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Bitcoin The Almighty Buck

Dogecoin Has Risen 400 Percent In the Last Week Because Why Not (arstechnica.com) 118

Dogecoin has seen its price rise by a factor of five over the last week. Yesterday, it was trading at $0.13. Today, it's one of the world's 10 most valuable cryptocurrencies, with a market capitalization of $45 billion. Ars Technica's Timothy B. Lee writes: Dogecoin's price tripled over the next 36 hours. My editor suggested that I write about whether Dogecoin's rise is a sign of an overheated crypto market, but for a coin like Dogecoin, I'm not sure that's even a meaningful concept. Dogecoin isn't a company that has revenues or profits. And unlike bitcoin and ether, no one seriously thinks it's going to be the foundation of a new financial system. People are trading Dogecoin because it's fun to trade and because they think they might make money from it. The rising price is a sign that a lot of people have decided it would be fun to speculate in Dogecoin.

Of course, the fact that lots of people have money to spend on joke investments might itself be a result of larger macroeconomic forces. The combination of stimulus spending, low interest rates, and pandemic-related saving means that a lot of people have more money than usual sitting in their bank accounts. And restrictions on travel and nightlife mean that many of those same people have a lot of time on their hands.

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Dogecoin Has Risen 400 Percent In the Last Week Because Why Not

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  • Capitalism at its purest.

    • Capitalism at its purest is the pooling of capital in order to generate profits whose value exceeds the original investment.

      Tulips do not appear to be a mechanism to generate revenue at scale. Thus this is not capitalism at its purest. It is *graft* at its purest: the *imitation* of something productive, utilitarian, and/or noble or virtuous ere("capitalism," "investment," "financial services) in the service of theft.

      • by Rei ( 128717 )

        There actually was a demand for rare tulips, and the viruses that made them so beautiful also made them very difficult to cultivate. And the reason for the price spike was that a law was passed that allowed for options contracts to be cancelled for a small fine, making there be little risk to making big bets.

  • by bb_matt ( 5705262 ) on Friday April 16, 2021 @10:52PM (#61283144)

    That's the insanity of this crypto bull market, that a cryptocurrency which started pretty much 'for fun', has no actual purpose - and worse still, has no theoretical supply limit - traded at a recent high of $0.45.
    For the last 7 years since release, it barely managed $0.003.

    With no supply limit, it kinda reminds me of this quote from HHG2TG:

    "But we have also," continued the management consultant, "run into a small inflation problem on account of the high level of leaf availability, which means that, I gather, the current going rate has something like three deciduous forests buying on ship's peanut."

    Douglas Adams.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Arethan ( 223197 )

      and worse still, has no theoretical supply limit

      Sort of like any modern inflationary economy. Weird.

      • by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Saturday April 17, 2021 @06:21AM (#61283580)

        Sort of like any modern inflationary economy. Weird.

        You're missing something when comparing the two. Modern inflationary economies absolutely have a limit, and that limit is determined by policy through central banking systems and manipulated to adjust inflation rates to keep markets stable. ... Except for say the few markets where the central banks are run by idiots such as Zimbabwe.

        That is very different from the uncontrolled inflation that is possible in decentralised system which has no limits in place.

        Car analogy: Just because it's good to drive a pickup truck on a farm doesn't mean it's good to drive a pickup truck in a European inner city.

        • by Rei ( 128717 )

          More to the point, some inflation is a good thing. It encourages spending vs. saving, encourages investment, and slowly reduces the effective value of debt.

          There's many different factors involved in an economy that balance off against each other, and left to their own devices, they're prone to wild swings, and always have been throughout history. People go to college for years to understand all of the nuance to economics. Non-inflationary unmanaged cryptocurrencies based on the notion of "if nobody manage

          • by Rei ( 128717 )

            There's so many factors converging towards a potential cryptocurrency crackdown, too. For example, just a random one: the Biden administration is really concerned about the major silicon shortage right now. Well, if you crash demand for ASICs and GPUs for mining, you do a lot to relieve the supply crunch.

        • You think the central bankers who brought us the Great Recession aren't idiots? Now they brag about printing infinite money, which is something Zimbabwe never dared. They no longer control inflation and can't raise interest rates, if the currency starts to collapse the plan is to introduce a new currency, just like Zimbabwe, where the central bankers are probably doing great.
        • by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

          Except for say the few markets where the central banks are run by idiots such as Zimbabwe.

          People love to say this, but every economy that's experienced hyperinflation has already been in deep shit for other reasons. Printing money is just a way of holding on for a little longer.

    • That's the insanity of this crypto bull market, that a cryptocurrency which started pretty much 'for fun', has no actual purpose - and worse still, has no theoretical supply limit - traded at a recent high of $0.45.

      The supply of Dogecoin will increase by 4% this year. The supply of Bitcoin will increase by 1.76% thus year. There doesn't seem to be a meaningful difference.

    • and worse still, has no theoretical supply limit

      All cryptocurrency scarcity is artificial. That's entirely why Dogecoin's developers made the satirical choice to turn the coins per block mined value to the moon.

  • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Friday April 16, 2021 @10:54PM (#61283148)
    there's a Deli in NJ with a $100 million dollar market cap [cnbc.com]

    Seriously guys, we have *got* to start regulating Wall Street and investments more. And do something about wealth inequality. There is way, way too much money at the top and they're throwing it around recklessly. The next crash is going to make 2008 look like the .com boom.
    • That is crazy.... this market is ripe for a GIANT correction. So much money chasing so few real good investments, it is all just a shell game now.
    • by Entrope ( 68843 )

      That's an OTC stock, not a traditional Wall Street stock. It's in the "OTC QB" market, which has relaxed requirements for listing compared to the major exchanges, but there are some disclosure requirements. Not all states require those disclosures as sufficient for their "blue sky" standards, though.

      Because of those required disclosures, we can see [twitter.com] that HWIN's unrestricted stock seems to mostly be owned by banks in Macau and Hong Kong, so US regulations wouldn't really do much. That smells like a way to

    • You do realize that wealthy people throwing around money recklessly is a great way for the poors to get rich, right?

    • Seriously guys, we have *got* to start regulating Wall Street and investments more. And do something about wealth inequality. There is way, way too much money at the top and they're throwing it around recklessly. The next crash is going to make 2008 look like the .com boom.

      That's what refusing to tax the rich gets you - a top heavy economy. Capitalism has already been empirically shown (by Thomas Picketty) to be a mechanism for concentrating money into the hands of a small percentage of the population. If we leave it unchecked, everyone else is impoverished no matter how skilled & qualified they are, how smart & entrepreneurial they are, or how hard they work. Why do you think the 'gig economy' & hyper-exploitative & abusive distributors (e.g. Amazon) & ma

  • I spent $2.50 in electricity to mine $2.50 in Doge while burning in my new computer with a then-new AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT.

    I guess I can keep doing that to warm my cold basement now, making a net profit of pennies in a couple months.

    "To the moon!" Whatever. We have fun here.

  • I've got 100 doge sitting here that I bought in 2014, came with a silver coin that is probably worth whatever silver is worth today.

    I'm going to be so rich, and all I had to do was buy some useless shit before other people got convinced they were worth something.

    Shall I roll my profits into gold? I'm pretty sure 100 doge buys a few tulip bulbs. Does anyone know how to plant them, which end goes up?

    • If you expect an apocalyptic crash invest in a cabin inna woods, toilet paper, bic lighters, guns, ammo and a crew of people not shy of violence.

      If you expect a dot com or 2008 style crash, just plain money.

      If you expect stagflation/massive taxation/war, invest in nationalities and real estate across the world.

  • by RhettLivingston ( 544140 ) on Friday April 16, 2021 @11:49PM (#61283212) Journal

    In my area, there is a massive real estate boom - both commercial and residential. I've been scratching my head about the commercial since it started at the start of the pandemic. Huge warehouses, luxurious office buildings, new restaurants, massive strip mall renovations, etc. are being built everywhere I go. When they are completed, most put up space for lease signs and just sit empty. That of course makes sense when you see all of the old buildings that are now vacant due to businesses going bankrupt. There is zero demand for commercial real estate.

    The only explanation I can imagine is that construction types are setting up shell businesses to get easy loans, sucking up on the construction money, and then bankrupting the shell businesses while the construction companies make bank. Everybody has game.

    So, what is wrong with those who can't afford the big games having their own?

  • I got a couple of family members $100 worth of dogecoin each for their birthdays. They're quite happy with it now.

  • Tweets (Score:5, Informative)

    by phalse phace ( 454635 ) on Saturday April 17, 2021 @12:41AM (#61283270)

    People are trading Dogecoin because it's fun to trade and because they think they might make money from it. The rising price is a sign that a lot of people have decided it would be fun to speculate in Dogecoin.

    I have a feeling a tweet [twitter.com] by a certain Twitter user that a lot of people follow contributed to its rise too.

    The more people pump it [twitter.com] the more people will buy it for fear of missing out.

    • ...the more people will buy it for fear of missing out.

      Ah, the classic FOMO strategy of valuation, brought to you by the PT Barnum Investment Firm, and the law offices of Dewey, Cheetum, and Howe.

      This market is more fucked that a post-pandemic porn convention.

      • by q_e_t ( 5104099 )

        Dewey, Cheetum, and Howe.

        I don't think I've seen that line-up of Yes. I preferred it with Chris Squire.

  • It's just a good boy trying to increase its apparent size [smbc-comics.com] in the presence of threats or competition.
  • So how do you pronounce "Dogecoin"? Is it "doggy-coin" or "doge-coin"?
  • Been around since the start of blockchain and crypto currency and I could have been an early adopter of it. Hell I even mined coins at one time just to see what the fuss was about. I just could not support such a system; blockchain has value, cryptocurrency is 100% worthless. Zero work product for energy input. Without electricity you have no coins. Going to be some large winners and losers, and congrats to those that took the risk.
  • Dogecoin is backed by the same stuff as greenbacksfaith. Trust is holding dogecoin. Both legit currency. Neither gov’t owned. You buy-in to what you want to use for money.

    Dogecoin can achieve currency; something Bitcoin et.al. have not. Cryptocoins have not been able to demonstrate the ability to reach acceptance as a medium of exchange.

    This is that moment. Dogecoin starts circulating or it joins Bitcoin as a store of value not achieving the hallmark of a money.

    • A lot more people trust the dollar than trust Dogecoin.

      • A lot more people trust the dollar than trust Dogecoin.

        That’s a good. Dogecoin is fractionally equivalent. That and the emerging “market” with Coinbase IPO and Kraken.com where coinage can exchange, people can convert when desired to plain paper bill currency. But more and much more in the future paper bills are banked as store of value rather than currency. VISA MASTERCARD PAYPAL et. al. moved transactions off paper.

        The USA has three statutory currency legislated paper, check and credit card. Without a Coinbase there is no route to exchange

  • > Of course, the fact that lots of people have money to spend on joke investments might itself be a result of larger macroeconomic forces. The combination of stimulus spending, low interest rates, and pandemic-related saving means that a lot of people have more money than usual sitting in their bank accounts.

    We are in for some serious inflation in the years to come. People keep telling me I'm wrong, they point me to articles that say inflation works differently now. You just wait and see, the value of t

  • Itâ(TM)s all going to be fun, until somebody cracks the cryptography. Which will happen.

  • Digital snakeoil?
  • resembled the current illogical passion over cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies represent nothing. They are backed by nothing. When push comes to shove they are ... nothing. They are the emperors new clothes. When people reaalize that there will be an implosipon just like the Tulip Mania of the 1630's. In short it's a speculative bubble backed by nothing. If there's a way to ... sell short, do it.

"A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's printed on." - Samuel Goldwyn

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