Gerontocracy Enemies of Bitcoin

Investment Analysis Clubs Macro Economic Trends and Risks
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https://fortune.com/2022/04/07/peter-thiel-bitcoin-warren-bu…
Billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel went off today at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami.

During his keynote speech, the PayPal cofounder called out who he believed to be Bitcoin’s “enemies.” Thiel named investment icon Warren Buffett, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Bloomberg reported. He referred the trio as a “gerontocracy” against what he portrayed as a revolutionary cryptocurrency movement.

We’re going to try to expose them,” Thiel said. He went on to call Buffett “the sociopathic grandpa from Omaha,” adding he was “enemy No. 1,” according to Bloomberg.

Thiel argued that the traditional investors should be giving money to Bitcoin.

“Sociopathic grandpa”? LOL love it!

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Neither the local CVS or Walgreens accepts BTC for payment. Until they do, I see no point in having/using it. That the Coinstar machine at the grocery store can somehow give you BTC in exchange for coins is, I feel, of dubious purpose.

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Yes correct. Value vs. Velocity. Just like Peter Thiel explained in his talk at the Bitcoin conference.
https://youtu.be/ko6K82pXcPA?t=275
Value vs. Velocity

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Oh the drama…what a queen he is…

Blackrock is going to be offering trading in crypto very soon.

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/03/24/blackrocks-fink…

I guess being outdated does not take being an 80 or 90 year old.

CVS soon enough, although my statement is a forerunner of what will happen not anything official from CVS, taking stablecoins. In the process visa and mc along with Thiel’s PP will take a big hit. Assuming they survive.

definition of stablecoins

Stablecoins
Stablecoins were developed to offer the advantages of cryptocurrencies and tokens without the price volatility. They accomplish this by tying their value to an existing currency, one for one. Tether, the largest stablecoin by market cap, is tied to the U.S. dollar; one tether will always equal one U.S. dollar.

You won’t earn any profit through price appreciation with stablecoins, but there are plenty of applications for a coin whose value doesn’t rise and fall by the minute. For some, stablecoins offer a way to hold funds in a crypto exchange and easily convert them into another cryptocurrency, rather than converting from U.S. dollars. Others may use stablecoins to easily send and receive funds globally.

But perhaps the most popular use for them today is in decentralized finance, or DeFi. Essentially, DeFi platforms let users lend stablecoins to others and earn interest in return, all without the need for an intermediary like a bank. What’s more, some platforms incentivize users by offering tokens, such as the governance tokens outlined above, on top of the interest they receive.

Many exchanges have greatly simplified this process. On Coinbase, for example, it’s currently free to convert U.S. dollars into the stablecoin USD coin (USDC), after which it will start earning 0.15% APY. (Note that this rate is subject to change.)

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But perhaps the most popular use for them today is in decentralized finance, or DeFi. Essentially, DeFi platforms let users lend stablecoins to others and earn interest in return, all without the need for an intermediary like a bank. What’s more, some platforms incentivize users by offering tokens, such as the governance tokens outlined above, on top of the interest they receive.

I’m all for reducing the influence of the banks, but stablecoin exchanges are charging fees too, no? How does it compares with doing a transaction with a VISA card?

intercst

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They don’t see a way to make a reliable profit. A cryptocurrency that allowed a steady skim rate paid for ensuring reliability and preventing fraud might generate some interest from these super investors. Cryptocurrency is supposed to be a decentralized system, but many coins are controlled by a few centralized players. They are just unknown.

— links —
“any form of currency that only exists digitally, that usually has no central issuing or regulating authority but instead uses a decentralized system to record transactions and manage the issuance of new units”
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cryptocurrency

“As of May 2018, over 1,800 cryptocurrency specifications existed.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency

Rank        Name       Market Cap [$B]
  1       Bitcoin            810
  2       Ethereum           390
  3       Tether             83
  4         BNB              70
  5       USD Coin           51
  6         XRP              37
  7       Solana             36
  8       Cardano            35
  9        Terra             33
 10      Avalanche           22
 11       Polkadot           19
 12       Dogecoin           19
 13     Binance USD          18
 14       TerraUSD           17
 15      Shiba Inu           13
 16   Wrapped Bitcoin        12
 17       Polygon            11
 18       Cronos             11
 19    NEAR Protocol         11
 20         Dai               9
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I’m all for reducing the influence of the banks, but stablecoin exchanges are charging fees too, no? How does it compares with doing a transaction with a VISA card?

intercst


Stablecoin lending will have fees in the 1% region. Visa has a fee over 2.3%. The blockchain is more secure than credit card number. That brings down the cost in part.
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<<I’m all for reducing the influence of the banks, but stablecoin exchanges are charging fees too, no? How does it compares with doing a transaction with a VISA card?

intercst

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Stablecoin lending will have fees in the 1% region. Visa has a fee over 2.3%. The blockchain is more secure than credit card number. That brings down the cost in part.

I’m get 2% cash back on my VISA, so the net is 0.3%. It’s going to be tough for stablecoin to compete with that.

intercst

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We’re going to try to expose them,” Thiel said. He went on to call Buffett “the sociopathic grandpa from Omaha,” adding he was “enemy No. 1,” according to Bloomberg.

Thiel argued that the traditional investors should be giving money to Bitcoin.

I see. He is starting a witch-hunt against investors that are not going rah-rah over an income-less digital collectible with speculative value only.

How do you „give money to Bitcoin“ anyway? or is it „give money to Bitcoin speculators who want to get out“?

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How do you „give money to Bitcoin“ anyway? or is it „give money to Bitcoin speculators who want to get out“?

I wouldn’t buy Bitcoin for the same reason I wouldn’t buy gold, they produce nothing and it costs money to maintain them.

The Captain

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Crypto currency is so 2021.

I’m 100% invested in NFTs.

AW

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I’m get 2% cash back on my VISA, so the net is 0.3%. It’s going to be tough for stablecoin to compete with that.

intercst

Not you. You get options from the merchants. The merchants pay over 2.3% to the card companies. The merchants will be paying around 1% for Stablecoins.

We are waiting to see what regs the SEC’s Gensler comes up with possibly before congress. The Stablecoin industry wants to see the regs to know how to proceed.

The merchants will leave the card companies in a heartbeat. It is not like there will be any love lost. You kidding me? It will be holy crap I no longer feel all this hatred.

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Not you. You get options from the merchants. The merchants pay over 2.3% to the card companies. The merchants will be paying around 1% for Stablecoins.

We are waiting to see what regs the SEC’s Gensler comes up with possibly before congress. The Stablecoin industry wants to see the regs to know how to proceed.

The merchants will leave the card companies in a heartbeat. It is not like there will be any love lost. You kidding me? It will be holy crap I no longer feel all this hatred.

I’m not so sure. The merchants pay zero for a cash transaction, yet they still take cards. And debit cards are cheaper for them than credit, yet they still take credit cards.

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I’m not so sure. The merchants pay zero for a cash transaction, yet they still take cards. And debit cards are cheaper for them than credit, yet they still take credit cards.

Merchants want to make it as easy as possible for customers to spend their money, so they’ll usually accept as many payment mediums as possible and just include the transaction cost in their overhead. Thus cash customers are subsidizing all others. That’s why savvy consumers are using “cash back” credit cards, with cash back as high as 5% on some transactions.

intercst

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I’m not so sure. The merchants pay zero for a cash transaction, yet they still take cards. And debit cards are cheaper for them than credit, yet they still take credit cards.

At the very least it will bite the card companies.

The public and merchants will prefer the security.

The merchants can do something like offer $20 off a new BBQ if you use stablecoins. That is just an example. Buy a car with stablecoin for $30k the financing with stablecoin will be lower for the car buyer. Car sellers do not take much in credit card payments because of the fees they pay. Some limit the buyer to $5k on the card.

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That’s why savvy consumers are using “cash back” credit cards, with cash back as high as 5% on some transactions.

As the pressure increases from stablecoin on the card companies those offers will decline somewhat. It takes market share to offer them in the first place.

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I’m not so sure. The merchants pay zero for a cash transaction, yet they still take cards. And debit cards are cheaper for them than credit, yet they still take credit cards.

Better than losing the sale. :wink:

When Sears would not take my “major card” they lost me as a customer. They have since gone bankrupt. I wonder how many other people they pissed off?

The Captain

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When Sears would not take my “major card” they lost me as a customer. They have since gone bankrupt. I wonder how many other people they pissed off?

Costco for a long while would not take Mastercard. MC was not negotiating in good faith it would seem. Sales at Costco have been up up and away. Sears did a hell of a lot of other things wrong. Costco does a hell of a lot of things right by their customers.

The point being if you can not use one flavor of card at a box store the customers these days have another flavor to use. People are not sweating it.

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I wouldn’t buy Bitcoin for the same reason I wouldn’t buy gold, they produce nothing and it costs money to maintain them.

Fiat paper money: legal tender or fire tinder?

And with Bitcoin you don’t even have paper bills to burn for heat.

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The merchants pay zero for a cash transaction, yet they still take cards. And debit cards are cheaper for them than credit, yet they still take credit cards.

100% of zero is still nothing.

Better for the merchant to take the card and make a smaller profit than to refuse the card and make no profit.

You’ve got to make the sale to make the money*!*

A credit card is (usually) a 30 day loan by the credit card company to the card user.

Of course if the credit card user pays off the debt before the 30 day limit at which interest begins to accrue then the card user got an interest free loan.

I pay off all cards in full every month and thus have paid no interest to my credit card companies for years.

Others are (foolishly(small f) paying more in interest than they are in principle.