Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto • Hacker News Board

Re: Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto

#191

Post by trident5000 » Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 11:18 PM UTC

DavidSJ wrote: post #184

mandelbrotwurst wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it’s terrible as a wide spread value store because it removes an important tool that governments have to handle the economy (dealt with debt via inflation aka printing money How does a static rather than unconstrained supply make something a LESS good store of value?

It might be a good store of value (aside from its extreme volatility), but the GP comment would be correct if you substitute "medium of exchange" for "store of value".

Gold is short term volatile as well. Long term average is all that matters to be an effective value store. Its like a more volatile gold right now through price discovery.

Re: Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto

#192

Post by rustybelt » Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 11:19 PM UTC

coinward wrote: post #160

azinman2 wrote: post #120

So it sounds like lemming group think. It seems like someone one should hold “just in case,” but no real valid reason to do so yet (that I’ve heard). We know transactions are slow and expensive, so it’s not a good replacement for ordinary commerce. It can be used to transfer across borders, but there often is asymmetry in capital movement that makes this difficult in the places you need it most (poor countries with r…

The valid reason is that Bitcoin is the best money that has ever emerged in human history. The denationalization of money is inevitable and long predicted. Check out Nobel prize winning economist Hayek's Denationalization of Money https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Denationalization_of_Money

Except you can't spend it very well and would be crazy to borrow it. Imagine the disaster if there had been a large market for bitcoin loans a few years ago.

Re: Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto

#193

Post by askvictor » Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 11:19 PM UTC

coinward wrote: post #173

bobm_kite9 wrote: post #148

What about the 51% attack problem? Why doesn’t this matter? Can someone explain how this currency is a good bet when there is this seemly huge gaping hole in the system. Honest question!

If you have enough hash power to 51% attack Bitcoin at all, your potential for rewards by instead mining honestly are significantly higher, at least that's how the game theory generally plays out

The other aspect is that, as someone approaches 51%, there is increased incentive for everyone else to prevent that from happening.

Re: Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto

#194

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet » Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 11:19 PM UTC

superbcarrot wrote: post #28

Does anyone else feel like: - they've missed an opportunity to get rich with minimal effort from crypto - still have absolutely no interest in jumping in at this point?

Yeah, which is one of the reasons why I continue to not buy into the whole thing. The only reason there is any temptation at all for me is FOMO from the rising price, and that's a terrible sign. Worse, it comes with a bunch of negatives, slow transaction rate, huge power cost, etc.

Re: Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto

#195

Post by choward » Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 11:19 PM UTC

akvadrako wrote: post #93

wodenokoto wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When it reached 100, I thought, this is the apex, it is not gonna grow anymore, it is too late to jump on. And I've repeated that thought on 1.000, 10.000, 20.000 and again now. So yes, you are not alone in feeling this is a missed opportunity.

Why not just buy a small amount of bitcoins now, something you won't mind losing? If they increase 100 fold you won't feel like you're missing out. And if they don't just think of it as insurance. I personally hate the idea of bitcoin and avoided it for a long time, but I feel better having a little just to avoid the thought I let my personal feelings get in the way of an opportunity with a good risk/reward ratio.

> Why not just buy a small amount of bitcoins now, something you won't mind losing?

Once people stop having this mindset the price will stop rising.

Re: Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto

#196

Post by marvinkennis » Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 11:20 PM UTC

adamisom wrote: post #137

akvadrako wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not just buy a small amount of bitcoins now, something you won't mind losing? If they increase 100 fold you won't feel like you're missing out. And if they don't just think of it as insurance. I personally hate the idea of bitcoin and avoided it for a long time, but I feel better having a little just to avoid the thought I let my personal feelings get in the way of an opportunity with a good risk/reward ratio.

This doesn't necessarily mean you're invalid, but if BTC increased 100x, they'd exceed the world's GDP. So... yeah, though maybe you can't say that's impossible , if by some miracle BTC became the dominant currency in a (much richer) future.

I'm holding a tiny amount of BTC, but this has been my reason not to invest more. I know that at most I might be comfortable investing $20K in Bitcoin now, but that's literally it. If that amount increased 100x, it'd be $2mm. A good amount of money but by no means life changing to the extent that I will forever regret it.

Re: Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto

#197

Post by trident5000 » Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 11:21 PM UTC

rustybelt wrote: post #192

coinward wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The valid reason is that Bitcoin is the best money that has ever emerged in human history. The denationalization of money is inevitable and long predicted. Check out Nobel prize winning economist Hayek's Denationalization of Money https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Denationalization_of_Money

Except you can't spend it very well and would be crazy to borrow it. Imagine the disaster if there had been a large market for bitcoin loans a few years ago.

You cant spend it well? Visa, Mastercard, Paypal, Circle are all supporting it.

Re: Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto

#198

Post by dheera » Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 11:22 PM UTC

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #189

azinman2 wrote: post #120

So it sounds like lemming group think. It seems like someone one should hold “just in case,” but no real valid reason to do so yet (that I’ve heard). We know transactions are slow and expensive, so it’s not a good replacement for ordinary commerce. It can be used to transfer across borders, but there often is asymmetry in capital movement that makes this difficult in the places you need it most (poor countries with r…

The forefront of the Bitcoin frenzy isn't even on the blockchain, it's at the exchanges. Hardcore tech people and those who don't (or can't) trust institutions with their Bitcoin will pay the transaction fees to get their money out of exchanges and into their own wallet. The average retail investor, however, doesn't want to be their own bank. They just want in on the price action, while letting the exchange manage th…

> Elon Musk went on Twitter and called Bitcoin "BS" to drive the price down so they could buy at a discount. They then announced their Bitcoin purchase with fanfare that drove the price up, marking a quick return on their investment. They used Elon's influence to make a quick profit on the frenzy.

I don't see an inherent problem with this. People who were too gullible to believe influencer crap and caused bitcoin's price to go down by panic selling are now gone from the market, and the believers stayed in and made money. That's a good thing, and weeds out gullible people from the system. This isn't the stock market where fundamentals matter.

Re: Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto

#199

Post by Jtsummers » Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 11:23 PM UTC

coinward wrote: post #176

ben_w wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From your link: “Stability in value is presumed to be the decisive factor for acceptance. Hayek makes the assumption that competition will favor currencies with the greatest stability in value since a devalued currency hurts creditors, and an upward-revalued currency hurts debtors.” Stability is not the observed behaviour in BTC.

if you use BTC as unit of account then Bitcoin is the only thing that IS stable!

/s?

That's a nonsensical statement. Use BTC to buy a car today, and then use it to buy the same value car in a year. BTC is, fundamentally, unstable at this point in time. Even when all BTC is mined and it is distributed across the globe to every human being and sentient AI and animal, it will likely continue to be highly unstable as a currency.

Compare to the, relatively, stable USD as a currency. Prices for goods and services in USD fluctuate, but typically only changing once a year or so. Your milk price doesn't, in USD, shoot up by 500% in a week.

Re: Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto

#200

Post by choward » Tue, Feb 16, 2021, 11:24 PM UTC

walshemj wrote: post #154

azinman2 wrote: post #120

So it sounds like lemming group think. It seems like someone one should hold “just in case,” but no real valid reason to do so yet (that I’ve heard). We know transactions are slow and expensive, so it’s not a good replacement for ordinary commerce. It can be used to transfer across borders, but there often is asymmetry in capital movement that makes this difficult in the places you need it most (poor countries with r…

Sounds like pets.com all over again and I am glad I just started diversifying into gold.

Pets.com was a business that could actually grow so it could still be considered an investment. Bitcoin is purely based on speculation. Gold is pretty much the same thing except it has some intrinsic value. The value of gold and bitcoin only moves because of peoples' feelings.