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Bitcoin is over $100k

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261–270 of 350 posts

Re: Bitcoin is over $100k

#261

I'm failing to understand the proposition behind bitcoin. From what I remember, the amount of BTC is finite, so eventually we will run out of new BTCs, and by then, most will be held by big institutions and some individuals who didn't want to sell, and it will become yet another luxury commodity like diamonds or gold. Hence, the entire premise of "Bitcoin is the future of money" is kind of stupid, unless it's money f…

The banks are in on it this time. You can buy crypto on Fidelity, starting with as little as $1. Whether that's better or worse than buying SP500 or QQQ or Tbills on their platform is for you to decide. So pay your taxes on $10 million, you'll still have 5 left.

But that's the point I'm making.

BTC was "advertised" as either the money of the future, which it is not, or an investment instrument that allows you to bypass government restrictions, which again, it is not, at least not for the common folks.

At this point, it's just a very volatile investment/speculation instrument.

Re: Bitcoin is over $100k

#262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it has been a bubble and popped/crashed/recovered 4(?) times now - it seem fair to start considering it as a cycle rather than a bubble. I don’t know much about crypto or finance, so maybe I’m completely wrong

Anything held in Bitcoin is one misplaced key, or hacked wallet, or broken algorithm away from being worth precisely zero.

With power comes responsibility.

You want to own something? You need to be capable of keeping it safe. If not entrust it to someone who is and hope they don't steal it.

The same goes for everything in life.

The fiat banking system has demonstrated what it does when we trust it with our fiat money. It steals it (through zero-reserve banking aka infinite debasement).

With bitcoin I can audit the wallet they hold for me at any time (public keys) and know that they can't debase it.

Re: Bitcoin is over $100k

#263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's money for the ultrarich/lucky Ok, so let's say you buy 1 Bitcoin today and then we end up in that future. Now 21 million minus one ultrarich lucky guys hold one Bitcoin and one stupid poor guy (you) holds one bitcoin? Or would it make you part of the ultrarich lucky club?

Sorry, I'm not sure if I understand your question/statement. What I wanted to say, is that in its current form, bitcoin IS money for some ultrarich people who have enough of it AND are able to access a commerce world where you can actually buy stuff with it without converting it to fiat currencies. Because last time I checked, I can't buy milk with BTC in my local supermarket, but I bet I can buy some luxury/illegal…

    the mantra of "Bitcoin is the future of
    money" that's being pushed
I don't see that mantra used in the context of Bitcoin's market cap.

In the concept of value, the aspects of Bitcoin that are relevant is that it has a broad ownership strucure, is finite in supply, is easy to store, validate and transfer.

Re: Bitcoin is over $100k

#264
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The entire economy outside of agriculture and real estate is basically "bullshit", if you really think about it. The ratio of bullshit to everything else seems to increase over time, though, as a general trend. It's probably correlated to technology.

Real estate can be speculative as well. A better way to state that might be "things outside of productive assets and services" are increasingly speculative. The bright side of this that has me excited is what seems to be a growing sense of optimism about the future, driven by AI entering the public conscious, Space X's "rocket catch" etc. There seems to be a growing belief that the future can and will be better, more…

You seem to be very confident about your memory of a decade ago.

And wasn't the first SpaceX rocket retrieval even more impressive, and a decade ago ?

EDIT : Yep, in 2015. (And today, a rocket beat a record : doing its 24th flight and retrieval.)

Re: Bitcoin is over $100k

#265

I'm failing to understand the proposition behind bitcoin. From what I remember, the amount of BTC is finite, so eventually we will run out of new BTCs, and by then, most will be held by big institutions and some individuals who didn't want to sell, and it will become yet another luxury commodity like diamonds or gold. Hence, the entire premise of "Bitcoin is the future of money" is kind of stupid, unless it's money f…

It's not about luck.

I run one of the early Bitcoin exchanges in 2013.

We had users from 200 countries, mostly common folks with small amounts.

Everyone had a change to make 1000x. Bitcoin has been mostly widely available asset in the world.

Re: Bitcoin is over $100k

#266

I'm failing to understand the proposition behind bitcoin. From what I remember, the amount of BTC is finite, so eventually we will run out of new BTCs, and by then, most will be held by big institutions and some individuals who didn't want to sell, and it will become yet another luxury commodity like diamonds or gold. Hence, the entire premise of "Bitcoin is the future of money" is kind of stupid, unless it's money f…

It's not about luck. I run one of the early Bitcoin exchanges in 2013. We had users from 200 countries, mostly common folks with small amounts. Everyone had a change to make 1000x. Bitcoin has been mostly widely available asset in the world.

When I said luck, I meant people who were among the first to either mine or buy (at an affordable price) whole Bitcoins and held them until this day.

It's fine that common folk can buy fractions of BTC, but these amounts won't change their lives. And anyone who can afford to buy >= 1 BTC today, is already wealthy (or stupid).

Re: Bitcoin is over $100k

#267

I couldn’t care less about crypto, but just for fun I bought 1 BTC in 2016. Still own it, and likely will never sell, but boy I wish I bought a lot more instead of my index funds, skipping one monthly contribution in VTI back then would have mostly set me up for life instead of just having a nice but inconsequential $100k bonus in my portfolio :-) Congrats to the people who held through thick and thin, I speculate (m…

> inconsequential $100k bonus in my portfolio It seems we are truly ducking poor here in the EU. My parents have been running a farm for 40 years in the Netherlands and they’re doing well financially. Still, $100k is not inconsequential for them!

The world is split into two kids of people: the ones that have managed to take advantage of the massive financialization of the world, and the ones who haven’t.

Re: Bitcoin is over $100k

#268
post #251

I couldn’t care less about crypto, but just for fun I bought 1 BTC in 2016. Still own it, and likely will never sell, but boy I wish I bought a lot more instead of my index funds, skipping one monthly contribution in VTI back then would have mostly set me up for life instead of just having a nice but inconsequential $100k bonus in my portfolio :-) Congrats to the people who held through thick and thin, I speculate (m…

I cry every time I think about the fact that I managed to CPU-mine 50 btc, and sold it for nothing. Still, I did get a payout from the mtgox disaster and its a decent amount really, considering I put in less than 100$ from the start. Just far from life-changing amount, more like "ok, this gets us a nice vacation trip!"-money.

I mined a bit over 2 BTC, sold them when it hit $200. Bought a pair of headphones that broke in 3-4 years.

If I had saved them, I could pay off my mortgage now.

Re: Bitcoin is over $100k

#269
post #61
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Bitcoin's price is simply another symptom of this. Bitcoin is not the symptom, Bitcoin is the answer. People are not longing Bitcoin, people are exiting the dollar, the euro, the yuan...

Yet the dollar is at record highs, and commodities are at record highs, and the stock market is at record highs, and real estate is at record highs, and Bitcoin is at record highs. So who is hedging what exactly?

> Yet the dollar is at record highs, and commodities are at record highs, and the stock market is at record highs, and real estate is at record highs, and Bitcoin is at record highs.

I'm not even sure what this means and what you're trying to say.

One can compare two things, say bitcoin and dollar. Dollar is at record lows compared to bitcoin. It's at record lows also compared to the stock market, commodities, real estate, etc.

Re: Bitcoin is over $100k

#270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, I'm not sure if I understand your question/statement. What I wanted to say, is that in its current form, bitcoin IS money for some ultrarich people who have enough of it AND are able to access a commerce world where you can actually buy stuff with it without converting it to fiat currencies. Because last time I checked, I can't buy milk with BTC in my local supermarket, but I bet I can buy some luxury/illegal…

the mantra of "Bitcoin is the future of money" that's being pushed I don't see that mantra used in the context of Bitcoin's market cap. In the concept of value, the aspects of Bitcoin that are relevant is that it has a broad ownership strucure, is finite in supply, is easy to store, validate and transfer.

The whole "BTC is the future of money" ship has sailed a long time.
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