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It can all go to zero

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Re: It can all go to zero

#111

Post by 20after4 »

Retric wrote: post #93
adamnemecek wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are fundamentally arguing that cryptocurrencies, all of them, will be gone? That like 30 years from now, there will be 0 things that are basically cryptocurrencies or something that replaced them?

That's irrelevant. If every cryptocurrency around in 30 years has yet to be created then every current cryptocurrency would be dead. Consider, what happens if the Internet dies? Well you could run a private coin on an old laptop, but that's not really meaningful.

Now that's a scary thought.

Re: It can all go to zero

#112

Post by tankenmate »

JackFr wrote: post #82
adamnemecek wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok can you talk more about your failure case then? What are the conditions like what exactly is the end result. There are 0 exchanges?

No, there are 0 buyers. Doesn't matter how many exchanges.

Indeed there will always be exchanges if there is demand.

Re: It can all go to zero

#113

Post by Retric »

blhack wrote: post #79
mattbrewsbytes wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Comparing cryptocurrencies to actual companies isn't fair. A lot of companies that went bankrupt (aka worth $0) had assets. Those assets were worth something and were probably sold off and used to pay debtors. What assets does a cryptocurrency have? What value is actually there?

It's also not fair because a company can actually "go away" as in they sell the building and stop operating. You can't really do this with bitcoin. It's never going to "shut down".

If nobody mines it then it really can go away.

Re: It can all go to zero

#114

Post by rcheu »

maxxxxx wrote: post #31

This reminds me so much of the .COM bubble. Same kind of discussions. I think there will be a place for cryptocurrency but before that has been established there will be a lot of people taking a lot of pain. People who have bought them a few years ago will only take paper losses but now there is real money flowing into this.

One technology related bubble eventually succeeding does not imply the eventual success of every technology related bubble.

There are plenty of bubbles that never really recovered (ex. the Japanese stock market crash of 1989), and technologies that petered out (ex. tablets).

Pattern matching to the first chart that comes to mind isn't a great way to predict the future. Instead, look for arguments why something will or will not be useful, since that's what actually will determine the eventual success or failure.

Re: It can all go to zero

#115

Post by [deleted] »

charlesdm wrote: post #95
overhang wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Were you around a few years back to see real estate values drop from $300K to $25K? I saw that. And we are talking about a physical property. $25K is not zero, but it would be hard to distinguish the effective difference if you're leveraged $250K. So, as with any investment, if you're spending monopoly money on cryptocurrencies, scoff away. But if your retirement depends on it...

$300k to $25K? That seems awfully cheap. Where did prices drop so much?

[deleted]

Re: It can all go to zero

#117

Post by TwoFactor »

Retric wrote: post #108
VMG wrote: post #32

If Bitcoin goes to 0, I will buy all of it and display the Trezor that stores it in a museum

If people stop mining it then you can't buy it. Remember, with the current design if hash power suddenly drops enough then the network just stops.

In that scenario there would likely be a fork of the software to do something like lower the hash power requirements and continue using the network.

Re: It can all go to zero

#118

Post by zer00eyz »

cableshaft wrote: post #39
frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that's the point, you're not invested in cryptocurrencies in general as much as most people are invested in 1 or 2 or maybe a small handful. When tech crashed did the tech sector basket go to $0? Of course not and no one contends that it would, but did a lot of people lose their shirts on Pets.com? You bet.

Well that's why it's common knowledge in the stock market to diversify your portfolio, and they call it a portfolio, not a single stock, and why so many people invest in mutuals. There's not an equivalent to mutuals in the cryptoverse yet, but there will be. I've made quite a few small bets on various alts. I'm taking the black swan approach to them. Quite a few could drop to zero in a couple years but I'm betting at…

Stocks are an investment, currency is a medium of exchange and hopefully a stable one.

Something that you want me to use to buy things with should not be so volatile that it goes from pizza to luxury home in less than ten years years. If I had some bitcoin "lost in the cushions of my couch"from that era I would be a rich man today.

Crypto currency has become a massive misnomer. To that end I'm not sure WHAT it is any more because if it isn't stable as a currency and it doesn't have intrinsic value then what good is it?

Re: It can all go to zero

#119

Post by hateduser2 »

onewaystreet wrote: post #55
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> these articles always pretend a 20% selloff is the beginning of the end There are individuals in this thread claiming "there will always be buyers" and that the probability of Bitcoin becoming worthless is zero. The point of the article isn't that Bitcoin is doomed. It's that there is a substantial non-zero probability it ends up worthless. That such an elementary claim about a volatile asset is controversial almos…

> That such an elementary claim about a volatile asset is controversial almost says more than the article. That it's such an elementary claim is the reason for the pushback. What's the point in saying something obvious?

Because people unfailingly pushback against it. The pushers should start their push acknowledging that it is possible if it’s really such an elementary claim to them.

Re: It can all go to zero

#120

Post by Sir_Cmpwn »

Retric wrote: post #108
VMG wrote: post #32

If Bitcoin goes to 0, I will buy all of it and display the Trezor that stores it in a museum

If people stop mining it then you can't buy it. Remember, with the current design if hash power suddenly drops enough then the network just stops.

If the mining ceases then you could always just mine your own transaction to buy all of it. But so could everyone else!
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