131–140 of 343 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Gold is used to make things. You can argue what its value should be as a material alone, but it’s not entirely speculation.
BTC is used for trade. You know, drugs etc. And money laundering. Sanctions busting. Tax avoidance. It has a lot of utility...
You'd be much better off using the US Dollar. Even if it's through a bank like HSBC.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Crypto can be used as a store of wealth when crossing borders preventing search and seizure of your wealth against overzealous governments. See Russia in the early 90s which would regularly search and confiscate cash from people leaving. That alone makes it very valuable.
What's the scenario where the government can take the digital money from your bank accounts but can't take the digital money from your crypto wallet?
In cryptocurrency's defense (I am not a Bitcoiner), it not as easy for them to do that, because they can't just order a bank to transfer it/freeze it....assuming the owner is going through a lot of elaborate, inconvenient, and easy to footgun security measures. If you have a Coinbase wallet you're in exactly the same situation as if you had cash in the bank.
HOWEVER, the cost people pay to get that is stupidly high. For every suave international drug dealer who's kept their money out of the hands of the evil government with Bitcoin, you probably have 1,000 dudes or more, who lost the keys to their wallet somehow or got their Bitcoin stolen in a hack.
So you probably shouldn't be worrying to much about duh gubbament.
And then, the obligatory xkcd about crypto: https://xkcd.com/538/ / https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/09/forget-hacking-this....
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know you are being snarky, but i think its worth pointing out that ever increasing prices is bad for a medium of exchange not good. The higher prices decreases the liklihood of it being used like a currency.
by that logic people would not buy TVs or memory cards
So I suppose people must use it all the time to buy goods and services. Right?
Yes. All the time, just not for the things you and I buy such as groceries and transportation. Instead Bitcoin is used to buy illegal products and services such as drugs, weapons, politicians and hit men
https://www.forbes.com/sites/haileylennon/2021/01/19/the-fal...
Soon this will all collapse, reaching all time highs isn't a good thing. Pyramid scheme at best, ponzi scheme at worst. I still don't know any use case for this other than speculation and people aren't even using it in the real world.
Neither: it's just another commodity, like gold.
And like gold it has psychological value but questionable use cases (gold's is mostly jewelry). But, like Beanie Babys or anything else (diamonds), it is "valuable" because people think it is valuable.
People assign things to value things, like shiny and non-shiny rocks:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_stones
and Bitcoin is no different: it's a digital rock.
What's the best way to sell ~50 BTC these days?
Place it as a sell order on the trading book, above the current price. That way you are a market maker, and pay no fees. 50BTC is small potatoes, you aren't going to move the market.
So I suppose people must use it all the time to buy goods and services. Right?
I know you are being snarky, but i think its worth pointing out that ever increasing prices is bad for a medium of exchange not good. The higher prices decreases the liklihood of it being used like a currency.
It has in dollar terms but it still hasn't on an inflation adjusted basis. One bitcoin today has less purchasing power than at its peak in November 2021. The dollar has lost about 12.5% since then so the true all time high would be around $79250.