Bitcoin will never go to zero. Why? There are too many billionaires that will buy the total available supply long before it can get to $0.
Why do you think they would do that?
What if Bitcoin went to zero?
51–60 of 84 posts
Re: What if Bitcoin went to zero?
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am not sure I quite follow the thinking. If something has zero intrinsic value, does it matter which units are used to expressed that (so long as the units themselves have some non-zero value)?
Are you sure that US Dollar or Gold or bread have some intrinsic value? Day to day they do have some stable price but on a longer time scale that changes a lot. Let's take EURUSD for example - both currencies are loosing purchasing power but EUSUSD ranges from 0,9 to 1,6 within last 50 years. In some sci-fi scenario US Dollar could also go to zero if for example USA looses major war with China as is left with crushin…
If USD became worthless, people would stop denominating the value of bitcoin in USD. This (or less drastic but still major fluctuations of USD) would complicate questions about how bitcoin's value had changed over time, but I'm not seeing how it would create ambiguity over whether bitcoin had 'gone to zero' or not.
Re: What if Bitcoin went to zero?
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly, people who keep honestly earned currency in a bank can probably afford to laugh on the way there—they are used to paying tax, they don’t have to worry about new KYC measures somewhere or theft of their token device invalidating their savings, etc. They can be made fun of by cryptocurrency holders here on HN, but interacting with the financial system is much less like a warzone for them.
I'm sorry, what? In many, possibly most jurisdictions, and certainly in the United States, there is nothing in the law that specifically stops you from having made a perfectly legal, legitimate fortune by holding bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies and then cashing them out into fiat through the same formal banks that any other investor uses with no worries about dodging KYC as long as they followed reporting requireme…
How is the system supposed to be able to tell whether a cryptocurrency holder engaged in laundering money? I recall reading the evidence is easy to completely erase with a few conversions across coins/exchanges/tumblers. This would never be possible in the traditional financial system—except if you use cash, which in large transactions is considered itself a red flag for that reason.
Re: What if Bitcoin went to zero?
#54To me the most fascinating thing about Bitcoin is perfectly displayed in this comment thread. People act like simply because it’s computers and algorithms that it’s beyond the reach of law.
Imagine that mentality in other fields. Like “there’s no way we can make laws against murder, because people can just sail to international waters and kill their victim and then come back”
Bitcoin only has value due to people and those people are all subjects to some laws and regulations. It’s perfectly reasonable to expect over time that these laws will make bitcoin “just a boring currency” in which case it will go to zero, because it’s an absolutely horrible currency by all accounts. Anyone who has ever tried to buy a cup of coffee with Bitcoin will tell you. Bitcoins current valuation is a combination of speculation and illegal transfer of value. Both of which are extremely vulnerable to regulation, and “it’s algorithms running on computers” doesn’t protect against that, no matter how many cyberpunks have wet dreams that it does.
Re: What if Bitcoin went to zero?
#55If btc goes to zero, and it's almost certain it will. Then it means other decentralised ledger tech have fulfilled the needs initially satisfied by btc. To the point where nobody wants btc even for the equivalent of a penny. I wouldn't pay a penny to get telegraphs credits since there are no network available to me to use them for anything. And phone, then Internet supersedes all features of telegraphs.
How does it feel to be involved with technology to such a degree so as to be reading and commenting on hacker news and yet you entirely missed any opportunity so far with Bitcoin ?
Bitcoin is not magic, the opportunities it offers are also available to other technologies and if others solve the problems better than Bitcoin then it too will go the way of the Telegraph credits.
Social networks didn’t disappear and likely won’t disappear, but arguing that people “missed the opportunity of social networks” for saying that MySpace would go away is just plain silly.
Re: What if Bitcoin went to zero?
#56not to sound moronic, but the news cycles on cryptocurrencies is funny to watch a nice stream of useless hyperbolic and very well timed pieces on a more serious note, who thinks distributed supply chain management could really help things on large scale ? (supposedly free, consistent, 24/7 tracking of items and data) I see so much friction for that in companies .. it made me wonder.
> distributed supply chain management
This is already its own industry. Lots of big companies have bought into the blockchain aspect of it.
Unfortunately I can't give you any names. I just know a few select friends of mine quite literally never shut up about it.
I just know it exists.
Re: What if Bitcoin went to zero?
#57not to sound moronic, but the news cycles on cryptocurrencies is funny to watch a nice stream of useless hyperbolic and very well timed pieces on a more serious note, who thinks distributed supply chain management could really help things on large scale ? (supposedly free, consistent, 24/7 tracking of items and data) I see so much friction for that in companies .. it made me wonder.
> distributed supply chain management This is already its own industry. Lots of big companies have bought into the blockchain aspect of it. Unfortunately I can't give you any names. I just know a few select friends of mine quite literally never shut up about it. I just know it exists.
and based on your info, do you think:
1) it's 90% fad ?
2) it does improve the existing ?
3) do you think the broad principles can reach other parts of society (I do, but I'm not connected to anybody in the industry.. I should though)
Re: What if Bitcoin went to zero?
#58To me the most fascinating thing about Bitcoin is perfectly displayed in this comment thread. People act like simply because it’s computers and algorithms that it’s beyond the reach of law. Imagine that mentality in other fields. Like “there’s no way we can make laws against murder, because people can just sail to international waters and kill their victim and then come back” Bitcoin only has value due to people and…
Here is a video of what it's actually like to buy coffee with Bitcoin
https://twitter.com/PeterMcCormack/status/140447240554906010...
Re: What if Bitcoin went to zero?
#59Bitcoin will never go to zero. Why? There are too many billionaires that will buy the total available supply long before it can get to $0.
Just like all the billionaires that bought the total supply of tulips when they were falling, right?
There were about 30 rich people who got scammed on tulips and that's it. That's the whole story. The end. They barely lost any money.
Re: What if Bitcoin went to zero?
#60But like other commodities can it go to negative 0?
> But like other commodities can it go to negative 0?
If it went to near 0 it could be out paced by inflation. I guess also if fees outpaced it's extrinsic value could mean an overall negative valuation. But a actual value below 0 would be rather difficult.