Comments by FTS (page 6)

^^ Correction to my previous comment--the speech by Janet Yellen was given on April 7th, not today, April 11th.

Perhaps all you Bitcoin-haters should grow a pair of balls, watch this speech given by former Fed Chair and current Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, and then look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself if you're prepared to take responsibility for your position on Bitcoin. If you are, and you're (falsely) confident that Bitcoin is just a fad that is going to zero, then I am begging you--SHORT IT! Take out a huge loan on your home equity and take out a massive, leveraged short position on Bitcoin. It's definitely going to zero, right?! So take out the largest short position you possible can. PLEEEAAASE DO IT!!! Short the motherfucking Bitcoin to zero! (That was sarcasm; if you do that, you will lose all of your money and you'll be homeless). A segment from Treasury Secretary's speech, given today, April 11th, 2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2PL3Mtzkio

"No one is going to wait 20 years for it to go up. People want to spend the money they have now without worrying about it being less by the next day." -As I already wrote, if you have a high time preference (you care more about the present, than about your future, relative to the average person) then you are less inclined to grok Bitcoin. "FTS, what do you think you're gaining by preaching Bitcoin on a board of strip club fans?" -If anything at all, I think I'm getting a very small dopamine hit. Other than that... nothing. Again, my intention with this post was to share some good news. And now, a brief lesson on how to recognize dishonest criticism-- When a person criticizes you, or your message, with insults or insulting language, without including evidence or some kind of message that is intended to correct your behavior, or your message, then you can be fairly confident that that person's criticism is dishonest, or, at best, malicious. Here is an example, " 'Mining bitcoin will be instrumental in the next phase of human development and solving climate change' LOLOLOLOL OMFG I FUCKING CAN'T BELIEVE THIS. Proof of work is inherently energy intensive, there is no way around this. Its very 1984esque for crypto cultists to claim bitcoin is good for solving climate change. At first they laugh at you, then they continue laughing. Then they're rolling on the floor laughing. Please stop I can't laugh any more. I can't stop laughing. Then you lose your catch phrase/you get exit scammed by the exchange you use. Sorry for your lose." -Notice how the bulk of the above criticism is the insulting, belittling language. The only part of the message that isn't belittling in nature is the true statement, "Proof of work is inherently energy intensive," which, really, borders on tautological. There is nothing in this criticism that offers a correction to the proposition that it criticizes. Because it offers no correction, or logical explanation of the false nature of the claims that it criticizes, then it is either a manipulation intended to distract the reader from the message that is being criticized, or it's just ridiculous and malicious taunting. "BTC is DOWN again down almost 18% in a single week period headed down to 32,000 soon - i wish you could bet it short Bitcoin is down 20% in less than 10 days - now below 39,000.. remember next support level is 32,000 so it could be headed another 30 percent lower etherium is down 9% today alone major crypto losses across the board" -Again, if you have a high time preference then you are less inclined to grok Bitcoin. My suggestion is that you ZOOM OUT. How many times do I have to link to this site? https://bitcoin.zorinaq.com/price/ How much did the price of Bitcoin move on that chart? A few pixels? Again, a price is an exchange ratio. It is the ratio of the quantity of one thing being exchange for another. What are the things being exchanged? Bitcoin, which is of a fixed, finite supply, and fiat currency, which is fundamentally unlimited in its supply. Being concerned about the day-to-day price changes of Bitcoin is like paying attention to the ripples in the water of a calm beach as a tsunami comes barreling towards you, at a distance, with a speed of 500 mph. Why would you be concerned with the day-to-day changes of the USDBTC exchange ratio when it's a mathematical certainty that the Fed will, eventually, print QUADRILLIONS of dollars?! "what is the fee for a bitcoin transaction and how long does it take to confirm? If i recall correctly, 90% of all transactions will be confirmed in ten to thirty minutes. Bitcoin considers zero delay to be confirmed in the next block. Besides the fee being higher for this, that means a minimum wait of five minutes on average. Confirmation times have gotten into days for low fee transactions. i know, i don't understand, i should watch some video or you'll do a what about type question. I don't expect you to address these issues and how a business like Target would tolerate it. if you do address these issues, what do you think of the double spend problem? please answer in your own words, I don't want to watch a video." -The fee for final settlement on the Bitcoin blockchain varies over time according to supply and demand. The current fee is about 5 sats/vB (less than $1 to move an arbitrary amount of money. $1 fee to move $1 billion is a fee of less than 0.000001%). It's important to compare like for like, i.e. compare things that are within the same category. Comparing the final settlement on-chain transaction of Bitcoin to a credit card transaction is NOT a like-for-like comparison. Final settlement within the traditional financial system takes days, and sometimes weeks or months. A familiar analogy to the Bitcoin final settlement is an ACH transaction, which typically takes at least 1 business day. So, the comparison of Bitcoin final settlement to traditional final settlement is 10 mins vs 1-3 business days. The topic of the OP was about the inclusion of Lightning transactions at the point-of-sale. The Lightning network is somewhat comparable to credit card transactions in that it is not AS final as an on-chain transaction (although, unlike CC transactions, Lightning transactions aren't reversible--a 2nd Lightning transaction is needed for any kind of reverse payment / refunding activity. This means Lightning transactions are quite final, unlike CC transactions.), but it is almost instantaneous, like the credit card networks, and it can process millions of transactions per second, which is a huge leap in superiority over the credit card networks. It's also much cheaper than credit card transactions, which is why merchants such as Target would not only tolerate it, but welcome it. Regarding the double-spend problem--the double-spend problem was solved by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008.

@ceoaticeesangelsllc, https://bitcoin.zorinaq.com/price/

If I was selling a pyramid scheme then I would have said something like, “you’ll get x dollars (or x%) for every person that you recruit. The more you recruit, the more money you make.” Did I write that? NO! Because Bitcoin isn’t a pyramid scheme. I’m totally fine with also recommending gold and real estate (I own some of both). But, if I’m intellectually honest, then I would have to admit that Bitcoin is superior insofar as these assets are used to preserve value over a long period of time (years). And, unlike gold and real estate, Bitcoin is actually useable as a convenient form of money. 🤷🏻‍♂️

https://twitter.com/IslandHodl/status/1513200692223266825?s=20&t=5c1EAckyeGUxauvET8p4qQ https://twitter.com/saylor/status/1513192316126863360?s=20&t=5c1EAckyeGUxauvET8p4qQ https://twitter.com/DocumentingBTC/status/1512838433626112006?s=20&t=5c1EAckyeGUxauvET8p4qQ https://twitter.com/CoinDesk/status/1512459561176813579?s=20&t=5c1EAckyeGUxauvET8p4qQ https://twitter.com/saylor/status/1450470672044539916?s=20&t=5c1EAckyeGUxauvET8p4qQ https://twitter.com/DocumentingBTC/status/1491071131797065728?s=20&t=5c1EAckyeGUxauvET8p4qQ https://twitter.com/w_s_bitcoin/status/1492511360193900547?s=20&t=5c1EAckyeGUxauvET8p4qQ https://youtu.be/ko6K82pXcPA

"I've made half a mill on crypto since 2017" "I just want to help people" "Wake up! Stop acting so immature" Yea, I don't see what's so funny. I never claimed that others can gain an appreciation of value of a half million dollars; to do that requires a decent amount of capital to begin with. Obviously there have been others who've gained significantly more than me, and others who have gained significantly less. What matters is that Bitcoin doesn't discriminate; it doesn't matter if you're a teenager in a poor family of Nigeria, a woman in Afghanistan, or Michael Saylor--Bitcoin serves its purpose indiscriminately, and that purpose is to serve as a hard, sound, digital, global money. Yes, I sold a bunch of stocks and mutual funds as soon as I realized that Bitcoin was the superior investment. That's how it works in finance; when you realize you're wrong, you change your investment behavior. You might think you're fine to just invest in stocks and mutual funds, getting 7-10% return on average over many years, but guess what... the USD money supply has also been increasing at about 7.5% per year for over half a century. Haven't you ever seen a chart of the S&P 500 denominated in ounces of gold? Denominated in gold, the S&P 500 is currently valued at the exact same price as it was in 1964, and only a 317% increase (1.5% annualized increase) since 1916! Maybe you guys don't realize that holding Bitcoin is just a way of freezing the value of your labor in time in order to protect it from melting away due to inflation. You can try to do the same thing with gold, or with real estate, but those are inferior assets--new gold is mined at a rate of about 2% per year, and real estate requires maintenance, property taxes, insurance, and it's not fungible. The smart money figured it out already. That's why I wrote what I wrote. Stop acting so immature, I'm trying to help you.

@ceoaticeesangelsllc https://bitcoin.zorinaq.com/price/

"You know what else would make you feel good? A woman's mouth around your penis." At least we can agree on one thing.

Here, I'll help you guys some more. Watch this very short video clip. Watch it a second or third time if you need to. Use your brain! Think about the origins and purpose of paper currency (an example of debt-money / money-of-account). If you want to dismiss the words of some of the most intellectual and entrepreneurial minds, go ahead, but you won't be able to say I didn't tell you so. https://twitter.com/blue_collarbtc/status/1513173927773749251?s=20&t=5c1EAckyeGUxauvET8p4qQ

"For someone so happy and secure about your investments, you sure have a weed up your ass about people who don't see the value of Holy Mother Bitcoin." Not really, I just like to correct people when they're wrong; it's a way for me to help people and it makes me feel good. I would do a very similar thing if there were people on this forum who argued against a spherical model of the Earth and honestly believed in flat-Earth theory. "I’m not ridiculing anyone," Yea, my comment wasn't really directed at you.

@ceoaticeesangelsllc, you want to know what's next? How about using Bitcoin as a flexible, on-demand, electrical load to make the shift towards using more renewable energy sources more economical? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ9dNMrSDK8 You guys make fun of Bitcoin, and yet it's reached the level of becoming a tool to bolster our national security. Has the president of the United States issued an executive order regarding Alex Jones, or SJG's organization? Is SJG on Larry Fink's radar? y'all need to wake the f up, or stop acting so immature.

"earning nothing but ridicule in the process." Maybe my "hawking" hasn't earned me anything, but supporting my cause earned me a half milli so far. You can ridicule me all you want, doesn't make you any less WRONG, and it doesn't change the value of my bitcoins. Alex Jones ain't worth $1 trillion, and SJG's organization is completely fictional. You got a problem with Bitcoin, you go take it up with these publicly traded companies: MARA, RIOT, HUT, BITF, CAN, CLSK, HIVE.

You can?! Oh no, I’m so embarrassed! 🙃

@twentyfive, I didn’t write that large companies never will make changes to accommodate Bitcoin. But, the largest companies have huge accounting departments, and offices around the world, with software systems that have to be interoperable with other systems, etc. Changing to accommodate Bitcoin is not something that can happen overnight—there needs to be sophisticated software solutions that are coded specifically for Bitcoin, and there needs to be accounting regulations and laws that are amenable to using Bitcoin as a currency. Lots of work to do! But, obviously that hasn’t stopped companies from acquiring Bitcoin to hold on their balance sheet. But, even that is not as good as it could be because the corporate accounting laws define Bitcoin as an indefinite lived intangible asset, which hinders the financials of the companies that hold the Bitcoins. Legal tender in El Salvador, and now Prospera and Madeira and, soon, Mexico!

^^if all you care about is today, and next week, with no regard to 5 years from now, 20 years from now, and 2 generations from now, etc. then you will never fully understand Bitcoin.

^^ Is that so? Look at this chart, and then write that again. https://bitcoin.zorinaq.com/price/ “Disappearing money”. Ha.

The large companies don’t allow direct payments in Bitcoin because their accounting systems are so elaborate and entrenched that it’s too difficult to accommodate Bitcoin. There are plenty of small companies, and online-only companies, that do accept Bitcoin as payment for their goods and services. As a matter of fact, my local barber accepts Bitcoin (and not because of me; they started accepting Bitcoin years before I moved to the area). Not sure what third parties you’re referring to. Companies like BitPay offer merchant solutions so that customers can pay in Bitcoin; most companies don’t specialize in software development and can’t design their own point-of-sale bitcoin checkout software.

“Bitcoin was a bad idea waiting for a society so stupid to think it was a good idea.” The historical evidence suggests otherwise. Many digital currencies were tried and failed before Bitcoin. Satoshi’s breakthrough in 2008 was the culmination of decades of experiments by computer scientists and cypherpunks. So, if Bitcoin was really such a bad idea, then how do you explain it’s success thus far? How do you explain all the major credit card companies adopting it? How do you explain Tesla buying $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin? How do you explain a grassroots digital currency, that obviously would have been shut down by the US government if they could have shut it down, becoming a legal tender of a sovereign nation? Your statement is intellectually dishonest.

@ilbbaicnl, you can’t send gold around the world at the speed of light. If you want to categorize Bitcoin as a non-productive asset because it doesn’t literally produce tangible items like food, clothes, cars, etc. then that’s fine. It’s not really a speculation, though, that the Fed will continue to increase the USD money supply by 7%+ every year, and it’s also not a speculation that there will only ever be 21 million BTC. It’s also not a speculation that transactions over the Lightning Network are cheaper than traditional CC transactions. So, by simple supply/demand dynamics, the price (exchange ratio) of bitcoins should continue to go up, forever, because it’s a ratio of something that is infinite (fiat currency) to something that is of a fixed, finite supply. I.e. infinity/21million. It won’t matter if the boomers generally reject it… you’re all going to be dead soon anyway. The youth will adopt, and inherit, the bitcoins because it is to their advantage to store the value of their labor in a money that cannot be debased by the rapid production of new units. Y’all need some lessons in praxeology, catallactics, and economics.

Bitcoin is economic egalitarianism and freedom from the Boomer-privileged, exclusionary financial system. https://twitter.com/gladstein/status/1512493813218123786?s=21&t=Y2CSyJJihTk3SVIuOraNTw If you’re against Bitcoin, then, on behalf of 80% of the human race—go f*** yourself.

It’s the #1 recurring buy asset on Robinhood. https://twitter.com/documentingbtc/status/1512904548737818633?s=21&t=LePmZlIbLo3Nv0ywJk567Q

And, if it really is a Ponzi scheme, as you say it is, then it surely won’t survive for 5 more years. How about this—it doesn’t even have to completely go away. If the USD price of Bitcoin, 5 years from today, is less than $20k, then I will concede that I was wrong. Good luck! https://bitcoin.zorinaq.com/price/

“ SEC views BTC as a security ” False. “third, your SATOSHI Nakamoto is a made up person (FAKE as in a person that does not exist)” Misleading and irrelevant. Everybody knows Satoshi Nakamoto is a pseudonym. “ finally, BTC is based on blockchain is horribly inefficient to continue to create new coins as the string continues to expand requiring more and more energy use.” No. Again, you don’t know what you’re talking about. I suggest you stop making claims that you can’t defend, be humble, and do a little studying.

“ only both parties need botcoin to use it.” No. “ FTS/other Hodlers realize they NEED to recruit other people so their bitcoins go up in value.” Also no. Bitcoin is the hardest money in the world. It’s the LAST money that any rational person would spend. Most bitcoin holders are passing their Bitcoins to their children as generational wealth.