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Bitcoin & Other Cryptocurrencies

He said he understood the risks, so I dont feel sorry for him.
In the US any investment has to either be noted as "FDIC Insured" ( government insurance plan for savings accts) or with serious standard language about risk. So he really really knew about the risk.
 
In the US any investment has to either be noted as "FDIC Insured" ( government insurance plan for savings accts) or with serious standard language about risk. So he really really knew about the risk.
Plus, he gave his occupation as a "personal banker". These are the people that have their own cubes in the bank, not the tellers, advising people on their financial goals among other things. So knowing the risks of investments is literally his job.
 
This is interesting: Also the historic example ?!
1657383189761.png

https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~shmat/courses/cs395t_fall04/pagnia.pdf

It's from this Twitter thread:

 
Rotterdam - graduation show at the art academy (WDKA)
https://graduation.catalogue.wdka.nl/2022-jordy-waanders/projects/pulled-rugs/

Rug pulls are a scam where developers build and promote what appear to be legitimate cryptocurrency projects with the intent of creating large amounts of interest. Once enough money has been invested they steal the funds and disappear leaving the investors empty handed. Metaphorically pulling the rug from underneath them.

Here the artist made a literal rug symbolizing the biggest cryptocurrency "rug pulls":

rug1.jpg
 
You wouldn't throw away £4 million, would you?
James Howells searches for hard drive with £4m-worth of bitcoins stored

A Newport man has been searching a landfill site in south Wales hoping to find a computer hard drive he threw away which is now worth over £4m. :shock:
James Howells's hard drive contains 7,500 bitcoins - which is a virtual form of currency for use online. ...

Thirteen years after ditching the hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin units, Howells is still trying to assemble an arrangement for excavating the Newport landfill in search of it. According to my calculations the units would be worth more than US $175,000,000 nowadays.
Bitcoiner to Conduct Robotic Search for 8,000 BTC Lost in Landfill

James Howells, a Bitcoiner that mistakenly threw away a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin units he mined back in 2009, has reportedly put up a highly specialised team to help dig up the landfill where the hard drive allegedly ended up.

Since he realised the mistake, Howells has been petitioning the Newport City Council to let him dig up the hard drive from the landfill that is estimated to contain around 110,000 tons of garbage. The plan to excavate the garbage is billed to be backed by as much as $11 million in venture capital funding.

The two investors that have promised the funds, including Hanspeter Jaberg and Karl Wendeborn, are not going to release it until Howells gets the City Council’s approval to dig up the site. ...

Howells has notably been on the neck of the City Council to dig the site, but his request has been met with a series of denials. The Council officials justify its stance on the premise that the excavation will pose ecological risks, a negativity Howells said he and his team would do their best to minimise.
Besides himself, Howells will sift through the garbage with the help of human sorters, robot dogs, and an AI-powered scanner that looks like a conveyor belt. Data analysts will also be working with the team. ...
FULL STORY: https://blockchain.news/news/bitcoiner-to-conduct-robotic-search-for-8000-btc-lost-in-landfill
 
Thirteen years after ditching the hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin units, Howells is still trying to assemble an arrangement for excavating the Newport landfill in search of it. According to my calculations the units would be worth more than US $175,000,000 nowadays.

FULL STORY: https://blockchain.news/news/bitcoiner-to-conduct-robotic-search-for-8000-btc-lost-in-landfill
I saw a story on this and I don't understand the Council's position. He has sufficient capital to be as careful as necessary and he's probably offered them a per centage. It's a garbage dump. I think it's likely they don't understand the problem. If you replace "bitcoin" with "Czar's jewels" I think they would approve it.
 
According to the article Howells has offered to send a payment to each of Newport's circa 150,000 residents. There's no mention of any payment offered to the City Council itself, but it mentions he's proposed to recycle all the garbage and build a "solar station" atop the site when the search is completed.
 
Thirteen years after ditching the hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin units, Howells is still trying to assemble an arrangement for excavating the Newport landfill in search of it. According to my calculations the units would be worth more than US $175,000,000 nowadays.
Given that it is buried somewhere under 13 years worth of rubbish and that there is no guarantee that the Bitcoin would even be recoverable, I reckon the investors would be far better off just keeping their millions. It seems like a trendy version of the Oak Island mystery to me.
 
Given that it is buried somewhere under 13 years worth of rubbish and that there is no guarantee that the Bitcoin would even be recoverable, I reckon the investors would be far better off just keeping their millions. It seems like a trendy version of the Oak Island mystery to me.
How could you say "no" to a new, trendy version of the Oak Island mystery? :cool:
 
Speaking as someone who keeps his money under the mattress, that seems to be a weakness with Bitcoin, given that disk drives can fail/become corrupt. Isn't it possible to make a backup?
 
Compute North, one of the largest operators of crypto-mining data centers, filed for bankruptcy and revealed that its CEO stepped down as the rout in cryptocurrency prices weighs on the industry. CoinDesk reports: The company filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas and owed as much as $500 million to at least 200 creditors, according to a filing. Compute North in February announced a capital raise of $385 million, consisting of an $85 million Series C equity round and $300 million in debt financing. But it fell into bankruptcy as miners struggle to survive amid slumping bitcoin (BTC) prices, rising power costs and record difficulty in mining bitcoin. The filing is likely to have negative implications for the industry. Compute North is one of the largest data center providers for miners, and has multiple deals with other larger mining companies.
https://m.slashdot.org/story/405065
 
If you're looking for cheap used graphics cards, this is the time. The used prices are dropping as mining is no longer attractive and the new NVIDIA RTX 4000 series is coming next month.
 
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Why would anyone think that virtual land has any value?
Those who think that they, too, could live the life of the billionaire ... without actually doing anything.
Check out Cryptoland where mugs ... er ... the tech savvy bitcoin millionaires can own real estate (as soon as the island has been purchased by the founders, facilities established, legal niceties sorted etc.) on an island where stupid-sounding shallow fools and flex at other stupid-sounding shallow fools and the minimum age of consent is "a state of mind".
 
Whenever you hear "people's network" then you're looking at an elite capitalising for real money!
 
Authorities have announced cryptocurrency funds stolen via hacking years ago were found (in both physical and digital forms) last year. The thief has pled guilty to the heist. The stolen crypto hoard is worth only about 1/3 of what it was worth when Bitcoin's value peaked.
Stolen $3bn Bitcoin mystery ends with popcorn tin discovery

The US Department of Justice has revealed it seized $3.36bn (£2.9bn) of Bitcoin last year which was stolen from an infamous darknet website.

The stash of 50,676 Bitcoin was found hidden on various devices in a hacker's home in an underfloor safe and inside a popcorn tin.

James Zhong has pleaded guilty to hacking the funds in 2012 from the illegal Silk Road marketplace.

US authorities say the seizure is the second largest in history.

The police raid at Mr Zhong's Georgia home was carried out a year ago but only revealed now.
It came at the same time as Bitcoin's value peaked - the seized funds would now be worth about $1.1bn.

Officers say they found the Bitcoin dotted around his home on hard drives and other storage devices in an underfloor safe and on a tiny computer hidden inside a popcorn tin in a bathroom closet. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63547765
 
So let me get this straight ...
The feds have recovered the stolen property which was worth $3bn but now, if returned to the original owner, is now only worth $1bn?
I can see the benefit to the thief - after all, they got $1bn for free; they should've 'cashed-in' while they could. But surely this demonstrates the volatility of cybercurrency to legitimate investors.
 
I could not help to notice Bitcoin crashed ending below around $15,000 today.
 
Cryptocurrecy exchange, FTX has gone bankrupt. Oops.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63601213
Embattled cryptocurrency exchange FTX has filed for bankruptcy in the US, seeking court protection as it looks for a way to return money to users.
Former boss Sam Bankman-Fried has also stepped down as chief executive, the company said.
It is a massive turn of fortunes for the 30-year-old, who had headed the world's second largest crypto exchange.
In just over a week, his FTX empire has collapsed, shaking confidence in the already troubled crypto market.

Bankman-Fried? Surely not his real name!
 
It certainly looks as if the crypto winter will persist for some time.
I wonder what will be the crypto Punxsutawney Phil that scans for the shadow?
 
Well, when the collapse comes, it comes quickly...

FTX Says It Moved Remaining Funds to Cold Wallets to 'Mitigate Damage' After 'Unauthorized Transactions'​

Millions of dollars started to mysteriously move from FTX late Friday U.S. hours

FTX US General Counsel Ryne Miller said the crypto exchange moved funds following a series of "unauthorized transactions."
"Following the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings - FTX US and FTX [dot] com initiated precautionary steps to move all digital assets to cold storage," Miller said. "Process was expedited this evening - to mitigate damage upon observing unauthorized transactions."

Via Condesk
 
I saw this video on Youtube today, posted 6 months ago but it turns out that Bankman fried himself ages ago by openly describing his outfit as a Ponzi scheme. He really just appears utterly clueless about it and seems to think he has instead come up with a brilliant and foolproof plan to generate cash. The video is only 8 minutes long and is funny if you like your humour to be kind of horrifying.

 
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