Berkshire: Bitcoin is ‘contrary to the interest of civilization.’

Post by stiltzkin » Mon, May 10, 2021, 4:37 PM UTC

jsiepkes wrote: post #136

keiferski wrote: post #124

How does the saying go? First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. After that, they fight you. Finally, you win. When a significant portion of established powers start claiming that new threat to power is (insert hyperbolic word here), I’d say we are on step 3 of the above process. Bitcoin has a lot of issues, but cryptocurrency/blockchain in general are real, useful technologies. Don’t let the prevalence of scam…

> but cryptocurrency/blockchain in general are real, useful technologies. Whats the last time you bought anything (besides other coins) with cryptocurrency?

Post by stiltzkin » Mon, May 10, 2021, 4:43 PM UTC

DSingularity wrote: post #31

Lol. So the relatively few mega-wealthy — who hoarded practically all the USD in the world — are angry that the relatively-poor have come up with a new system of value within which they are now relatively-rich? Well maybe the wealthy class should have left some for the rest of the people. Maybe the wealthy shouldn’t have fleeced every market they cornered as aggressively. Maybe they should not have constantly avoided…

Post by smt88 » Mon, May 10, 2021, 5:22 PM UTC

Valakas_ wrote: post #220

smt88 wrote: post #10

If you think of all investments as a bet, what are you betting on when you buy crypto? In my opinion, you're betting that crypto will be useful as an exchange of value, which means the people exchanging it are either: A) criminals or B) living in a failed state. Personally, if crypto becomes so widely used that it justifies its market caps, that means a lot of states have failed, and I don't want to live in (or bet o…

I'm betting that finally there is an asset that works as store of value that doesn't deflate and which is easy to use. Let's be honest, BTC could be the best one. Owning gold (or other rare metal) is an assle. Need a safe place to store it and transport it is so risky. Or I need to trust someone else or an institution to hold it if I don't want to hold it myself. Real estate takes a lot of time and research to chose…

Post by smt88 » Mon, May 10, 2021, 5:25 PM UTC

koonsolo wrote: post #200

smt88 wrote: post #10

If you think of all investments as a bet, what are you betting on when you buy crypto? In my opinion, you're betting that crypto will be useful as an exchange of value, which means the people exchanging it are either: A) criminals or B) living in a failed state. Personally, if crypto becomes so widely used that it justifies its market caps, that means a lot of states have failed, and I don't want to live in (or bet o…

First up, there is no worldwide currency. It would be nice in an internet world, to have a worldwide currency. Next, decentralization is awesome. You can always claim that any improvement is the proof of a failed earlier system. If the success of crypto means the system has failed, maybe you should blame the problem and not the solution.

Post by koonsolo » Mon, May 10, 2021, 6:01 PM UTC

smt88 wrote: post #257

koonsolo wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First up, there is no worldwide currency. It would be nice in an internet world, to have a worldwide currency. Next, decentralization is awesome. You can always claim that any improvement is the proof of a failed earlier system. If the success of crypto means the system has failed, maybe you should blame the problem and not the solution.

> First up, there is no worldwide currency. It would be nice in an internet world, to have a worldwide currency. Crypto is not a currency, especially if it's deflationary. It's an asset. Crypto is also not even close to useful worldwide, and it's hard to imagine why it would be come useful worldwide. USD works pretty well as a global currency at the moment. It has cheaper exchange fees than crypto. > Next, decentrali…