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Buffett bashes Bitcoin as nonproductive, thriving on mystique

reuters.com

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Re: Buffett bashes Bitcoin as nonproductive, thriving on mystique

#5

Post by tomdell »

cryptoz wrote: post #3

The experimentation of ideas around what money is is certainly not "nonproductive" and to dismiss it like that is silly. He might not like it for any reason at all and that's fine, but to call it nonproductive is ridiculous.

All right, then - how is it productive?

Re: Buffett bashes Bitcoin as nonproductive, thriving on mystique

#6

Post by Talyen42 »

He's thinking of it in investing terms, underlying asset value, cash flows, etc. Because the media asks him "Should we buy bitcoin?" every damn day of the year.

I'd be more interested to hear what he thinks makes for a good currency, inflation vs. deflation, freedom of transfer, protection against forfeiture, etc.

Does he also think that the US Dollar is rat poison because it's not a productive asset? He holds like $80b cash.

"But bitcoin has high fees" well yeah, there are 1,000 newer cryptos with lower fees. (and plenty of scams)

"But local stores don't use it" well yeah, nobody used credit cards in the 40s either. (and now cash is dead)

"But it's not user friendly" well yeah, neither was the internet until ~2000. (i've seen nearly zero progress in crypto here, btw)

Re: Buffett bashes Bitcoin as nonproductive, thriving on mystique

#7

Post by ashoon »

internetman55 wrote: post #2

I can't agree or disagree on any investment recommendations as I have no expertise in the area, but I have that is pretty much what my gut reaction to Bitcoin/crypto has always been

As I've learned a bit about blockchain, I feel cryptocurrency is distracting from the broader implications of the technology. It's going to be hard enough for non-technical users to see the underlying value of immutable, distributed data and applications, so that conflation is unfortunate.

Re: Buffett bashes Bitcoin as nonproductive, thriving on mystique

#8

Post by AndrewKemendo »

Buffett/Munger have always argued that Gold and other commodities are equally worthless investments based on fear and ponzi like attributes[1]. No surprise then they feel even worse about Bitcoin.

The interesting thing here is that the common response here is: "Hey that's a great theory, but in real life, I just paid off my mortgage with my proceeds from bitcoin."

While perhaps true, such rebuttals ignore the arguments being made by folks like Buffett around predictability, likelihood of a return, confidence in underlying asset value, volatility etc... So the argument isn't about whether or not you can make money on these things, it whether it's a prudent instrument to invest your money into.

[1] http://www.minyanville.com/trading-and-investing/commodities...

Re: Buffett bashes Bitcoin as nonproductive, thriving on mystique

#9

Post by triviatise »

He has always said he doesnt understand technology and has resisted investing in it. While the value is fluctuating heavily due to speculation, over time it will stabilize.

Bitcoin will resist inflation and is somewhat out of control of governments or any central authority. People in countries where the govt has screwed up the currency can use it to get money out of the country or as a stable store even if dollars or other physical currency is in scarce supply. My family fled china carrying their wealth as gold and bank checks. Today, people can transfer their wealth as bitcoin across international borders.

The fundamental properties of money are:

>

It is not unreasonable to argue that fiat currencies around the world are not stable because of inflationary monetary policies. Buffet always holds billions in cash which is constantly depreciating in value.

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