What a click-baity title. This isn't worthy of the front page of HN
Creates funny discussions though. All you need is to mention Bitcoin in the header.
Bitcoin: Be prepared to lose all your money, FCA warns consumers
61–70 of 133 posts
Re: Bitcoin: Be prepared to lose all your money, FCA warns consumers
#62This is just: "Don't invest what you aren't prepared to lose," which has been the advice for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for a decade at this point. The headline makes it sound like they're threatening legal action or some sort of regulation, at least to me.
True, but it's a good reminder given that:
- There are a lot of economic instabilities in the world right now (e.g. COVID, lockdowns) increasing poverty.
- Bitcoin increased by up to 400% in the past year, and about an order of magnitude since its lows in 2019.
There's obviously a temptation to invest more and more when the value keeps going up -- desperation latching onto volatility -- which can cause increase hardship to those who fail to adequately acknowledge the risk. Those who invested in Bitcoin yesterday lost 25% of their value today.
Re: Bitcoin: Be prepared to lose all your money, FCA warns consumers
#63Bitcoin speculation is an almost pure Keynesian beauty contest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keynesian_beauty_contest As long as most people think everyone else thinks BTC is the prettiest girl, it can have substantial value and the sky is the limit. It's a pure speculation asset. You don't need bitcoins to pay taxes. The value has a very weak link anchored to anything in the real economy (limited number of coins an…
I don't think fiat currency has terribly much more going for it, in terms of intrinsic value, other than you do need it day to day because there aren't alternatives for buying things and paying your taxes. If here in Canada the US dollar became legal tender and I could use it for all my transactions, would the Canadian dollar hold its value? I don't think so.
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Re: Bitcoin: Be prepared to lose all your money, FCA warns consumers
#64I was going to buy a bitcoin at 6K but thought it risky. Now I feel dumb.
You were right. It was risky. It's even more risky now. Hindsight is a terrible way to value assets.
> It's even more risky now
How so? The bigger it gets and the longer it lasts, the more it's derisked. It was more risky 10 years ago (i.e., odds of going to 0, finding a critical problem, lack of adoption, would've been easier for governments to ban it).
Re: Bitcoin: Be prepared to lose all your money, FCA warns consumers
#65Bitcoin speculation is an almost pure Keynesian beauty contest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keynesian_beauty_contest As long as most people think everyone else thinks BTC is the prettiest girl, it can have substantial value and the sky is the limit. It's a pure speculation asset. You don't need bitcoins to pay taxes. The value has a very weak link anchored to anything in the real economy (limited number of coins an…
I don't think fiat currency has terribly much more going for it, in terms of intrinsic value, other than you do need it day to day because there aren't alternatives for buying things and paying your taxes. If here in Canada the US dollar became legal tender and I could use it for all my transactions, would the Canadian dollar hold its value? I don't think so.
Liquidity matters. Cash is king because it's the most liquid asset. You can sell $100s million dollars worth USD/EUR/JPY/GBP in a day without affecting the price those currencies. Bitcoin is the polar opposite of liquidity. Bitcoin markets are notoriously thin. If you try to by or sell large amounts the price either collapses or skyrockets.
Bitcoin is like water tower where you can move water level (price) up or down by adding or removing 10-20 cubic meters of water. Fiat money is like a big lake or a sea. You can take or put 100 cubic meters per second and it's not visibly moving.
Once BTC price rises to the level that enough people feel rich and start buying things, the price will drop suddenly. Panic hits the markets and the price drops like a stone.
Re: Bitcoin: Be prepared to lose all your money, FCA warns consumers
#66In London they are advertising bitcoin on the side of buses and in the Underground with the slogan 'when you see bitcoin on the side of a bus, it's time to buy'. I thought that was outrageous and actually was a sign to sell. I mentioned this to a foreign exchange trader friend and we even finished each other's sentence with the above!
There is a relevant quote apparently from the 1920s.
"Taxi drivers told you what to buy. The shoeshine boy could give you a summary of the day's financial news as he worked with rag and polish. An old beggar who regularly patrolled the street in front of my office now gave me tips and, I suppose, spent the money I and others gave him in the market. My cook had a brokerage account and followed the ticker closely. Her paper profits were quickly blown away in the gale of 1929."
https://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archiv...
Re: Bitcoin: Be prepared to lose all your money, FCA warns consumers
#67Bitcoin speculation is an almost pure Keynesian beauty contest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keynesian_beauty_contest As long as most people think everyone else thinks BTC is the prettiest girl, it can have substantial value and the sky is the limit. It's a pure speculation asset. You don't need bitcoins to pay taxes. The value has a very weak link anchored to anything in the real economy (limited number of coins an…
> It's pure speculation asset.
> The value has very weak link anchored to anything in real economy
So like dollars but without the big-ass nukes backing it?
BTW kids, dont invest on bitcoin, or for that matter on any crypto-anything.
Re: Bitcoin: Be prepared to lose all your money, FCA warns consumers
#68Re: Bitcoin: Be prepared to lose all your money, FCA warns consumers
#69Bitcoin speculation is an almost pure Keynesian beauty contest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keynesian_beauty_contest As long as most people think everyone else thinks BTC is the prettiest girl, it can have substantial value and the sky is the limit. It's a pure speculation asset. You don't need bitcoins to pay taxes. The value has a very weak link anchored to anything in the real economy (limited number of coins an…
> It's pure speculation asset. > The value has very weak link anchored to anything in real economy So like dollars but without the big-ass nukes backing it? BTW kids, dont invest on bitcoin, or for that matter on any crypto-anything.
No, he quite clearly said the difference was one is needed to pay taxes.
Re: Bitcoin: Be prepared to lose all your money, FCA warns consumers
#70This is incredibly frustrating, as, just before this massive spike in bitcoin’s value, I bought a significant amount of BTC using Coinbase. They took my money, then retroactively made it look like my (brand new) account had exactly the amount of debt that I had paid in, and now my account was at 0.
I sent in 2 support tickets and received no reply, so I resorted to a chargeback, presumably forfeiting any right to the BTC I purchased.
Just to add salt to the wounds, I now constantly see adverts for Coinbase
Avoid Coinbase like the Covid