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Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

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Re: Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Boiled down to the base principles it's the same... money goes in, more money might come out, or you might get less money out. The only difference is predictability and odds.

The entire profit motive from Bitcoin "investing" comes from selling it to another human for more than you bought it for. They're digital Beanie Babies. Real investments have a return derived from capital. A house, for example, can be rented out for money. Or a business can earn profit and distribute it to its shareholders. You can try to buy and sell houses like people did during the RE bubble for profit, or try to…

> Real investments have a return derived from capital. A house, for example, can be rented out for money.

You can buy goods and services with Bitcoin. It's just another currency. Do people claim that forex is not investing?

Re: Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

#52

Good thing that all these Wall Street CEOs share these nuggets of wisdom with us uncouth plebeians. Their charity is out of this world! Now I just need to know what Jim Kramer thinks of this and I'm good.

Like it or not, major figures in the financial industry saying “this is legit” helps bitcoin’s image which has knock-on effects. Bitcoin still struggles from the “its only used to buy drugs” stigma even with some on here.

I honestly think the "it's only used for speculation" stigma is worse. At least among HN users

Re: Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

#53
post #3

if I invest in Bitcoin today, am I still an early adopter?

No, but you may still make some money from it before it drops to zero. Just don't consider it an investment, and don't put anything into it that you'll miss. Investments are tied to real world value, returns and having a say, bitcoins have no real world application or substance outside of financial crime.

> bitcoins have no real world application or substance outside of financial crime

https://www.coindesk.com/information/what-can-you-buy-with-b...

Re: Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you'll always have some figures that people look up to for advice, right? They won't change value but they will get people to speculate. Like it or not, most people buying and holding Bitcoin are speculating at this point in time.

Right but I'm hoping that in the future these figures might have less conflict of interests.

[deleted]

Re: Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

#55
post #3

if I invest in Bitcoin today, am I still an early adopter?

I think invest is the wrong term. Investments have some kind of builtin return like interest or dividends. You're buying bitcoin in the same way you buy gold or a lottery ticket. Maybe you have some solid reasoning on why price will go up but you aren't getting any returns like in an investment.

> investments have some kind of builtin return like interest or dividends

I'd say, more so, the distinguishing factor between an investment and speculation is that an investment is used to facilitate a business process that could potentially create wealth whereas speculation is a bet that something of value will be worth more at a later date.

Re: Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like it or not, major figures in the financial industry saying “this is legit” helps bitcoin’s image which has knock-on effects. Bitcoin still struggles from the “its only used to buy drugs” stigma even with some on here.

The point of crypto is making these figures irrelevant.

No, the point is to decentralize control.

Re: Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

#58
post #3

if I invest in Bitcoin today, am I still an early adopter?

I think invest is the wrong term. Investments have some kind of builtin return like interest or dividends. You're buying bitcoin in the same way you buy gold or a lottery ticket. Maybe you have some solid reasoning on why price will go up but you aren't getting any returns like in an investment.

Although, you can buy ETFs that aim to track cryptocurrencies by buying a basket of them, looking at payment processors, etc.

It's like, I think that lithium is gonna be short in the near future. It's really useful stuff. But I'm not buying kilograms of raw lithium to hoard in my garage, I'm investing in the companies that oversee the element's mining, processing, surveying, etc. And maybe looking at commodity options in the short term, but given what happened there with aluminum...

Re: Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

#59
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think that it will go to like 20k in the next 4 years Why like 20k (as opposed to like 100k or like 1k)?

99% of Bitcoins are being held by people expecting to sell it to someone else for more than they bought it for. That doesn't seem to be changing. You just have to do a calculation involving the number of people on the planet to figure out when the supply of new suckers runs dry and the price crashes.

Doesn't that assume every person on the planet will own some BTC before it crashes? It also assumes the rate new people start buying BTC is constant, or even predictable.

Re: Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The entire profit motive from Bitcoin "investing" comes from selling it to another human for more than you bought it for. They're digital Beanie Babies. Real investments have a return derived from capital. A house, for example, can be rented out for money. Or a business can earn profit and distribute it to its shareholders. You can try to buy and sell houses like people did during the RE bubble for profit, or try to…

> Real investments have a return derived from capital. A house, for example, can be rented out for money. You can buy goods and services with Bitcoin. It's just another currency. Do people claim that forex is not investing?

> You can buy goods and services with Bitcoin. It's just another currency.

Not really though. You can buy a few novelties online and there are a handful of places that accept bitcoin, but realistically it is not "just another currency", it's an IOU for usable money.

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