Senate President Pro-Tempore Lee Schoenbeck knows fakes when he sees ’em. He recognized in 2014 that Annette Bosworth was a fraud and a fake Republican. Last year He identified “crazy” fake conservatives in his own party and funded primary campaigns to boot them out of the Legislature. And like many of his fellow Republicans, he’s a master at faking out the voters to undermine direct democracy.
So when Senator Schoenbeck declares cryptocurrency to be “fake money” and cheers the South Dakota investment Council’s decision not to add cryptocurrency to our portfolio, the Kampeska Krusher’s condemnation should wholly explain why Bitcoin shed 10% of its value this morning, right?
Nah—it’s more likely Bitcoiners are showing their true colors by reacting negatively to the government’s ability to stop criminals from using cryptocurrency from holding the country hostage:
Bitcoin slumped to a two-week low, with analysts pointing to a technical breakdown as well as the recovery of Colonial Pipeline Co.’s ransom as evidence that crypto isn’t beyond government control.
The fact that investigators “could trace the untraceable and seize it might be undermining the libertarian, free-of-government-control case,” said Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at Oanda. The implications of that may have provoked the selling, he said.
The U.S. recovered almost all the Bitcoin ransom paid to the perpetrators of the cyber attack on Colonial last month in a sign that law enforcement is capable of pursuing online criminals even when they operate outside the nation’s borders.
The FBI was able to find the Bitcoin by uncovering the digital addresses the hackers used to transfer the funds, according to an eight-page seizure warrant released by the Justice Department on Monday [Vildana Hajric, “Bitcoin Tumbles as Analysts Point at Looming Technical Breakdown,” Bloomberg via Yahoo, 2021.06.08].
When an asset loses value because the rule of law wins, we do well to share Senator Schoenbeck’s skepticism. Cryptocurrency isn’t just fake money; it facilitates criminal activity. Today’s decline in value demonstrates that many of its backers think that’s a feature, not a bug. Cryptocurrency thus represents an attitude and an industry that I’m happy to join Senator Schoenbeck in avoiding.
Sharing investment advice with y’all from Warren Buffett.
“Buy the dips.”
“Cryptocurrency isn’t just fake money; it facilitates criminal activity. Today’s decline in value demonstrates that many of its backers think that’s a feature, not a bug.”
Bingo.
Like fake money, the on-going right wing insurrection is based on fake beliefs. The “ lost cause” in 1865, dilution of separation of chuch and state, and the 2nd Amend.
God is anybody’s guess, but on the Senate floor 1.06.21, from the vice president’s desk cuckoo-for-cocoa puffs (who doesn’t believe with all your heart it is his mainstay food at all hours!) Jacob Chansley took off his fake horns and led a bull horn “group-prayer”.
Exhausted by the effort and SLUMPED on the dais, a non-lethal slug lodged in his cheek, Joshua Black the enforcer, next to the military zip-tie guy in kevlar, said “I praised the name of Jesus on the Senate floor….I THINK that was God’s goal.”
“Bitcoin SLUMPED to a two-week low….”
In related news a thousand kilometer mud avalanche SLUMPED in the Atlantic Ocean. I think it was Allah’s plan.
Newyorker, 1.25.21
I agree, but the greatest threat to the Dollar as the reserve currency of the world in the long run is not the Yuan, or the Euro, rather it will be a non sovereign currency that at least mirrors the current cryptocurrencies that are available today.
These current cryptocurrencies do lack a key credibility in today’s world, but that will change overtime as more become familiar with its existence and use.
Open borders, free trade, and cryptocurrencies are all a part of a reality that is slowly heaving to the dump pile the concept of national sovereignty, which both depends upon a national currency and encourages one, especially when we are talking about a nation which is a major player in the world.
It was once said that a credible currency needed a gold backing, that ATMs would never work because no real banker was involved, then with the help of credit cards we have increasingly allowed money to be borrowed that is not secured, and now we are making purchases increasingly without receipts. All of this speaks to the evolution of our economy both domestically and internationally, and thus, it is only a matter of time before cryptocurrency will be in vogue by most and a part of this constant economic evolution, which seems to throw old economic norms aside.
As a student of history, like many others, I learned of the Crash of ’29 as if it was an anomaly, but since then, just in the last twenty years, we have seen our markets shattered by 9/11, the Great Recession, Covid, and what is next? A reaction to a significant Russian hacking? All of this instability with our current ways of doing business as both a nation and as a significant player in the world will only over time naturally lend greater credibility to what we all now call cryptocurrency or currencies.
Well Leslie, I believe you are correct, but I always carry cash, I would rather be mugged in person and not online.
By the way, back to sports, Medvedev lost to Tsitsipas, he did well but there went my 20. I always want Nadal at the French anyway. Still has that pesky little Argentinian to get through before he can even his head to head with the joker. He’ll get past either Tsitsipas or Zverev. The real championship is the semis. Crypto is here somewhere isn’t it?
Cryptocurrency is no more fake currency than is gold – neither backed by the full faith, credit and taxiing power of a government. Cryptocurrency no more facilitates criminal activity than the US dollar. Bernie Madoff used the US dollar to pull of the scam of the century. The Wall Street banksters used the US dollar to pull of the near-wreck of the US and world economy in last decade’s housing crisis – for which exactly one low-level banker went to jail. The US government used the US dollar to facilitate the war on drugs for a generation plus (American Gangster, American Made, Kill the Messenger – historically based movies of the crimes).
The FBI recouped much of the Colonial Pen ransom through a federal warrant. that then tapped a foolishly accessible bitcoin wallet password. Crooks may be momentarily clever, but are not smart.
John, the US should have learned from Portugal long ago to treat drugs as a medical problem and legalize them all, its worked wonderfully for Portugal but to ask any Republican to do that is rather insane, they just like to control and punish. Idiots in other words.
Well…I don’t understand it and don’t have the time to invest in learning the ins and outs of cryptocash. I like my bucks an invest only in what I understand (or think I understand)…I’ve lost plenty of money over a lifetime, made back a little, and had a great time. Who could ask for more???
John, I guess in a way all money is fake: gold has no inherent value. Neither do the green papers I still carry in my billfold (although, since the beginning of the pandemic, I may have used cash for fewer transactions than I have fingers). Neither do the electrons that transmit most of my earned wealth to and from my bank account.
Every currency depends on the trust of a sufficiently large community to make the currency useful. The dollar is backed by all of us, as a community, through the government we constitute. Cryptocurrency is backed by, dare I say, elitists who value their separateness, who want their currency to be hard to understand and hold accountable. It’s as if they’re trying to build a thing that demands community trust on something other than community trust.
I’m just musing here. I don’t philosophize that hard about bitcoin when I go to the store. If Kessler’s or Hy-Vee won’t take it, the currency doesn’t do me much good. And if I reverted to my original libertarianism and decided I don’t trust government enough to base my money on it, why would I assign more trust in a small group of technocrats whose currency is even more opaque and unaccountable?
The recovery of Colonial Pipeline Co.’s ransom as evidence that crypto isn’t beyond government control?
Just because the USA government, with it’s earlobes in a wringer over cyber blackmail, says it recovered Bitcoin doesn’t mean it really happened.
Do you think the criminals are going to expose themselves just to call the FBI a liar?
It’s easily a ploy to deter the spread of this crime by claiming false ability to thwart it.
grudznick, with Mr. Dale’s help and programming of course, is working on a new “grudzCOIN” crypto-currency that will for sure be beyond government control. We will accept US dollars, Canadian dollars, or BITcoin once you can start buying it. And, for every grudzCOIN you buy, a grudzCOIN will be donated to the needy charity of your choice (from a limited menu which will include St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Dakota Free Press, and Dakota War College.)
Cory, it won’t happen overnight, but someday Hy-Vee will take it. I just don’t see cryptocurrency going away. Such a currency destroys sovereignty while empowering the sovereign, which fits perfect with this growing libertarian whim in our society today, which masks so many other agendas as well.
John Kennedy Claussen, Sr.,
Indeed sir – the organizational concept of nationalism is indeed in its decline – as is the way of ALL formalized human organizing concoctions. New and better fitting (evolved) to current actual human parameters (instantaneous global communications) organizing concepts will emerge.
Pre-paid, of course, will get you a discount of 25% off.
grudz … put me down for $125,000 ☚ As long as you stand behind it, I’ll get a lot more, when I sell the mine in Nevada.
You are marked down, Mr. Lansing, and may I suggest your first use of grudzCOIN be to ring Mr. H’s jar.
Virtue Signaling – A behavior of a grudznick openly seeking attention and external validation by ostentatiously pronouncing themselves as possessing high moral values for a trivial action taken.
Republican presidents who, most have been “Crooks may be momentarily clever, but are not smart.”
Trump, definitely is not smart, and despite that, has damaged the US and many nations easily to the tune of more than $1 T. Thune and McConnell, mostly Mitch, are kinda and annoyingly clever and share in that extraordinary damage. The next Trump will be smart and crooked. 2022 is dangerously close.
I wish i had not brought my children and grandchildren into this unavoidable GOP train wreck. I did not then think Americans, on the whole, right-wing, could be so stupid.
Don’t for get Dave Lusk and the Republican secret trust industry, likely the largest part of the economy in SD owned and used by a few hundred soul and the legislative willingness to provide their scam with a stamp of “propriety”.
RC school board election today of “candidates and some campaign organizers said the race was political despite the nonpartisan nature of the school board. A number of Republican state lawmakers donated to all four of the winning campaigns.” RCJ
Notable is that incumbent president Pochart and Ms Means split the vote serving the “Republican state lawmakers” quite well in the nationwide effort to run the country with the power of Red states. This does not bode well for 2022 Dems! Damnit, when will enough be enough?
Communicate, Means and Pochart, and ALL Dems similarly situated!! We are on the SAME team.
Oh, forgot to tie into the main thread. The hundreds of billions of rich guy cyber bytes that the SD trust industry shields and launders, like “Cryptocurrency isn’t just fake money; it facilitates criminal activity.”
“Why don’t we talk more about the fact that only one party has people like Marsha Blackburn & Ron Johnson representing it in the Senate and people like Marjorie Taylor Greene & Mo Brooks in the House? How has dumbness overrun the GOP?” twitter.com/marshablackbur…
“JoNewton
@Joana_N1a
They are smart enough to still have minority control of the senate. And it certainly looks like they are smart enough to put the fix in for 2022 and that will be the death blow to our democracy. Don’t underestimate these fn people, that’s what they are hoping for & counting on.”
Cory reported: The fact that investigators “could trace the untraceable and seize it might be undermining the libertarian, free-of-government-control case,” said Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at Oanda.
Do not allow local racist extremist Republicans to run school boards, city councils, water development districts and state government, and suppress voting and initiatives by the people, because all you ever see in SD is republicanism and corruption and cronyism.
Lust, above :)
I prefer the privacy of traditional currency and the power of assets (net worth is a big kid’s game).
I am trying to hide something .. from people who want to steal my stuff.
Tax the trusts in South Dakota more!
Just wondering, can bitcoin be given as campaign contribution ? I think maybe so.
The blockchain requires public recording of each transaction.
The blockchain can have multiple uses to clarify and quicken transactions worldwide, while reducing frictions and delays.
El Salvador adopted bitcoin as a means of exchange.
Lest one roll-eyes at a Latin American nation, from a region that had more than its share of market turmoil, consider also, the following.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/09/op-ed-why-a-digital-dollar-could-be-just-what-the-economy-needs.html
“. . . as long as digital currency is coming anyway, it’s best to have it backed by a country with “stability, the backing of a robust and strong economy, good governance, openness, and rule of law.””
I don’t think there is anything different about digital currency if it is backed and tightly regulated by a sovereign entity. All other digital currencies should be illegal.
Bitcoin, isn’t the reason cyber crooks are blackmailing businesses with the threat of destroying their data.
Black mail is happening because businesses have been lax in requiring two step authentication to open computer files.
USA is fast on the way of demanding two party authentication from any company doing business with the government.
It’s pretty easy to psychologically trick a clerk into opening a text message attachment if the message offers something enticing. That’s how Cambridge Analytica helped Trump steal the election from Hillary.
Porter—Homerun on CA!
Spell check can’t quite figure out this baseball misspelling (eye roll).
Well, if cryptocurrency doesn’t go away, we need to do as Donald says and regulate it. It seems we need to take the “Crypto” out and make it a real public currency, controlled by the people, not a few hackers who like making a product that facilitates their hacking.
And John, cryptocurrency does appear to facilitate ransomware attacks more than regular cash does.
Crypto isn’t going anywhere, unfortunately. I think it’s stupid, too. But – since it’s going to be around a while, might as well do it right. Check out the new gold-backed crypto by AABB. This company actually owns the gold that backs the crypto, and they are mining more gold as we speak. As was already pointed out, the US dollar has been “fake” for decades, but it hasn’t stopped people from buying and selling with it.
Cryptocurrency make complete sense from the context of a generation brought up on Pokemon cards. They have learned from an early age that there can be an entire world of “alternate currencies of value.”
Of course this is “made-up money,” (and as Cory notes ALL money has made-up” value. The trick is to see how wide spread you can get others to accept your thing has value. This is less Wall Street and more collector mindset; less stock and more beanie babies.
I’m reminded of the Rick and Morty episode where Rick destroyed the galactic empire by setting the value of their currency to 0. I’m not sure that any currency (national or decentralized) will not be found vulnerable to a similar attack in the near future.
Holland really liked its tulips, wasn’t as long lasting as gold but still its a matter of agreement.
Gentlemen, Mr. Dale’s computer wizardry is performing even better than he said it would. I am casting grudzCOIN after grudzCOIN even as I blog this. If only Mr. H’s blog let me post a picture of a fresh one for you!
Mr. Pay is, of course, righter than right about only buying crypto currency from sovereign entities. Good thing for you all that grudznick is a sovereign citizen.
Blockchain technology is wonderful and fascinating. Something very useful will likely be invented in this space and change the world.
However, there are a couple reasons not to invest anything in crypto today:
1) None of the current crypto coins do anything that the dollar can’t already do. And at this point the dollar simply does the job better (i.e. Visa can authorize transactions way faster than Bitcoin).
2) People think they should invest in Bitcoin because there is a built-in scarcity to it… and it will definitely be more scarce when 10 billion people are using it. But the problem here is that even though Bitcoin is indeed scarce, Blockchain coins, as a category, are not. New coins are being created every month, and no one knows which one will be the first one to amass 10 billion users first.
If I were to guess, I’d say to keep your eyes out for something that does something new and/or is authorized by something huge like the World Bank or the US Federal Reserve.
The most interesting invention I’ve seen so far in Blockchain is the new ICP coin by Dfinity. Their project opens up the possibility of a secure, hacker-proof, password-free, serverless Internet. That’s the first crypto-coin I know of that does something entirely new and economical. The fact that such a thing is achievable still blows my mind.
Time will tell if ICP catches on… or if a rival coin pops up that does that job even better.
Kind regards,
David
Lee Schoenbeck is a corrupt republican from a corrupt political party from a corrupt state called South Dakota. The reasoning behind such a corrupt statement by corrupt Lee Schoenbeck, is because he and the rest of the corrupted South Dakota corrupted republicans, fear they might lose out on the corrupted teat they have developed in this state.
Schoenbeck waits, watches, and withers again.
Top Crypto Friendly States are:
-Wyoming, whose elected officials own crypto, has attracted crypto-focused firms for years. In April, Wyoming became the first state to recognize decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) as LLCs, paving the way for online collectives governed by blockchain-based smart contracts to have the same legal status as companies.
-Nebraska approved a regulatory framework for digital assets in May, providing two main ways for institutions to manage crypto. Existing state-chartered banks can create digital asset divisions, and digital asset firms can seek charters to become digital currency banks.