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Bitcoin is a disaster

metzdowd.com

261–270 of 992 posts

Re: Bitcoin is a disaster

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that cash in USD is also used as a medium of exchange.

This is an extremely tiring response. I pay for most things in Bitcoin. I just built a new computer from parts I ordered off of Newegg, paid 100% with Bitcoin. I pay my rent in Bitcoin. I get paid in Bitcoin.

This is an extremely tiring response. Just because you're a pyscho doesn't mean bitcoin makes sense as a currency. The vast majority of institutions will not accept bitcoin as payment because they realize it's a horrible currency.

Re: Bitcoin is a disaster

#262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The dollar doesn't change value like Bitcoin, not cash as a whole.

oh yes it does, it has crashed more than 2000% vs Bitcoin in a decade.

The dollar also lost a lot of value when compared to the stock market, or compared to land prices, or to gold.

Re: Bitcoin is a disaster

#263
post #102
post #31

That’s nonsense. Bitcoin is as good a store of value as gold due to one unique feature: scarcity. Actually, it’s even less power consuming than the gold industry and is much more transparent. I wouldn’t really advise bitcoin for anything else, like day to day transactions, although I and many of my friends have used bitcoin to transact on dark markets and it works. The only argument I’ve heard about gold being better…

Bitcoin is scarce like beanie babies are scarce, except you can make more bitcoins.

No you cannot

Re: Bitcoin is a disaster

#264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that cash in USD is also used as a medium of exchange.

This is an extremely tiring response. I pay for most things in Bitcoin. I just built a new computer from parts I ordered off of Newegg, paid 100% with Bitcoin. I pay my rent in Bitcoin. I get paid in Bitcoin.

How does getting paid in BTC work? Are you set a rate of bitcoin you get paid that amount or do you have a salary in dollars and you get paid whatever btc satisfies that?

Re: Bitcoin is a disaster

#265

Related: the current rise of Bitcoin prices has been peculiar to me, and seems to be a bit of a canary in an inflationary coal mine. We've injected trillions of dollars of fiat into the economy this year. It feels like the sky-high valuations of technology companies and Bitcoin are "shock absorbers" of sorts, or early signals of inflation-yet-to-come. If we assume the market is efficiently pricing these assets (like…

> It feels like the sky-high valuations of technology companies and Bitcoin are "shock absorbers" of sorts, or early signals of inflation-yet-to-come. If we assume the market is efficiently pricing these assets (like AirBnB's IPO) then it could very well be that the actual value of a fiat dollar has dropped dramatically -- making sky-high valuations more reasonable

To me, the most reasonable interpretation of these valuations is a savings glut. People are being given extra income, but instead of going out and spending it on more impulse purchases (such as fine dining or an exotic vacation), they're shoveling that into savings accounts. And assets that reflect a long-term saving mindset--real estate, stocks--are going up in price, while more immediate consumptive assets (e.g., food) are staying stable.

> wouldn't be surprised to see the price of things like groceries, beer and travel double or triple what they were in 2019.

That would be an effective inflation rate of 100-200%. If you're assuming that would happen within a year, the number of countries right now with that high of an inflation rate is 3: Venezuela, Zimbabwe, and Iran. Even the developing world doesn't regularly see inflation quite that high, you'd expect more like 10-30% annual inflation for those countries.

Re: Bitcoin is a disaster

#266
post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Like how it's illegal to carry too much cash Which country is that? It's not illegal anywhere I know of.

He's probably talking about the horror stories of people getting their cash/assets seized via civil forfeiture. eg. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/09/01/police-seiz...

Yeah, that's different from carrying cash being illegal.

Re: Bitcoin is a disaster

#267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one treats Bitcoin as a currency. It’s treated as an investment vehicle. And the reason behind that is obvious. Something whose value may double in a month or whose value may halve within weeks is a terrible currency. If I expect it’s value to increase then I would be a fool to spend it. If I expect it’s value to drop I would be a fool to accept it. Cryptocurrencies are anything but currencies.

"No one treats Bitcoin as a currency. It’s treated as an investment vehicle." I, for one, have and will continue to use it as a currency in some cases. I'm quite sure I'm not the only one.

I used to buy things with bitcoin, but every time I have regretted it. It would've been better to use cash and keep holding.

Re: Bitcoin is a disaster

#268

Completely agreeable, albeit it misses a point: Governments can't print more of it. That's it really, everything else is noise. I can sympathize with btc (I wish we still had a gold standard, or a standard based on the price of common goods) but I don't see much the other benefits. On top of this, governments could ban btc.

> Governments can't print more of it.

I never really understood that line of reasoning. Why would one person want to reduce the ability to apply economic policy in their country?

Certainly, you could use Gold instead of Bitcoin as a similar investment tool, right?

Re: Bitcoin is a disaster

#269
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If we assume the market is efficiently pricing these assets (like AirBnB's IPO) then it could very well be that the actual value of a fiat dollar has dropped dramatically Note that many other assets such as energy, financial, and real estate stocks, consumer goods, etc. are not experiencing sky-high valuations - indeed, some of those asset classes are down for the year. So it's not just fiat dollars that have dropp…

Overpricing one class of assets is functionally equivalent to underpricing the other classes. Facing inflation, money will aggregate first in the assets most likely to maintain + outpace an increase in monetary supply. Once they start appearing too overpriced, the overflow will affect other industries. I'd invoke Occam's Razor to state that inflation due to increase in monetary supply is more likely to manifest as "o…

well said.!!

Re: Bitcoin is a disaster

#270
post #3

>The scarcity of block chain space has led people to re-invent every last feature of the banks they thought they were going to be escaping. This is a pretty funny point because every time I go on twitter and see people talk about crypto, what they're essentially having is a discussion about public policy, and often they seem to try to reinvent institutions that already exist without even knowing it. From market-maker…

You know I thought about doing some type of crypto, but after finding out you have to pay to even establish a certificate and everything else. Shit your right back to being controlled by your balls to be recognized as a legitimate digital coin system. Just like SSL certs, yes you can create one, but will your browser say its authenticated, nope! Done with the entire system. Live in a tent and live off the land.
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