President-elect Trump launched his own cryptocurrency overnight and swiftly appeared to make more than $25 billion on paper for himself and his companies.

Why it matters: The stunning launch of $TRUMP caught the entire industry off-guard, and speaks to both his personal influence and the ascendancy of cryptocurrency in his administration.

  • It also speaks to the nature of the crypto industry that someone could have $25 billion worth of something that literally did not exist 24 hours previously.
  • Snot Flickerman
    link
    fedilink
    English
    66
    edit-2
    14 hours ago

    If you previously weren’t convinced crypto is a scammers paradise, this should convince you.

    EDIT: removed not nice comment.

    • @Psythik
      link
      -1812 hours ago

      Meme coins are a scam, yes. Coins with ETFs are legit. Buy BTC and stake ETH; ignore the rest.

      • Snot Flickerman
        link
        fedilink
        English
        20
        edit-2
        12 hours ago

        We literally have (what I think is) a scam instance with a bunch of accounts made in the same day that’s been online in the fedi for about 20 days now @realbitcoin.cash. Why is there a fedi instance seemingly making fake accounts to pump bitcoincash? Doesn’t Bitcoincash have an ETF?

        Why were all the accounts made on the same day if this is organic and not an admin making a bunch of accounts?

        Sorry man, this kind of stuff doesn’t pass my personal sniff test (you do you), and the fact that it’s already here doesn’t make me go “gosh this isn’t a scam at all.”

    • FaceDeer
      link
      fedilink
      -3914 hours ago

      Trump previously sold Trump-branded steak. Is steak a “scammer’s paradise”?

      • @bahbah23
        link
        3814 hours ago

        Steak has a legitimate use.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          28 hours ago

          Yeah, for cooking into shoe leather and slathering in catsup before spending the next few hours on the shitter tweeting nonsense words until you manage a single bunny style bowel movement.

        • FaceDeer
          link
          fedilink
          -3314 hours ago

          So do cryptocurrencies. Maybe not for you, personally, but other people have legitimate uses for them.

          • skulblaka
            link
            fedilink
            3514 hours ago

            Such as grifting idiots with promises of fortune and glory.

            • FaceDeer
              link
              fedilink
              -812 hours ago

              You think that’s a legitimate use? That’s exactly what Trump is using it for here.

          • @amzd
            link
            813 hours ago

            Name one (1) legitimate use case that is not better served in another way

            • Gregor
              link
              fedilink
              112 hours ago

              Private online (or maybe even offline) payments with Monero. And even if it’s not monero, you don’t have to deal with the BS of banks, such as the transactions taking days to complete. And nothing is tied to your real identity, making you entirely anonymous.

              • @amzd
                link
                02 hours ago

                Anonymous online payment is cool and all right up until you fill out your address so they can bring whatever you paid for to your house.

                • Gregor
                  link
                  fedilink
                  15 minutes ago

                  That’s fair, but I was talking about online payments for digital goods, such as VPSes, vpns, donations, etc.

                  Also, let’s say irl stores adopted cryptocurrency as a payment method. Your bank wouldn’t know what you’re buying and therefore wouldn’t be able to sell that information.

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                16 hours ago

                The reason that bank transactions take days to finalize is because of regulatory compliance. The actual money can be moved in seconds.

                I don’t know if you can reasonably cite “bypassing regulatory compliance” as a “legitimate” use case for something.

            • FaceDeer
              link
              fedilink
              -212 hours ago

              You’re going to use that “is not better served in another way” clause to wiggle out of anything I might suggest, but okay.

              The Ethereum Name System is a permissionless and fully decentralized version of the Domain Name System. Lacking central servers and control means it can’t suffer outages like DNS does.

              • @amzd
                link
                12 hours ago

                a permissionless and fully decentralized version of the Domain Name System. Lacking central servers and control means it can’t suffer outages like DNS does.

                Oh nice no more regular outages like checks notes visa that one time 7 years ago for 40 minutes

              • Snot Flickerman
                link
                fedilink
                English
                1
                edit-2
                10 hours ago

                Sounds like an overly complicated and resource intensive way to have failover servers to me, and I’m usually pro-decentralization.

                I don’t experience DNS interruptions when I’m running multiple failovers.

                  • JackbyDev
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    123 minutes ago

                    I’m relatively open to crypto, but ens is like one of the goofiest examples to pick in my opinion. I also believe they’re going to use that “better” clause to wiggle out of anything, but I also believe the example you used it very weak.

                  • @[email protected]
                    link
                    fedilink
                    3
                    edit-2
                    6 hours ago

                    You’re going to use that “You’re going to use that “is not better served in another way” clause to wiggle out of anything I might suggest, but okay.” clause to wiggle out of anything they might suggest, but okay.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              -1013 hours ago

              Bitcoin is the most secure banking method.

              Though blockchain tech produces new problems that ultimately make it useless outside of a store of value.

            • @Duamerthrax
              link
              15 hours ago

              I don’t know what you said, but I support it.

            • FaceDeer
              link
              fedilink
              -612 hours ago

              The legitimate uae of crypto currencies is to untraceably send money to criminals.

              Only if you pre-define all possible recipients of untraceable money to be criminals.

              How about donating to Tibetan or Uyghur activists in China? Womens’ rights activists in Saudi Arabia? LGBTQ+ organizations in Russia? What about Cannabis dispensaries in American states where Cannabis is legal but the Federal government is still trying to prosecute them? Or sending money back to your family in Venezuela?

              Sorry you’re too obsessed with drinking his cum to see that.

              This is a great example of the ridiculous polarization that current American politics are suffering from. I loathe Trump. He’s the worst president America has ever had, and it’s utterly baffling that he got reelected. But since he used cryptocurrency for something and I’m not anti-crypto, boom, I’m assumed to be an extreme Trump supporter.

              Also, rule 1 of this community: be civil.

              • @SoftTeeth
                link
                1
                edit-2
                12 hours ago

                Why do you need to use crypto to pay legitimate workers under the table?

                Sounds like you have predefined crypto as useful when it’s actually not any more useful then valid currency

                Also what would you prefer i say to shame you for having an crush on a con man? You want to suck him, you can lie to us, but don’t lie to yourself

                • FaceDeer
                  link
                  fedilink
                  212 hours ago

                  Why do you need to use crypto to pay legitimate workers under the table?

                  I literally just listed a variety of situations where you’d need to do that.

                  • @SoftTeeth
                    link
                    2
                    edit-2
                    8 hours ago

                    And not a single one of them would be made easier with a curency you then have to find a sucker to pay you real currency for.

                    you have predefined crypto as useful when it’s actually not any more useful then valid currency

      • @Snapz
        link
        310 hours ago

        Removed by mod

        • @[email protected]OP
          link
          fedilink
          714 hours ago

          It’s more that your argument is logically flawed and the person responding is pointing that out.

          For what it’s worth I do think crypto is scammer’s paradise, but your original comment does not provide any real justification for that except a single example. Nor is saying “jump of a bridge” really polite.

          • Snot Flickerman
            link
            fedilink
            English
            14
            edit-2
            14 hours ago

            It didn’t exist 24 hours ago and is now valued at $24 billion and doesn’t actually do anything except “hold value.” You can’t live inside of it like a house, you can’t eat it, you can’t drink it. Why is it worth $24 billion other than “it’s a scam?”

            I don’t really need a serious fucking argument because that alone should be enough.

            Also, Carter had to sell his fucking peanut farm, but this is fine, I guess. Nothing to see here, move along. I just need better arguments, it’s not that this is open and shut corruption out in the open.

            • FaceDeer
              link
              fedilink
              -714 hours ago

              You’ve lost track of what’s being talked about. I was talking about steak.

              I’m not saying Trump’s cryptocurrency isn’t a scam. It almost certainly is a scam. But you generalized from that to saying that “crypto is a scammer’s paradise” and then told people who didn’t agree with you to kill themselves. That’s where your logic is flawed (and also where it’s certainly a violation of this community’s “be civil” rule).

              The fact that Trump has released a scam cryptocurrency doesn’t mean that all crypto is a scam, in the same way that Trump releasing an awful Trump-branded steak doesn’t make all steaks into some kind of weird grift.

              • Snot Flickerman
                link
                fedilink
                English
                3
                edit-2
                14 hours ago

                Yeah, because you can still eat a steak dude. Even if it’s a shitty low-quality one.

                • FaceDeer
                  link
                  fedilink
                  -212 hours ago

                  I wasn’t aware of the “can I eat it?” Method of determining whether something is a scam or not.

                  • @AbidanYre
                    link
                    English
                    211 hours ago

                    “can eat it” is specific to the steak and why your comparison was flawed.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        413 hours ago

        sharper image + trump = double the scam at 5x the price. didn’t even pair it with diaperking’s favorite ketchup