
Cryptocurrency chaos as China cracks down on ICOs - petethomas
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-finance-digital-ico-analysis/cryptocurrency-chaos-as-china-cracks-down-on-icos-idUSKCN1BN33R
======
jpatokal
A more accurate description would be "cryptocurrency confusion among Chinese
startups attempting to float ICOs". Exchange rates for BTC and ETH vs USD (or
CNY, for that matter) have barely budged:

[https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/BTCUSD/](https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/BTCUSD/)

[https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/BTCCNY/](https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/BTCCNY/)

[https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/ETHUSD/](https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/ETHUSD/)

...at least in cryptocurrency terms, where a 10% rise/fall in a day happens
regularly anyway and usually for no discernible reason.

~~~
baby
Litecoin went from 90USD to 60USD.

~~~
FrozenTuna
It was ~80 dollars a week ago. At no point in the past week has it been near
90 dollars. It has hardly budged as a result of this news.

~~~
baby
In any case, the news is definitely not making it go up.

[https://i.imgur.com/8V4grFt.png](https://i.imgur.com/8V4grFt.png)

------
irln
Seems like terminology is what causes a bunch of the confusion.

Bitcoin is used synonymously with ICOs. Bitcoin vs. Ethereum and the ICOs that
spawn from it are not the same.

Bitcoin is continually referred to as a currency...and it might be or become
one but what it seems to be now is just another financial asset. That is, a
thing that acts as a storehouse of value like any other tangible or intangible
asset. Whether Bitcoin is a good or bad storehouse of value remains to be
seen. But mixing terminology confuses the issue.

------
interdrift
Jamie Dimon is so clueless and is either lobbying for the interests of 2-nd
tier accounting banks or the blockchain is accounting beyond his
understanding.

------
Nursie
More interesting was a link at the bottom of the page to comments by Jamie
Dimon, that bitcoin is essentially the e-tulip...

~~~
InclinedPlane
That much has always been obvious to anyone paying attention. It's not a
currency. Currencies can either be deflationary or inflationary.
Cryptocurrencies are inherently deflationary* which makes them bad currencies
but perfect for speculative investment. That's the core of every
cryptocurrency out there today. The utility as a currency is at best
secondary, or even tertiary. It's only a matter of time until those bubbles
burst.

Edit: fine, amend what I said to be "the vast majority of current
cryptocurrencies with high market caps are deflationary". Most usage of
cryptocurrencies today is in "investment", not monetary exchange.

~~~
blueprint
> Cryptocurrencies are inherently deflationary

How so?

~~~
simonh
Eventually all the BTC will have been mined and no new BTC will ever be
created again, unlike regular currencies in which the money supply can always
rise alongside the expansion of the economy.

BTC will eventually become a fiscal straight jacket. It may take quite a while
to take effect, but is inevitable and the more BTC become integrated into the
economy, the more eventual pain it will cause down the line.

~~~
blueprint
All cryptocurrencies are inherently deflationary because one example of an
attempt at a cryptocurrency (BTC) is inherently deflationary?

~~~
simonh
All current attempts at cryptocurrencies, of which there are very, very many
have been inherently deflationary. Can you point me to a single one either
current or even planned that isn't? We are discussing the real world.

~~~
sanswork
Both Ether and Monero are uncapped and deflationary. So 2 out of the top 10 at
the moment. I didn't bother checking beyond that.

