Cryptocurrency Exposed

I have posted several times on the facts surrounding Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Click on the link below for one of the clearest exposes of this vapid financial scheme:

Crypto Represents the “Golden Age of Fraud”

Cryptocurrency: Follow The Consensus Of Financial Experts

This blogger has written about the dangers of crypto-currency in general, and Bitcoin in particular. In recent days, Bitcoin, the most prominent example of cryptocurrency, has risen about 75% off its multi-year low 6 months ago (link). However, with its extreme volatility and insufficient regulation, the consensus of responsible financial advisors is that it is only appropriate for short-term investors and speculators. Click on the links below for examples of opinions from responsible sources:

"The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this investor alert to warn individual investors about fraudulent investment schemes that may involve Bitcoin and other virtual currencies."

https://www.sec.gov/files/ia_virtualcurrencies.pdf

"The seemingly limitless innovations that are springing out of information technology have created enormous opportunities for all kinds of predatory behavior uninhibited by social regulation. Cryptocurrencies are one of the leading contestants in this competition. Crypto is a Ponzi scheme. It’s the IT version of what Bernie Madoff did in a mutual fund fraud in New York City in the 1980s and ‘90s, which was the greatest Ponzi scheme of all time − until now."

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/contributors/2023/01/29/opinion-cryptocurrency-might-be-the-greatest-ponzi-scheme-of-all-time/69836392007/

"If we should have learned anything from the crashes of 1929 and 2008, it’s that regulation of financial markets is essential. Otherwise, they become Ponzi schemes that eventually leave small investors with nothing and destabilize the entire economy.

"It’s time for the Biden administration and Congress to regulate crypto."

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/commentisfree/2022/jun/19/the-crypto-crash-all-ponzi-schemes-topple-eventually

An Obituary For Bitcoin?

"Bitcoin’s future is looking grim. If Bitcoin crashes, will that lead to the end of crypto currency? Richard Wolff joins Thom Hartmann for an update on the future of Bitcoin."

Click on the link below for a 10-minute video not only discussing bitcoin but also clarifying what money really is:

Is Bitcoin Even Money?

Just Another Reason To Ignore Crypto-Currency/Bitcoin

"Bitcoin mining caused climate damages amounting to $12 billion during 2016-2021, a new study estimated. Carbon dioxide equivalent emissions from electricity production for Bitcoin mining rose 126 times to 113 tonnes in that period, according to the paper published in the Scientific Reports. In 2021, the total global damages of all coins mined exceed $3.7 billion. Mining Bitcoin is comparable to making energy-intensive products such as beef, natural gas, and crude oil, the research showed."

Click on the link below for more:

Bitcoin mining unsustainable

If It's Sounds Too Good To Be True, - - -

"Why have NFTs captured the American imagination? What can the recent instability in the NFT market tell us about the history of speculative bubbles?

"Heather and Joanne put the NFT craze in context with other American financial booms & busts, from the Panic of 1792, to the 1890s Yukon Gold Rush, to the late 1990s dot-com bubble."

With the collapse of cryptocurrency and virtually all financial markets in the last few days, there is no better time to analyze the history of financial bubbles. Click on the link below for a podcast on the subject:

The Mirage of Money

Another Tulip Craze?

"If it looks like a scam, it's probably a scam."

"Cryptocurrency and its ugly art spin-off, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), are perhaps the 21st century's greatest example of that eternal principle."

I have posted a few times on my opinion of cryptocurrency in general and Bitcoin in particular (link). Click on the link below for how NFTs are part of the same process of deception:

NFTs aren't art - they're just the Cult of Crypto's latest scam

The History Of Money In The USA

"What has money meant in American society? On this episode of Now & Then, 'The Culture of Cash,' Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman look at the culture of American currency & capital. They examine attempts in the early republic to create a viable national coinage system, the introduction of greenbacks during the Civil War, the success of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1933 bank holiday, and the songs and films that defined national conversations about money in the 20th century. How do systems of exchange reflect national values? How can different currencies highlight or spur political change? And how can past money debates help to contextualize the current battles over Bitcoin and cryptocurrency?"

Click on the link below for the podcast:

The Culture of Cash

Another Negative Regarding Cryptocurrency

"Many people of color believe that cryptocurrency is going free them from financial slavery. But I'm not sure it's the next underground railroad."

Anyone who follows my posts knows of my general skepticism of Bitcoin/Cryptocurrency. In addition to what I have previously said, there is a particularly negative impact on the low-income and racial minority communities. Click on the link below for details:

Cryptocurrency is not the financial promised land

The Problem With Concrete And Bitcoin

"Today we're going to point our skeptical eye at concrete, specifically at the popular figure of 8% of all greenhouse gas emissions that concrete is said to be responsible for. That's 2.8 gigatons a year, as of 2020. If that number is true, then that's wildly out of control. In fact, if the global concrete industry was a country, it would be the world's third-largest emitter of carbon, after only China and the United States. We humans use more concrete than any other substance except water, and the reason is that it's great. It's inexpensive, the structures we create from it are extremely durable, and it's easy to work with, being formable into any shape. We are going to use even more of it in the future, about one quarter more than today, as places like China, India, and Africa continue to build out their modern infrastructure. So if that 8% number is even close to true, we may have a real problem on our hands."

Click on the links below for information that is not talked about much:

Why You Need to Care About Concrete

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Mining cryptocurrency/Bitcoin is a similar issue (link).

What Is Money?

As humans evolved and began trading items with each other to complement what they could obtain and produce alone, the barter system was born. This evolved into the development of other items representing wealth that could be held and traded, with gold and silver becoming a major means of such. Gold and silver remained a predominant universal material to hold and trade regarding material wealth until around the 18th century.  Money continued to evolve with the printing of paper and minting of coins to represent gold and silver. In the USA, President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 confiscated private gold and suspended the gold standard to allow the printing of money to fight the effects of the Great Depression. In 1971 under President Richard M Nixon, paper money became free from backing by gold (fiat money). Essentially, all paper money in the world today is this fiat money. 

Is this present system of money/currency good or bad. Since economics is one discipline in which honest people can disagree, there is much discussion of the matter. Click on the links below for a wide perspective on the subject:

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The Politics of Cryptocurrency/Bitcoin

In my exposure to Cryptocurrency/Bitcoin promotion, I have noticed that virtually all proponents profess the political ideology of individual rights, economic liberty, and limited government. This is libertarianism. Libertarianism is a failed political concept with no examples of such a utopia in the history of the human race (link). Sorry, I will take my financial risks with investments with a proven track record in regulated capitalism/social democratic forms of government.

Click on the following links for more on the subject: (link) (link) (link) (link) 

A Skeptical Look At Bitcoin/Cryptocurrency

 "What [bitcoins] lack is their own fundamental intrinsic value. You can’t do anything with a bitcoin, other than trade it for something you want. So, intrinsically, the bitcoin itself has no value. It only has value as a medium of exchange so long as people are willing to accept it." ~Peter Schiff

The links below are a representative sample of skeptical thought on a financial entity that reminds me of the Dutch Tulip Craze:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I4QMSFZjJQ&feature=share

https://nakamotoinstitute.org/the-skeptics/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2020/12/04/another-crypto-skeptic-suddenly-flips-to-bitcoin-but-adds-a-stark-warning/?sh=17a9013b5aac

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-crypto-currencies/financial-firms-and-governments-deeply-sceptical-of-cryptocurrencies-survey-idUSKBN26K2IF

John Oliver in 2018

UPDATE: 5/23/2021: Paul Krugman

Let the buyer beware!!!  Following are links to information on one of the most prominent promoters of bitcoin: the promotion; the person behind it.