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The dollar has lost something like 98% of it's value in the last 100 years. If you hold dollars, there's a 100% chance it will be worth less tomorrow than it is today.
That's because dollars aren't meant to be held! They're a proper, functioning currency, a medium of exchange and not a store of value.
If you want to purchase an asset, buy one that is useful!
IMO, bitcoin is "virtual money." It doesn't even exist in a certain respect. Like Monopoly money--it's valuable if you are playing Monopoly. Then again, it is really not much different than any other currency or asset: the participants place the value upon it. That applies to gold, the dollar, or buffalo chips from the field. If people place a value upon it... well, then it is valuable.
Having said that, I'm quite skeptical of bitcoin and similar "digital currency." If the world blows up and infrastructure falls apart, my gold still exists. I cannot say the same for bitcoin. If the power goes down long-term... in that situation, it wouldn't exist, and even if it did it only exists in a virtual world. Gold or physical assets exist in the real world. Of course, whether anyone would place value upon gold in a SHTF situation is up for debate. But they have historically even in the worst of times. Ultimately though, the most valuable items if things fell apart would be food, supplies, tools, guns, ammo, etc. I'd rather have a years supply of food than gold or bitcoin in bad times.
The advantage of gold is that no one has figured out how to make it. After centuries of trying. With digital currency, who knows? How can we know that it can't be faked?
Belling brought up that Bill Gates said something smart... he said that people buying bitcoin are buying because they think some sucker will buy it higher so they can sell and profit. Thus it's gambling, or a form of pyramid scheme. All investing is gambling to a degree. Don't risk more than you are willing to lose.
Gambling and pyramid schemes are not the same thing. Gambling can be based in reality, as in horse races where you can try to figure out which horse is the best. With pyramid schemes, there is nothing there.
It could be better if we did not create so many cryptos,it creates a domino effect.
You walk into a casino and leave your dollar at the door,convert it into different cryptos and play one against another.
A lot of my friends lost a lot of money recently in Bitcoin. Yes, they really lost because they were forced to sell. The inflation is forcing people to cash in their chips. I'm deeply worried about some of the people in my inner circle of friends. I know the old saying, a fool and their money soon part ways. Some of my friends do foolish things. I am not perfect either, but luckily I was so damn late to that party, I never showed up. I contemplated getting one of those wallets so I could accept payment from customers. Now, there is no way that's happening.
Bitcoin seems no better than a piece of paper backed by a promise, unless someone can convince me I am wrong about that and this is just a temporary glitch. I have no horse in this race other than I do want to make transactions as easy as possible for my customers. Outside of that, I honestly don't care. I'm just a natural born skeptic of the "next great promise".
I will say, some of these people would have not had much money to lose to begin with, because they would have been working just a low paying 9 to 5. So there is that to consider as well.
It is a pyramid scheme . Buy early , hype it to death, let people be duped into buying in , watch the numbers go up, the early buyers sell and make a killing from those that bought high. Pyramid scheme. That is how it works.
Bitcoin seems no better than a piece of paper backed by a promise, unless someone can convince me I am wrong about that and this is just a temporary glitch. I have no horse in this race other than I do want to make transactions as easy as possible for my customers. Outside of that, I honestly don't care. I'm just a natural born skeptic of the "next great promise".
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