The puzzles being solved by a network of miners to make up the blockchain I think is where the value is. This process is genius, just my two cents. In the end there have been 2 camps from the get go. 1) Believers in bitcoin 2) Non believers. Both with excellent points as to why yes and why no; no doubt. But who has made money and who has watched from the side lines while all this wealth has been created. In the end its about making money. peace
Admittedly true. But some people made a killing in Nortel, too. That alone doesn't validate the premise. My uncle owned some Nortel stock back in the day, and so I assessed their financials. It was all air. I was telling him to sell on its meteoric rise up and especially on its way down. But he chose to stay for the whole ride. Yet, before the company went into the dustbin of history some people were killin' it. So, yes, at the end of the day it is about making money. But that wasn't my argument. And, yes, I'm pissed that I missed the early frenzy. (Please, please don't tell me we're still in the early days of BTC. )
If bitcoin to you represents an entire new way of thinking about money, about store of value and medium of exchange, then do you not think we could be super early? You're thinking of bitcoin as another stock, another Nortel. Using a car analogy, Tesla is said to be just a car company, but gets its high valuation from the fact that some call it an energy company, and everything else that entails. But suppose a new technology comes along, teleportation. Would it now matter if you are Tesla or Ford of GM? Who would prefer to commute if you could just show up where you need to be in an instant? Bitcoin could very well be this new technology that will revolutionize everything and decimate everything that currently relies on traditional finance and fiat based monetary systems.
No, I am not thinking of BTC as another stock. I was only pointing out that making money in an instrument for a time does not validate its (longer-term) premise. As I noted in a previous post, perhaps (probably) I'm too old for this "new way of thinking." It makes no sense to me. None whatsoever. However, I must admit that people who are far smarter than I am claim to believe in the premise. And so, I'm probably dead wrong. But I gotta be me.
The same way that staying out of an instrument and not making money does not negate its (longer-term) premise.
Its a fair assessment. But you have to admit that something with regards to the trajectory of debt has to drastically change. We have a perfect storm of high debt, low interest rates, asset bubbles, inflation, shortages coming, etc. This certainly tells me that something big will have to happen because the current system is going to be fail and not be able to contain whatever the cracks are going to be. So I think its an important time to be paying attention. The next few years will be more transformative than the last 40 I imagine.
Sure, I get the concern. But there have been crazy bubbles and corrections large and small before our time, during our time, and I expect there will be many more well after all of us here are gone. It's the nature of the beast. I'm just not convinced that cryptocurrency is a viable and sustainable alternative simply because it's different.
But what did all the previous bubbles and corrections have in common? It was always the same people causing the problems and responsible for fixing it, and they always did it through the printing of money or manipulating interest rates. All of this central command really is toxic for a financial system. I'm sure you know that saying about doing the same thing over and over again, and yet expecting a different outcome. Well, Bitcoin is finally going to do something different to the monetary system that hasn't been done before. Only time will tell if its truly sustainable, but the fact that its so radically different is a huge bonus going forward. What other options do we really have? Let the FED fix all the problems with more printing? Raising interest rates in order to tame inflation and then lower them again once they realize the economy is crashing too hard? I think even the dumbest American is learning that all of their solutions are total crap.