Years after calling Bitcoin ‘rat poison,’ Warren Buffett just invested $1 billion in a crypto-friendly bank

[Sametboy2019]

12 minutes ago, BangkokHank said:

Well, it does provide a VERY plausible explanation for what I suspected anyway - that Bitcoin is a scam.  I personally cannot see any intrinsic value in cryptocurrencies (although I can see a lot of value in the technology behind cryptocurrencies - the blockchain).  Sure, some people have made a lot of money off of cryptocurrencies so far.  But that's how it always goes with scams:  The original investors do well, luring in suckers later, and then they collapse.

 

So I will never buy Bitcoin - or any other cryptocurrency.  Worst-case scenario, I will miss out on the investment opportunity of a lifetime.  But I have missed MANY great investing opportunities (Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, etc.), and yet I have still managed to do OK for myself.  I can forgive myself for missing opportunities, because there will be another one around the corner - and I'll still have my money to invest in it.  What I would not be able to forgive myself for is investing in what to me is an obvious scam.

Alot are scams. In fact most cryptos will get regulated out of existence in the not too distant future but many coins have real world utility which you will see come in to play in the coming years.

There were scams in shares and bonds also remember.

Although there are a few that could technically work as currencies they won't be used as such. All countries will adopt CBCD's and then one or maybe and handful will be used for ODL purposes and exchanges say a digital dollar over to a digital baht.

Although they are all labeled "currencies" and named "coins" that is only to denote a price per unit or share as such..

Drivers license, passports medical records will all become digital in the form of NFTs. Everything stored on your phone or even implanted if Elon Musk and Bill Gates pattens are anything to go by.

The days of scurrying round for pieces of paper are numbered.

 

[lkn]

2 hours ago, Sametboy2019 said:

many coins have real world utility

Can you give some examples? What problems are they solving better than existing solutions? And please be specific, not just the usual vague talking points about smart contracts, removing the middleman, reducing cost, etc.

 

2 hours ago, Sametboy2019 said:

All countries will adopt CBCD's

Because of all the hype, central banks have been forced to actually take this serious, with the U.K. releasing a report calling it a solution in search of a problem, I.e. there are absolutely no reason why they would do this. Banking is already digital, and as long as we have trusted actors (like central banks), there is no need for consensus protocols and blockchains. In fact, public ledgers is the last thing banks and their customers want.

 

2 hours ago, Sametboy2019 said:

Drivers license, passports medical records will all become digital in the form of NFTs

Right, we want all that information on public blockchains… not! Also, several countries and some states have already digitized these things, it doesn’t require blockchain, crypto currencies, or NFTs.

[Sametboy2019]

1 hour ago, lkn said:

Can you give some examples? What problems are they solving better than existing solutions? And please be specific, not just the usual vague talking points about smart contracts, removing the middleman, reducing cost, etc.

 

Because of all the hype, central banks have been forced to actually take this serious, with the U.K. releasing a report calling it a solution in search of a problem, I.e. there are absolutely no reason why they would do this. Banking is already digital, and as long as we have trusted actors (like central banks), there is no need for consensus protocols and blockchains. In fact, public ledgers is the last thing banks and their customers want.

 

Right, we want all that information on public blockchains… not! Also, several countries and some states have already digitized these things, it doesn’t require blockchain, crypto currencies, or NFTs.

I can't be arsed to write loads of paragraphs. The vague you talk about is part of the reasons and I'm not here to convince you but I'll throw you a few bones.

As always DYOR. Banking the unbanked and zero carbon transactions are a big narrative now.

The swift system is outdated and iso2022 system will start to be implemented this year.

You say the banks don't want this and don't want that but they are all investing in crypto.

Also what we want is rarely what we get. As we are seeing now is that under any act of national security or circumstances like a pandemic the government can do whatever they want.  

[lkn]

37 minutes ago, Sametboy2019 said:

I can't be arsed to write loads of paragraphs

I just need one example of a problem it solves.

 

I have heard “banking the unbanked” before, but that is the vague talk I was referring to.

 

The IMF did a case study looking at, amongst others, illegal immigrants doing remittance and found that crypto currency makes it neither cheaper nor easier for immigrants to move their money back to their families. I even have a friend who is pro-Bitcoin and spent a year in Africa where he tried to help some workers transfer money via LocalBitcoins instead of Western Union, because he thought WU was “raping them” (his words), but his efforts were futile, because selling bitcoins in e.g. Zimbabwe, that you received from your husband that works abroad, comes with both risk, fees, and a lot of hassle, when you are one of these unbanked people.

 

48 minutes ago, Sametboy2019 said:

You say the banks don't want this and don't want that but they are all investing in crypto

There are specific things the banks don’t want. For example, they don’t want their customer’s transactions on a public blockchain, they don’t want to lose the ability to reverse errornous/fraudulent transactions, they don’t want a system where chain splits can cause temporary double spend, etc.

 

But they would love to charge you a fee for facilitating a crypto asset sale or charge you custody fees for holding your assets for you, and that is what we are seeing, pretty much all the stuff OP is posting about banks investing in crypto, is really banks investing in companies that sells shovels to gold diggers.

 

Also, about the unbanked, this thread is about BH investing in Nubank, which is banking the unbanked in Latin America, and they do not need any crypto currency or blockchain for this, just a mobile app and an ATM network.

[Walker88]

Why would cryptos tumble if Russia invades, or threatens to invade Ukraine? Why would crypto be so closely correlated to the stock market?

 

It isn't as if its 'earnings' will decline in a Recession or in the event of war.

 

Obviously it's just subject to the same mass psychology as anything else, and offers a hedge against nothing.

 

What is the argument for why it's a rocket ship to the moon and everyone best get on board before the train leaves the station and (add your own cliche here)?

 

There comes a point when everyone who really wants to buy it has already bought it. Who is then left to drive it higher? It isn't as if---again---its 'earnings' are going to surprise to the upside.

 

I guess I can see why the Cult of the 21st Century Ponzi Scheme need to proselytize.  They must grow the congregation lest the major reason anyone buys it now (belief past performance is indicative of future performance) disappears and suddenly the narrative switches away from Pie-in-the-Sky to The Emperor's New Clothes.

 

As to 'why someone comments on something they don't believe in', well, this is a public site whose purpose is to comment and debate.

 

Finally, if someone wants to counter argue and say, "Well, Warren Buffett is a better investor than you and he bought it", I will counter that with, "Smarter people than me believed the Earth was flat"

Edited February 19, 2022 by Walker88

[BangkokReady]

On 2/18/2022 at 3:15 AM, shdmn said:

As if expats constantly whining about all things Thailand wasn't enough, now TV is turning into a moonboy forum full of crypto pumpers. ????????

Hey man, don't be sore just because you missed the boat on crypto!  Also, now is a great time to buy crypto!  /s

[BangkokReady]

[Neeranam]

2 hours ago, lkn said:

There are specific things the banks don’t want. For example, they don’t want their customer’s transactions on a public blockchain, they don’t want to lose the ability to reverse errornous/fraudulent transactions, they don’t want a system where chain splits can cause temporary double spend, etc.

Another bank that is responsible for spreading FUD about crypto has just bought a lounge in the Metaverse  You can't really make this stuff up, Buffet, Munger, Jamie Dimon, who threatened any staff who bought crypto, just to lower the price so they could get an entry point! 

 

Btw, for someone  who dislikes the topics, you spend a lot of time on them ???? 

 

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/02/15/jpmorgan-is-the-first-bank-into-the-metaverse-looks-at-business-opportunities/