Babbies With Mobilephones: Is you instagramming a criminal fucking conspiracy??? - The Something Awful Forums

Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Babbies With Mobilephones: Is you instagramming a criminal fucking conspiracy???

«‹›1530 »

KYOON GRIFFEY JR: Apr 12, 2010; Runner-up, TRP Sack Race 2021/22

Haifisch posted:

Papa Roach.

you take that back

Dave Matthews Band

# ? Jul 14, 2021 22:56

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 26, 2024 03:33

Sundae: Dec 1, 2005

Bandwear Money: My net worth graph is a vertical horizon

# ? Jul 14, 2021 22:57

Paper Tiger: Jun 17, 2007; 🖨️🐯torn apart by idle hands

Fastball

# ? Jul 14, 2021 23:01

Trimson Grondag 3: Jul 1, 2007; Clapping Larry

Reel big fish

# ? Jul 14, 2021 23:07

PalaNIN: Sep 19, 2004; LRLRRRLLRRLRLRLRRLRLR

Nickelback, surely

# ? Jul 14, 2021 23:09

Maggie Fletcher: Jul 19, 2009; Getting brunch is more important to me than other peoples lives.

The Rembrandts

# ? Jul 14, 2021 23:16

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

PalaNIN posted:

Nickelback, surely

Nickelback were early 00s.

# ? Jul 14, 2021 23:19

Sundae: Dec 1, 2005

Thanatosian posted:

Nickelback were early 00s.

LOOK AT THIS PHOTOGRAPH.

IT'S A ZAURGPOST THAT MAKES ME LAUGH.

# ? Jul 14, 2021 23:20

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

In somewhat serious BWM news, is there a reason that Britney Spears' ~15 year conservatorship is just now exploding into a big thing? She's been trying to get out of it for a while, but it is front page news now and all the cable channels are carrying live footage from outside the courthouse she's in.

# ? Jul 14, 2021 23:40

CharlestheHammer: Jun 26, 2011; YOU SAY MY POSTS ARE THE RAVINGS OF THE DUMBEST PERSON ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH BUT YOU YOURSELF ARE READING THEM. CURIOUS!

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

In somewhat serious BWM news, is there a reason that Britney Spears' ~15 year conservatorship is just now exploding into a big thing? She's been trying to get out of it for a while, but it is front page news now and all the cable channels are carrying live footage from outside the courthouse she's in.

There was a documentary or something I think a couple months back

# ? Jul 14, 2021 23:42

PurpleXVI: Oct 30, 2011; Spewing insults, pissing off all your neighbors, betraying your allies, backing out of treaties and accords, and generally screwing over the global environment?
ALL PART OF MY BRILLIANT STRATEGY!

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

In somewhat serious BWM news, is there a reason that Britney Spears' ~15 year conservatorship is just now exploding into a big thing? She's been trying to get out of it for a while, but it is front page news now and all the cable channels are carrying live footage from outside the courthouse she's in.

I would think some of it's probably also changing societal attitudes. It's been popping up in the news every so often, like every two or three years, but I think when it was first news a lot more people were predisposed to going: "Ladies be crazy, am I right? :smug:

:smug:

" Combined with a lot of people just having a sort of fundamental disdain for pop artists as not being worth any sympathy.

But these days I think generally more people would be likely to not dismiss Britney just for being a woman and a pop musician.

Just my armchair theorizing, ofc.

# ? Jul 15, 2021 00:37

Democratic Pirate: Feb 17, 2010

Sundae posted:

LOOK AT THIS PHOTOGRAPH.

IT'S A ZAURGPOST THAT MAKES ME LAUGH.

BWL: going into a reporting job that�s basically this song

https://youtu.be/sIlNIVXpIns

# ? Jul 15, 2021 01:19

Switchback: Jul 23, 2001

I think Britney is in the news because this is the first time a court case to try to end her conservatorship has been public. The changing social attitudes surely have a big part too, for years the #freebritney campaign has been growing on social media and finally it is publicly in front of a judge. Her previous conversations with the courts were sealed and it sounds like her dad tried very hard to ensure it stayed that way.

New York Times reports:

quote:

In the years since a judge gave the father of Britney Spears broad control over her life and finances, concerned fans have questioned how the court could continue to deem her unable to protect and care for herself despite the fact that she was still a performing pop star. Her father and others involved in the conservatorship maintained that it was a smooth-running machine that had rescued her from a low point and benefited Ms. Spears, and that she could move to end it whenever she wanted.

All the while, she stayed largely silent on the subject in public.

But now, confidential court records obtained by The New York Times reveal that Ms. Spears, 39, expressed serious opposition to the conservatorship earlier and more often than had previously been known, and said that it restricted everything from whom she dated to the color of her kitchen cabinets. �She articulated she feels the conservatorship has become an oppressive and controlling tool against her,� a court investigator wrote in a 2016 report. The system had �too much control,� Ms. Spears said, according to the investigator�s account of the conversation. �Too, too much!� Ms. Spears informed the investigator that she wanted the conservatorship terminated as soon as possible. �She is �sick of being taken advantage of� and she said she is the one working and earning her money but everyone around her is on her payroll,� the investigator wrote.

In 2019, Ms. Spears told the court that she had felt forced by the conservatorship into a stay at a mental health facility and to perform against her will. The newly obtained court records show that Ms. Spears questioned his fitness for the role. As early as 2014, in a hearing closed to the public, Ms. Spears�s court-appointed lawyer, Samuel D. Ingham III, said she wanted to explore removing her father as conservator, citing his drinking, among other objections on a �shopping list� of grievances.

This line is loving creepy:

quote:

�Any time Britney wants to end her conservatorship, she can ask her lawyer to file a petition to terminate it; she has always had this right but in 13 years has never exercised it,� Vivian Lee Thoreen, a lawyer for Mr. Spears, said in a statement to People earlier this year. �Britney knows that her Daddy loves her, and that he will be there for her whenever and if she needs him, just as he always has been � conservatorship or not.�

quote:

Ms. Spears said her father was �obsessed� with her and wanted to control everything about her, according to the investigator�s report. She could not make friends without his approval. Even as she earned millions from a successful Las Vegas residency, she said she was limited to a $2,000 weekly allowance, according to the records. Any mistakes resulted in �very harsh� consequences, Ms. Spears added, according to the report. The conservatorship �comes with a lot of fear,� she said.

After consulting with Ms. Spears, her conservators and her doctors, the probate investigator concluded in 2016 that the conservatorship remained in Ms. Spears�s best interests based on her complex finances, susceptibility to undue influence and �intermittent� drug issues, though the report called for �a pathway to independence and the eventual termination of the conservatorship.�

Sounds like she has a complicated and abusive relationship with her father twisted up with love and fear. Why are adults using the word "daddy"?

quote:

Mr. Spears had spent much of his life in Kentwood, a tiny Louisiana town where he was a star quarterback. His father, a boilermaker, was strict and demanding. �His daddy was so hard on him, but Jamie loved him and respected him,� Mr. Spears�s former football coach, Elton Shaw, recalled.

Mr. Spears�s instability haunted Ms. Spears�s childhood, the family has said. In her 2008 memoir, Lynne recalled years of �verbal abuse, abandonment� and �erratic behavior.� The family struggled financially, and in 1998, just months before the release of Ms. Spears�s blockbuster first album, the Spearses filed for bankruptcy. The couple divorced in 2002. Ms. Spears said later that it was the �best thing that ever happened to our family.� Mr. Spears was present only intermittently during his daughter�s rise to pop stardom. In 2004, according to a court filing, Mr. Spears went to rehab for alcoholism at the urging of his daughter.

The singer stressed that she did not want her father in charge, a lawyer she consulted at the time has said. But the judge overseeing the case, Reva Goetz, deemed Ms. Spears incapable of hiring her own counsel and appointed Mr. Ingham, the lawyer who represents her to this day. In February 2008, according to court records, Judge Goetz deemed Mr. Spears �a suitable and qualified person� and granted him broad control over his daughter�s daily life and, alongside a co-conservator, her finances.

Aside from his salary as conservator � now about $16,000 per month, plus $2,000 a month for office space rent � Mr. Spears was approved by the court to receive a percentage of various deals signed for his daughter. Confidential court records reveal Ms. Spears�s concerns that her father was hardly the person to be setting, and enforcing, the rules that governed her life.

Ms. Spears�s first tour under the conservatorship, The Circus Starring Britney Spears, was designed to be a dry one, with cast and crew forbidden from drinking alcohol � or even energy drinks � around Ms. Spears, according to three people who worked on it. During this period, a former nanny and housekeeper for Ms. Spears claimed Mr. Spears engaged in �verbal abuse, tirades, inappropriate behavior and alcoholic relapses,� according to a legal letter sent in 2010 that threatened a lawsuit.

In 2014, Mr. Ingham told the court that Ms. Spears believed her father was drinking, according to a transcript of the closed hearing. Lawyers representing the conservatorship responded that Mr. Spears had voluntarily submitted to regularly scheduled alcohol tests and never failed. Mr. Spears�s lawyer said he took one random test, but refused to take any more, calling the request inappropriate. �Absolutely inappropriate,� the judge replied. �And who is she to be demanding that of anybody?�

Mr. Ingham told the court that his client was upset that it was not taking her concerns seriously. �She said to me, when she gave me this shopping list, that she anticipates that, as it has been done before, the court will simply sweep it under the carpet and ignore any negative inferences with regard to Mr. Spears,� Mr. Ingham said, according to a transcript. Mr. Ingham also raised Ms. Spears�s urgent desire to terminate the conservatorship altogether. She had even mentioned the possibility of changing her lifestyle and retiring, but believed the conservatorship precluded that, he said, according to a transcript.

The judge said that she would consider ending the conservatorship if Ms. Spears established a healthy relationship with a therapist and returned one year�s worth of clean drug tests. But the judge would not guarantee it. Those gathered, including the judge and lawyers on both sides, raised the possibility that Ms. Spears�s boyfriend was provoking her discontent.

She must have no opinions herself, it's clearly her boyfriend brainwashing her.

UGH this story keeps getting worse...

quote:

In 2016, Ms. Spears released her ninth studio album and performed more than 50 times in Las Vegas. But in private, she was again protesting the conservatorship, according to a report written by a probate investigator. (In California conservatorships, a court investigator conducts periodic reviews for the judge.)

Ms. Spears told the investigator that she was �very angry� about the way her life was being run, and described security around her at all times. She was also being tested for drugs numerous times weekly, and her credit card was held by her security team or assistant and used at their discretion, the report said. Ms. Spears wanted to make cosmetic changes to her home, like restaining her kitchen cabinets, she told the investigator, but was forbidden by her father, who told her too much money was being spent.

That spring, Ms. Spears appeared at a closed-door hearing and read a statement. According to a transcript, she asserted that she had been forced into a mental health facility against her will on exaggerated grounds, which she viewed as punishment for standing up for herself and making an objection during a rehearsal. She also claimed she had been forced to perform while sick with a 104-degree fever, calling it one of the scariest moments of her life. Ms. Spears ran down a list of her recent accomplishments, including tours and album releases. She told those present there was nothing wrong with her. A transcript of the hearing was mistakenly unsealed, and portions were first reported by TMZ.

That summer brought further tumult. In August, there was an alleged physical altercation between Mr. Spears and Ms. Spears�s 13-year-old son. No charges were filed in the incident, but the child�s father, Kevin Federline, was granted a restraining order barring Mr. Spears from seeing the children. Two weeks later, Mr. Spears, citing health problems, temporarily stepped down from his position as conservator of Ms. Spears�s person and was replaced by a licensed professional. He remained in control of Ms. Spears�s money.

By September 2020, a flurry of courtroom activity indicated publicly that something had shifted. Mr. Ingham filed court papers saying that Ms. Spears �is vehemently opposed to this effort by her father to keep her legal struggle hidden away in the closet as a family secret.�

Mr. Ingham then filed complaints about the ways Mr. Spears managed the singer�s money, asserting that he paid excessive fees of over $300,000 to the firm of her then-business manager, Ms. Taylor. (In court, a lawyer for Mr. Spears called the fees reasonable.) As the fight drags on, the bills are piling up � and, in a quirk of the conservatorship system, Ms. Spears has to pay for lawyers on both sides, including those arguing against her wishes in court. A recent $890,000 bill from one set of Mr. Spears�s lawyers, covering about four months of work, included media strategizing for defending the conservatorship. At a public court hearing in November, Ms. Spears�s mother moved to support the removal of Mr. Spears as conservator. Through a lawyer, she called the father-daughter relationship �toxic� and said it was �time to start fresh,� adding that Mr. Spears had referred to his daughter as �a racehorse who has to be handled like one.�

That day, Judge Brenda Penny, who had replaced Judge Goetz on the case, declined a request from Mr. Ingham to suspend Mr. Spears immediately, but left the door open to consider removing him in the future. Judge Penny approved a wealth management firm to serve as co-conservator of the estate alongside Mr. Spears.

quote:

Mr. Spears recently sold the house Ms. Spears grew up in. He has been staying down a winding country road on the outskirts of town, in an RV parked at a warehouse that has stored the boxed-up relics of his daughter�s megawatt career.

# ? Jul 15, 2021 02:21

number 1 snake fan: Jul 16, 2018

:murder:

# ? Jul 15, 2021 05:31

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

I am absolutely not saying Britney Spears' situation isn't tragic, unfair, or unjust... but watching all these motherfuckers (both liberals and conservatives) loving trip over themselves talking about this huge travesty in the justice system while simultaneously pushing for more funding for piece of poo poo pig motherfuckers is loving sickening.

# ? Jul 15, 2021 06:28

greazeball: Feb 4, 2003

Have a palette cleanser:

https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz/status/1415428773680386051

# ? Jul 15, 2021 08:16

BonerGhost: Mar 9, 2007

I still want to know what band. OP you just let me know if it's one of these:

Hoobastank

Incubus

311

Godsmack

Korn? Omg was it Korn?

# ? Jul 15, 2021 08:29

Not a Children: Oct 9, 2012; Don't need a holster if you never stop shooting.

greazeball posted:

Have a palette cleanser:

https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz/status/1415428773680386051

Meanwhile the creator of dogecoin just posted a Twitter thread detailing his earnest belief that crypto is inherently an inherently far-right, exploitative financial instrument

# ? Jul 15, 2021 13:06

Griefor: Jun 11, 2009

Not a Children posted:

Meanwhile the creator of dogecoin just posted a Twitter thread detailing his earnest belief that crypto is inherently an inherently far-right, exploitative financial instrument

To some people that is a plus

# ? Jul 15, 2021 13:12

SpelledBackwards: Jan 7, 2001; I found this image on the Internet, perhaps you've heard of it? It's been around for a while I hear.

BonerGhost posted:

I still want to know what band. OP you just let me know if it's one of these:

Hoobastank

Incubus

311

Godsmack

Korn? Omg was it Korn?

I'm personally hoping for Biohazard. Hoobastank didn't release their first album until 2001. We have to be doing better with the guesses.

# ? Jul 15, 2021 13:46

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

"Sir, we've got reports of FUD attacks across the entire Crypto-Empire. The FUDsters are scaling the walls! We have... <static>... to the moon! We must HODL the gates!"

The mods labelled this post with the "MISLEADING" flair.

quote:

Am I the only one who see's the elephant in the room

Is bitcoin what we all dreamed it would be

So I asked myself why don't I spend my bitcoin and the answer was simple it's too slow and cost too much to use

so just like you I sit here with my satoshi's hodling like golum's ring

I cannot understand why we are sitting here all accepting this as normal

we all presume at some point governments and mass adoption is coming but can you imagine the fees and speed if we had 10 or a 100 times the people

bitcoin isn't ready for mass adoption and while we hope for lightning to work how many years are we going to wait

I have no idea what the solution is but seriously something needs to be done before mass adoption

quote:

I just used Bitcoin to pay for my Hotel room in El Zonte, El Salvador. All shops around accept it using the Lightning Network. It was instant and feeless. The LN does work flawlessly.

The person who invented bitcoin beach as a way to draw in gullible Americans/Canadians with money to burn to a remote part of El Salvador is a financial genius.

quote:

quote:
It�s already implemented around the country?

No, only in the Bitcoin Beach area, for now.

quote:

quote:
would love to see video of it being used at a series of small shops over a short period of time, just showing off the economic ecosystem

Sorry, I don't like the spotlight :p but in 48 hours I paid for two hotels, three beers, two pupusas (local dish), ice cream on the beach and some 0.75$ cookies at a corner store. All of them using LN. Most people were so happy when I asked to pay with bitcoin. It's not like when you ask to pay with your credit card..

quote:

Just take his word for it. Do you think FUD or a bitcoin hodler is more reliable?

quote:

I know it's hard to not look at the price because you got in to make money but you really shouldn't be looking at price.

quote:

It's not a secret that a bunch of very loud and dishonest altcoiners keep telling made up stories about Bitcoin fees non-stop since many years ago. That's their execution of a Big Lie strategy.

Well, a broken clock is right twice a day. And in the same way, the loud altcoiners are also kinda right during Bitcoin price bubbles. We just had one of such rare Bitcoin price bubbles very recently.

quote:

Imagine if a FUDster tried to be a pioneer in any other time. "It takes too many days to confirm payment." "The fees are too high" How would you survive or achieve anything with the smallest amount of difficulty?

quote:

quote:
Michael Saylor is the quintessence of a guy who does not know what he is talking about, or at the very best has only superficial understanding, pretending to be an expert so that gullible people increase the value of his portfolio. Unfortunately, the crypto space is filled with these clowns.

Are people here taking them seriously, seriously?

You think you're smarter or more informed than Michael Saylor? He had an entire company doing research and presenting on Bitcoin before they ever took the plunge. You sound like the "quintessence of a guy who does not know what he is talking about", lol.

quote:

The reason I don't spend my bitcoin is because I'm busy saving up for a big purchase, which is what bitcoin is ideal for. I will spend it when I have saved up enough, until then I'll just keep stacking those sats. And afterwards I will still be stacking sats. For me the fees are not a problem, I don't care about buying coffee with my bitcoin. If I was I'd be looking to use lightning for sure. I have no worries about the future of bitcoin at all, fiat money and central banks will continue to drive people towards bitcoin to prevent losing their hard earned savings to inflation.

quote:

Inflation and fiat has conditioned everyone to think that a currency needs to be constantly spent. Bitcoin as a currency can work with only monthly or bi-annual spending. You don't need to make purchases every single day if you aren't losing value to inflation.

quote:

quote:
You think cars were as nice back in the day as they are now? Do you even know what lightning is? Bitcoin is about secure and permissionless transactions. You'll think that you are free with your fiat until they decide that you are not.

To be fair, the first car wasn�t continuously adapted to finally become the cars of today. New, better systems were built and new car manufacturers were born. I�m a believer in Bitcoin, but this is a terrible analogy.

quote:

Ah you are so strict. Try widening your mind.

"Try widening your mind to fit all of the thicc bitcoin logic and reason into your head. Maybe you don't think that all modern cars are just people adding modifications to a Model T, but explain how they both have 4 wheels? :smug:

:smug:

"

# ? Jul 15, 2021 14:22

doingitwrong: Jul 27, 2013

greazeball posted:

Have a palette cleanser:

https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz/status/1415428773680386051

I am utterly unprepared for this commercial.

# ? Jul 15, 2021 15:00

DarkHorse: Dec 13, 2006; Vroom Vroom, BEEP BEEP!; Nap Ghost

BonerGhost posted:

I still want to know what band. OP you just let me know if it's one of these:

Hoobastank

Incubus

311

Godsmack

Korn? Omg was it Korn?

Mudvayne

# ? Jul 15, 2021 15:04

Switchback: Jul 23, 2001

Toad the Wet Sprocket

# ? Jul 15, 2021 15:44

CodfishCartographer: Feb 23, 2010; Gadus Maprocephalus; Pillbug

Not a Children posted:

Meanwhile the creator of dogecoin just posted a Twitter thread detailing his earnest belief that crypto is inherently an inherently far-right, exploitative financial instrument

I looked this up out of curiosity and it owns

https://twitter.com/ummjackson/status/1415353985406406658?s=19

# ? Jul 15, 2021 17:10

Nocheez: Sep 5, 2000; Can you spare a little cheddar?; Nap Ghost

Who's going to be left holding the bitcoin bag when it finally implodes? I guess about half of the people on my discord server for gaming have some sort of crypto investments, but they aren't the whales for sure.

# ? Jul 15, 2021 17:13

Cyrano4747: Sep 25, 2006; Yes, I know I'm old, get off my fucking lawn so I can yell at these clouds.

Nocheez posted:

Who's going to be left holding the bitcoin bag when it finally implodes? I guess about half of the people on my discord server for gaming have some sort of crypto investments, but they aren't the whales for sure.

Depends on your definition of bag holders. There's probably going to be a fair number of paper millionaire hodlers who either mined back when that was doable on a desktop in a dorm or bought when it was really, really cheap. Lots of those guys are going to be wishing they'd sold during the insanity, but their losses are going to be more theoretical than anything else. If you mined a bunch of BTC in college for basically free and sat on it while it became worth ten thousand, then a hundred thousand, then ten million, then ten thousand again, well. . . sucks, but you're not out anything more than unrealized gains.

On the other hand there are a lot of people who saw a CNN story about bitcoin skyrocketing and got in when it was expensive using retirement funds etc. There are going to be some very real losses for those kinds of people if this all goes belly up.

# ? Jul 15, 2021 17:21

grenada: Apr 20, 2013; Relax.

Sundae posted:

Come on, Leon. We give you the wall-o-text, at least don't add your own revisions to it.

At least require that Leon provides links to the original source. Takes no additional effort and the masses still get their Reddit dumps while keeping Leon�s fan fiction out of BFC.

# ? Jul 15, 2021 17:29

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

The Bitcoin Beach Twitter is pretty amazing.

https://twitter.com/danheld/status/1415344404554977290
https://twitter.com/hodlonaut/status/1414905182975107073
https://twitter.com/Bitcoinbeach/status/1414293991898550274

Bitcoin regulation is exactly like the holocaust.

https://twitter.com/Bitcoinbeach/status/1411739342440181766
https://twitter.com/gladstein/status/1412243640005521415
https://twitter.com/Bitcoinbeach/status/1405896366145036289
https://twitter.com/gladstein/status/1411796607272509440

You can pay for a lifeguard at bitcoin beach. Only in bitcoin.

Drowning is free.

https://twitter.com/romanmartinezc/status/1411319094805241860

# ? Jul 15, 2021 17:29

Cyrano4747: Sep 25, 2006; Yes, I know I'm old, get off my fucking lawn so I can yell at these clouds.

So what's the actual mechanism behind how that bitcoin beach thing works?

I assume someone is bundling the transactions and actually processing them at the end of the day or something? Because buying a $1 ice cream cone with a fraction of a bitcoin seems cumbersome based on what (limited amount) I know about how larger transactions work.

# ? Jul 15, 2021 17:32

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

Cyrano4747 posted:

So what's the actual mechanism behind how that bitcoin beach thing works?

I assume someone is bundling the transactions and actually processing them at the end of the day or something? Because buying a $1 ice cream cone with a fraction of a bitcoin seems cumbersome based on what (limited amount) I know about how larger transactions work.

Some anonymous donor paid a bunch of people in this small El Salvadorian village to accept bitcoin and provided them with bitcoin wallets and QR scanners.

The same donor recruited a bunch of American and Canadian BTC enthusiasts at Bitcoincon 2021 to go live there. They then tried to get as many people as possible to volunteer to move there.

They use a modified BTC exchange that "only" takes a few hours to confirm transactions and has (unspecified, but "low") transaction fees.

Basically, someone is subsidizing them to try and make it take off. And everyone who works there has a company script-like arrangement to use these BTC devices and only exchange bitcoin for services in exchange for getting them for free.

The locals are supportive of it because the tourists and "residents" are buying land from them that was worth nothing for 10,000x markups and bringing money.

So far, they have built one "vacation" rental house and two personal houses in 3 years.

quote:

Before the tears start falling, the subject gripping the room is inflation. �We�re seeing [an] unprecedented amount of monetary expansion from central banks right now,� says Jack Mallers, pacing the stage like an evangelist stoking his audience. �It�s very scary.� The scene resembles a tropical TED Talk, one given by a crisply tanned, hoodie-clad 27-year-old who looks like he washed ashore from a night of clubbing. It�s Bitcoin 2021, a two-day confab in Miami in early June, where 12,000 techno-anarchists, Wall Street bankers, and the crypto-curious swarm to conspire about the future of Bitcoin.

quote:

Mallers, the founder of a Bitcoin money-transfer startup called Strike, swiftly maneuvers from inflation and the farce of the Federal Reserve to deliver the real subject at hand: financial injustice in the developing world. In El Salvador, he says, a country that two decades ago abandoned its own currency for the U.S. dollar, 70% of the population is unbanked and many get their income through remittances saddled with outrageous fees. Where, as he tells it, people are left with little choice but to flee their homeland, resorting to crime and violence. �But if you rewind those steps,� Mallers says, �if you can fix the money�you can fix the world.�

Now come the tears. Mallers, his voice cracking, explains that that�s why he moved to a little town in El Salvador for three months, to help these people while also launching his company there. �I talked to the kids,� he says, flashing photos of himself with young Salvadorans on the oversize screen. �I told them, �Man, we got this. Bitcoin�s here. We got this.� �

By the time he gets to the part about El Salvador�s president asking him to help write the bill that would turn Bitcoin into legal tender�teeing up a video from President Nayib Bukele making the announcement�Mallers is practically weeping. Then he rips off his hoodie to reveal a Salvadoran soccer jersey gifted to him by the politician himself. The crowd goes wild.

quote:

In 2019, a small team of Salvadoran volunteers and an American expat started to transform the local economy to run on Bitcoin. Workers now receive their salaries and pay bills in Bitcoin, tourists can buy pupusas with a special Bitcoin payment app, and community projects are financed with Bitcoin donations.

quote:

Now the lone ATM buys and sells Bitcoin.

On a breezy, warm evening, Mallers and an international crew of Bitcoin influentials gather over freshly caught red snapper on the deck of Garten, a swanky modern hotel with sweeping views. In 2019 an anonymous American donor started seeding El Zonte with Bitcoin. �Bitcoin Beach,� as the project organizers have since dubbed it, has at once become a controlled alt-currency experiment, a philanthropic endeavor, and a capitalist calling with a whiff of savior complex.

quote:

The crew of foreigners came to town either to witness the experiment firsthand or figure out how to export it elsewhere. Peter McCormack, a tattoo-covered Brit who hosts What Bitcoin Did, the world�s most popular Bitcoin podcast, is on an extended stopover before a trip to the U.S. Miles Suter, who helps run the Bitcoin business for Square Inc.�s Cash App, has lived intermittently in El Zonte since he came to check out the project last year. A guy who introduces himself only as �Dread� turns up, fresh from the airport, hoping to learn the secrets of Bitcoin Beach so he can replicate them in the outskirts of Kingston, Jamaica, he says.

Over dinner, they share stories of becoming disillusioned with the global economic system, the vitriol and polarization among Bitcoiners on Twitter, and �shitcoiners��what Bitcoin monogamists call people who trade in other cryptocurrencies. It�s the contentious crypto debate common among those fortunate enough to be from a prosperous economy, where Bitcoin is as much about a belief system as it is about a financial one.

Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Jul 15, 2021

# ? Jul 15, 2021 17:38

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar; Grimey Drawer

quote:

You don't need to make purchases every single day if you aren't losing value to inflation.

I'd say "they should have sent a poet," but they pretty clearly did.

# ? Jul 15, 2021 18:53

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

Also, Bitcoin Beach's organizer's plan has apparently somewhat worked.

The government of El Salvador is now getting in on the subsidizing.

quote:

Last week, El Salvador�s legislature voted to become the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. While the U.S. dollar will still be El Salvador�s official currency, all businesses in the country will have to start accepting Bitcoin barring extenuating circumstances (like lack of technological resources), and citizens will be able to pay their taxes and debts with the cryptocurrency.

The government is hoping that this futuristic economic policy will attract investment from cryptocurrency businesses, provide transformative financial resources for the 70 percent of El Salvadorans who are unbanked, and facilitate remittances, which amount to about 20 percent of the country�s gross domestic product. And, true to the madcap spirit of the Bitcoin community, El Salvador�s President Nayib Bukele has already directed a state-owned geothermal electric firm to start constructing Bitcoin mining facilities that will be powered by heat from the country�s volcanoes.

At the same time, critics have pointed out that the plan is very light on details and that Bitcoin is notoriously difficult to use as a day-to-day currency partly due to its volatility. In addition, there�s a good chance that a large swath of businesses in the country won�t even be able to feasibly accept the cryptocurrency; El Salvador has lowest rates of internet penetration in Latin America. Bukele, however, has been pointing to a small Salvadoran beach town called El Zonte where residents have been using Bitcoin for nearly two years as evidence that the cryptocurrency could help power the economy nationwide.

quote:

El Zonte is a village on the Pacific coast that has a population of about 3,000 people and is popular for surfing and fishing. While a beach town might sound affluent, El Zonte is not: According to Reuters, �El Zonte is visibly poor, with dirt roads and a faulty drainage system,� In 2019, an anonymous donor in the U.S. reportedly began sending Bitcoin to nonprofits in the area with the aim of finding ways to build a sustainable cryptocurrency ecosystem in the community. Then nonprofit workers in El Zonte, in consultation with the donor, launched Bitcoin Beach, an initiative that injected the cryptocurrency into the local economy, set people up with digital wallets, and helped businesses set up systems to accept Bitcoin payments.

Unfortunately, most of the people using the bitcoin are the tourists and people who moved there and many of the villagers are trying to "break the rules" and dump the bitcoin to get cash as soon as possible.

quote:

Although there has been some success in integrating Bitcoin into El Zonte�s economy�about 90 percent of families in the town have made a crypto transaction, according to Bitcoin Beach, to pay for things like groceries, utilities, and medical care�the project has not been without its obstacles. Reports indicate that some residents have struggled to access the payment system because of limited data plans and lack of access to more advanced smartphones. Hunter claims that most people in the town seem to have lower-end Android phones that can support Bitcoin transactions, though he admits developers did run into some issues with getting the lower-resolution cameras on the devices to detect QR codes at local businesses. He also said that the local cell network in El Zonte is good enough for transactions.

But the reasons why crypto investors were drawn to El Zonte do not hold true throughout the country. Only 45 percent of the population in El Salvador has internet access. It remains to be seen how exactly the national government thinks it will improve connectivity, particularly in rural areas, and get powerful enough devices into peoples� hands to support a bitcoin economy. Bukele has floated the idea of building a network of satellites to improve coverage, but that obviously would take quite a while to implement.

Volatility remains a concern as well. In May, Bitcoin prices took a 30 percent dive after China implemented new digital currency restrictions and Tesla announced that it would no longer be accepting the cryptocurrency as payment. Around that time, Hunter says there was a corresponding decrease in the number of Bitcoin transactions in El Zonte. By all appearances, people were waiting for the value to go up again before using it. Steve Hanke, professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University and director of the Cato institute�s Troubled Currencies Project, worries that average consumers and business owners won�t want to constantly engage in this sort of speculation when deciding whether to use their money. �Businesses tend to unload Bitcoin as fast as they can because of the fluctuating exchange rate. If you receive it in the morning, it could easily be down 5 or 10 percent by the close of business,� said Hanke. �Are you running a business in which you�re speculating in Bitcoin, or are you running a business where you�re selling clothes or shoes?�

The government is trying to fix this, though.

quote:

Bukele has said that the government will set up a $150 million fund so that people can immediately cash out their Bitcoin for dollars, thus shielding them from some of the volatility. The details of this part of the plan are also scant, however, and Hanke notes that there�s a danger in El Salvador establishing itself as a country with permissive financial regulations that�s willing to exchange dollars for Bitcoin at any time. For criminals who are in possession of large amounts of Bitcoin, El Salvador could be an attractive place to cash out. In the worst-case scenario, Hanke says, �You could essentially have Bitcoin holders who want greenbacks that are in a position to basically vacuum up all of the greenbacks that exist in El Salvador, and the place would collapse without it.�

What could go wrong?

# ? Jul 15, 2021 19:02

PurpleXVI: Oct 30, 2011; Spewing insults, pissing off all your neighbors, betraying your allies, backing out of treaties and accords, and generally screwing over the global environment?
ALL PART OF MY BRILLIANT STRATEGY!

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

What could go wrong?

I mean, my guess would be bitcoin whales somehow using that fund to cash out their massive bitcoin stocks at as close to theoretical value as possible, draining it overnight.

# ? Jul 15, 2021 19:07

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

PurpleXVI posted:

I mean, my guess would be bitcoin whales somehow using that fund to cash out their massive bitcoin stocks at as close to theoretical value as possible, draining it overnight.

I doubt it.

How could anything bad happen with a program that relies on the honor system of people with millions of dollars in bitcoins and will drain all currency from your country (a currency printed by a foreign country, so you can not print any more yourself) if people with bitcoin want to scam or get too greedy?

Seems very unlikely that anyone with millions of dollars in bitcoins would be likely to be greedy, dishonest, or a scammer.

# ? Jul 15, 2021 19:10

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

The guy on ebay who was buying my silver dollars finally confirmed payment, but he is sending conflicting messages on which precious metal I should be hoarding.

I still feel a little bad for taking his money.

# ? Jul 15, 2021 20:08

Bird in a Blender: Nov 17, 2005; It's amazing what they can do with computers these days.

BonerGhost posted:

I still want to know what band. OP you just let me know if it's one of these:

Hoobastank

Incubus

311

Godsmack

Korn? Omg was it Korn?

It's going to be Hootie and the Blowfish.

# ? Jul 15, 2021 20:21

Inner Light: Jan 2, 2020

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

The guy on ebay who was buying my silver dollars finally confirmed payment, but he is sending conflicting messages on which precious metal I should be hoarding.

I still feel a little bad for taking his money.

This is incredible original content I must say

# ? Jul 15, 2021 22:15

Leon Trotsky 2012: Aug 27, 2009; YOU CAN TRUST ME!*

_{*Israeli Government-affiliated poster}

This is his very first message to me after Ebay cancelled my auction (after he won, but took days to confirm payment) because someone reported it as "Replica Currency."

In case anyone was curious, yes, his shipping address is in Florida.

# ? Jul 15, 2021 22:21

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 26, 2024 03:33

Residency Evil: Jul 28, 2003; 4/5 godo... Schumi

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

The guy on ebay who was buying my silver dollars finally confirmed payment, but he is sending conflicting messages on which precious metal I should be hoarding.

I still feel a little bad for taking his money.

Are you scamming or getting scammed I can't tell.

# ? Jul 15, 2021 22:25

1
2
3
4
5

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Babbies With Mobilephones: Is you instagramming a criminal fucking conspiracy???

«‹›1530 »

Powered by: vBulletin Version 2.2.9 (SABB-v2.24.04)
Copyright ©2000, 2001, Jelsoft Enterprises Limited.
Copyright ©2024, Jeffrey of YOSPOS