Here's why China's crypto crackdown is 'bigger than most people think'

[bsteadman]

Business Insider
by Oscar Williams-Grut
9/4/2017

Excerpt:

• China announced a crackdown on "ICOs" — issuing of new virtual currencies;
• Wording of edict makes all cryptocurrency trading illegal, according to eToro China exec;
• Others dispute interpretation, as Chinese exchanges continue to operate.

LONDON — China's crackdown on "initial coin offerings" may be much wider than first thought, with the wording of the crackdown potentially making all cryptocurrency trading illegal.

However, other watchers of the space say the government is not looking to crackdown on digital currencies like bitcoin and ethereum.

The People's Bank of China (PBoC) on Monday outlawed ICOs, a method of raising money by issuing new digital currencies. The trend has become hugely popular, with over $1.5 billion raised using this method in 2017 alone.

However, the wording of the PBoC edict also suggested that trading and usage of all cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, could now be illegal in China.

.................................................. ....

View the complete article including image and links at:

http://www.businessinsider.com/initi...l-etoro-2017-9

[InspectorSmith]

It's for the best.

First, ICOs arern't something needs to exist. Bitcoin never had an ICO.

You don't need to have an ICO to create a a new cryptocurrency. ANYONE can make a new coin. The code is opensource.

Getting rid of ICOs (or making laws to weed out the obvious scams) is fine with me.

[bsteadman]

It's for the best.

------- Quote from Article: "Wording of edict makes all cryptocurrency trading illegal, according to eToro China exec;" ???

China's recent action regarding all crypto-currencies may have been "for the best" but it certainly was scary to me!

I LOVE THE BITCOIN CONCEPT. However, ALL GOVERNMENTS wishing to control their people and especially their people's money HATE BITCOIN.

Therefore, IMO, Bitcoin does have one serious risk and that is what China's action brought to my mind. Powerful, major-left governments, such as China (and a possible NSA-enabled future USA???) CAN control access to select actions on the internet. Making Bitcoin illegal in the USA likely wouldn't kill it but would make it much more risky and less in demand for ordinary folks.

When I heard the news from China, I immediately chose to take profits again on my investment by selling half of my holdings.

So far, I have realized the following profits on my initial $979 investment (17 shares, 4/5/2016) in the OTC Security GBTC:

12% (2 shares sold) - $507
13% (2 shares sold)- $1475
54% (7 shares sold) - $5434

$7416 total in-the-bank profits taken

GBTC funds remaining in brokerage account = $4314 (6 shares)

I now likely will keep all 6 remaining shares of GBTC until the BTC price either 'grows to a fantastically higher, reasonably stable level' (LOL) or to $0. We'll see!

Needless to say, I have been extremely HAPPY, both educationally and financially, with my Bitcoin investment, no matter what happens now!

THANKS LUCAS - I would never have been in this marvelous current position without your initial guidance and recommendation regarding Bitcoin.

[InspectorSmith]

Most of the mainstream sites (e.g., Business Insider) and the traditional news outlets (e.g., Newsweek) don't really understand Bitcoin or cryptocurrency in general. You'll get better information talking with tech savvy 15 year old high school students or news outlets which report specifically and exclusively on cryptocurrency related matters such as https://cointelegraph.com/ and https://www.coindesk.com

For example, the China scare has been going for years, years. Check out the following cartoon about it which was published in 2014 -

How China Sinks Bitcoin - South Park Style - Published on Apr 26, 2014

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Or the front page cover story of Newsweek in 2014 (cover image provided below) when they claimed to have discovered the creator of Bitcoin (this is way too embarrassing and I don't know how Newsweek is still around after this) and identified him as Japanese man living in California - THE FACE BEHIND BITCOIN

BY LEAH MCGRATH GOODMAN ON 3/6/14

Excerpt - http://www.newsweek.com/2014/03/14/f...in-247957.html

[bsteadman]

Bitcoin price falls again on reports that China is shutting down local exchanges

CNBC
by Ryan Browne
9/11/2017

View the complete article at:

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/11/bitc...exchanges.html

[InspectorSmith]

Almost 4 years ago:

Forbes
by Kashmir Hill
Dec 6, 2013

Bitcoin in China: The Fall-out From Chinese Government Banning Real World Use

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmir.../#64276dbb481a

[InspectorSmith]

I'm not very familiar at all with the stock market but in the cryptocurrency market if an established coin, or even just any coin which seems to have potential (after researching it and having watched it for a while), drops in price that's usually and excellent time to buy more of it.

Or, alternatively, one could even sell when the dropping starts and then buy back when the price seems to have dropped as far down as it's going but before the price is back up to what you sold it for. In the process make a profit.

I'm sure that the Chinese are happy to buy it when the price is down a couple hundred bucks.

Myself I just buy and hold and when I see the price drop somewhat substantially I buy more.

Quick tip: There's a mature, established and good looking coin called BitShares which costs about 10 cents. Holding just 1000 BitShares (1000 would cost $100.00) would be pretty cool if the price goes up to even $10.00 (1000 coins x $10 = $10000.00 for a $100.00 investment).

And if the price were to rise to around $100.00..

[bsteadman]

InspectorSmith wrote:

I'm not very familiar at all with the stock market but in the cryptocurrency market if an established coin, or even just any coin which seems to have potential (after researching it and having watched it for a while), drops in price that's usually and excellent time to buy more of it.

In the stock market, what you describe is termed -- "Buying the dips" (a very common and often ultimately profitable technique for NIMBLE traders who ideally should be equipped with powerful trading software)

Or, alternatively, one could even sell when the dropping starts and then buy back when the price seems to have dropped as far down as it's going but before the price is back up to what you sold it for. In the process make a profit.

That's commonly termed -- "Playing the market"

Quick tip: There's a mature, established and good looking coin called BitShares which costs about 10 cents. Holding just 1000 BitShares (1000 would cost $100.00) would be pretty cool if the price goes up to even $10.00 (1000 coins x $10 = $10000.00 for a $100.00 investment).

And if the price were to rise to around $100.00..

--- OR LOSE $90 if the price of BitShares drops to $0.01 (Definitely NOT cool)

A similar speculative item in the stock market is referred to as a "penny stock". (A common, VERY RISKY trade that's often associated with "pump and dump" scams)

Of course it might just be FUN to RISK the MODEST SUM of $100 for the POSSIBILITY of getting a 100X multiple on the trade. I might do the trade myself if there was an OTC stock (likely not, unfortunately) tracking BitShares so the trade was EASY.

Lazy me may even look into a direct trade on BitShares after evaluating its backing and what's required for getting started. THANKS! (If BitShares has no logical backing, I won't consider getting financially involved.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I LOVE BITCOIN and HOPE it will quickly recover from its current DIP. However, I don't KNOW what its price will do long term. That is, I consider Bitcoin a RISKY investment.

I currently own other risky investments. Some have worked out well and some, at least so far, have been moderately unprofitable disappointments. That is, they never increased in price enough to warrant taking profits sufficient to cover my initial investment,

What I have done three times with my Bitcoin investment is to TAKE PROFITS at what I believed to be approximate interim PEAKS so: (1) My initial investment, MOST IMPORTANTLY, is fully covered. and (2) I have been able to realize a substantial profit which I can utilize elsewhere, or which might include buying back some more Bitcoin. I plan on holding onto my remaining Bitcoin investment until it's future value potential becomes much clearer.

Along the serpentine trip UP (we hope), I plan on using my rather sophisticated, purchased software, TC2000 ( www.worden.com ) to help me efficiently "Buy the dips" based on the NYXBT chart pattern (NYSE Bitcoin index) for my tracking OTC Security GBTC.

An old Wall Street adage states: "ONE CAN NEVER GO BROKE TAKING PROFITS".

One of the toughest things about working with inherently risky investments is BALANCING FEAR AND GREED.

Regardless, I'm definitely not going to lose any time worrying now about ups and downs in my Bitcoin investment.

Regarding Bitcoin (and most other risky investments): "Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning how to dance in the rain!"

[InspectorSmith]

Bruce, I understand your concerns and I understand that your viewpoint comes from your many years as a savvy investor in the stock market and elsewhere.

Myself I own more than 1000 Bitshares (not much really) and I'd love for the price to drop down to one penny so that I could that I could buy 1000 more for just $10 or even 10000 more $100.

Aside from being a cryptocurrency Bitshares is also a "decentralized exchange" which will would be in great demand if and when governments shut down the centralized exchanges (such as Coinbase.com).

Bitshares is not a new coin so myself I don't consider it to be very risky at all.

However, there's the possibility that it may never rise in price even though it's probably more technologically advanced than bitcoin. It could be a case similar to betamax vs VHS in which one just becomes more popular (Bitcoin) regardless of which is better.

In any case $10 - $100 dollars is a relatively small amount of money which could be easily spent for "fun" elsewhere which would never been seen again.

I also bought Dash (another cypto) when it was relatively cheap (it was only $1.50 - $2.50 less than a year ago) and now it's worth around $300 per coin. Same with Ethereum (another crypto).

Right now I like coins with potential such as Golem (they are working on building a super computer by connecting computers together and then rent the power with the coins), BAT (a coin used to pay and earn for/from online ads, BAT was invented by the creator of Javascript), Steem (social media platform) which was created by the guys how created Bitshares, and EOS (which is a token in ICO right now) also created by creator of Bitshares.

I don't usually get into ICOs because they aren't something that needs to exist in the first place. Moreover, any of the coins I have mentioned may just be worth nothing at any moment. I don't know anything really - no secret info or anything.

All that I can say really is that even though the crypto market seems like it might be somewhat like the stock market it's probably at the same time very much different.

For example I'm hoping that during the current round of Chinese fake news panic sell off that the price of Bitcoin will drop down as far as possible ($300 would be TREMENDOUS!) so that I can buy maybe a few Bitcoin.

Who knows though maybe I am wrong about all of it or most of it.

In any event, to keep an eye on all the coins the best place might be coinmarketcap.com

[bsteadman]

................................................

In any case $10 - $100 dollars is a relatively small amount of money which could be easily spent for "fun" elsewhere which would never been seen again.

.................................................. ....

In any event, to keep an eye on all the coins the best place might be coinmarketcap.com

Lucas,

I opened a BitShares BTS account this afternoon and deposited a modest sum from my BTC account to get started.

I found the following site, although a little out of date, extremely helpful in getting up and running on my new BTS account : https://bitshares.org/register/

I bought BTS at about 0.106. This seemed like a technically excellent entry point since the security showed strong SUPPORT at about 0.096 on the following dates: 6/8/2017,7/16/2017and 9/10/2017. This info was obtained from the great site you recommended: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitshares/#charts

I was a bit disappointed to see the relatively large fee required to withdraw funds from the account. However, this should not be a problem for me since I don't plan on selling any BTS anytime soon. The large withdrawal fee on the base BTS has the advantage of discouraging frequent trading activity and thereby helps reduce volatility. I presume the BTS-USD WORKING SECURITY and other similar options on the site have much lower fees???

I really don't understand the 'backing' for BTS. The site states that it is backed by 'collateral in a smart contract??? However, I decided to just jump in with a modest sum anyway.

BTS seems to rely heavily on BTC for routing functions.

The whole concept of BTS sounds very interesting. I need to learn a lot more about it!

Thanks!

Bruce

[InspectorSmith]

Bruce,

I'm very excited to read that you have opened a BitShares (BTS) account!

What I've been doing for a number of months is sending money which I've earned from other coins to be traded for BitShares.

Here are 2 easy and efficient ways to do so:

(1) from within your BitShares account (Deposit/Withdraw tab /then- Transfer Service - select BlockTrades option /then- Bridge tab)

(2) visit a website called Blocktrades.us (that's a .us domain, and the site is an easy way for anyone anywhere to use Bitshare's decentralized exchange). No need to login to the site. Just pick the coin (e.g., Bitcoin, Dash, Ethereum, Litecoin, Steem) which you want to trade for any other coin (e.g., BitShares) and the amount which you desire. Then enter your account address (your account name for BitShares) and then hit the Get Deposit Address button. Lastly, send whatever amount of whatever coin you are trading to that address. Done! Simple, just a few clicks, no sign-in!

...


When you refer to "relatively large fee required to withdraw funds"are you referring to a withdraw in fiat US dollars within your BitShares account which is transferred to your bank account? I have not used that myself. At some point in the future when BitShares are worth hundreds/thousands of dollars I probably will use that feature to withdraw in fiat.

From what I've seen a lot of people (probably most people) who are involved in cryptocurrency usually use Bitcoin as a gateway, so to speak, to fiat. It's a lot easier to trade Bitcoin for cash than it is for most other coins so most people trade their 'altcoins' (a word for any cryptocurrency which isn't Bitcoin) for Bitcoins and then cash out those Bitcoins.

For example there's Coinbase.com which (for Americans at least) allows you to both buy Bitcoin and sell Bitcoin. When you 'sell' your Bitcoins to them (there are no buy/sell orders from individuals, it's all directly with Coinbase itself) they then instantly initiate an ACH transfer in the amount of US dollars directly to your bank account. There are many other exchanges which cash out Bitcoins too (although for Americans we cannot use many of them... the law is getting in that way!)

I have so much to say regarding BitShares (and few other 'altcoins) but for now the most helpful information may be for us to learn more about why BitShares is valuable. We can start by keep an eye on BitShares related news. An excellent source are these recent posts at Steemit (they published these State of the Network posts every week or so at Steemit.com) -

Bitshares - State of the Network - 13th September 2017

Bitshares - State of the Network - 5th September 2017

Bitshares - State of the Network - 29th August 2017


also keep eye on the Steemit.com account of "Stan" (Stan Larimer) (he and his two sons, notably Dan Larimer, created Bitshares, Steemit and EOS and few other things) -

Endless Summer Announcements

...

Bruce, I'd like to get your thoughts regarding the BTS pegged to the Dollar (and others). I'm not super familiar with this and some similar features at their decentralized exchange. It seems like something seen in 'traditional' investments?? (or am I starting to lose it here? I hope that my cheese hasn't yet slid all the way off my cracker!)


Also I'll be back with much more BitShares related info and news.

[InspectorSmith]

Blocktrades.us

Bitcoin traded for BitShares

No account needed. Sign in not necessary. Decentralized exchange.

[InspectorSmith]

Blocktrades.us

BitShares traded for Bitcoin

No account needed. Sign in not necessary. Decentralized exchange.

[InspectorSmith]

Dimon recently (last week) made some negative remarks regarding Bitcoin which, along with the China scary news (mostly fake news, and the ICO ban is good news), caused Bitcoin to drop down to $2900-something US dollars on September 15th (2017).

What does Jamie Dimon know about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency? Probably not much more than he did two years ago when he said the same thing (back when Bitcoin was only $350.00 (three hundred fifty).

For example -

Jamie Dimon: You're Wasting Your Time With Bitcoin | Fortune

Fortune Magazine

November 4, 2015

[InspectorSmith]

Chase Bank Buys Bitcoin Even as Jamie Dimon Rejects It

The CoinTelegraph
by Jon Buck
September 16, 2017


Excerpt:

"JP Morgan purchased a large block of Bitcoins just after the CEO’s harsh criticisms.."

Read more: https://cointelegraph.com/news/chase-bank-buys-bitcoin-even-as-jamie-dimon-rejects-it