Bitcoin and Crypto and DeFi and Sometimes Ayn Rand


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The following article hit ZeroHedge.

Although not that many in O-Land see the Rand-Bitcoin connection, more and more people outside are seeing it.

Never mind The Great Reset. Here comes The Great Reject.
The Jackpot Chronicles Scenario #4: Atlas Shrugged
by Mark E. Jeftovic

Here are some quotes, but the entire article is well worth reading.

Quote

Mass demonstrations, mass exoduses, crypto-currencies are symptoms of a Great Reject, or as I’ve renamed this scenario “Atlas Shrugged“.

The TL,DR of the novel, Atlas Shrugged is that once the institutional sclerosis of the ruling class was understood to be both incorrigible and irreversible, the only other option was a global opt-out. There was no Great Reset in Atlas Shrugged. They got The Great Reject instead.

Under the Atlas Shrugged scenario, deglobalization is just one of numerous motivating factors, but it’s mainly an outcome of a larger dynamic where all non-ruling factions in society lose faith in the prevailing structure of Neoliberal Globalism (a.k.a “Mr. Global”). With Mr. Global’s viability in question, people begin to look for the exits.

. . .

So it goes in our Atlas Shrugged scenario. Various interests of many forms and myriad factions, from dissident states (like Florida), to decentralized and virtual companies, emergent DAO’s, all the way to individuals and cultural tribes all begin to experience these moments of clarity in their own way. From there they will act in their own rational self-interests and cooperate with others doing the same in order to navigate the breakdown of Mr. Global.

In spite of this, Mr. Global’s prevailing policymakers and governance structures will frantically maneuver and spin narratives of fear and fantasy in order to keep the existing system on the rails.

. . .

The antidote to all of this are crypto-currencies, smart contracts and decentralization.

. . .

When I listen to people who are complete denial about crypto, I realize that there is a common thread in their objections... [they are] looking at it through the wrong lens.

We could go on for hours about how most of these people haven’t really delved into the technology or what it means, how their criticisms at the defects around Bitcoin apply even more accurately to US dollars (“backed by nothing”, “infinite supply”, “uses too much energy”, et al). But what they all have in common is that they all posit that whether Bitcoin and cryptos succeed or fail is premised on whether the existing establishment will permit it.

What will the Fed do? What if the government bans it? Won’t the World Bank just create their own CBDC?

This is completely inverted. They have it backwards. It’s not up to the existing system...

. . . 

... it brings to mind a particularly vivid example I once heard about a balloon disaster that still makes me cringe when I think of it:

A group of people were embarking on a balloon ride and as they were just a foot or two off the ground, the burner erupted into flames. The balloon pilot realized the situation immediately and he leapt from the gondola which was still only a few feet off the ground.

One or two of the passengers were quick witted enough to realize what this meant and followed him. This set off a feedback loop: as the fire expanded, its hot air forcing the balloon higher, combined with the weight reductions as the first few people bailed out, the situation very quickly escalated past a point of no return.

The balloon had accelerated very rapidly to heights from which it was no longer possible to leap safely. The unfortunates who had hesitated and were trapped in a gondola being propelled higher by a fireball, to their inevitable doom.

That’s what our entire situation feels like today. The balloon is still hanging a foot or so above the ground, the canopy is on fire, and the people who have figured out what this means are bailing out while they can and in doing so they are accelerating the ultimate burn-then-crash of the entire system.

In Rand’s book they went to a hidden valley called “Galt’s Gulch” and used their skills and their resources to restore new communities while the old systems imploded. If this scenario plays out we’d be looking for people creating a decentralized, network of gulches. Seeking each other out who are pursuing this same goals, creating open protocols to to rebuild civil societies and autonomous communities built on the ageless principles of free markets, liberty and prosperity.

btw - TL,DR means Too Long, Didn't Read.

To this author, Bitcoin is like Galt's Gulch for people with money who want to keep it and still shrug.

Love it...

:)

Michael

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Michael wrote: To this author, Bitcoin is like Galt's Gulch for people with money who want to keep it and still shrug. end quote

Biden spending us into inflation or oblivion is not a happy scenario. Bit coin Credit or Debit cards make more and more sense and I would not throw one out with the junk mail. Is that going to happen? I will patiently wait to buy something on Amazon with one of those pre-loaded debit cards with activating secret numbers. And then a new dawn will be upon US.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bitcoin and other cryptos have been under attack recently.

So the rate has gone down to the 30 something thousand range.

No matter. The people who know Bitcoin have seen this before. Here is one of the biggest dogs in the business--the one who brought big corporate money in.

A satoshi is one millionth of a Bitcoin.

But what about Elon Musk? I, personally, think he's been trying to short Bitcoin to help pay the bills at Tesla.

(Effectively, Bitcoin-wise, this means driving the rate low by manipulating the public like his appearance on SNL, stopping Tesla sales in Bitcoin, etc., but later buying up a huge chunk of Bitcoins in order to make a killing when the rates soar--which they will.)

Musk's ventures are not paid for by the market alone. He's a hustler more than an entrepreneur. The government pays for a lot of his stuff, and there actually are some sales, and he speculates cryptos like there is no tomorrow and tries to influence the rates, etc. etc. etc. It's never simple supply and demand with him.

China is now trying to outlaw crypto transactions and that, for the most part, accounts for the sudden drop. And Elon? He just tweeted "Diamond Hands." That is a trading term meaning someone who stubbornly holds onto a stock during troubled times. (Both Tesla and Musk have huge amounts still in Bitcoin and other cryptos.) Frankly, I think Musk is jumping up and down thanking his lucky stars. The China crackdown just helped him short Bitcoin big-time right when he was looking over into the abyss again. :) 

As to the corporatists and governments in general, they are afraid of Bitcoin. China, in particular, is terrified and, frankly, just chopped off a chunk of its own economy. As the saying goes, watch it happen.

They are trying hard to find a way to control Bitcoin, but the only thing they can do is control entry points (like exchanges). Even then, there are too many to control. There are just too many ways to hook into Bitcoin and other cryptos that do not require surveillance, if any at all. Hell, even the ransomware assholes who shut down the USAs biggest oil pipeline received about $90 million in Bitcoin. And they know the US government is hot on their trails. Good luck to Uncle Sam, too.

So there are a lot of Chinese who are still into crypto and will be long after the Chinese economy takes the gigantic hit coming its way.

If I had extra money lying around, I would put it into Bitcoin right now. All of it. And you? Well, I'm not a financial advisor, blah blah blah. There. The legal requirement is done. And to add the icing to that cake, let me say anybody who would take investing advice from me would have to be stark raving mad.

:) 

Michael

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23 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

They are trying hard to find a way to control Bitcoin, but the only thing they can do is control entry points (like exchanges). Even then, there are too many to control. There are just too many ways to hook into Bitcoin and other cryptos that do not require surveillance, if any at all. Hell, even the ransomware assholes who shut down the USAs biggest oil pipeline received about $90 million in Bitcoin. And they know the US government is hot on their trails. Good luck to Uncle Sam, too.

Here is a perfect example of Uncle Sam trying to control Bitcoin in collusion with the fake news media.

Bitcoin Tumbles After Treasury Calls For Reporting Large Crypto Transfers To IRS

The Treasury announcement says this goes into effect in 2023.

The last I looked, we are still in 2021. Yet they are trying to sell the idea that they can make an announcement like this and tumble the market.

But here is reality. There is only ONE THING that controls the Bitcoin rate: whether people buy it or sell it. Period. No transaction, no change in rate. When people sell off Bitcoin, the rate goes down. When people buy Bitcoin, the rate goes up.

So who is going to sell off their Bitcoin on a massive scale just because the government issued another snarl at it for 2023? Nobody, that's who. So ask yourself, who is selling off massive quantities of Bitcoin right now?

Well, China just outlawed it. So at least the CCP is selling it off. They had massive amounts.

Helloooo...

Now notice what has been happening these last few days after the $40k rate more or less stabilized. When the price of Bitcoin drops suddenly, shortly thereafter it bounces back just as suddenly.

Why? Because when the Chinese sales make the price drop, people all over the world are snapping it up at the low price.

Once China has finished trying to manipulate it because it will simply run out, things will get back to business as usual and the people who bought Bitcoin in this dip will make a killing.

Michael

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Every time I see a video with Max Keiser, I learn something. This time was no different.

And he's talking to Alex Jones. (That was just to rub salt in the wound of people who get pissed when Alex is right.)

:) 

BITCOIN ORACLE SAYS MAVERICK CRYPTOCURRENCY GOING TO ALL TIME HIGHS

image.png

Max's position is unchangeable.

Guttenberg separated church and state by allowing all people access to the written word. In like manner, Bitcoin separated money from the state. And the process is so definitive, people are freaking out when it gets to their own control. So they do things like the current dip (which is the 11th so far in Bitcoin's history of ascent).

He predicts Bitcoin will reach near 200,000 by the end of the year.

:)

His comments about Elon Musk are well-grounded, starting with this. Elon is nothing without carbon credits.

Michael

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35 minutes ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

And the process is so definitive, people are freaking out when it gets to their own control.

As a matter of fact, here's a good example. Bombard, the body-language lady, analyzed Jerome Powell, head honcho at the Federal Reserve, when talking about cryptocurrency.

BODY LANGUAGE - CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCY PAYMENT SYSTEMS

image.png

According to Bombard, Powell is tense as hell when talking about the "danger" of cryptocurrency to the current system, but starts relaxing when he starts selling the idea of Central Bank cryptos, which, according to Bombard (and I agree), is nothing more than digital dollars that they can print the shit out of on command.

With Bitcoin, the reckoning is on its way and it cannot be stopped.

In the near-to-mid future, we can expect to see a lot more tension among the ruling class, tension like Powell just showed, along with a whole slew of deceptive schemes to try to replace crypto.

:)

Michael

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bitcoin is hardly the only cryptocurrency out there right. Other cryptocurrencies have actually been doing better than Bitcoin since the bottom of mid- March 2020. Some are:

Cardano (ADA)

Celsius (CEL)

Polkadot (DOT)

Ethereum (ETH)

Binance Coin (BNB)

The era of cyrptocurrency is much like the era of wildcat banks. This was from Andrew Jackson to the Civil War. It was also arguably the greatest period of economic growth in American history. I would also argue that in the NORTH it was the most capitalist time.

Bitcoin has to stay honest because of the competition, although there are plenty who want to corrupt. If people lose faith in BTC, they will go elsewhere. ETH is a solid #2 right now in market cap--currently about 1/2 of BTC. There is somewhat of a horse race for the #3 crypto.

We've already seen the US Government try and fail to destroy one cryptocurrency. That is Ripple (XRP). It has made a great comeback since January, even though it was taken off US-based exchanges.

ETH actually has a good shot at overtaking BTC. In the middle of July, there will be a change that will reduce the number ETH token produced per day. It will go from about 13,000 per day to about 2,600 per day. Don't be surprised if ETH takes over BTC in market cap.

By the way, at the bottom of the Corona dip in March 2020, ETH was about $100; and BTC was about $4,000. ETH has now peaked at over $4,000; while BTC only made it to about $60,000. I'm sorry I didn't buy them. That's about 40 times versus about 15 times.

Cryptocurrency tokens are not like stocks. You can part of one token, so you can buy part of a Bitcoin if you don't have enough for a whole one.

There are well over 6,000 cyptocurrencies out there. Well over 5,000 are scams. Many are doing very interesting things, and they are making good efforts to change the world. That is also many more than Linux distributions.

The sad truth is that cryptocurrency is where the only good guys in tech are left. There are no good guys at Google, Microsoft, Fuckbook, or Apple.

Unlike big tech, there isn't any easy way to consolidate cryptocurrency. Chase can buy a small-town bank or even a smaller chain of banks. American Airlines can buy US Air, TWA, and other airlines. Microsoft can buy Great Plains. Bitcoin can't buy Ethereum. Ethereum can't buy Polkadot or Cardano.

I don't see how cryptocurrency can be corrupted at this point.

 

 

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22 hours ago, algernonsidney said:

Bitcoin is hardly the only cryptocurrency out there right.

Chris,

Of course not.

But for reliable medium term gains, it is the best game in town so far. At least it has a magnificent track record.

:)

btw - I intend to eventually play arbitrage with the other cryptos. But that will be more in the spirit of gambling than supporting a system that will lead to separating money from the state.

In this latest sense, John McAfee was all in with Cardano and despised Bitcoin. That makes me want to look deeper at Cardano (the whole story behind it) when I get the time. But I've looked at the story behind Bitcoin and I'm all in with it.

Especially in today's economic context.

I'm even setting up a curated blog on cryptos aimed at learning about this stuff as much as working the financial part. There's a shitload to learn. 

btw - I disagree with this:

22 hours ago, algernonsidney said:

Bitcoin has to stay honest because of the competition, although there are plenty who want to corrupt. If people lose faith in BTC, they will go elsewhere.

I agree that people will go elsewhere if they lose faith in Bitcoin and that many people want to corrupt it. I disagree that someone or something is making Bitcoin stay honest due to threat.

Nobody control Bitcoin. Which means it was engineered so that it can't be corrupted. That's why it stays honest. Not because someone in central control decides. The reality-virtual world connection was really well done in Bitcoin and part of the reality embedded in it was human nature.

On another point, I agree with you about a lot of scams and a lot of good stuff out there in the crypto world. That's one of the reasons I want to educate myself more.

22 hours ago, algernonsidney said:

The sad truth is that cryptocurrency is where the only good guys in tech are left. There are no good guys at Google, Microsoft, Fuckbook, or Apple.

Wise words. Exceptions, of course, but that is the landscape.

Michael

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This is making the rounds and, I believe, it shows just how scared the establishment swamp creatures on both sides are of Bitcoin.

I watched the clip of Trump talking about this (it was in an interview with Stuart Varney on Fox, see here).

President Trump did not say Bitcoin itself is a scam like the headline is insinuating. He was asked if he was investing in the stock market or crypto, etc., and he said he was not. And as an extension of that conversation, he said what recently happened with Bitcoin seems like a scam. In the crosstalk, you can even hear him talking about the drop in price. 

Then, when asked, he said he did not support Bitcoin because it has turned into a new currency and he does not want it to damage the dollar. He said he wants the American dollar to be the top currency in the world.

That's a whole lot different than what the fake news headlines are presenting, wouldn't you say?

:) 

btw - I believe President Trump will eventually come around re Bitcoin. He will have to or get left behind.

 

One another front, El Salvador is turning Bitcoin into legal tender in the country (see here).

That's called the first domino. :) 

 

So why is all this fuss against Bitcoin happening right now? Even in light of something as obvious as El Salvador rebutting it?

To me, it's easy. The fat cats are trying to drive the price of Bitcoin in dollar as low as possible by scaring people off so they can swoop in and buy up as much as they can at a low price. Then when the Bitcoin price in dollar goes up, as it will have to when new dollars come in, they will make a killing.

In reality, that's the scam President Trump was referring to.

Certain rich people are scamming as usual. 

Michael

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I saw that that Bitcoin was being used in a scam and the guv'ment intervened and Bitcoin caved. I told you so.  Check out how other countries like China are already destroying the "freedom" of bitcoin.  

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25 minutes ago, Peter said:

... and Bitcoin caved.

Peter,

"Bitcoin" did not cave. There is no "Bitcoin" in the sense you are talking about to cave.

I don't know what the feds did to recover the funds, but I can guarantee you it had nothing to do with some central figure at Bitcoin caving and helping out. Why?

Because no such person exists.

Bitcoin is not a company.

Here. Let me help a bit. There is one thing that may look like a company. It is called "Bitcoin.org." But it is one of many organizations that promote the Bitcoin network. It does not own the Bitcoin code. Here is a passage from their FAQ that might help to make this clear:

Quote

Who controls the Bitcoin network?

Nobody owns the Bitcoin network much like no one owns the technology behind email. Bitcoin is controlled by all Bitcoin users around the world. While developers are improving the software, they can't force a change in the Bitcoin protocol because all users are free to choose what software and version they use. In order to stay compatible with each other, all users need to use software complying with the same rules. Bitcoin can only work correctly with a complete consensus among all users. Therefore, all users and developers have a strong incentive to protect this consensus.

Owning Bitcoin as if it were a company would be like owning email as if that were a company. It just doesn't exist.

The code to Bitcoin is OPEN SOURCE. If you want it, go get it. Go on, now. It's free. That means free for you, Peter. Or free for anyone and everyone. Go here or go to Bitcoin Core.

In order to bankrupt Bitcoin, you have to get everyone who uses it to stop using it. And even then, there's nothing to bankrupt. There's nothing to be held liable. There's nothing to throw in jail. There's no legal entity that owns Bitcoin the way Zuckerberg and his legal structure own Facebook. Nobody holds secret passwords or anything like that.

I don't know if that's clear, but that's the best I can do. Now it's up to you. You have to look a little if you want to see. Or, hell, keep calling a car a horse and laughing at the silliness of people who say cars are different.

I will check into the recovered ransom to see how the feds did it, but I imagine the people who received the ransom got careless at what can be called "points of entry," meaning exchanges and the like. Off the top of my head, here is the story that makes the most sense as the most plausible. I think some of the culprits wanted to spend their loot and left a trail of sloppy spending leading to themselves, being that they had Bitcoin wallets with their share of the Bitcoin ransom in those wallets. Then it was easy for the government. Law enforcement simply tortured the passwords for the wallets out of these poor bastards. (I believe Russia may have helped.) :) 

This would be why the feds only recovered part of the money, not all of it. I read somewhere that the ransom paid to get rid of the ransomware for the pipeline was $4.4 million and the government was only able to recover $2.4 (or was it $2.6?) million.

But, please learn a little bit about Bitcoin so you can talk about it and make sense. When you make statements like "Bitcoin caved," it's like someone at the beginning of last century saying the a car that ran out of gas ("petrol") ended up stopping because of some horse-related issue like the car's horseshoes fell off.

Here's the inconvenient truth. A new system has come into being. You don't have to accept that it exists, but it exists. (You can even read a bit of Ayn Rand to get a notion of how technology changes things. :) )

btw - On the other end and adding to the confusion, there actually is a tonload of cryptocurrencies that have "governance boards" with "stakeholders" and things like that. They have corporates entities. People like Max Keiser calls those "shitcoins" because they are made to look like Bitcoins, but they are merely a digital form of fiat currency issued by a corporation with some bells and whistles added.

Bitcoin is an entirely different thing.

Michael

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Here is the official story from a DOJ release:

Department of Justice Seizes $2.3 Million in Cryptocurrency Paid to the Ransomware Extortionists Darkside

Quote

The Department of Justice today announced that it has seized 63.7 bitcoins currently valued at approximately $2.3 million. These funds allegedly represent the proceeds of a May 8, ransom payment to individuals in a group known as DarkSide, which had targeted Colonial Pipeline, resulting in critical infrastructure being taken out of operation. The seizure warrant was authorized earlier today by the Honorable Laurel Beeler, U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of California.

. . .

On or about May 7, Colonial Pipeline was the victim of a highly publicized ransomware attack resulting in the company taking portions of its infrastructure out of operation. Colonial Pipeline reported to the FBI that its computer network was accessed by an organization named DarkSide and that it had received and paid a ransom demand for approximately 75 bitcoins.

As alleged in the supporting affidavit, by reviewing the Bitcoin public ledger, law enforcement was able to track multiple transfers of bitcoin and identify that approximately 63.7 bitcoins, representing the proceeds of the victim’s ransom payment, had been transferred to a specific address, for which the FBI has the “private key,” or the rough equivalent of a password needed to access assets accessible from the specific Bitcoin address. This bitcoin represents proceeds traceable to a computer intrusion and property involved in money laundering and may be seized pursuant to criminal and civil forfeiture statutes.

They are very sketchy on the details of that "specific address, for which the FBI has the “private key.”"

What that address was and how they got that private key is the rub. Was it a wallet belonging to one of the hackers? Was it at an exchange like Coinbase? Was it a honeypot like Bitcoion money laundering trap set up by the FBI? Did they arrest one of the hackers and he gave them the plan? Did they torture a hacker to get the private key?

In addition to these questions, I can think of many other possibilities so far. But rather than speculate, I will wait until someone who knows what they are talking about comes out with a theory.

According to the DOJ release itself, there was a total of 75 bitcoins and only 63.7 were recovered. That means there are 11.3 bitcoins still floating around out in cyberspace (roughly around $400k). That's the official story.

I bet there's a lot more to it, a whole lot more, but at least, there is none of that anonymous source crap we get in the news these days. We know this is what the DOJ is saying.

Michael

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Bloomberg also gave a decent account:

Colonial Hackers Broke the Fundamental Bitcoin Rule

Quote

For the Federal Bureau of Investigation — which advocates against paying ransom — this first transaction marked the start of a digital car chase. Agents at the FBI’s Cyber Crimes Squad in San Francisco knew something that it seems many people forget: Every Bitcoin transaction is traceable. They’re recorded in a public distributed ledger. 

Using readily available tools, anyone can trace the comings and goings for any given crypto address. The FBI did just that, deploying a blockchain explorer — think of it as a crypto search engine — to, quite literally, follow the money.

When the hackers — identified by the FBI as Russia-linked cybercrime group DarkSide — asked for a ransom to be paid in Bitcoin, they needed to leave their address. 1 Getting the money is always the weak point in any kidnapping or hijacking scheme, and this one was no different.

So now the FBI had the address where 75 Bitcoins were paid, and they had a search tool that could track movement at that address. In analog times, this would be akin to making a drop to a post-office box and having the feds camped outside waiting for the perpetrator to pick it up.

In the digital world, though, it’s a simple matter to then transfer those Bitcoins to another address. And another. And another. This is done to obscure a trail and mask the flow of funds, kind of like money laundering. By May 27, the FBI had identified at least two dozen different Bitcoin addresses used in the distribution. Then, finally, most of it, 69.6 Bitcoins in total, was funneled back to one last address.

It’s here that the feds pounced — and where the story gets murky.

Somehow, they had the private key for this last address. Most cryptography works on a public-private key protocol. The public key can be thought of as similar to an email address, and the private key the password. Except these passwords are extremely long and almost impossible to guess.  

Law enforcement agencies don’t like to share their tradecraft, so how the FBI managed to get the key to this stash isn’t yet public. There’s a chance that the FBI hacked the hackers, or that someone else did and passed the key to the Bureau. Or maybe an informant handed it over. 

There’s also the possibility that this final address didn’t actually belong to the hackers, but to a cryptocurrency exchange.

. . .

Where exactly the Bitcoins were held, and who gave the FBI the private key, hasn’t been disclosed. ... 

... the hackers ... appear to have made a more fundamental mistake by keeping their Bitcoin online at all. This method of storage is called a hot wallet, meaning it can be accessed over a network for convenience and to aid nimble transactions. But it’s vulnerable to hacking.

Security advocates recommend that anyone with cryptocurrency store it in a cold wallet, also known as a hardware wallet, that isn’t connected to the internet and thus can’t be hacked. This typically takes the form of a USB thumb drive...

Why on earth did they funnel the bitcoins back to a centralized address after they had dispersed them all over Kingdom Come?

And, like the article says, the people who pulled off the ransomware attack are smart enough to know they had to use a cold wallet.

But they didn't and they recentralized their bitcoins after splitting them up. And conveniently, the FBI has the private key to where they re-centralized the bitcoins.

Something sounds waaaaaaaaaay off...

That's like a bank robber splitting up the money from a robbery and letting the gang scatter, then getting everyone to show up at the same time at a different bank to deposit their takes into a single account--and where the cops were just waiting there for them.

Weird. Really weird.

Was this a false flag attack of some sort with a convenient way to recoup the money built in?

Only the Deep State knows...

Michael

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Also, here is a bash on the fake news. Almost all the articles I read said Colonial Pipeline paid over $4.3 to $4.4 million in ransom, but the FBI only recovered $2.3 million. They don't mention why this doesn't add up.

It's due to the fluctuations of the bitcoin value in dollars.

At today's rate, 75 bitcoins come to about $2.5 million (not $4.4 million) and the 63.7 recovered bitcoins comes to $2.1 million. Once prices go back up, things will look more like the $4.4 million once again. Probably a crapload more.

Michael

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Am I wrong on these points? Bitcoin is not safe from government meddling, censoring, confiscation, or outlawing. If China makes it a crime to be into bitcoin in China, then its citizens using Bitcoin will be sent to the Gulags if China outlaws it. Crimes are still crimes even if a country allows Bitcoin usage. America’s Internal Revenue Service can and will still “get you” for avoiding taxes using Bitcoin. Bitcoin reminds me of “the dark web” where crimes can occur and supposedly the criminals are safe from detection and prosecution . . . until they are not.   

edit. Just now. The Wild West of Crypto is ending per Charlie Gasparino on Fox. Major regulations and enforcement are in store here in the U.S. and Crypto is down six percent against the U.S. dollar and is expected to fall further. Yet a Miami hotel and condo will start to accept Bitcoin.

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9 hours ago, Peter said:

Bitcoin is not safe from government meddling, censoring, confiscation, or outlawing.

Peter,

Make this comparison and it might become clearer.

Bitcoin is as safe as email is. I'm not talking about a specific email. I'm talking about using email.

So Bitcoin = email.
Hotmail, Gmail, Yandex, Protonmail, etc. etc. etc. = the different exchanges and wallets (Coinbase, Binance, etc.).

So ask yourself, is email "safe from government meddling, censoring, confiscation, or outlawing"?

What if China banned people from sending and receiving email? How well do you think they could pull that off?

I doubt they would be able to do it.

Ditto for Bitcoin. They can make it dangerous for citizens to buy and sell Bitcoin by attacking the different exchanges. They cannot stop new exchanges from popping up, though, and getting around their restrictions. Not so long as the Internet exists.

So sit back and watch the show.

The central bank cartel people are not going to give up without a fight. They, at least, realize the danger they are in. They will lose unless the bad guys find a way to turn all people into zombies that obey governments on autopilot. In other words, they will lose.

But on the way, they will huff and they will puff and they will blow any houses down they wish. That is, except for the one made of brick (Bitcoin :) ).

Frankly, I doubt those wolves will blow many houses down. When their own house catches fire, as it soon will, they will become really busy, too busy to blow at any houses except their own.

You can't change this show, nor can I. Trillions are already involved. So might as well enjoy it. 

:) 

Michael

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56 minutes ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

Bitcoin itself costs nothing. All it is is code."

Damn. I did not see that. So, if I buy a Mercedes with Bitcoin, all I need to say is "code it." Kind of like Monopoly money? And it will be delivered to my driveway? Go directly to Jail.  

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A criticism of Bitcoin another angle...Ironically enough, there are some who are claiming that crypto to be created by "Freemasons",  "the deep state" and used for trafficking, urging people to get out of it...I don't know if this is common among the Q crowd, but it's interesting to see it being attacked from that angle...("interesting", to me, because couldn't they same the same about fiat currency?)

And a comment from the same person on the same post:

 
"China created Bitcoin. Do your research. All my sources are saying to get out by the end of the summer when it gets taken down. That fine that you can disagree. It’s tied to the Cabal so I would never invest in it. But that’s just me. "



https://www.facebook.com/shannon.harris.3133/posts/10158553149616795

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4 hours ago, Peter said:

Damn. I did not see that. So, if I buy a Mercedes with Bitcoin, all I need to say is "code it." Kind of like Monopoly money? And it will be delivered to my driveway? Go directly to Jail.  

Peter,

You're conflating issues. You are conflating the value stored in bitcoin with the actual bitcoin.

I don't know why you resist understanding bitcoin, but you do.

So here is one last shot.

Since you do not believe people like me know what I am talking about when it comes to something new like this, and you give credence to mainstream people by default, how about the owner of Twitter?

From Business Insider:

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey signalled his enthusiasm for bitcoin again, saying it is the most important thing to work on in his lifetime

There is plenty more where that came from. Dorsey has even said if it ever came to a choice, to only work on Twitter or only work on bitcoin, he would choose bitcoin every time.

:)

btw - When you say email is free, even using the standard you are using, it is not. The email company gets your data (including in most cases, your actual messages, in exchange for you using its email and sells that data without cutting you in. After all, you already got paid.

Also, there are plenty of email services you have to pay to use, especially autoresponders.

As to free, how is that inherently a good thing? In communist countries, you get food for free. Right? Clothes for free, housing for free, education for free... hell, even a grave for free...

:) 

Michael

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