Perfunctory Valuations Abound
A report from CNBC. “December’s steep drop in single-family housing starts is not indicative of what is really going on at construction sites across the nation. There is optimism among homebuilders and a sharp rise in demand from homebuyers. Builders are now starting to build more speculative homes — that is, homes that don’t have a buyer yet, because demand is so strong. ‘The builders are shifting to the lower price points and entry-level, but their entry-level buyer is a more affluent entry-level buyer, somebody who went to college, got married in their 30s, buying in communities that are $800,000 instead of a million 2,’ said John Burns, CEO of John Burns Real Estate Consulting.”
From the Arizona Republic. “Rising metro Phoenix home prices are making it harder for many buyers. But this month, government mortgage backers began offering a little extra help. The Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have raised the loan limits for mortgages. Almost 64 percent of all Phoenix-area homebuyers used one of those loans to buy in 2017, so the higher limits are bound to give the market a boost.”
“Homebuyers can now borrow up to $453,100 using Fannie and Freddie mortgages. That’s up $29,000 from last year. The loan limits on Federal Housing Administration loans climbed to $294,515 from $279,450 at the beginning of the year. ‘I’ve been surprised by how many new loans we have seen since the limits were increased this month,’ said Dean Wegner of the Scottsdale office of HomeStreet Bank. ‘I think the higher limits helped with some pent-up demand from buyers.’”
“Since the too-easy-to-get subprime mortgages that spurred the housing crash, any changes to make getting a mortgage easier raises alarm bells with some real estate market watchers — including me. I’m watching closely for any signs that could spark another housing crash. But this is only the second time since the crash in 2008 that federal loan limits have been increased. The first was in 2016. And metro Phoenix home prices have nearly doubled since the crash.”
From Mother Jones. “The Wall Street Journal reports that banks are getting tired of performing actual appraisals for high-volume home loans—the kind that get packaged into mortgage-based securities—and are turning instead to less rigorous broker price opinions: ‘Now these perfunctory valuations abound, underpinning tens of billions of dollars of home deals. Sometimes the process is outsourced to India, where companies charge real-estate agents a few dollars to come up with U.S. home values by consulting Google Earth and real-estate websites. BPOs have been used to value collateral in the more than $20 billion of bonds sold by institutional landlords, such as Blackstone’s Invitation Homes Inc., and in the fast-growing business of lending to individual house flippers.’”
“‘Their popularity,’ says the Journal, ’shows how Wall Street is finding ways to adapt to government efforts to crack down on some of the excesses that contributed to the housing crisis.’”
The Argus Leader in South Dakota. “Rising home prices in Sioux Falls last year are likely unsustainable and could create problems for families trying to afford a house this year, according to economists for a national provider of homeowner’s insurance. The same goes for South Dakota’s second biggest city. Both Sioux Falls and Rapid City ranked near the bottom of Nationwide’s housing affordability index, which rates hundreds of metro areas across the United States.”
“The resulting score allows for short-term predictions about housing trends in each market, said Ben Ayers, senior economist for Nationwide. ‘If you’re a homeowner right now, you’re going to have a little more trouble selling a home,’ Ayers said. ‘You may not get as much money for a home.’”
“It’s not that individual homes are increasing in price, it’s that there’s been more new construction of high-end homes that sell close to the million-dollar mark, said Harlan Ten Napel, an agent for Ameri-Star Real Estate. ‘The reality is, from my perspective, there’s homes that have not appreciated or have not gone up that much in value,’ Ten Napel said.”
“Still, Sioux Falls’ home price increases simply aren’t sustainable, Ayers said. As much as median income has soared in the Sioux Falls metro since 2010, it’s been outpaced by median home prices, which ticked up to $190,000 last month. That’s roughly $55,000 more than the median price of a home in January of 2011. Sioux Falls’ market gives off ‘mixed signals,’ Ayers said. ‘That’s when we have some concern that something’s out of balance,’ he said.”
From New Jersey 101.5. “Nationwide, the seven counties with the worst foreclosure rates are right here in the Garden State. According to ATTOM Data Solutions, New Jersey had the highest rate of foreclosure activity among the 50 states and D.C. in 2017 — 1.61 percent of all housing units. The report pointed to 57,559 New Jersey properties with a foreclosure filing — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — in 2017. While the nation hit an 11-year-low for the number of homes repossessed by lenders, New Jersey reached an 11-year-high in the same category, experiencing a 19 percent increase from 2016.”
“‘That’s where homeowners are actually losing their homes,’ said Daren Blomquist, ATTOM senior vice president. ‘Those properties then hit the market, which in many cases can be a drag on the market because they’re often distressed properties that sell at a discount.’”
The Naples Daily News in Florida. “Hurricane Irma made a dent on home sales in the Naples area in the final months of 2017. Cindy Carroll, a partner in Naples-based Carroll & Carroll Appraisers and Consultants LLC, said there’s a 7-1/2-month supply of single-family homes on the market. She described the market as both solid and logical.”
“At the end of last year the $300,000 and under segment had the largest number of homes on the market — at 1,554. That was followed closely by the $300,000 to $500,000 category with 1,511. The oversupply of homes in some areas could be corrected by the end of season, bringing them back into balance, she said.”
“Changing architectural trends could hurt some sellers. Preferences are moving away from Tuscan to a more West Indies/modern style, which could impact the demand and prices paid for more elaborate luxury homes in the $1 million and up segments, where there is already an oversupply of inventory, Carroll said. ‘De-Tuscanization is possible in some cases, but in other cases, it’s not possible,’ she said.”
From the Omaha World-Herald. “Gil Lundstrom, once head of the second-largest bank based in Nebraska, has lost the appeal of his 11-year prison sentence levied after a jury trial in 2015. Lundstrom, 74 years old at the time of the sentencing in 2016, was the chief executive of Lincoln-based TierOne Bank when it cratered in 2010. U.S. prosecutors attributed the bank’s demise to Lundstrom’s hiding of massive losses in real-estate loans during the 2008 financial crisis.”
“He appealed the sentence, restitution and other aspects of his conviction after the three-week trial in U.S. District Court in Lincoln. On Friday, the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis affirmed the sentence and all other aspects of the conviction.”
“TierOne started out as a local bank, but under Lundstrom, a Lincoln attorney who represented the bank and was upped to head man, it began betting on the great U.S. housing bubble of the past decade. It lent to dodgy housing developments nationwide and lost millions of dollars when the developers defaulted. The jury found that Lundstrom hid those losses in company financial statements as share prices plummeted from a high of about $35 to zero at the end. Lundstrom, a native of Gothenburg, Nebraska, is incarcerated in the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas.”
Naples, FL Real Estate & Homes for Sale
8,491 Homes sorted by relevant listings
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Naples_FL/sby-8
Naples, FL Real Estate & Homes for Sale
8,491 Homes sorted by price reduced
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Naples_FL/sby-7
One chosen at random:
8944 Cherry Oaks Trl, Naples, FL 34114
3 beds 2 baths 2,113 sqft
For Sale
$499,000
Price cut: -$20,000 (1/20)
Year Built 2006
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8944-Cherry-Oaks-Trl-Naples-FL-34114/81797159_zpid/
01/20/18 Price change $499,000-3.9%
07/07/17 Listed for sale $519,000+21.7%
07/26/13 Sold $426,500
03/22/12 Sold $426,500+426,400%
12/28/11 Sold: Foreclosed to lender $100-100%
09/05/06 Sold $1,040,996
Interesting, that one never recovered, still close to the foreclosure sale price.
HOA Fee: $185/mo
If you zoom out on the price map that whole coast is a sea of red. Tons of new shacks too.
Any HOA with a pool will pay through the nose for liability insurance, I have heard horror stories where $100+ per month per house goes to pay for the clubhouse/pool insurance. Simply not worth it.
My house (when I had it) in a subdivision with no amenities whatsoever, was $95 a year for the HOA dues.
My Mom’s condo (previously an apartment) in the same town, with pool, small club house, and one tennis court is $334 a month. I thought she misspoke and really meant per year, but no, $334 per month.
I still can’t believe it.
I was the president of the HOA board in the condo association where we last lived in Salt Lake City. It was a 48-unit building. It was supposed to be 1 of 6 buildings in a master planned community, but the project came online right as the crash was happening in 2007. We bought at 2011 for a great deal as the developer lost the project to the bank (alas, we sold too early!). Anyway, we paid $230 per month for our HOA, but at least high speed internet was included. This was a hotel-like condo where entrances were from the inside and key fobs required to get into the main building.
The developer had built in a shady deal to provide the internet via one of his shell companies when he still had full voting rights of the association. We had covered parking, a common room, a workout room, and an elevator. I was amazed at how expensive everything was to maintain, and I really tried to penny pinch without cutting corners. This experience helped me to realize that very few people are aware of the finances of the HOA and that many reserves in these HOAs are woefully inadequate to take care of replacements. I will never buy a home with a pool or a condo with a pool. Ever.
I will never buy a home with a pool or a condo with a pool. Ever.
Not questioning your judgement, but I’d like to ask why because I need ammo. My wife and step-daughter think that owning a pull is the greatest idea ever. I realize there’s maintenance/cleaning and the possibility of leakage or pump breakage. Insurance costs?
A wild guess: someone drowned in the pool and there was a lawsuit. I have heard of HOA’s draining the pool and removing it after that happens because the insurance cost becomes prohibitive.
Not questioning your judgement, but I’d like to ask why because I need ammo. My wife and step-daughter think that owning a pull is the greatest idea ever. I realize there’s maintenance/cleaning and the possibility of leakage or pump breakage. Insurance costs?
Well, we live in Southern Utah, and so pools are pretty common here. But they seem to make it difficult to sell a house. People like the idea of a pool, until they actually get one. It sounds so romantic, but they fail to grasp just how much of a headache the maintenance and upkeep of a pool actually is. My retired running buddy has a pool in his $1.5 mil place here and he says to me, “The grand kids don’t even care for it. They’d much rather spend $5 and go to the County Rec center (which is amazing, actually. They don’t even like this pool.” He’s drained it and it just sits there empty.
My opposition to a pool is a matter of personal preference. It’s the same reason I am opposed to having a theater in one’s home (which my father has). When you calculate the cost that he spent to actually have a theater (or a pool), it turns out you could take our entire family to movies for like the rest of your life and still not even come close to the amount you spent for the theater. And the experience generally pales in comparison. The pools that I have access to are no where near as good as the pool I could put in my house. If you have stupid money, then yeah, buy a theater, pool, gym, etc. The smartest thing about millennials (I know there is a lot of millennial bashing on this blog), is that they apparently value “access over ownership.” (Actually, I happen to think this is not totally true, I think they are just too broke and too in debt to really be able to own much, so they settle for access.)
My wife and I had dinner with a work friend who happens to have an indoor driving range and a screen. It’s struck me as the most obsolete and complete waste of space in their basement. To each his own though. I think it is foolish to try recreate these personal pleasures in ones residence. Just find a good one you have access to.
Lastly, I’m an RN. I’ve been in code blue situations in the ER from infants drowning. It’s sadly too common here. If you have kids under 12, no reason to have a pool in one’s yard. I just think the risk is too great. That’s my two cents.
I do accounting for homeowners associations. 300 a month is not crazy for an HOA fee. Pools are expensive, and the HOA is usually paying for more than just the pool. They are doing things like paying for landscaping, and cutting/trimming trees around the pool.
I wouldn’t live in an HOA, but it’s more about not wanting all of the rules and politics that comes along with it. Homeowners associations have all kinds of rules about what you can do with your house, whether you can alter the trees, what kind of trees you are allowed to have, whether you can park your car in the driveway or whether it must be parked inside the garage. It’s basically inviting another form of government in your life that you will pay taxes to.
‘inviting another form of government in your life that you will pay taxes to’
Or else they foreclose. The tree police, the what color paint police. Except it isn’t police, it’s some old crank who lives on the corner and his friends. I used to deal with them on foreclosures. Pretty unreasonable. I may be asked to cut some shrubs, or they’ll do it for multiples of what it actually costs to do it.
My worst experience with an HOA was in Flagstaff. It was some townhouses. So the FB took off and I winterized it and discovered busted pipes from freeze damage. Standard procedure is I put a zip lock on the water main. Spring comes along and the HOA crew is ordered to water the grass. They cut the zip lock, turn the water on, water the grass through the irrigation system - and leave. About three weeks later I’m asked to go over there and when I walk in the door there’s water dripping from upstairs and a ring of mold on the living room carpet about 20 feet across with a big rainbow colored mound at the center. It took a while to clean that mess up.
The pools that I have access to are no where near as good as the pool I could put in my house
Seems to contradict the rest of your comment.
I’m currently renting in a HOA community with a pool and clubhouse. Gated, too. Fees are just under $100.00 and they have some decent reserves. The residents take care of their own lawns and landscaping. As far as I can see, the place is well managed and the homes are taken care of.
The difference is, it is 55+, and I would imagine the insurance is lower because of that. Kids do use the pool if they are visiting family, but so far the kids I’ve seen are very well mannered and supervised.
The pools that I have access to are no where near as good as the pool I could put in my house
Seems to contradict the rest of your comment.
Wow, I totally said that the wrong way. What I meant was the complete opposite:
The pools that I have access to are vastly superior to what I could but in our house.
You can’t keep your BS straight.
Not sure what you mean. This was the development:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0T8WGSLGD0
The difference is, it is 55+, and I would imagine the insurance is lower because of that.
What I have heard is that even if an injured party illegally trespassed into the pool area, they can still sue, and they do.
I remember when I lived in a condo complex in San Diego in the early 90’s. There was a pool and a spa. The HOA had to drain the spa because non residents would sneak in at night, have sex in the spa and sometimes even defecate in it. Every time that happened the HOA had to pay someone to sanitize the spa, and it wasn’t cheap and happened several times a month.
“What I have heard is that even if an injured party illegally trespassed into the pool area, they can still sue, and they do.”
FWIW… attractive nuisance doctrine.
Remember….. A Housing ‘recovery’ is falling prices to dramatically lower and more affordable levels by definition.
Hence the Naples house is recovering quite nicely.
It just goes to show that median price for an area doesn’t tell the whole story. If an area fell 40% during the last bust, some houses cratered more, some less. That’s why it’s always important to understand what it is you’re buying. Price does not equal value - EVER.
I was in Naples back in 2006, and the hotel’s in-room magazine was full of real estate ads. They made generous use of words normally employed to describe fantasies — “nirvana” and “Shangri-La” and “paradise.” I’d just been driving by some of the developments described and thought, come on, those are tract houses.
They’re not selling the house…they’re selling the fantasy :-).
“The Wall Street Journal reports that banks are getting tired of performing actual appraisals for high-volume home loans—the kind that get packaged into mortgage-based securities— …”
… and get passed off - risks and all - to somebody else …
“… and are turning instead to less rigorous broker price opinions: ‘Now these perfunctory valuations abound, underpinning tens of billions of dollars of home deals.”
Tens of billions of dollars of home deals. Check.
“Sometimes the process is outsourced to India, where companies charge real-estate agents a few dollars to come up with U.S. home values by consulting Google Earth and real-estate websites.”
Bahahahahahahahaha … this blog never fails to be a laugh riot.
Ring ring!
Third World Appraisal, Sandeep talking.
Sandeep, this is Aspen in Miami. How’s that appraisal looking on the airbox we talked about?
It is most difficulty, as the buyers wants to pay with HBBcoin and those valuations are all over the place as we speak.
Just hit the number Sandeep.
OK, but I’m going to have to up the fee to three fifty.
If appraisals were actually sound, prices wouldn’t be double and triple long term trend.
MAI = “Made As Instructed”
=Apocryhal
From yesterday:
Crud, I nested the block quote wrong:
You need to reread my post from yesterday:
I would NOT choose California.
Dude, I bailed out of Clownifornoa in 1995. I would never go back.
lol@colorado
What is this and why is it important?
What is this and why is it important?
It’s because of what bears do in the woods.
http://digg.com/2018/worst-state-to-live-in
In Colorado
You have my most sincere apology.
I missed the “not”.
I must admit I was somewhat shocked by someone who seems so well grounded and intelligent to have chosen the flag that had a bear on it.
The Colorado flag with the big C is pretty lame.
I fully agree. It’s an unimaginative flag. Dull as yesterday’s dishwater.
LOL. When we first moved there I saw it out front of a large industrial building and it looked like the company’s logo flag. It always looked like an energy company logo to me.
Realtors are liars.
… and every appraisal apocryphal.
GAME’S UP? Panicky Bitcoin investors struggle to withdraw cash from money exchanges as they look to ‘safe’ gold investments amid fears of cryptocurrency collapse
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5396239/bitcoin-price-investors-selling-gold-value-collapse/
I was reading last night about how some of these guys have been cut in half but still have 20 or 50 billions. Can you imagine how difficult it would be to unload a billion pesos of this stuff right now?
Google “can’t get my money from Coinbase” for a laugh.
This last 3 to 4 days Bitcoin has been suspended in a range of $10k to $13k, offering ample time for people to still get out at nosebleed prices. In hindsight, I bet today’s prices will seem astonishingly high.
If you owned a billion $ of 250k shacks, it would be 4,000 shacks. The minute one of these guys tried to sell a billion $ of HBBcoin, it would be worth half or less. Who’s going to buy a billion when you could lose 100M in a couple hours?
A million idiots paying $1000 a piece?
But isn’t the market liquid like stocks? Every price change is a completed transaction, right? So, people are obviously buying. Are you saying you think people are trying to structure their sales? I admit I have no idea how the sale of a Bitcoin happens through Coinbase or any other trading platform. All I know is if I was in the market, I would be liquidating EVERYTHING right now, even if I bought at $19k.
While it is well known that the total number of Bitcoins that can ever be mined into existence is limited and fixed, there is no restriction whatsoever on the number of greater fools who might be duped into buying some at a ridiculous price.
it is well known that the total number of Bitcoins that can ever be mined into existence is limited and fixed…
What are the names of the top 100 copycatcoins?
I just watched that video of BitConnect Carlos … my God. Worse than the a carny trying to persuade you to play the rigged midway games at the fair. How desperate or greedy would you have to be to sign up after that act?
I love that video, can’t get enough of it. In my dreams I hear “Hey, hey, hey, watsa, watsa, watsa, watsa, BEEECOHNAAAAYYYYYT! BEEECOHNAAAAAYYYYYYT!”
How could you not buy in after a pitch like that?
Cryptocurrency Ponzi Scheme Operator Sued for Fraud
By Reuters On 1/19/18 at 12:11 PM
Bitcoin (virtual currency) coins placed on Dollar banknotes are seen in this illustration picture, November 6, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Tech & Science
Cryptocurrency
The U.S. derivatives watchdog said on Friday that it has filed charges against three separate cryptocurrency operators alleging the defendants had defrauded customers, set up Ponzi schemes and broken other commodity trading rules, in a further sign regulators globally are cracking down on the emerging asset class.
The lawsuits, filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in a New York district court, come amid heightened fears globally over the risks that bitcoin and other virtual currencies may pose to investors and the global financial system.
The CFTC charged New York resident Patrick McDonnell and his company CabbageTech with stealing money from customers he had solicited for providing virtual-currency trading and other services.
In the second case the CFTC alleged Dillon Michael Dean of Colorado and his UK-registered company Entrepreneurs Headquarters Ltd operated a Ponzi scheme in which he solicited $1.1 million in bitcoin from more than 600 investors, promising them that their cash would be pooled and invested.
The third case remained under seal as of Thursday night.
more affluent entry-level buyer, somebody who went to college, got married in their 30s, buying in communities that are $800,000 instead of a million 2,
Looks like Apt 401/goon squad is going to have to up the figure in his meme about $450K starter homes.
$800K will get you a dump in Boulder.
And be sure to name your dog Denali and your first kid Aspen.
your first kid Aspen ??
Or your last one Barron…
Or your last one Barron…
Or Jer Majesty?
Living rent free in empty skulls across the planet, gotta love it!
And who says Barron is his last kid?
And who says Barron is his last kid ??
In the present tense it is…Now look who who’s skull is apparently empty…
“Living rent free in empty skulls” is a ridiculous phrase.
“$800K will get you a dump in Boulder.”
Buying property that was literally a dump
STEVE MCLINDEN
@BANKRATE
FEBRUARY 26, 2012
Dear Real Estate Adviser,
Is it a bad idea to buy a house that was built on a former dump? What should we take into consideration when looking at these types of houses?
— Debbie Dump
Dear Debbie,
It all kind of depends on what was dumped there, how well it was sealed, or “capped,” and how long ago it was a landfill site. Obviously, a developer has to do significant remediation to rework a dump site into residential land these days and have it declared safe by the city and/or the Environmental Protection Agency. But how much remediation is enough? That’s a matter of debate.
Sorry to all you developers and redevelopers of landfills out there, but I must advise Debbie and others to avoid buying homes on former dump sites unless they’re certifiably sure all risks have been identified and mitigated permanently. Even then — well, it just takes one scare story, valid or not, to do significant property-value damage.
Good luck.
https://www.bankrate.com/finance/real-estate/buying-property-literally-dump.aspx
How about on the site of a former plutonium processing plant? Or is Rocky Flats going to remain “open space” or whatever?
Would you live in a house built there?
I’m going with “Seven”.
Assuming 20% down, their P&I alone are $3000 a month. Add in taxes and insurance (possibly another $1000 a month, depending on locale) and you’re up to the take home pay for the average US household.
Near my nabe a builder is trying to sell 400K townhouses. They aren’t selling.
Speaking of property taxes, Redmondjp is going to be squealing like a stuck pig when he gets his King County assessment this year. Hooboy is he going to be!
Tuscany Jerry
” Preferences are moving away from Tuscan to a more West Indies/modern style, which could impact the demand and prices paid for more elaborate luxury homes in the $1 million and up segments, where there is already an oversupply o
I hear wallpaper is making a comeback.
Oh god please no. Mid 2010s trellis prints are going to look as bad as 1970s harvest gold prints do now.
I’m 80% sure that the kitchen flooring, wallpaper, and walnut paneling were how I was able to buy my house. Every other buyer ran screaming from it. The flooring is covered, the wallpaper is gone. In fact I made a framed collage of samples of the wallpaper just to scare visitors. The paneling… well it’s still there. The way the house is designed, it would be a major undertaking to take it off.
I read a piece by an appraiser in Sacramento last week. He polled some lenders and some said up to 10% of their appraisals were automated.
I’m surprised they don’t just use the Zestimate and call it a day.
Which estimate will your county use for taxes
Zillow has fxco at zero,but the local board of realtors says 5%
Denver, CO 80209 Housing Prices Crater 6% YOY On Billowing Housing Inventory
https://www.zillow.com/denver-co-80209/home-values/
Market temperature
Cool
Buyers’ Market
denver is booming utopia of the midwest
A Shumer surrender.
Was the shutdown an intentional distraction from #ReleaseTheMemo?
I was thinking the same thing, plus all of the various problems affecting the democrats, or rather the Clintons. the FBI, the NSA, et al.
Did you watch Scandalous?
A mysterious email dropped yesterday then vanished into the ether that indicated voting machine rigging, with Podesta and Brazile in the loop. If true, there’s a lot more pain in store for the dims.
And with the FBI and NSA claiming big data losses covering dim crimes and Clownifornia saying they’ll let illegals vote, I’m thinking the military is going to have to step in or its going to be civil war in the streets.
“I’m thinking the military is going to have to step in”
Yes, I was thinking this exact thing this afternoon. I think they are going to HAVE to step in, not so much because of civil war in the streets, but it looks as if the DOJ with its subsidiary the FBI is no longer a viable entity. Totally corrupt and infiltrated. In fact some of the internet chatter would indicate this is already under way in a limited fashion.
The military is, unfortunately, the only option to clean it up, because it’s out of control and the military has its own system of justice in place that can be put into operation on an immediate basis. People won’t like it, but that’s the sad predicament we find ourselves in. Places like California, cities like Baltimore and Chicago, have gone totally lawless, or upside down lawless. We’ve got widespread gang activity, politicians on the take, judges legislating from the bench and obstructing, banks laundering money on a grand scale, you name it. We have terrorists, both foreign and domestic, operating with impunity, as in Las Vegas and New York. Teachers molesting kids in schools all over the country, which has been going on for some time now. Public defecation is routine in places like San Francisco, NY and San Diego.
They just had a story from Los Angeles where some guy working for the school system stripped naked on an elementary school playground and started running after the kids, who had to take shelter inside. He didn’t even care, just calmly put on his pants when the cops were called. It’s gotten that bad.
Whether the military is even successful at bringing order as opposed to brutalizing the populace is another matter.
Honestly I don’t think The Memo is even related to this. But I do notice that the Dems are long on praising these DACA kids and totally ignore that those same kids will turn right around and chain migrate in the parents (and second cousin twice removed - because family is so important to them).
Politically, the Dems made the right move. McConnell is right when he said this: “A strategy to shutdown the government over illegal immigration is something the American people didn’t understand — and would not have understood in the future.”
A lot of their constituents are not in favor of illegal immigrants. In fact, making illegal immigrants their top priority is costing them votes. They’re trying to get amnesty to secure that massive voting block, plain and simple. It’s not about the illegals, it’s about Demorats gaining an advantage in elections. Period.
Agreed. Andrew Sullivan did a good piece on this a few months ago:
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/10/the-issue-that-could-lose-the-next-election-for-democrats.html
I will say though that most Dems and many Republicans support a pathway to citizenship for dreamers. But Dems can’t run a shutdown on this to force the issue because the tide will turn. This is where Schummer is smart because he forced McConnell to say that he’ll bring up the vote. If the DACA expires without a resolution, then there will be huge outcry from both sides of the political spectrum (including from business and military).
“I will say though that most Dems and many Republicans support a pathway to citizenship for dreamers.”
Dem and Repub politicians, yes, Dem and Repub citizens, hell no. There’s a BIG difference.
9 in 10 respondents want Dreamers to stay in the US:
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/369487-poll-nearly-nine-in-10-favor-allowing-daca-recipients-to-stay
Every poll I’ve seen show similar overwhelming majorities of both parties wanting Dreamers to stay in the country. What makes you think Dem and Republican citizens think otherwise?
‘9 in 10 respondents want Dreamers to stay in the US’
The other day it was 80%. And Screech is in the white house.
“9 in 10 respondents want Dreamers to stay in the US:”
You start believing those polls and pretty soon you too will be throwing ashtrays at glass ceilings.
We already had this discussion. The DACAs* can stay in the US… IF we end chain migration, end the diversity lottery, and make e-verify mandatory. Did your 90% poll ever ask about that?
—————-
*DACAs only. Never the dreamers. Stop trying to fool me. I’m dreaming about sneaking into your house and taking your valuables. Why don’t you just hand them over right now.
“We already had this discussion. The DACAs* can stay in the US… IF we end chain migration, end the diversity lottery, and make e-verify mandatory. Did your 90% poll ever ask about that?”
I would agree with all of this. I actually think there needs to be much heftier monetary penalties applied to employers who are hiring undocumented workers. It’s a supply vs. demand issue. The supply of cheap labor is high, but if you raise the cost with prohibitive monetary penalties, then the demand will fall precipitously.
Reading the article at the above link led me to this:
Longmont immigration leaders hold differing views on GOP promise for DACA vote following shutdown
“Alex Ortega, a 20-year-old Longmont resident who immigrated to the city from Mexico in 2014, was one of four Longmont men disappointed by Monday’s vote. The quartet flew to Washington last week and pushed lawmakers to threaten a government shutdown unless protections for childhood arrival immigrants along with a pathway to citizenship were guaranteed.
Ortega, who watched the Senate vote inside the Capitol, blamed Democrats for what he felt like was another move to place immigration reform on the back burner in Congress.
“For me, it was a feeling of the Senate failing us,” Ortega said.”
You must be joking with this nonsense. Guy comes here a few years ago, isn’t even eligible under DACA, and thinks he has a right to go around protesting and demanding things. Who the hell do some of these people think they are?
Who the hell do some of these people think they are?
+infinity. If I were in some other country illegally, the LAST thing I would do would be to draw attention to myself by going to their legislature and making demands, much less let some reporter quote me in their mainstream press!!
Must See! Cringworthy Outtakes From The Women’s March In LA
Starts at 1:07
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZWlawCHDmU
After the ad for prepper food paste? LoL
All the accouterments except for Lyin’ Liz Warren. Pocahontas Warren please comment.
Stocks of companies that sell eye bleach rose the most today - no coincidence!
MAAAAAGGGGGAAAA!
These people look a lot more sane from 500 feet above on The CBS Evening News.
file for bankruptcy !
You watching Hannity tonight?
Hehehehe
People all over the world
join in (get on board)
On the TRUMP Train, TRUMP Train
People all over the world
join in (get on board)
On the TRUMP Train, TRUMP Train
The next stop that we make will be Cleveland
tell all the folks in Russia and China too
Don’t you know that it’s time to get on board,
and let this TRUMP train keep on ridin’, ridin’ on through.Well… Well..
People all over the world
join in (get on board)
On the TRUMP Train, TRUMP Train
People all over the world
join in (get on board)
On the TRUMP Train, TRUMP Train
All you sisters and brothers here in America
when Donalds he means and he’s REAL too
he’s bringin’ back jobs to this Nation
if you’ve been missing feeling proudly, I’m talkin talkin to you. Well… Well..
People all over the world
join in (get on board)
On the TRUMP Train, TRUMP Train
People all over the world
join in (get on board)
On the TRUMP Train, TRUMP Train
Make America, great again (lets make it great again)
America (we can do it), Great again… Well Well..
People all over the world
join in (get on board)
On the TRUMP Train, TRUMP Train
People all over the world
join in (get on board)
On the TRUMP Train, TRUMP Train
There Is Nothing Virtual About Bitcoin’s Energy Appetite
Nathaniel Popper
Jan 21, 2018
The New York Times
In the virtual currency world this creation process is called “mining.” There is no physical digging, since Bitcoins are purely digital. But the computer power needed to create each digital token consumes at least as much electricity as the average American household burns through in two years, according to figures from Morgan Stanley and Alex de Vries, an economist who tracks energy use in the industry.
The total network of computers plugged into the Bitcoin network consumes as much energy each day as some medium-size countries — which country depends on whose estimates you believe. And the network supporting Ethereum, the second-most valuable virtual currency, gobbles up another country’s worth of electricity each day.
The creator of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, is leading an experiment with a more energy-efficient way to create tokens, in part because of his concern about the impact that the network’s electricity use could have on global warming.
“I would personally feel very unhappy if my main contribution to the world was adding Cyprus’s worth of electricity consumption to global warming,” Mr. Buterin said in an interview.
But the concerns about electricity use have still hit home with many in the industry. The virtual currencies known as Ripple and Stellar, which were created after Bitcoin, were designed not to require electrically demanding mining.
Perhaps the biggest change could come from the new mining process proposed by Mr. Buterin for Ethereum, a process that some smaller currencies are already using. Known as “proof of stake,” it distributes new coins to people who are able to prove their ownership of existing coins — their stake in the system. The current method, which relies so heavily on computational power, is called “proof of work.” Under that method, the accounts and people who get new coins don’t need existing tokens. They just need lots of computers to take part in the computational race.
Matt Levine of Bloomberg had an interesting insight in that he likened BitCoins to a synthetic battery:
Speaking of dirty bitcoin mining, I got an email from a reader named Nic Carter who is annoyed by claims that the power consumption for bitcoin mining — much of which is done in China — is particularly polluting. He notes that much mining in Sichuan is done with excess hydroelectric capacity, and argues that bitcoin is actually a subsidy to renewable energy. “The problem” with most renewable energy sources, he notes, “is storing that energy (at night, or on non-windy days), which generally makes them less economical”:
And:
I am not sure I completely buy this — you can’t really burn a bitcoin for energy, and “cheaper energy generation” doesn’t always mean cleaner energy generation — but I like the general drift of it. Bitcoin is a way to convert electricity into value, any time, anywhere, which could serve the function of a sort of synthetic financial battery.
I suppose those who say that BitCoin isn’t backed by anything have it wrong. It is backed by massive electricity usage.
Bitcoin is a way to convert electricity into value
electricity is metered and already has value.
those who say that BitCoin isn’t backed by anything have it wrong. It is backed by massive electricity usage.
what is used electricity worth?
bitcoin isn’t backed by anything. you should consider what ‘backing’ really means.
“It is backed by massive electricity usage.”
In a more rationale world, prohibitively high energy costs would have precluded Bitcoin’s existence. I wonder what borrowed source of money pays for all of that electricity consumption?
“It is backed by massive electricity usage…”
That’s about like something being backed by the beer you drank yesterday.
there went my dang keyboard.
Sounds like an intriguing currency…Is BeerCoin already taken?
it’s an intriguing currency, but it’s a bit messy.
BeerBux, anyone?
My understanding is that massive amounts of electricity are needed for each transaction…that seems like a problem.
yep, a few days ago i posted an article that claimed one bitcoin transaction used about an average month’s worth of electricity for a household.
I suppose those who say that BitCoin isn’t backed by anything have it wrong. It is backed by massive electricity usage.
But the electricity is a sunk cost. I get what he was saying, but it’s not backed by anything but faith. Thinking it’s backed by the sunk cost is just a bad assumption that everyone will always continue to want bitcoin and try to mine more.
very well said, but with one minor quibble. ‘faith’ isn’t backing either.
a currency is only backed when one can bring in a worthless unit of it, and get something of value for it. something that was promised by the issuer.
“I suppose those who say that BitCoin isn’t backed by anything have it wrong. It is backed by massive electricity usage.”
At best, it is worth the price of the electricity and labor it took to create it. That’s a far cry from $11,000 per. Probably less than $1,000.
“…labor it took to create it.”
If an imaginary unit of a fictitious currency is intrinsically worthless, why would anyone care about how many hours of college dormitory labor or kilowatt hours of electricity were wasted in pretend mining operations when deciding whether to purchase some?
For what it’s worth, two years of my water bill, electric bill, and natural gas bill combined is about $3000 (about $600 is water). For a family in the same house it’s probably $5000. (about So a bitcoin needs to stay above $5000 consistently in order to retain its worth in electricity.
I’m not talking intrinsic value, I’m only talking about the actual cost of creation.
At best, it is worth the price of the electricity and labor it took to create it.
At worst it’s worth nothing…minus the costs of electricity and labor used to create it.
what is used electricity worth? bitcoin isn’t backed by anything. you should consider what ‘backing’ really means.
I’m no fan of BitCoin. Let’s just get that out there. I think it is a total bubble and will end badly for many people, but maybe not for some hedge fund traders who make oodles on the volatility. I think you misunderstood my point.
I was linking to those who think BitCoin could work as a synthetic financial battery because it makes a link between energy generation and currency generation. It’s kind of an interesting idea, even if BitCoin is Looney Tunes. What do you do if you have excess electricity? Well, a lot of it is just wasted. Well, the best thing you could do is to store it up in a battery or do pumped hydro-electric storage. But we are getting to a point where there is too much electricity from solar farms in CA:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-17/fossil-fuels-are-facing-a-1-4-billion-solar-problem-in-texas
Coal and nuclear are not going to be cost effective versus renewables long-term based on current trajectory of comparative costs. If BitCoin price stays relatively high, and renewables continue to become increasingly economic (renewables will be cheaper everywhere in just a few years, without any subsidies), then generating electricity via renewables is akin to printing money.
If BitCoin price stays relatively high, and renewables continue to become increasingly economic (renewables will be cheaper everywhere in just a few years, without any subsidies), then generating electricity via renewables is akin to printing money.
no it isn’t. try to convince a bitcoin miner of this convoluted thinking. if they need more power to mine more coins, it’s more efficient to just buy more panels or metered electricity. in any case, bitcoin isn’t backed by electricity or anything else.
no one cares how much a FB paid for their house. no one cares how much labor went into building a car. and no one cares how much electricity went into a bitcoin. all they care about is how much it will cost them to buy it.
Something that you throw money into and someone else takes it away is not a battery.
Something that consumes energy and then doesn’t have any energy stored is not a battery.
Systems with negative ER/EI are not”‘Renewable”.
The beginning of understanding is calling things by their right name.
if they need more power to mine more coins,
Solar farms have excess power at certain times. Right now they can sell it back to the grid or to other states (like CA is doing to TX at times). If it is economical to do so, then they will. However, it may be more economical to use that electricity to mine BitCoins (or sell that power to BitCoin “miners”) IF BitCoin is at a high enough price. Not saying that any of this will happen, but it’s an intriguing idea. If (when) BitCoin’s price crashes, then obviously this will become uneconomical.
In the meantime, don’t let all that sun energy go to waste! Might as well turn it into BitCoin and sell that BitCoin to a greater fool!
“all they care about is how much it will cost them to buy it.”
I’d like to sell you my rusty, broken down 1974 Chevrolet Impala for the very attractive price of $500. I am happy that you only care about the purchase cost, and the usefulness of the car doesn’t matter to you.
they have to want it for some reason before they’ll buy it.
If BitCoin price stays relatively high
That’s the big “if”. The whole premise requires people to want it for reasons completely independent of how much electricity got used. But yeah…IF it’s always valuable then it’s a way to store the “value” of wasted generation capacity. But that’s a pretty wacky way to look at it and kind of crazy to compare to actual energy storage.
I’d like to sell you my rusty, broken down 1974 Chevrolet Impala for the very attractive price of $500. I am happy that you only care about the purchase cost, and the usefulness of the car doesn’t matter to you.
Thanks for the offer, but I’ll pass. I like my eBike too much. I haven’t purchased any BitCoin either, nor do I have plans to in the future. But someone is purchasing them.
I used to work at a company (which I will not name) and it made a product that I thought was ludicrous and was absurdly priced. I couldn’t understand who in their right mind would buy it. But someone did. There is currently a market for BitCoin. Whether it is a speculative bubble or not remains to be seen. I think it is and will blow up in amazing fashion. But the fact remains that right now if you had a BitCoin, you could sell it for an insane amount of money.
A lot of the net metering rules for solar buy back result in your surplus solar power being essentially given back to the grid for below market rates. The reason Germany is so far ahead in the solar power game is because their government has implemented a scheme whereby net producers of solar can sell back excess at a subsidized price. This has created an incentive to push the adoption of a green grid faster than the US. There are plenty of early adopters of solar who will recoup their initial investment over time that also happen to have too much power. What is interesting is the financial battery aspect of being able to monetize their excess power instead of selling it back to the grid or banking it in a battery.
If Amazon gets into the digital currency space, it’ll take off like a bat outta hell, drop and then stabilize to where it becomes broadly viable as a method of payment. Just sayin’.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-22/could-amazon-be-gearing-cryptocurrency-exchanges
I know there’s a lot of sour grapes here on the blog over cryptos and Bitcoin in particular. I understand. It would be nice to see SOMETHING crater because lord knows, the stock market and derivatives and all that stuff that should, sure isn’t.
“…they have to want it for some reason before they’ll buy it.”
And that reason is the simple belief that they will later be able to sell it for a higher price and pocket a capital gain in the fiat currency of their choice.
Once the belief that some greater fool will always be waiting to pay a higher price than you paid is gone, the price can easily retrace all the way to $0, just as Beanie Babies did in the early 2000s. There’s no fundamental value to a Bitcoin. It’s The Emperor’s New Currency.
I’d like to sell you my rusty, broken down 1974 Chevrolet Impala for the very attractive price of $500.
sorry, your price is way too high.
CryptoNick… and housing did the same in 2009. But housing won’t go to zero, because you have to live somewhere. You don’t have to carry around a bitcoin.
I don’t believe that Amazon will adopt bitcoin. It’s too volatile. Imagine Amazon trying to price items based on something that doubles and halves on a weekly basis. Suppliers to Amazon could never stay in business that way.
Donk….. Housing doesn’t just go to zero. Housing goes negative as millions of home-debtors have experienced and will continue to.
I could see Amazon implementing their own digital currency, same with Facebook. Facebook announced a couple of weeks ago that they were looking into cryptocurrency:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/05/mark-zuckerberg-says-facebook-will-look-into-cryptocurrency.html
My bet is that they would start their own on whatever they deem to be the best technology protocol.
Housing certainly went negative for millions, thanks to the miracle of leverage, compounded by subprime lending.
With or without subprime, housing goes negative.
“BitCoin is backed by massive electricity usage.”
Correct. Being in Mongolia underground helped.
I need to add that being in Mongolia no one asked about its energy needs. That’s its Achilles heel now. Tesla cars and Bitcoin, both, think technology will eventually fix their energy sink.
A NEW GENERATION
The secret lives of students who mine cryptocurrency in their dorm rooms
Karen Hao
January 06, 2018
“Essentially a 2,000-watt heater.” (rebcenter-moscow/Pixabay)
Mark was a sophomore at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when he began mining cryptocurrencies more or less by accident.
In November 2016, he stumbled on NiceHash, an online marketplace for individuals to mine cryptocurrency for willing buyers. His desktop computer, boosted with a graphics card, was enough to get started. Thinking he might make some money, Mark, who asked not to use his last name, downloaded the platform’s mining software and began mining for random buyers in exchange for payments in bitcoin. Within a few weeks, he had earned back the $120 cost of his graphics card, as well as enough to buy another for $200.
https://qz.com/1160667/the-secret-lives-of-students-who-mine-cryptocurrency-in-their-dorm-rooms/
“…more or less by accident.”
Less.
There’s a story here about the reporters who think kids who take diff equations and physics in the 10th and 11th grade “stumble” onto things later. You think the Westinghouse Science Fairs were won by lucky guessing ?
When you take math at MIT you KNOW the math already. You merely enroll to see how someone else approaches it.
They have the MIT lectures on Vectors on YouTube. Listen to their questions and read the comments below.
I was asked a simple question about bitcoin and other limited supply electronic tokens: “What is it good for?”
Longmont-based man charged by feds in Bitcoin Ponzi scheme
Dillon Dean misappropriated $1.1M in funds, CFTC alleges
http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-business/ci_31611744/longmont-based-man-charged-by-feds-bitcoin-ponzi
Take a look at this goobers photo.
looks like he graduated from ridgemont high.
He fit’s right in with the hiphugger Obama crowd. And a fraud just like a good Obama goon.
https://youtu.be/M6nA8nLpNLs
Booger from Revenge of the Nerds
Nice :-). A friend of mine had a theory that the world would be a better place if Booger was in every movie.
Housing my friend.
Milpitas, CA Housing Prices Crater 6% YOY
https://www.movoto.com/milpitas-ca/market-trends/
It’s not housing, it’s hosing.
Milpitas was cheap housing for the Ford and GM auto assembly plant workers back in the sixties when the California Dream was alive.
I like Milpitas even with the occasional landfill smell. And it still has some of that blue collar feel…except for the through-traffic twice a day and the insane house prices.
The Withering California Dream, by the Numbers
https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2017/11/06/the-withering-california-dream-by-the-numbers/
Median $/Sqft today $632 and last year $539… cratering!…
Your analysis never makes any sense, and believe me I wish it would crater, I’ve got a pile of cash I’d like to use to upgrade school districts in the Bay Area, and 100% believe we are well due for a correction.
DebtDonkey
East Sacramento, CA Housing Prices Crater 5% YOY As Housing Correction Expands Statewide
https://www.zillow.com/east-sacramento-sacramento-ca/home-values/
Central Point, OR Housing Prices Crater 22% YOY On Plummeting Housing Demand
https://www.movoto.com/central-point-or/market-trends/
cRoWMAn
Obama ran a mean shutdown
Senior Citizens on a Tour of Yellowstone National Park Reportedly Met With ‘Gestapo Tactics’
Oct 8, 2013 4:30 pm
A group of senior citizens exiting a national park as the federal government shutdown were treated harshly by armed park personnel and prevented from using the restrooms during the over two-hour ride out of the park, according to a local newspaper.
The Newbury Port News said the elderly tourists were “treated [so] harshly by armed park employees” in Yellowstone National Park that “some of the tourists with limited English skills thought they were under arrest.”
The tour guide, who had reportedly paid a $300 fee to bring the group into the park, was allegedly told by the ranger the group couldn’t “recreate” in the park, since it was closed.
When Hodgson denied they were “recreating,” the ranger allegedly responded and said in an aggressive tone, “Sir, you are recreating.”
Vaillancourt described one encounter her group had with park police on their way out, saying the bus had stopped to allow to photograph some passing bison when they were ordered to get back inside their vehicle.
“They looked like Hulk Hogans, armed. They told us you can’t go outside,” Vaillancourt said, according to the paper. “Some of the Asians who were on the tour said, ‘Oh my God, are we under arrest?’ They felt like they were criminals.”
http://www.theblaze.com/news/2013/10/08/imagine-being-caught-on-a-tour-of-a-national-park-during-the-govt-shutdown-and-not-being-allowed-to-stop-and-use-the-bathroom-gestapo-tactics/
One of the many reasons I would never expect to see Wyoming vote D in the presidential election is because of how the National Park Service (feds from Washington) interact with the locals compared to the forest service and game & fish, which is usually local types who live nearby. The interests of Washington DC and the locals always seem to be at odds. The Rs reap the benefits of the Ds being seen as the party of DC. Nobody but NPS would have acted that way in that situation IMO.
I got a tongue lashing from an NPS gate person for going off the road OUTSIDE THE PARK GATE of Yellowstone to turn a snowmobile around. Apparently the actual border is a little before you reach the gate. Locals are far more polite even when they have to deliver the same message, simply because everyone tends to be heavily armed in addition to it just being the right thing to do. Total culture clash.
The NPS is a joke.
If my name were Hoda I’d get a legal name change.
Kotb?
If I were her I’d get a new face.
Bethesda, MD Housing Prices Dive 14% YOY As Housing Demand Craters To 20 Year Low
https://www.movoto.com/bethesda-md/market-trends/
BTFD, HODLERS
Bitcoin Slides More Than 10 Percent to Near $10,000 Level
Stan Higgins
Jan 22, 2018 at 22:00 UTC
The price of bitcoin is down more than 10% today, according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index (BPI).
At press time, the cryptocurrency’s price is trading around $10,237.28, a decline of roughly 10.92% from the day’s open of $11,522.86. As it stands, the current value is near the daily low of $10,050.79, and as of time of writing the price of bitcoin is down more than $1,200 for the day.
As seen in the graph, the price held above $11,000 until roughly 13:15 UTC, after which the price dropped below that level.
Don’t Try To Catch The Bitcoin Knife
Jan. 22, 2018 5:07 PM • coin
Summary
- Bitcoin has been on a roller coaster ride the past two months.
- A lot of people seem to be trying to get in at the “bottom” of the most recent “crash”
- The fundamentals are as untenable as they were a couple months back. Don’t try to catch a falling knife.
Another weekend, another MASSIVE collapse in the Bitcoin Bubble…
Bitcoin Price Tanks Over The Weekend
By Rakesh Sharma | January 22, 2018 — 10:45 AM EST
Bitcoin had a bad weekend.
The cryptocurrency broke the $12,000 barrier on Saturday morning but fell soon after. At 13:57 UTC, bitcoin was trading at $10,532.75, down 8.59% from its price 24 hours ago. It was also a drop of 17.33% from its high of $12,740.81 on Saturday morning.
Other cryptocurrencies followed bitcoin’s lead. Among the top 10 most traded cryptocurrencies, Ripple was the biggest loser as of this writing. It was trading at $1.21, a decline of 17% from its price a day ago.
EOS, a smart contract platform that uses ethereum’s blockchain, was the lone outlier after bitcoin’s fall led to a corresponding decline for other cryptocurrencies. It pushed past the $14.08 mark yesterday. As of this writing, it is trading at $13.05 and is still up by 55% this year.
The overall market capitalization of cryptocurrency markets was $521.3 billion, down from a high of $579 billion earlier this morning.
…
Unfair!
Business
South Korea to start real-name trading of crypto currency
Originally published January 22, 2018 at 8:02 pm Updated January 22, 2018 at 9:09 pm
By YOUKYUNG LEE
The Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea plans to require local banks to launch a real-name system for crypto currency trading that will make the up-to-now anonymous transactions be traceable as the country seeks to curb speculation and criminal activities.
Financial Services Commission Vice Chair Kim Yong-beom said at a press briefing Tuesday that the new measures, to take effect next week, will prevent foreigners residing outside South Korea who do not have local bank accounts and minors younger than 19 from buying or selling bitcoins and other digital currencies. Once the new system is in place, existing accounts used for crypto trading up to now can no longer be used, he said.
The moves follow warnings by South Korean authorities that they would ban anonymous trading in crypto currencies and crack down on speculative trading and possible crimes. Authorities are seeking to prevent use of crypto currency trading to engage in money laundering, tax evasion and other criminal activities.
The new requirements are meant to ensure that a crypto currency investor’s money comes from a bank account owned by the same individual. Banks will be able to refuse to open accounts with crypto currency exchanges that do not disclose information about suspicious trading. They were told to closely monitor crypto trading that exceeds 10 million won ($9,338) a day or 20 million won ($18,676) per week and also accounts owned by corporations or groups and report any suspicious activity to the authorities.
“We expect that crypto currency exchanges that are in danger of being exploited for money laundering will be thrown out of the market,” Kim told reporters.
He said the government does not intend to encourage or stimulate crypto trading.
South Korea is home to some of the world’s largest crypto currency exchanges and a craze for bitcoin and other crypto currencies has swept the country.
PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!
UBS chairman warns against bitcoin investment as cryptocurrency falls 12%
Axel Weber says cryptocurrency ‘not an investment we would advise’ while South Korea bans anonymous trading
Samuel Gibbs
Tue 23 Jan 2018 08.22 EST
First published on Tue 23 Jan 2018 07.38 EST
Bitcoin has fallen 12% over 24 hours while the chairman of UBS warned against investing in it and South Korea continued to crack down on cryptocurrencies by banning anonymous trading.
…
Lol.
https://youtu.be/ob6L0yPP0TE
I like the dude with the antler spin from 0:10 - 0:15
Tucker: My Response To Joy Reid
Tea Partier
Published on Jan 23, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9S4_N4UUIU
These forking Bitforkers are diluting the value of the mother crypto currency.
Bitcoin May Split 50 Times in 2018 as Forking Craze Accelerates
By Olga Kharif
January 23, 2018, 2:00 AM PST
- Bitcoin forks are often easier than initial coin offerings
- ‘I feel like bitcoin forks are kind of the new alt coin’
Bitcoin God arrived last month. Bitcoin Pizza was delivered in January. Bitcoin Private’s issuance date is… still a secret.
They’re just a few of the growing stable of so-called forks — a type of spinoff in which developers clone Bitcoin’s software, release it with a new name, a new coin and possibly a few new features. Often, the idea is to capitalize on the public’s familiarity with Bitcoin to make some serious money, at least virtually.
Some 19 Bitcoin forks came out last year — but up to 50 more could happen this year, according to Lex Sokolin, global director of fintech strategy at Autonomous Research. Ultimately, the number could run even higher now that Forkgen, a site enabling anyone with rudimentary programming skills to launch a clone, is in operation. In a Jan. 14 tweet, hedge fund manager Ari Paul predicted more than 10 percent of the current value of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash will reside in new offshoots.
Motives behind the efforts vary. Some backers try to improve on Bitcoin. Others seek a quick profit. Developers typically score a cache of newly minted coins in a process called post-mining. Yet prices don’t necessarily hold up for long.
“Unfortunately, most fork-based projects we see today are more of a sheer money grab,” said George Kimionis, chief executive officer of Coinomi, a wallet that lets Bitcoin owners collect their new forked coins. “Looking back a few years from now we might realize that they were just mutations fostered by investors blinded by numerical price increases — rather than honest attempts to contribute to the blockchain ecosystem.”
He predicts forking may soon sideline a more popular alternative, initial coin offerings, in which startups raise money by selling entirely new tokens. That market has gotten crowded after raising about $3.7 billion last year, and smaller offerings have struggled.
A fork’s main advantage lies in sprouting from Bitcoin, the world’s most famous cryptocurrency. In a typical fork, all existing Bitcoin owners are eligible for the forked-off coin — giving the new asset a potentially huge number of users. Most coins arrive with at least some name recognition, because they bake “Bitcoin” into their moniker. Take for example, Bitcoin Diamond, with a price that started off strong. It didn’t last forever.
they have succeeded in getting people to constantly talk about bitcoin. once people think they r missing out on easy money they start to wonder if they should dip their toes. best marketing plan ever!