, if I have my coin and I want to sent it directly to you, I need to be absolutely 100% certain I'm sending it to the right address. If you put in one wrong character it goes to somebody else or is lost in the ether but you can be sure you won't get it back.

So most people kinda need banks. A lot like we have right now.

Having said all of that, I own some bitcoin. Ethereum too. But I'm not exactly betting the farm on it.

Joe

Yes, but, who could have ever predicted that this scheme could/would fail so spectacularly? I mean, besides Buffett... and so many others.

I'm currently looking for someone who handles tulip bulb futures. lol

The higher the price the less suckers to dump it on. El Salvador underwater hoping to pump and dump it . So many better forms of gambling. Options, commodities etc

anonymous but not anonymous, right?
I can do with my bank exactly what crypto can do, transfer to someone else with the address, i know the person and the address, so why is it different than a bank?

so then if I have to sent it to an address which I don't know who it is, like with ransomware, then its really just a thieve's currency, evading the banking regulations, evading prosecution because one wants to do something which isn't legal. . . . such as theft and taxes. . .

so then supporting anti tax movement just says, I want to use the US land and US services, but I don't want to share the burden for it, which makes me a selfish freeloader.

hence, there is no use case for bitcoin other than illegal, selfish, self enrichment activities.

prove me wrong

Watch and at least try to understand....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI4xEHI7tGg

Bitcoin is not a Security.

The big question...Will Sam Bankman-Fried be "Epsteined"?

SBF released on $250 million bond. Must be nice that his family could cover the fees.

Yeah but they probably only needed to cough up $25 mil

^^please read with heavy sarcasm^^

Joe