[Cryptography] cryptography Digest, Vol 93, Issue 18

[Alex Flanagan]

> The part that really blew my mind was some of the exchanges are offering
> leverage and not just 1x. up to 100x on some exchanges.
>

Great thread on leverage being a mechanism to "slaughter muppets":
https://mobile.twitter.com/Tr0llyTr0llFace/status/1351455608592072704


> At the end of the day, that is the difference between BitCoin and Gold or
> USD. There are tens of thousands of people who are convinced that BTC has
> value, there are 5 billion who believe Gold and USD have value. Money is
> just a group hallucination but that doesn't mean it is an easy thing to
> create. The group hallucination supporting the value of gold is as old as
> civilization, possibly older. The USD group hallucination is centuries old.
> BitCoin is ten years, if that.
>

"Gold" is worth thinking about as a market. Most gold is traded as paper --
"here is a receipt, we promise we have this gold on deposit, feel free to
trade this receipt." And then a mutual fund holds a bunch of deposit
receipts, people buy fund shares, and say, "I hold gold." I agree: this is
a hallucination.
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