2025-04-01 21:01:01 by Fark.com

Main Discussion Sports Business STEM Entertainment Fandom D'awww Food Politics   Trump has decided he wants to create a "strategic Bitcoin reserve". Jr. and I'm Eric have invested heavily in a Bitcoin-mining farm. Some nitpicking naysayers who hate America think that creates one of those "conflicts of interest" thingies   (msn.com) 41    More: Obvious, MSN   Log in (at the top of the page) to enable voting. Conflict of interest! Ya think!Just another way to get things where they need them! You could almost say "just another tool in the toolbox"!The goal is to take the country down and cause dissent. When they get stopped and ruled against, the excuse will be "ok we broke it but there is no way to fix it now".Sorry! Enjoy your recession! This whole administration is conflicts of interest. The REALLY BIG Grift continues! There's no conflict if they show interest... Will there be a strategic reserve for Beanie Babies? Should be a roaring success with those two miscreants. Like elmo gutting NASA?Does that department really exist and is elmo getting a paycheck from the US? This is great news folks, it means Bitcoin is going to completely crash. All bitcoin will be good for is buying Trump Steaks at the Trump University Student Union. A strategic Bitcoin reserve only makes sense if the administration takes the strongest of security measures: lock the keys in a cold wallet stuffed up Eric's prison wallet. damageddude: This whole administration is conflicts of interest. Uh, with his own money? Sure!With any of OUR money? fark and no. They've invested in a bitcoin mining farm? I thought it requires more and more computing for every bitcoin that gets made, and at this point the only way to farm more bitcoin and have it be profitable is to literally steal electricity. So they've openly invested in a criminal enterprise? Puglio: They've invested in a bitcoin mining farm? I thought it requires more and more computing for every bitcoin that gets made, and at this point the only way to farm more bitcoin and have it be profitable is to literally steal electricity. So they've openly invested in a criminal enterprise?No the fancy pants miners have farms in the middle of the 'stans where electricity is cheap from low population and underutilized soviet infrastructure, or similar places in NA (hydroelectric dam for a community that no longer exists) Puglio: They've invested in a bitcoin mining farm? I thought it requires more and more computing for every bitcoin that gets made, and at this point the only way to farm more bitcoin and have it be profitable is to literally steal electricity. So they've openly invested in a criminal enterprise?You can also use up the electricity supply of some of the world's poorest countries like Uzbekistan and still make a marginal profit, but, r and Eric?  These are not clever men, I'd be shocked to find out they even factored in the cost of electricity into their profit and loss projections This reminds me of the time Bill Clinton formed the Strategic Spawn Issue #9 Reserve. Puglio: it requires more and more computing for every bitcoin that gets made, and at this point the only way to farm more bitcoin and have it be profitable is to literally steal electricity.I'm pretty sure those two haven't even heard of this little wrinkle in their plans for massive profit, and wouldn't understand even if they had. Technically, no.A conflict of interest is when your role in one endeavor, which in itself would be legitimate, incentivizes you to, in your role as leader of a second, also legitimate endeavor, act in a manner that goes against the interests of the first in favor of the second or vice versa.Conflicts of interest aren't crimes, but typically they enable crimes or just make them easier. They are a liability, not an offense.The word for stealing a bunch of taxpayer money and putting it into an account that you can regularly withdraw from without ever having put any of your money into it, which is what this is, is "embezzlement" or "theft", and you can skip worrying about conflicts and incentives because this is just a crime already. That's like saying it's a conflict of interest because he makes the dollar stronger, and his children have dollars.Stop being nitwits about everything. Bringing the idea of 'conflict of interest' only helps Trump get what he wants because now everyone debates THAT *instead* of the stupid idea of 'bitcoin strategic reserve'. damageddude: This whole administration is conflicts of interest.Don't be unreasonable.Some of it is simple treason. I get why in in the 80s  an oil strategic reserve and why we don't need now but's not a bad thing to have. But a crypto slush fund it so dumb Pump and dump in a massive fraud scale. it's insane A strategic bitcoin reserve would normally be the most stupid thing I've heard all week.  But Trump is President, so it barely makes the top ten. There's no strategic point to Bitcoin it's a chain of pointless numbers, it isn't like fuel for the military or steel or literally anything that can be of use in any way.Its numbers a graphics card spits out for speculation purposes ffs It's a grift, and it's also a wealthy crime family mining Bitcoin, which along with the other large-scale mining is not what the promise of Bitcoin was. This is not a distributed currency controlled by the people rather than the elites. There is also nothing of substance backing bitcoin.The "full faith and credit of the US government" looks like gold compared to bitcoin!There is nothing there but air and electricity. At least stocks are based on something tangible (most times)! Identify/isolate the facility, cross the power lines so 13,000 volts go through the 240 volt lines, then just firebomb the building.Problem solved... The idea of making a strategic BTC reserve was a great idea a few years ago, when it had really started to take off and show some value.  Now that it is higher than it's EVER been, and only for a very short period of time, this is the WORST time to buy a shiatload and make a reserve.Had the government had that brilliant idea a few years ago, they could have triple their money by now.But, now, this is a peak.  Not a valley.  This is NOT the right time to buy.I am no expert on all of this, but I don't need to be to understand how trends work.  And Bitcoin, like it or not, has followed some pretty classic trends of peaks and valleys.I just don't get how this is a good idea.  If they are going to do it, I hope they wait a little while.Because, if you don't get what could happen...  If they make a big buy now, people are going to sell like f'n crazy.  It's going to tank the price.  And all those people selling will be selling at the peak, leaving the biggest holders in the lurch. Lord Musk needs to cash in, but if he sells crypto on the open market, this price will tank. Taxpayers to the rescue! We're about a month away from Trump trading american states to foreign entities in exchange for magic beans. shreve_danyahoo.com: The "full faith and credit of the US government" looks like goldWell, it did for a while.//Still better than Bitcoin by a mile m00: Puglio: They've invested in a bitcoin mining farm? I thought it requires more and more computing for every bitcoin that gets made, and at this point the only way to farm more bitcoin and have it be profitable is to literally steal electricity. So they've openly invested in a criminal enterprise?No the fancy pants miners have farms in the middle of the 'stans where electricity is cheap from low population and underutilized soviet infrastructure, or similar places in NA (hydroelectric dam for a community that no longer exists)Even then, the hash rate needed is extremely high and makes uppercase 'B' Bitcoin incredibly rare for all but the largest farming pools.  I would imagine that they're investing in a farm which is going to leverage some memecoin scam the Trumps are going to run with the help of the federal government now. US already has one, the pile of seized bitcoin from illegal activity was already a sword of damocles over the price. [in a Sarah Palin voice]Howzat conflickty intresty thing workin out fer ya?! Yeah, because if he thinks he has to flee the country it will be a hell of a lot easier to absconb with a bitcoin reserve than it would be gold bars from Fort Knox. And you know that that crypto reserve is going to be on some laptop that just sits around Trump's office. vrax: m00: Puglio: They've invested in a bitcoin mining farm? I thought it requires more and more computing for every bitcoin that gets made, and at this point the only way to farm more bitcoin and have it be profitable is to literally steal electricity. So they've openly invested in a criminal enterprise?No the fancy pants miners have farms in the middle of the 'stans where electricity is cheap from low population and underutilized soviet infrastructure, or similar places in NA (hydroelectric dam for a community that no longer exists)Even then, the hash rate needed is extremely high and makes uppercase 'B' Bitcoin incredibly rare for all but the largest farming pools.  I would imagine that they're investing in a farm which is going to leverage some memecoin scam the Trumps are going to run with the help of the federal government now.If they were smart, they would invest in a creating a US government alt-coin with innovative technological features.The real problem with crypto is that it's supposed to be "trustless," but as it turns out, the black hats are more motivated (by $$$) and one step ahead of the white hats. Big exchanges ripping people off, Sam Bankman Fried, etc.Bitcoin's big flaw also is proof-of-work which is literally wasting resources for no reason, and contributing to all sorts of environmental problems. Eth is proof-of-stake but this is also problematic.Why not use DARPA ,or perhaps grants to a top-tier research university, to come up with a better implementation of a blockchain based crypto-coin, that innovates and gives features people want to use -- portable, convertible, interoperable, safe, secure, etc. There is a big opportunity here for government to step in where private industry can't rise above ponzi-scam.If they were smart. m00: vrax: m00: Puglio: They've invested in a bitcoin mining farm? I thought it requires more and more computing for every bitcoin that gets made, and at this point the only way to farm more bitcoin and have it be profitable is to literally steal electricity. So they've openly invested in a criminal enterprise?No the fancy pants miners have farms in the middle of the 'stans where electricity is cheap from low population and underutilized soviet infrastructure, or similar places in NA (hydroelectric dam for a community that no longer exists)Even then, the hash rate needed is extremely high and makes uppercase 'B' Bitcoin incredibly rare for all but the largest farming pools.  I would imagine that they're investing in a farm which is going to leverage some memecoin scam the Trumps are going to run with the help of the federal government now.If they were smart, they would invest in a creating a US government alt-coin with innovative technological features.The real problem with crypto is that it's supposed to be "trustless," but as it turns out, the black hats are more motivated (by $$$) and one step ahead of the white hats. Big exchanges ripping people off, Sam Bankman Fried, etc.Bitcoin's big flaw also is proof-of-work which is literally wasting resources for no reason, and contributing to all sorts of environmental problems. Eth is proof-of-stake but this is also problematic.Why not use DARPA ,or perhaps grants to a top-tier research university, to come up with a better implementation of a blockchain based crypto-coin, that innovates and gives features people want to use -- portable, convertible, interoperable, safe, secure, etc. There is a big opportunity here for government to step in where private industry can't rise above ponzi-scam.If they were smart.Would you see something akin to treasury bills, notes, and bonds as part of that? vrax: m00: vrax: m00: Puglio: They've invested in a bitcoin mining farm? I thought it requires more and more computing for every bitcoin that gets made, and at this point the only way to farm more bitcoin and have it be profitable is to literally steal electricity. So they've openly invested in a criminal enterprise?No the fancy pants miners have farms in the middle of the 'stans where electricity is cheap from low population and underutilized soviet infrastructure, or similar places in NA (hydroelectric dam for a community that no longer exists)Even then, the hash rate needed is extremely high and makes uppercase 'B' Bitcoin incredibly rare for all but the largest farming pools.  I would imagine that they're investing in a farm which is going to leverage some memecoin scam the Trumps are going to run with the help of the federal government now.If they were smart, they would invest in a creating a US government alt-coin with innovative technological features.The real problem with crypto is that it's supposed to be "trustless," but as it turns out, the black hats are more motivated (by $$$) and one step ahead of the white hats. Big exchanges ripping people off, Sam Bankman Fried, etc.Bitcoin's big flaw also is proof-of-work which is literally wasting resources for no reason, and contributing to all sorts of environmental problems. Eth is proof-of-stake but this is also problematic.Why not use DARPA ,or perhaps grants to a top-tier research university, to come up with a better implementation of a blockchain based crypto-coin, that innovates and gives features people want to use -- portable, convertible, interoperable, safe, secure, etc. There is a big opportunity here for government to step in where private industry can't rise above ponzi-scam.If they were smart.Would you see something akin to treasury bills, notes, and bonds as part of that?I hadn't explored the idea far enough to that point tbh. Just that bitcoin was supposed to be an alternative to the flawed fiat currency / central banking system, where state actors can de-bank people, devalue money, etc. It failed for a lot of practical reasons, but it definitely was a promising first step and proof-of-concept. The problems with it are now clear, but private industry has no incentive to fix them.Just as we had to get off the gold standard to facilitate globalized market economy, our current financial systems similarly aren't suited for this new technological age we're entering. It would be nice if the US government invested in apolitical scientific innovation for the betterment of its citizens, you know... like it used to...The frustrating thing is that Democrats have no new / good ideas, and Trump's ideas are absolutely terrible, but they are two steps away from being worth an honest evaluation. Like, Bitcoin reserve is a terrible idea... but... sure let's give government research grants to look at the viability of a crypto-backed financial system and THAT might result in a good and usable idea, which presumably WOULD include mechanics akin to t-bills, notes, bonds, etc. Displayed 41 of 41 comments Log in (at the top of the page) to enable voting. If you're having problems voting, quoting, or posting comments, try disabling any browser add-ons that might disable Javascript (NoScript, AdBlock, etc). See our FAQ. Before adding a comment, please take a minute to review our posting rules and our legal/privacy policy.By commenting, you agree to these terms. You might also want to take a look at our FAQ.