re: Trump fans confused how their investments in his crypto/Stock are now worth a Fraction

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I’m still trying to get a feel for where crypto gets its value. As far as I can tell, it was supposed to be just a privately owned/funded medium of exchange outside the eyes and ears of the government. Of course, the same can be said of “points” in a trade association — yet another pain in the arse that I was fortunately never lured into. Same can be said for timeshares and pleasure boats.

At the end of the day, crypto seems like chain letter, pyramid, or Amway/MaryKay type deal where there’s no real value to the base product/service.

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I’m not endorsing or knocking crypto as an investment, but the theory behind its value is basically scarcity plus confidence.

Bitcoin, at least in theory, gets value from having a limited supply, being transferable without a bank, and having enough people trust it that it becomes liquid.

But that is also the problem. Its value depends almost entirely on continued belief in the system. If that belief holds, so does the coin. If confidence collapses so does it. So you are correct that it holds no intrinsic value.

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No, you could not possibly have come to this conclusion from what I stated.

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Well, which part was I mistaken about?

See, if you deny that Trump is engaging in graft when he so obviously, blatantly, and unashamedly is, then it doesn't really matter much whether this was an example of it or not.

It's like the abortion supporter who tries to distract with incest and rape. She isn't any more against abortion purely for convenience sake than she is in the case of incest, but she throws out the incest to gaslight and to try to make the opposition look unreasonable.

So regardless of whether you said anything about it or not in the post in question, I'm asking you now: Do you deny that Trump is engaging in blatant graft?

The only other candidates (at least in my state) were one-off candidates with no chance of winning the election.

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"Trump fans"

Those who felt the risk of crypto was worth voluntarily putting in their money?

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Because there have been no risks associated, and no fluctuation in value, with other forms of crypto before this... apparently.

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What's out of the ordinary is that Trump deregulated the industry while owning two companies that benefitted from the deregulation (that's what I meant by "investing" in them, not buying and selling coins), World Liberty Financial and CIC Digital LLC.

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That's a fair point. I am generally for deregulation. I get your point though.

Congress could have passed legislation, and should have in this arena. Had it done so, I'm not sure it would've affected the transactions that you've noticed. But of course Congress is completely impotent in its present iteration, so it fell to the chief executive.

Unrelated, but since you mentioned it, I also think dispensaries should be legalized.

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We have to take the graft and the grift if we want the tilting against the deep state

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Ummmm....

And you were stupid enough to invest?

No wonder you are butt hurt over this.

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Are we prepared to just concede the point that Trump engaged in grift and double dealing or are we still in denial?

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If by "we" you mean me, I guess I'm missing the "double dealing" precept here.

I just don't know enough of the details regarding the crypto offering, profits, etc. to come to the definitive conclusions you have. That isn't a MAGA thing.

For example, a while back, people were running on Paul Pelosi profiting on sales that seemed to coincide with a congressional bill. However, in detailing it out, I found that Pelosi's transaction actually involved long-term options he'd picked up a year before, and were due to expire when he cashed them. It left the whole thing far less nefarious than it superficially appeared.

Similarly Kelly Loeffler was accused of insider trading at the onset of Covid. The accusation was she sold a ton of stock just ahead of the covid market downturn. As it turns out, the transactions were carried out in a blind trust, and most of the "sales" were actually put option sales, which is a long play. From a financial standpoint it was incredibly stupid

In my own account, anticipating the market downturn with Covid closures, I had dumped a ton of stock. It didn't take Warren Buffett to figure out what the market was going to be doing for the next few months at that point. But apparently Kelly Loeffler's money manager missed that. It is what it is. But what it wasn't, was "insider trading."

But I just call them like I see them.

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I’m still trying to get a feel for where crypto gets its value.

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You really want a subject to ponder? What makes that 20 in your wallet really, actually, worth 20 dollars?

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Do you deny that Trump is engaging in blatant graft?

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Yes, he definitely isn't.