Nihilism, eh? Interesting you mention the word. The dollar is printed by the truckloads like there is no tomorrow by a short term sighted government who doesn't care about its future and who will leave the mess to the next generation. The US national debt has ballooned to a point where it is all too obvious that it will never be paid back. And a single bitcoin, at this very moment, is backed physically by more than 10,000 USD. Gold is gold. An ounce of gold is backed by itself, not hot air. You can buy it, bury it and leave it for your descendants, because you know that its value will increase over time, pretty much like anything that's not fiat. Bury a chest full of fiat dollars and leave it there for your descendants to enjoy. It won't be worth half its value in 15 years. What's hot air and what's not, uh?
Ever try to eat an ounce of gold? Make a car or an airplane out of it? Use it for anything useful at all? It's value, absent a few niche practical applications, is entirely based on the arbitrary value it's assigned and in that way is no more "backed" by anything than dollars or bitcoins. I actually don't know the value of gold will increase over time, it certainly hasn't over the past 5 years time! On the other hand, I can buy pretty much the same amount of real things that I can eat/drink/use with dollars now as I could with the same amount of dollars 5 years ago. Sure, everyone could agree to stop using dollars tomorrow and their value would plummet. Absent a few nutjobs, it's in the best interest of the vast majority of the world to keep using dollars as a currency in much the same way we have for the past 50 years. That's a powerful backing force, as it turns out in the real world a much more powerful force than a soft metal with limited practical applications. But good luck with your gold chest you're going to bury for your descendents. I'm building companies and value for mine, which will persist regardless of what we're using for currency in a hundred years.
Bitcoin is much nicer to look at than the US dollar. At least a bitcoin is not full of ugly, unilingual geezers printed all over it. And it is as usable as gold and silver, as it can be converted to fiat very easily. Bottom line is that is that the crux of investment is to never sleep on fiat. You can basically sleep on anything, from coffee to gold, but you can't sleep on fiat because your wealth will melt away like a snowman in the heat of summer if you do.
Why, oh why do I feel the need to answer this one? Dude. I think it's pretty obvious that 5 years is short term. Look at this. The dollar has lost 96% of its value since 1913. https://comparegoldandsilverprices.com/news/economics-101/dollar-devaluation-since-1913/ Bottom line is that fiat money isn't worth anything in the long term.
My dear cultist friend, If you were haggling any other actually usable crypto like lTC, BCH or Monero, you would have a point. Don't you like technology? Apparently you do not. You just want us to buy into your useless ponzi money, so your positions value would stop dropping. Since arguments or facts won't change your mind, we are going to say farewell to each other. Just remember me when this year BTC will hit 3K and you are puking your guts up. Sincerelly, Litecoin forever!!!
Erm... Freudian slip, my dear Pekelo. Who said I'm a bitcoin one-sided believer? A little voice inside your head, not me. Yes, I do trade bitcoin, on both sides, just like I trade almost 200 other assets with it in my portfolio.
...including the USD, of course. I don't need to believe in something to trade it. But that's another story. Arrivederci!
The ability to facilitate a transaction with minimal transaction costs is a remarkable thing to overlook while suggesting that something has no intrinsic value or productive utility. Though, I don't see how this factors into my decision not to trade it. Nor do I view it as a bad thing to be increasingly adopted should its volatility ever cool down.
You may find it interesting to know that if you'd invested that 1913 dollar in a 10 year treasury, which is what anyone with half a brain does with a dollar they plan to pass to their descendents instead of burying it in a box, you'd have a 14,771% return (https://dqydj.com/treasury-return-calculator/), which means you'd now have $148.71. Even if dollars had lost 96% of their buying power, your 2018 $148 translates to $6 in 1913. That's how the real world works friend, morons bury gold in boxes and the rest of us live and prosper in the real economy. And don't have to worry about someone else finding the box!
Ditto, beerntrading. Bitcoin facilitates international transactions more than fiat money. Trading and investing are two different things. I'd absolutely trade hot air would there be an index on it. Why not? But I wouldn't invest in it, of course. Regarding volatility, it is actually a good thing if you want to reduce the leverage needed for your trades to unwind fast and don't want to tread water for months to see real changes in your positions. There's more crypto action in one day than SPX500 action in 1 year.