So, finally the Bitcoin ETFs have arrived. After months of rampant speculation, the SEC finally approved what bitcoiners have been waiting for. I find it amusing that Gary Gensler went out of his way to cover his own derriere at the same time as he’s approving the etfs. He’s making it super clear that when this all ends badly, the SEC is not to blame.

While we approved the listing and trading of certain spot bitcoin ETP shares today, we did not approve or endorse bitcoin. Investors should remain cautious about the myriad risks associated with bitcoin and products whose value is tied to crypto.

-Gary Gensler

I continue to be amazed at how completely blatant the ponzi is, and how the mania to get-rich-quick makes it easy to ignore the facts about bitcoin. I’ve already discussed it in the past and don’t feel the need to regurgitate the same arguments.

I’m probably suffering from confirmation bias on this topic at this point, but here’s another article that I encountered today that lays out the facts rather coherently:

“Real money goes in, nothing is created, and real money is consumed by the owners of the exchange and their employees. Investors get nothing but some code that people keep telling them has value and will keep rising in price because it is digital and supply is limited so as long as demand exists, the price will rise. Any money taken out must come from new money going in since the tokens create nothing and the crypto miners consume computer and energy to “mine” the next Bitcoin. Any scheme where you invest money but your return depends on someone else investing at a greater price to provide the money you want to receive is a classic Ponzi scheme.

As the “rake” of expenses and fees of crypto exchanges and their owners and employees depletes the cash on hand, and no profit is created by anything that Bitcoin or exchange owners do with the money they take in, a “run on the bank” is not just likely but inevitable. At that point, the dream of a deregulated peer reviewed ledger replacing fiat currencies backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government turns into a nightmare of bankruptcies, business failures and years of litigation to clean up the remains.

Bernie Madoff would be proud.”

-Michael Blair