Winklevoss Twins Get Closer To Launching Their Bitcoin Exchange 93
An anonymous reader writes: Reuters has an update on the Winklevoss twins plan to launch a regulated Bitcoin exchange called Gemini. The two have filed a New York trust application necessary for them to launch their Gemini bitcoin exchange. If approved, the exchange would be able to accept deposits, and issue loans. The twins say they want to make digital currency mainstream in the United States.
Bitcoin only? (Score:5, Interesting)
Will they only deal with Bitcoin or will they also accept other crypto-currencies such as Litecoin, Dashcoin and Dogecoin?
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I almost always turn my +1 off (it's a default) because I feel like if my comments are good enough, someone will mark them up. It also helps keep one's head above water if one wants to be able to post controversial opinions without worrying about karma.
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This... But I really do not care about /. karma (somehow I have excellent karma though I have been on-topic twice and only a few times not written a novella). Worse? I do not even moderate. I used to never moderate down but now I do not moderate up either. I just let the points sit idle.
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It's called karma.
The way I understand it, when you get mostly up-modded your karma goes up and you get an automatic +1, on top of the regular +1. Look around, I'm not the only one who posts at "Score: 2" by default either.
If you're an asshole/idiot/troll/etc, your posts get down-modded, your karma goes down and you first lose the extra +1, then the regular +1, then you go down to posting at -1 by default (I think?).
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Yes, but there are many many more stories about asshole idiot trolls being maligned as asshole idiot trolls.
But those stories are boring so no-one tells them.
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Stupid auto-complete... you make an error once and the stupid thing still uses that mistake months later...
For the exchange URL, I meant https://www.cryptsy.com/ [cryptsy.com]
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Shift+Delete when selecting the incorrect entry in nearly every autocomplete dropdown will remove that entry.
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Right. I guess that's why the largest bank in France and the largest mutual fund operator in the US are testing out bitcoin/cryptocoins:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/frenc... [ibtimes.co.uk]
http://i.imgur.com/yfKkhRu.png [imgur.com]
Oh, and the NASDAQ is already using blockchain technology for their private market:
http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/1... [cnn.com]
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Will they only deal with Bitcoin or will they also accept other crypto-currencies such as Litecoin, Dashcoin and Dogecoin?
BTC-E added certain coins like Name, Nova, PPC, and those stuck but there were at least 3 others that were added then removed due to a lack of interest from customers. Bots just sync up the alts like a Bitcoin metacurrency and they became pointless.
What they really said (Score:1)
No, what they said is they see digital currency expanding and want to be the ones on control.
They hope REAL money is used to buy bitcoins , they can then use that real money to get interest or buy property, the digital money...eh not so much, they certainly won't be paying interest and I am sure there will be fees.
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Yep, I think I'll keep my government REALcoins... If Bitcoin becomes as safe as US Savings Bonds, I might take a look.
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And the comment above appears to be pointing out that Crypto Currencies cannot make that promise, the values flux wildly at times at may go to zero.
Maybe the Winkies can work on that.
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Your type has been saying the same thing for decades, centuries: inflation will explode! The Swiss franc will become the world's reserve currency! Except the dollar's stronger now, even after the Fed created trillions upon trillions out of thin air. And the Swiss are charging negative interest rates precisely because they don't want to be the reserve currency. When you become the world's reserve currency you lose control over the money supply. The Fed for example can't control the supply of Eurodollars.
The
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You seem to have some interesting things to say, but you undermine yourself by using phrases like "your type" and "your ilk" and "Chicken Little screaming." Calm down and write less confrontationally, and people will take you more seriously.
Re:What they really said (Score:5, Informative)
And the dollar won't be the world reserve currency forever.
I think you can look at anything and say that it will not be the case forever and be guaranteed to be right. However, the USD, despite its issues, is looking strong for the next few decades because the other currencies have even bigger issues than the greenback.
The Euro's speculative value is based heavily on the strength of the union, rather than the strength of the large economies backing it. No matter how strong and stable Germany and France may be, they can never wholly support the Euro's worth. Even with a strong Italy and Spain, the Euro would still be prone to shocks and fears. The Euro is held as a reserve currency, but not with the same gusto as it was 5 years ago.
Chinese Yuan RMB, is first and foremost, a controlled currency. Currency exchanges in China are limited by law and complicated to perform, leading it to have a lower volume of trade and thus lower fluidity on the foreign market than Australian/Canadian Dollars, Swiss Franks and Mexican Pesos. Beyond that, it exists to serve Chinese monetary policy, rather than American monetary policy largely existing to serve the Dollar, leading to a lot of exposure to holders of large amounts of it.
The Japanese Yen is used as a reserve currency because of its low inflation. But because of its low inflation, Japan is not growing, despite the 0.1% interest rate they have had for almost a decade now, which makes it unlikely to eclipse anyone anytime soon.
Australian dollars, Swiss Franks and Canadian Dollars, each are underpinned by economies too small and too focused on particular sectors. The only reason AUD and CHF are traded so much is that they move rapidly in a predicable direction due to certain economic conditions. It makes them suitable for a hedge in currency baskets, but not to hold the bulk of value. Besides, its not certain that there is enough of these currencies in circulation to make holding the world's reserves in it practical. Possibly Australia and Canada are just large enough to endure foreign banks either hording their currencies or creating money on paper by lending the another currency against debts in their own, but Switzerland with its half trillion GDP would surely consider this as an act of sabotage.
So what does that leave beyond USD? Pound Stirling, which is in fact a commonly held reserve currency. But the UK does not have the natural resources or the population for rapid growth, so I doubt it will overtake the US.
So what is left? Brazil, Russia and India? Well, the Ruble is a basket case, the Real has 8.5% inflation and the Rupee is in deflation at the moment, leading to concerns about money supply.
I think the USD could get a lot worse before people start thinking about getting rid of it.
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I think the USD could get a lot worse before people start thinking about getting rid of it.
That's certainly true. And it's probably very similar to what some Brits said in early 1900s, when the Pound was the global reserve currency. But people will want an alternative, and a number of cryptocurrencies might reasonably be held as a hedge against dollar decline.
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Yup. The pound lost a lot of value after Britain fought two extremely expensive world wars in which they sold off a very large amount of accumulated capital to finance the wars.
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10 year treasuries have averaged ~2.5% over the last 5 years:
http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/US... [cnbc.com]
Median CPI, before fiddling, has average about 2% over the last 5 years
So over that period, the estimated real return is 0.5%
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T-bills are like the pea in a shell game, where the shells are money created out of the thin, hot air of bankers' IOUs to each other. In other words T-bills are the gold of the modern world monetary system.
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I see it the other way, wait a few months (maybe a year) and it will be down to a dollar again.
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Or it will be back up to one thousand dollars again.
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Doubtful. That scam has sailed.
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If they want people to use it as a currency, the 'value' of it has to stop changing.
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If they want people to use it as a currency, the 'value' of it has to stop changing.
I've not noticed the Yen, Dollar, Pound, Euro or Renminbi stop changing value. Perhaps that's why no one uses them as currency.
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I mined 48 of them when they first started coming out with the software to do it. It was easy then. I donated them to EFF some time back. They were worth a goodly sum by then. Hopefully they capitalized on it right away because the price went down not long after. I did not want to additional taxation, hassle, or association.
The only problem? (Score:5, Funny)
They have consulted a coder on the idea and he is currently working on the implementation.
It remains to be seen how this will turn out.
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Hahahaha (Score:1)
I read this as "Rich douchebags find way to be bigger douchebags while pissing on money and everyone who isn't rich"
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Re: Worst of both worlds (Score:5, Funny)
A Bitcoin is worth its weight in gold.
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Re: Worst of both worlds (Score:5, Informative)
I seriously doubt that. I only have global sales number, not US specific, but there are many online retailers that are larger. Newegg had around $2.7 billion in revenue in 2013. The same year Amazon had $68 billion, Apple had $18 billion, Staples and Walmart both had around $10 billion in online sales. Sears (a company that every talks about as dieing) and QVC (yes the website for that crappy home marketing TV station) both had nearly $5 billion in revenue. Even among consumer electronics CDW and Best Buy had more online sales at over $3 billion each. And again, while these are global numbers, most of those companies are US based, with strong US sales.
Newegg is one of hundreds of online retailers of simular size. While it is a great company, it's adoption of bitcoin is by no means an indication that something has gone mainstream.
Source: http://www.wsj.com/news/intera... [wsj.com]
Re:The Winklevoss Twins have missed the boat (Score:4, Informative)
Because in most developed countries, people have been using either debit cards or PayPass-enabled credit cards for years. We don't see the point in Apple Pay/Google Wallet.
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Apple Pay and Google Wallet enable you to show off your high end smart phone to the minimum wage cashier when you make your purchases.
What could be more important than that?
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Minimum wage cashiers already have high end smartphones.
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Minimum wage cashiers already have high end smartphones.
Oh well, it's back to dangling your Ferrari key ring in front of them then.
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I can't imagine the twins seriously think that Bitcoin is going to go mainstream at this point in time. If anything, Bitcoin is fading from public view.
Please tell this to all these investors [tomtunguz.com]. I'm sure you know something they don't.
In related news... (Score:1)
Riiiiiight (Score:1)
In other news, (Score:2)
Sylvester the Cat has announced that he's opening a shelter for homeless canaries.
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Go submit this on Fark. Easy green light.
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I thought the same thing. Get out of my head! Literally - word for word and in that same order. I think I may have included "it is" in my thinking but it parses exactly the same and is not trivial for me to verify. How very strange.
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Assuming that neither is made of pork...
They are waiting... (Score:2)
...for someone else to open a bitcoin exchange first, so they can claim they stole their idea.
(Shrug) IÂll believe it when I see it. (Score:2)
IÂve been reading "Winklevoss Twins close to launching bitcoin ETF" stories since mid-2013. It has always just about cleared the last regulatory hurdle and it is always going to launch in a month or two and it is always "still on track." Slashdot just seems to be an amplifier of the latest publicity blitz.
OK, fine. Maybe it will happen and maybe it won't. No particular reason I know to pay attention to it until it does.
Funniest thing I've read about it appeared in January, 2015 [insidebitcoins.com]: "We believe that anyone
Sorry, I was confused. It isn't the ETF. (Score:2)
Right. It's Gemini, the other bitcoin project of theirs. The one they say they is not distracting them from launching the COIN ETF.
Just to piss them off... (Score:2)