Posts by davidgerard@circumstances.run
(DIR) Post #ARPvC0ieysRivSJyZE by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-07T17:46:17Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
@mitchw as I just noted, they're not in any way "fundamental" to the Mastodon experience. mastodon.social is not the fediverse.
(DIR) Post #ARPvnn6O3f07hFQzhY by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-08T00:29:18Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
i would try to stop merely sneering and *do* something about the rationalists and the neoreactionaries and the effective altruists, but last time I did it destroyed Twitter https://reddragdiva.tumblr.com/post/702211275318575104/also-its-my-fault-elon-musk-bought-twitter
(DIR) Post #ARQm85pxJ4svD5kbnE by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-08T10:47:12Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@hakan_geijer Adam Smith But Anarchist Instead Of A LibDem
(DIR) Post #ARXmY0V97wNcIW5rVI by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-06T21:41:57Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@TudbuT i actually went through the git question: https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2018/02/10/do-you-need-a-blockchain-probably-less-than-wust-and-gervais-think-you-do/
(DIR) Post #ARaUoL6jvtTA2hF4Wu by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-13T00:14:11Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Hm, there's a huge conflict between the Gemini crypto exchange and the Genesis crypto investment firm over the Gemini Earn product, and what happened to the money.Fortunately, the SEC has stepped in: they're suing both of them!Press release: https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-7Docket: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/66718824/securities-and-exchange-commission-v-gemini-trust-company-llc/Here's the complaint (PDF): https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.592343/gov.uscourts.nysd.592343.1.0.pdfThe charge is that the Gemini Earn program was an unregistered investment opportunity - an offering of securities. This is because it was really obviously an unregistered offering of securities.Genesis had hitherto only dealt with accredited and institutional investors, which is fine. Gemini Earn gave Genesis access to money from retail - which is not, without a large amount of paperwork."Both Defendants were integral to the operation and success of the Gemini Earn program."Retail customers suffered hugely, as Gemini terminated withdrawals without warning in November - after 3AC collapsed in July, then FTX collapsed in November. The SEC has actual harm it can point at.Gemini terminated the program as of Sunday. But both companies are still in the crypto business, so the SEC wants to enjoin them from starting it again.The SEC asks that the defendants:1. Do not offer unregistered securities ever again.2. Disgorge all gains from this programme, with interest.3. Pay civil penalties.4. Whatever else the court decides.There is no settlement as yet. The SEC is getting active here.For background, see our post from ... eight hours ago https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2023/01/12/crypto-collapse-dcgs-check-kiting-comes-home-to-roost-nexo-raided-voyager-sale-to-binance-progresses-unbanking-the-banked/and in conclusion: LOLEDIT: here's Gary Gensler, chair of the SEC, explaining in very small words why the SEC is suing: https://mobile.twitter.com/GaryGensler/status/1613658338629230611
(DIR) Post #ARaUoMd2HItgl9MNVY by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-13T01:00:06Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Tyler Winklevoss of Gemini has responded to the SEC suit against Gemini Earn!> It’s disappointing that the @SECGov chose to file an action today as @Gemini and other creditors are working hard together to recover funds. This action does nothing to further our efforts and help Earn users get their assets back. Their behavior is totally counterproductive.https://twitter.com/tyler/status/1613674686646484992fortunately, there's a remedy: the suit demands you give everyone's money back out of your own pockets.which you are quite capable of doing, because you still have a mountain of bitcoins.also perhaps don't break the law? i dunno, coulda helpedTyler further pleads that> the Earn program was regulated by the @NYDFS and we’ve been in discussions with the SEC about the Earn program for more than 17 months. that's great! were the SEC discussions "you really need to register this shit before we shut you down"?NYDFS doesn't authorise issuance of securities. though it can also bust you for ones that break NY law.
(DIR) Post #ARc9Rr4BEeztmMOz8y by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-13T22:21:36Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
Why is the bitcoin price heading for $20k?The answer to this question is always, always "shenanigans."It is never macroeconomic actions, regulatory announcements or the strength of the dollar. The bitcoin market is tiny and manipulated. So internal manipulations swamp all external indicators.there's a paper mapping out a mild version of this claim: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3649475The usual reason for pumps is bad news for major players, especially bad news for Tether. This week has been a flood of bad news - Genesis likely insolvent, DCG hit hard to cover them, Gemini and Genesis being sued by the SEC, and Nexo going down *hard*.The other reason is because someone is trying to wreck a long or a short. It frequently costs less to rig the price of bitcoin than you will win on a margin bet. This is when you get a chart with "Bart" formations on it: sudden price-moves up and down. https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2018/12/17/the-bart-sudden-hundreds-of-bitcoin-pumps-or-dumps-to-burn-the-margin-traders/The bitcoin price is whatever the large players need it to be. The market is very thin and trivially manipulable with the billions of pseudo-dollars in unbacked stablecoins on the unregulated offshore exchanges.The price needs to be high enough so the big boys' loans don't get liquidated; but it needs to be low enough so that the bagholders don't attempt to cash out.Look at this chart from yesterday morning. Note the two artificial price pumps starting the day.More generally: the narratives about wider market forces are part of the general delusion that well-behaved markets are natural. They are not. We've had nearly a century of a properly regulated US stock market, for example. It's not the wilderness, it's a garden.Bitcoin is utterly not the same sort of creature - it's a pile of manipulated trash, where the price discovery happens in unregulated offshore casinos who are under literally no rules except "don't spook the sucker".FTX was a good worked example. These exchanges mess with prices and front-run their own customers whenever they can get away with it. Binance has been caught doing this repeatedly.IN SUMMARY: there is still minimal organic interest in bitcoin. it's not the dollar, it's not interest rates, it's shenanigans.
(DIR) Post #AReGUmcRJbriqjgpNY by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-14T22:14:25Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
I ask all instance admins to up the character count from mainline Mastodon's default 500 - if for nothing else, then for the people posting threads.Twitter-style threads are somehow more annoying than on Twitter, because it's more glaringly a defect of a particular poster's server software rather than a universal constraint of the Fediverse. It's especially annoying when it's CW'ed and you have to open a warning ten times.*Mastodon works well at 5000, it really does. I can post "for sale, basic clues, never worn" or I can post basically a short casual blog post. It's great.If not the luxurious 5000 I'm afforded here, at least make it 2000. Please. Your users will be *delighted*.There's no single parameter to set this in Mastodon, which there should be. Here is a guide to editing three files instead: https://www.draklyckan.se/2021/11/how-to-increase-the-character-limit-for-toots-in-mastodon/* yes, I know where app settings is thanks
(DIR) Post #AReGUoPkdku8Pxlisa by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-14T22:36:30Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
already taken a moment to improve the feed of one dickhead who thought telling me my posting habits would *ruin* his feed was a productive use of his typingMastodon decorum reply guys are a breed apart
(DIR) Post #AReM4d2itbLpLUtaF6 by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-14T23:02:03Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@HaplogroupNews I figure making it more usable will lead to more use 🙂
(DIR) Post #AReM4e1hEu7kObQHHU by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-15T00:02:48Z
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@HaplogroupNews please outline how you envisage a character increase *stopping* people from threading if they want to.
(DIR) Post #ARhewITRy4ERq518Do by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-16T10:05:10Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
Just post. Don't worry about it.There's way too many content cops on Mastodon. I blame the marketing as the white suburbia of social media, and mastodon.social thinking it's the HOA for the Fediverse.tl;dr JUST POST
(DIR) Post #ARmaIKAcoUH5UThCDo by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-18T13:59:00Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
if your instance only allows 500-character posts, attach your post as an image with alt text. The description text allows up to 1500 characters by default.#666 in "working around website boy damage"
(DIR) Post #ARmaILJsXZGr3T26Hg by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-18T23:21:38Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@angry_drunk they were promised a *civil* social network, and they will shit and never stop shitting until they get their white suburban reactionary paradise. FediKarens.
(DIR) Post #ARsVRWnrsc7kSGNdRI by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-21T16:47:49Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Microsoft is checking everyone's bags for unsupported Office installshttps://www.theregister.com/2023/01/21/microsoft_office_count_update/remember that @libreoffice exists and is free
(DIR) Post #ARsmgj4EGPZM3TrjIe by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-21T23:07:58Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Crypto collapse: Genesis bankrupt, CoinDesk for sale, Bankman-Fried attacks FTX lawyersby Amy Castor and David Gerardhttps://amycastor.com/2023/01/21/crypto-collapse-genesis-bankrupt-coindesk-for-sale-bankman-fried-attacks-ftx-lawyers/In this episode: *Genesis is bankrupt. Gosh, couldn’t see that coming.* CoinDesk is for sale!* 3AC and CoinFLEX want to start an exchange for crypto bankruptcy claims. Both companies have a lot of experience with bankruptcy, it’s true.* FTX: mycrimes.blog.* Bitzlato turn out to have been pretty important to the crypto crime world.Amy also has her first piece in Foreign Policy! It’s about DCG and Genesis. https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/01/21/crypto-crash-genesis-bitcoin-regulation/
(DIR) Post #ARt49d05b5ferGISDQ by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-22T01:51:32Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
https://twitter.com/BoneJail/status/1616558828409229312
(DIR) Post #AS0XwTaZdRPwdSj5lI by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-25T17:00:37Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
this is dumb as hell from a supposedly "tech" publication, but utter blithering ahistoricality is to be expected I guess.X will mean the end of programming! All you need to do is define the problem
(DIR) Post #AS0YCt1gpMOKA4Ebiq by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-25T17:03:22Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@nfgusedautoparts yes, that pretty much that was said about COBOL
(DIR) Post #ASDS8E8woVVLXLVHBQ by davidgerard@circumstances.run
2023-01-31T13:53:13Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law 2.0: the Digital Assets Issuance Lawhttps://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2023/01/31/el-salvadors-bitcoin-law-2-0-the-digital-assets-issuance-law/Here’s the latest from El Salvador’s bitcoin adventure:* Tether’s enabling law for Bitcoin Volcano Bonds — sorry, Volcano Tokens — has been written and passed at long last.* El Salvador scraped together the $604 million to pay its January 2023 international bond — by starving public services, as sovereign debt markets expect.* President Bukele’s temporary suspension of the Constitution is in its tenth month.* Everything about crypto in El Salvador remains extremely stupid.Also, here's Mr. Bitcoin's much more beautiful daughter.