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Re:It can all go to zero by stcredzero on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @01:41PM (#16160819)
and there's no way they'll all decline or default at once.

This is where Credit Default Swaps came in. What is the cryptocurrency equivalent of a Credit Default Swap?

Re:It can all go to zero by rlucas on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @02:59PM (#16161759)
It wouldn't be a CDS, it would just be a swap (like a currency swap). A bitcoin isn't a credit instrument, so there's no possibility of default. (Although it's also true that swaps usually anticipate a currency's local interest rate -- what's that for bitcoins?)

And, you probably wouldn't use a swap for hedging bitcoin currency exchange risk, unless you were doing an actual useful transaction where the sources and uses were in different currencies. People with bitcoins are either speculating or taking duration risk approximately equal to the delivery delay of a Priority Mail envelope full of heroin, as I understand it.

Re:It can all go to zero by stcredzero on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @03:15PM (#16161962)
But what's analogous to CDS for Bitcoin isn't just a Swap. It's any mechanism which could cause a cascade of loss between the various cryptocurrencies.