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Billionaire Mike Novogratz says 10% of his money is in Bitcoin and Ether

money.cnn.com

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Re: Billionaire Mike Novogratz says 10% of his money is in Bitcoin and Ether

#61

Post by atemerev »

MichaelBurge wrote: post #50
bigtimeidiot wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but its likely that you will be able to use it for payment even if all else fails. Can you give an example of a modern economy collapsing and reverting to gold as a medium of exchange?

I hear Bitcoin is popular in Venezuela, where the people hunt pigeons for food after the communists took over. It's also popular in China, where - again - people are scared of their government. I don't know that the US federal government is as scary, but it's not unheard of.

Especially when your and their opinions on taxable assets differ.

Re: Billionaire Mike Novogratz says 10% of his money is in Bitcoin and Ether

#62

Post by Pxtl »

mrb wrote: post #54
T-A wrote: post #49

The actual quote is "Ten percent of my net worth is in this space ", said at the "Blockchain Disruption" forum [1]. A reasonable interpretation would be that 10% of his money is in blockchain companies . [1] http://www.hbscny.org/s/1738/cc/index2.aspx?sid=1738&gid=4&p...

" Novogratz says he bought Ether when it was trading for about $1. Today it's worth over $48. " He is worth ~$2B. Assuming he put 0.2% (only $4M) in Ethereum during the crowd sale, 3 years later Ethereum appreciates 48× and represents 10% of his net worth. Of course he says he is also invested into Bitcoin, not only into Ethereum. Say he purchased only $2M of ETH, that's 3300 BTC as of the crowd sale's initial phase…

I don't know much aboute Etherium but wouldn't he be owner of a substantial fraction of the blockchain at that point?

If so, he can't sell it without tanking the value so hard he'd never be able to get a decent fraction of its "worth".

Re: Billionaire Mike Novogratz says 10% of his money is in Bitcoin and Ether

#63

Post by chc »

MichaelBurge wrote: post #50
bigtimeidiot wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but its likely that you will be able to use it for payment even if all else fails. Can you give an example of a modern economy collapsing and reverting to gold as a medium of exchange?

I hear Bitcoin is popular in Venezuela, where the people hunt pigeons for food after the communists took over. It's also popular in China, where - again - people are scared of their government. I don't know that the US federal government is as scary, but it's not unheard of.

So we're back to "Bitcoin is mainly good for evading the law."

Re: Billionaire Mike Novogratz says 10% of his money is in Bitcoin and Ether

#64

Post by clarkmoody »

Pxtl wrote: post #62
mrb wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" Novogratz says he bought Ether when it was trading for about $1. Today it's worth over $48. " He is worth ~$2B. Assuming he put 0.2% (only $4M) in Ethereum during the crowd sale, 3 years later Ethereum appreciates 48× and represents 10% of his net worth. Of course he says he is also invested into Bitcoin, not only into Ethereum. Say he purchased only $2M of ETH, that's 3300 BTC as of the crowd sale's initial phase…

I don't know much aboute Etherium but wouldn't he be owner of a substantial fraction of the blockchain at that point? If so, he can't sell it without tanking the value so hard he'd never be able to get a decent fraction of its "worth".

> owner of a substantial fraction of the blockchain

No, the blockchain is the data structure that stores historical transactions.

He could be a large owner of the circulating currency, and he would face issues trying to sell a huge chunk of value all at once. The crypto markets are not very liquid compared with mature financial markets.

Re: Billionaire Mike Novogratz says 10% of his money is in Bitcoin and Ether

#65

Post by MichaelBurge »

atemerev wrote: post #61
MichaelBurge wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear Bitcoin is popular in Venezuela, where the people hunt pigeons for food after the communists took over. It's also popular in China, where - again - people are scared of their government. I don't know that the US federal government is as scary, but it's not unheard of.

Especially when your and their opinions on taxable assets differ.

Oppressive governments are essentially the only good reason to use bitcoin, since the usual financial system is far more efficient at storing and transmitting money. He's either evading taxes or speculating.

Re: Billionaire Mike Novogratz says 10% of his money is in Bitcoin and Ether

#66

Post by myth_drannon »

bigtimeidiot wrote: post #41
myth_drannon wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it's not an investment but a safety net like gold and silver. Crypto-currencies fans are the younger version of goldbugs.

> because it's not an investment but a safety net like gold and silver Only if you're a resident of an unstable country. Can you name a crisis where having a stash of gold and silver mattered? Do you think people are going to trade valuable goods (food? water? ammo?) for your metal bars? I can't imagine the circumstances. When SHTF the government (or someone else) will confiscate that wealth. They have in the past. P…

Cypress is a stable and prosperous country, but they had banks crisis and their bank savings were confiscated to prop up the banks.

Re: Billionaire Mike Novogratz says 10% of his money is in Bitcoin and Ether

#68

Post by bigtimeidiot »

DINKDINK wrote: post #39
bigtimeidiot wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In my neighborhood there are bars that accept Bitcoin. Something tells me you don't live in Nebraska. > Quite convenient in a city where you usually can only pay with cash... How is it more convenient than cash?

You cannot back up cash You cannot securely send cash across the globe without depositing it into a trusted third party You cannot program physical cash

Are you just listing a few random ways that Bitcoin is more convenient than cash? The OP was about spending money at a bar.

But okay, here's how cash is more convenient: I can walk outside my office and use this dollar bill at any store anywhere around me. It has apparent value to everyone I will talk to. I don't need the internet.

If you need to "program" or "backup" your money, I guess Bitcoin is your medium. No argument there.

Re: Billionaire Mike Novogratz says 10% of his money is in Bitcoin and Ether

#69

Post by atemerev »

metaphorm wrote: post #58
bigtimeidiot wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because it's not an investment but a safety net like gold and silver Only if you're a resident of an unstable country. Can you name a crisis where having a stash of gold and silver mattered? Do you think people are going to trade valuable goods (food? water? ammo?) for your metal bars? I can't imagine the circumstances. When SHTF the government (or someone else) will confiscate that wealth. They have in the past. P…

I think the most valuable thing you can possibly own in a full blown collapse situation is a well stocked seed bank.

You don't need anything except potatoes and fast-growing greens to survive. Grain and rice are too labor-intensive and generally require a functioning economy.

(And if you don't have guns and ammo, you'll be immediately robbed by those who do)

Re: Billionaire Mike Novogratz says 10% of his money is in Bitcoin and Ether

#70

Post by fny »

roymurdock wrote: post #27
kolbe wrote: post #9

Has anyone noticed the disparity between how many articles get written about btc's price, and how little gets written about its real-life uses and benefits?

Idealistic view: BTC is used to create peer-to-peer marketplaces (OpenBazaar [1]) and the underlying blockchain tech can be used to implement smart contracts that can automate systems and remove humans from the loop (Samsung/IBM ADEPT [2], Filament [3]). Realistic view: BTC is used as a speculative hedge, and to evade currency controls in China. [1] https://openbazaar.org/ [2] http://rethinkresearch.biz/articles/ibm-…

Can someone explain why it's a good idea to use blockchains for IoT? The example they give is of a smart washer checking to see whether the washer is under warranty when it detects a part is about to fail... but why on Earth would a blockchain be better than any old database maintained by the company? Why on Earth use a distributed ledger?
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