Live data from Hacker News

After the Bitcoin Boom: Hard Lessons for Cryptocurrency Investors

nytimes.com

71–80 of 143 posts

Re: After the Bitcoin Boom: Hard Lessons for Cryptocurrency Investors

#72
Isn't this kind of thing the whole reason we have accredited investor laws? This might be an unpopular opinion, but if we want to protect people from themselves, maybe we should stop banning people from investing in private equity and start worrying more about exotic stuff like crypto. It seems utterly absurd to me that I'm not allowed to buy a single share of Uber or SpaceX, while sinking my life savings into whatever obscure cryptocurrency I choose is perfectly legal.

Re: After the Bitcoin Boom: Hard Lessons for Cryptocurrency Investors

#73
post #27

When everyone starts talking about cryptocurrencies, one should stop investing. A variant from a stock market quote.

Yeah, last year when my 76 year old mother asked me about bitcoin, I knew the bubble was about to pop. I've never been a bitcoin gambler myself, and I told my mom to stay the hell away as well. That continues to be my advice. I still think it looks like a big well-constructed scam designed to pull vast amounts of money from starry-eyed naive people and transfer it to a very small number of sharks.

that is not a reliable indicator though. I remember a lot of non-tech people talking about bitcoin in 2013. Even at $100-250/coin it was getting a lot of media coverage.

Re: After the Bitcoin Boom: Hard Lessons for Cryptocurrency Investors

#74
post #50
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Then why do people say "invest in the stock market for the long run by buying an index fund?"

Because the fees are the lowest and it's been proven over and over again that the number 1 headwind against long-term equity growth is the fee structure.

Index funds require no special knowledge to build...just buy the S&P100 stocks in equal amounts and boom, so the fees for such a fund can be super low.

Re: After the Bitcoin Boom: Hard Lessons for Cryptocurrency Investors

#75
post #2

22 years ago https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/03/business/investing-it-the...

that must suck..to have the misfortune of buying that stock instead of AOL, Cisco, Oracle, Intel, Dell, Microsoft..anything else would have been better. It goes to show how you can lose money even i n a boom if have bad luck, but also a good reason to diversify. .

Re: After the Bitcoin Boom: Hard Lessons for Cryptocurrency Investors

#76
post #14

> Now, eight months later, the $23,000 he invested in several digital tokens is worth about $4,000, and he is clearheaded about what happened. > “I got too caught up in the fear of missing out and trying to make a quick buck,” he said last week. “The losses have pretty much left me financially ruined.” I think it's distasteful to criticize the decisions that lead to someone's downfall, but maybe someone will read thi…

Mostly agreed, but you can buy arbitrarily small amounts. The mistake is putting too large a fraction of your savings there. This is not like Berkshire Hathaway in any sense.

Re: After the Bitcoin Boom: Hard Lessons for Cryptocurrency Investors

#78
post #72

Isn't this kind of thing the whole reason we have accredited investor laws? This might be an unpopular opinion, but if we want to protect people from themselves, maybe we should stop banning people from investing in private equity and start worrying more about exotic stuff like crypto. It seems utterly absurd to me that I'm not allowed to buy a single share of Uber or SpaceX, while sinking my life savings into whatev…

I'm unclear on why we wouldn't just ban both things.

The reason you can't buy a share of Uber or SpaceX is, effectively, that those companies don't want your money. Both could easily do a public offering and admit you as a shareholder, but choose not to.

Further clarity: I'm "accredited", and I don't think I can buy a share of either company either.

Re: After the Bitcoin Boom: Hard Lessons for Cryptocurrency Investors

#79

Investors? More like speculators, gamblers... Most people buy crypto because they believe the price will rise and they will be able to sell at profit. Investing is when you buy something that generates profits or utility, for example a share of a company or a house.

Isn't that what my 401k is? Sure I get matching contributions from my employer, but I am hoping it keeps rising and that I can sell later for a profit when I retire. Maybe I'm oversimplifying that, but how is that any different?

Re: After the Bitcoin Boom: Hard Lessons for Cryptocurrency Investors

#80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal take on that is: don’t invest money you can’t afford to lose.

Cash can lose value too. Look at Turkey now.

Moreover, cash is guaranteed to lose value. The mandate of global central banks has moved from "price stability" to "2% inflation".
Post reply on HN