• KbSez@piefed.social
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    7 days ago

    Oh yeah… that’s a great idea especially since Bitcoin has cratered in the last few weeks and people have lost over $2 billion on trumps scam meme coins.

    Sure… what could go wrong?

    • pulsewidth@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      You just watch.

      “Strategic crypto reserve” of several billion in taxpayer funds, and then in several months “oops where did it go? It’s all been moved to several different wallets now, gosh how did this happen” and the news cycle will just glaze over it as another Trump blunder while he and his cronies pocket it.

  • PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat
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    7 days ago

    This is, I think, an important mechanism for someone to loot the US treasury.

    Plenty of other people will be able to loot it also. It might not even be intentional on Trump’s part. But it’s a standard pattern: A massive transfer of capital into some dubious venture, followed by a mysterious implosion of the value of the dubious venture, leaving the people who were paid mountains of capital in exchange for the dubious venture-stuff smiling broadly at the mysterious outcome, saying “Them’s the breaks. Risky investment and all.”

    Crypto has the added benefit of being a lot less traceable and somewhat less undo-able after the fact.

    • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Or materials that take a while to manufacture, but which may be needed in large quantities relatively quickly. Even if it’s not a case of foreign actors, some things just take a while to start coming off of production lines in large quantities.

      Shelf-stable food is a good example. You can’t just grow more wheat overnight. Sure, you may be able to reallocate where resources are going to use them more efficiently or start converting more into shelf-stable versions, but your overall food production levels are going to take a long time to actually ramp up, as new crops and livestock take time to grow.

    • tburkhol@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      This one is meant to pay back all the cryptobros who supported his campaign. Still gotta get Congress to authorize funds for it, but the cryptobros have been pumping money into those campaigns, too.

    • RandAlThor@lemmy.caOP
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      7 days ago

      First he creates his own crypto out of thin air worth billions. Then he’s going to make US gov’t and tax payers buy his fantasy value currency with real money? You can’t a clearer day light robbery than this!

      • teft@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        You’re forgetting the final part of the plan. Take those dollars and exchange them for gold or a different currency so that when the dollar implodes you still have all your loot.

  • pickleprattle@midwest.social
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    6 days ago

    Welp. I look forward s to hearing about how our strategic reserve was hacked away from us by a dozen coders in China who found an open wallet on an unsecured PC.

  • orcrist@lemm.ee
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    6 days ago

    Last checked he doesn’t have that money. Am I missing something? Congress controls funding.

      • uienia@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        Yeah, I don’t know why we get these comments full of legalistic hope about congress for every thread about Trumps doings. He owns congress.

    • Philippe23@lemmy.ca
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      5 days ago

      Last I heard was that instead of selling the crypto they seize from illegal activities/arrests, they’re going to hold it in this reserve. So it’s not new spending, but it will be a reduction in income for the government.

      The article mentions and notes “reserve” vs “stockpile”, but my gut take is that he has no idea of the difference and just thought “reserve” sounded better in the moment.

  • kn0wmad1c@programming.dev
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    7 days ago

    Bitcoin lost 20% of its value in a month. It’s great for speculation, but it seems like a shitty thing to use as a currency.

    • arglebargle@lemm.ee
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      7 days ago

      Its only great for speculation if you can find more suckers to buy in. Apparently the public are going to be forced to be the suckers.

      • nexguy@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        It’s likely you already are bought in if you have a typical 401k investment setup as several large firms have btc on their books. Small as it may be, it’s likely there.

      • Raiderkev@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Russia probably has a shitload of BTC to get around sanctions, and are going to rug this stupid Bitcoin reserve.

      • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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        7 days ago

        That’s not what makes a currency stable. The Fed wouldn’t need to work so hard if that’s all it took.

      • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
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        7 days ago

        Why? Because a whole bunch of it is locked up somewhere? That’s already the case for bitcoin. Only a tiny fraction of the total supply actually moves. The vast majority is either in abandoned or lost wallets, or being held.

    • turnip@sh.itjust.works
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      7 days ago

      Its counter cyclical like gold is. In a market crash where aggregate demand drops and interest rates fall it can be used as collateral to fund bailouts as it rises in value. At least I assume that’s why central banks historically buy gold for undergoing Keynesian economics.

      Bitcoin actually goes up far more than gold during QE as well in its short history, and the supply will soon rise dramatically slower than gold, as each 4 years the new supply halves.

  • tal@lemmy.today
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    7 days ago

    If you start trying to buy your meme coin with funds no longer going to federal worker wages, I’m pretty sure that you’re going to have a pretty irate Congress.

  • Setnof@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    😂 the title somehow failed to mention the 2nd most valuable crypto but named all the others. Wtf

    The ticker is ETH!

  • rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works
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    7 days ago

    “Bitcoin is dangerous because it’s trying to create a level of credibility to unreliable and wholly unfounded value”

    -Trump

    Fundamentals haven’t changed, Donny. Why the flip-flop?

    edit: but I sold my BTC @ $20k so I guess I’m the dumb one.