It's worth and/or value
is a product of its complexity and utilization.
Gold wasn't much use prior to PCBs other than it didn't tarnish and was fairly malleable.
Most things only have intrinsic worth by common consent, Bitcoin is no different, and this and other alt currencies will become much more mainstream in the coming years.
It is a bit of a gamble, but it's the same gamble any early adopters take. It's more about the patience in waiting for the rest of the world to catch up.
(, Mon 18 Dec 2017, 21:37, Share, Reply)
Gold wasn't much use?
Apart from its decorative properties of course. It was prized highly enough for that for people to kill each other for it.
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wheresthefish Partly filled with wrong, Mon 18 Dec 2017, 21:40,
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You sound like one of the True Believers
but take a step back and look objectively at it for a moment.
It isn't useful as a currency for anything other than large-value transactions. There's currently a $2.99 fee on every transaction which prevents you from using it for anything useful like buying coffee or lunch. Frankly at a fee level that high I wouldn't even be using it to pay to fill up my car.
It isn't even fast. When the network is congested (like say in a price spike) it can take minutes for your transaction to clear, and more often than not the value of the transaction has moved dramatically in that time. That makes it untrustworthy.
The volatility is crazy. Anything that can be worth 30% more or less than it was last night isn't a viable investment for most people. The people who are investing are the high risk-takers (who'll flee at the first sign of trouble) and the True Believers, who have to keep talking it up and persuading people to invest as it'll support their own investment.
Long-term it's not a viable currency, so it only has value while people are pumping money in. That will inevitably stop as the supply of money to pump in isn't infinite. The only questions that will remain then are when it'll collapse, and what sort of an economic shock will it generate when it goes. The current market capitalization of Bitcoin alone is north of $300Bn right now. The bailout of the entire US banking system in 2008 only cost $50Bn more than that.
If alt currencies are to gain legitimacy and play a role in our economy, they need to be regulated like fuck. That's totally at odds with their theology. How that will then play out is the bit that alarms me.
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evil_andy Stick stick stick stick sticky sticky stick stick, Mon 18 Dec 2017, 23:16,
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mostly true
But as I said, it's being used as a trading vehicle rather than out and out 'cash in pocket'
How regulation will shape alts' futures, I don't know, but the most noisy denouncers are all heavily involved in 'old money systems' who, currently, have no means of profiting from the take up of people investing in Alts. They're like 1900s inner-London horse traders and stable owners discussing automobiles.
I am a believer in the long term integration of Alts into a coherent mainstream financial system and it's been a wild and bewildering ride so far. I would hate to be accused of Honda Accordism but what cost less than a grand in 2014 has allowed me, this year, to transfer back into gbp a mid five figure sum with a remainder still in alts 'worth' ten times that.
Quite possibly this is clouding my judgement, however, because I'm 'in' I keep my eye on what is developing and how people are suggesting the use of blockchain technology can be implemented, and it's all exciting stuff with many real-world applications. It's this that people are investing in. The coins themselves are more like shares in the tech, rather than notes from the bank.
Bitcoin has been the pioneer of a system that there are many secondary developments of. One of these, or a few of these will eventually replace it, but as an overall system, Alts will gain greater traction in society.
People dismissing it as 'Tulips' and 'a Ponzi scheme' haven't got a clue.
(, Tue 19 Dec 2017, 7:55, Share, Reply)
Then take your mid six-figure sum
and cash it the fuck out. Pay off the mortgage, and live comfortably for the rest of your life.
Do it now. Do it before this bubble bursts.
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wheresthefish Partly filled with wrong, Tue 19 Dec 2017, 13:01,
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