Bitcoin hits record high as Trump vows to end crypto crackdown

I highly doubt that "ending crypto crackdown" would mean guaranteeing safety for projects like Samourai or Localmonero. Or ending the relationship with Chainalysis.

Can you elaborate on these topics for someone not in the know?
- Samourai was a Bitcoin wallet attempting to improve the currency's privacy. Its devs were arrested this year.
  
  Localmonero was a platform where people could post listings for buying or selling Monero without KYC. There was also an identical sister site Agoradesk for Bitcoin. They abruptly shut down this year, probably afraid of similar prosecution (it happened pretty soon after the Samourai case).
  
  Chainalysis is a company that US government works with, attempting to track and deanonymize crypto transactions. Recently a presentation of theirs leaked, disclosing some of their methods (which were very interesting for the Monero community in particular).
- Chainalysis is a cryptocurrency/blockchain investigation software, I at least know that much.

What crackdown? The SEC has only charged actual scammers and they've "requested information" from the legitimate players to figure out how to proceed. Other than some bad calls by sanctioning software, there's hardly been anything considered a "crackdown."

That means, in Republican speak, that they will allow anyone to scam anyone without repercussion.
- Republicans love a good scam
  
  Next up is the dismantling of the ACA. They will roll out these amazingly cheap alternatives. Health insurance for $10 a month!
  
  So the poor and the stupid will sign up. They’ll go to the bar and saunter up to a “libtard” and tell them that trump fixed everything.
  
  Then when they get sick and try to use MAGA super plan plus premium they won’t be able to find a doctor. The $10/month plan only covers an annual trip to a CVS minute clinic. They’ll go on Facebook and write up how the goddamn liberals tricked him. Other faithful republicans will pray for them and tell them that it must be a glitch because trump made things better.
  
  The con will win because it’ll only hurt those without power.
Exactly. He intends to let scammers scam.
- Scam and speculation are the only use cases after all.
But that's not as exciting as promising to end something that's barely happening in the first place.

People elected Trump to be entertaining, not for sensible governance.
I don't know why this is being taken at face value with so many upvotes. The Gensler SEC was right to go after actual scammers and ponzis, but they went much further and clearly had an agenda.

Gensler targeted the most reputable exchange in the US alleging that their core business is illegal, because the Gensler SEC decided to classify crypto assets as securities rather than define a new regulatory framework that actually fits.

https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2023-102

Coinbase wanted to follow the rules and spent years asking for clarity. Rather than provide clear rules, the SEC provided a lawsuit.
- There wasn't a need to "define a new regulatory framework that actually fits" because, funnily enough, the existing regulatory framework already fits. It turns out, inventing new words doesn't actually change the fundamental nature of the thing you're describing. Refusing to call something an "investment" doesn't change the fact that you're selling an investment, refusing to call something a "security" doesn't prevent it from being a security if it meets the definition.
  
  Edit: Sorry, let me address that ridiculous point about Coinbase "asking for clarity" directly. Yes, Coinbase repeatedly "asked for clarity" in the same manner as a dude in a girl's DMs repeatedly asking for nudes while being told in the bluntest of terms to fuck off. They were given perfectly clear answers, they just didn't like them, so they kept claiming, with zero fucking basis, that these will laid out rules that every financial institution has been following for decades were somehow "unclear" to them. It was a conversation not unlike a Sovereign Citizen trying to get out of a speeding ticket by claiming that they don't understand where the officer's authority comes from. The law is prefectly clear. If you don't understand the law, you hire a lawyer who does. That's a cost of doing business. Sticking "smart" in front the of the word "contract" doesn't suddenly invent a whole new field of law. I can't suddenly get away with murder because I call it "crypto murder". The law is based on what you do, not what you call it.
- That's fair, but hardly so aggressive that I'd call it a "crypto crackdown."
  
  But it's hardly unexpected to see lawsuits around unsettled law. Everyone should expect more as we start settling case law and bringing crypto inline with existing law.
  
  Also, wasn't it mostly centered around their non-exchange activities? Press release specifically mentions their "Staking-as-a-Service" offering. Not that I see anything wrong with it, but I could see how that could be considered a security. Doesn't really pass the Howey test.

Obligatory Line Goes Up video, although not exclusively about Bitcoin.

I do admit that early in Bitcoin's life, around 2013, i was a interested in Bitcoin as an alternative to banking, but the volatility and speculation alienated me from the community. Anyone buying BTC now for $90k, you need to realize this turned into a pyramid scheme and you're not at the top of it. You may be able to find someone who's more of a sucker to take the Bitcoin off your hand and make a profit, but it's not sustainable, someone has to loose. Any gains you make are probably less than 10% what the person made by selling it to you.

If you do end up speculating on crypto, don't invest more than you can afford to loose, and assume you'll loose it all. It's very likely you'll either get hacked/scammed, loose your wallet, leave your wallet in an online exchange who runs off with your keys, etc. You're on your own if that happens. If you do end up making any profit, it'll be a blessing and you'll be way happier than if you thought this would be your key to get rich, and you end up loosing it all.

Lose
The system where everybody loses is fiat money, because the money always loses value. Bitcoin is the opposite.
To be fair, the idea of "alternative to banking" is still very much alive. BTC and LTC are very much used as currencies, even though BTC has fees too high for small transactions. Monero was developed specifically with utility rather than investment in mind - now reading about how exactly anonymity is enforced there (especially after the Chainalysis leaks), it's pretty interesting. I kinda hope we invent something better than blockchain-based currencies that is equivalent in uncensorability, but right now it's the closest we got.
Yes, the line keeps going up. I don't understand why people think this is some kind of own. That longass video just gets funnier and more irrelevant as it gets older.

And the picture is about NFTs... At worst they're like collector plates. Just another grift. Who cares? People buying jpegs of monkeys is not a real problem for me.

Coiners: "We want to be taken seriously and treated as legitimate businesses!"

Biden Government: "OK. We'll treat you as legitimate businesses in your respective fields and expect you to comply with the same regulations everyone else has to."

Coiners: "Oh shit wait no this sucks, our whole business model only works because of crime, quick everyone vote for a fascist conman!"

Honestly, waking up and seeing my balance was the only thing that kept me from ending myself the day after the election.

So glad I invested when the price was at $20k and everyone was calling it a "scam". Good thing I didn't listen. Bitcoin literally saved my life.

Dude seek help, it's a Ponzi scheme. Sell and get out now.
You should probably seek professional help if market changes have this kind of effect

It is literally going to be a feeding frenzy on idiots.

Every time the price spikes I get the feeling its large holders cashing out while they can and the liquid from newcomers is available. Which would make it mostly a scam, kinda like the stock market but even more shallow somehow, as if the stock market wasn't unrelated enough to actual production and very esoteric.

kinda like the stock market

It's basically the same thing. People cry about crypto being a pyramid scheme without talking about how pyramid schemes are a major foundation of the whole economy. People cry about how crypto isn't a worthwhile currency while the dollar (ie. paper covered with pictures of slave masters) is constantly losing value.
It really depends on the community you're talking with. In the Bitcoin community that would not surprise me in the least if it's just big holders dumping on little holders to cash out for fiat. In the Monero community however that's totally different because they want to use it as actual money. They, and I include myself in this category, believe that the government should absolutely not have control of our money supply that they can manipulate at any time for any reason or no reason at all and make everyone less wealthy, with the exception of those who they choose to give "government contracts", "incentives" or "subsidies". This is why the libertarians say that taxation is theft because they tax you on your productive hours of your life and call it an income tax and then they give it to the people who they choose to flatter and leave you homeless and shit.
- Income taxes go back into services that help society. How do you expect a government to fund any of the infrastructure and services that you take for granted around you without it?
- ok but why not gold or silver then? also obviously without currency controls all modern countries would have drastically smaller economies.
- I'm sorry, no. The point when you find yourself relating to libertarians is the time you should really ask yourself two simple questions
  
  1 - Am I a dumbass?
  
  2 - Why am I trying to herd myself in with a group of dumbasses?
- You can believe that all you want, but this is an even nutter dream than achieving effective gun control in the US (one of my nutty dreams). Why in the world would the government ever give up control of the "money supply"? That's not going to happen.

. That approval made it easier to fund bitcoin investment projects, but despite the seeming endorsement, Gensler warned at the time that the SEC still viewed bitcoin as a "volatile asset" linked to "illicit activity" like ransomware, money laundering, sanction evasion, and terrorist financing.

Anybody who is not using Monero for these kinds of activities is doing it wrong. Just remember folks, every transaction on Bitcoin and similar chains is an upskirt transaction.

Isn't USD also linked to many of those? Gangs launder physical cash through businesses, ransomware can ask for credit cards or bank accounts, terrorists may take USD as it can be spent nearly anywhere.
- The difference is that 100% of crypto-currency transactions are stuff like that and only a small percentage of USD transactions.
- Oh yes, these kinds of organizations love cash because it's a bearer asset.

not surprised since crooks love corrupt officials

Shitcoin and the Orange turd both need to be flushed but they keep sticking to the rim.

Idiots. Short it and make money.

Go ahead and short bitcoin right now. lmao.

(Seriously though wait until it peaks ffs.)
the market can remain irrational far longer than you can remain solvent.

the world is full of bubbles right now but the wisest move is to hoard cash while the trumpets are playing and buy everything after the dust settles. like warren buffet isnt trying to time the crash, its long overdue.
- Bitcoin has been going up since 2009, lol. Bubbles pop and die. Internet stock had the dot com bubble and kept going up later.
- the wisest move is to hoard cash
  
  I disagree, market timing fails more than it succeeds. The better bet IMO is to diversify your investments. When one bubble pops, you'll have assets in other sectors/regions/etc that aren't in a bubble and get the investment dollars from people fleeing the bubble.
  
  Warren Buffett hoarding cash doesn't mean you should hoard cash. He's hoarding cash because he's a sophisticated investor with a long track record of being able to find good deals, and he sometimes buys entire companies outright, and having a large cash balance makes that a lot easier. He also frequently funnels that money into stock buybacks instead of leaving it in cash. He doesn't know if the market will crash next year on in a decade, because as you said, the market can remain irrational.
  
  Do what Warren Buffett says, not what he does: buy and hold a broad market index fund (he recommends the S&P 500).
  
  That's what I'm doing. I'm rebalancing my investments more regularly because I do expect this temporary run-up to drop, but I'm unwilling to try to time the market. I have a target US/international ratio, and I'm making sure that's correct (my US portion has grown faster than international). I have also decided to pull the trigger on a small-cap value tilt after watching some good videos by Ben Felix, so I've been completing that transition as well. I intend to keep this portfolio for >10 years (probably through retirement, but we'll see what happens when there's new research).
- Hoarding fiat currency will always end worse than slowly trading it for assets that hold or increase in value. All the while: government money loses value by design. Attempting to time a crash and call the bottom is more akin to gambling than investing.
Yep, I suspect at least some people to get hurt in the very near future, because a decently reliable gauge of FOMO is where is the Coinbase app in the App Store rankings, and it is increasing quite quickly. Back in 2022, before everything imploded, it hit number one on the App Store for a while. And it's headed right back that direction from what was like 400th place. I use Monero because it's actually being used as money and so has a bit more inelastic demand.