Posted on 03/11/2024 3:25:04 PM PDT by NoLibZone
The Financial Times, perhaps THE arch-critic of cryptocurrencies over the past decade, has conceded that Bitcoin might just have a purpose. It’s just the latest data point that there is a great shift happening in how people view crypto, from ex-President Donald Trump to Larry Fink. They may not fully grasp what’s going on (who does?), but they sense it’s important.
“The bitcoin bulls have been proved mostly right about its prospects as a long-term investment,” Rockefeller International Chair Ruchir Sharma wrote in an opinion piece titled “Once dismissed as fanatics, the bitcoin bulls must be feeling vindicated.” Noting that bitcoin (BTC) has traditionally behaved like penny stocks that tend to pump and then dump, he said the fact that its bubble burst and quickly recovered “suggests that something real and sustainable is going on.”
“There is an old Wall Street saying for moments like this: only the fools are dancing, but the bigger fools are watching,” Sharma added. True, this is not the official position of the U.K.-based paper or its editorial board, just a contributing writer. But it still stands out as something significant for the FT in particular to publish. For years, it hasn’t published opinion pieces like this. Many of the paper’s reporters and editors have been staunch critics of crypto, and take any opportunity to write negative articles or post self-satisfied statements when things go awry in crypto, which is often.
Nowhere is this more apparent than on Alphaville, the FT’s erudite daily markets blog, which could be read as standing for the general (but unofficial) view of the paper. Here is a sampling of headlines Alphaville published over the past four years pertaining to crypto: Little evidence that a spot bitcoin ETF would expand the market
(Boy, did they get that one wrong.)
Let crypto burn
(Charming.)
(A Tether crisis think piece.)
Why bitcoin is worse than a Madoff-style Ponzi scheme (Madoff was pretty bad.)
Oh no, now Deloitte with the crypto nonsense
(Godforbid companies take an interest in ascendent technology.)
The crypto Buffett lunch has been postponed. Lucky Warren Buffett.
(They may have gotten this one right.)
Notably, former Alphaville editor Izabella Kaminska had a change of heart on Bitcoin in 2020 and ultimately quit the FT two years later (for a number of reasons). She wrote at the time “part of me has always thought of the crypto market as a type of honeytrap for the worst irrational exuberance emerging from the quantitative easing and zirp [Zero Interest-Rate Policy] era.”
While the growing appreciation for Bitcoin among the tastemakers and power brokers of the world doesn’t necessarily translate to support for crypto across the board (a point-of-view that could be considered as Bitcoin Maximalism Light), it does open the doors to more people thinking more seriously about blockchain technology.
In other words, crypto is becoming destigmatized. Time will tell how far this will filter up within elite circles — it likely hangs on bitcoin’s continued success. B but I can imagine a day where the default position isn’t to sneer, jeer or steer clear of bitcoin and instead view it as part of the financial furniture.
Enter Donald Trump, who called crypto a “scam” in 2021 but told CNBC this weekend he has been having “fun” with crypto and called bitcoin an “additional form of currency.”
These are not the first positive comments Trump has made as his presidential campaign ramps up, suggesting he no longer sees crypto as a threat towards his “America First” agenda or considers it cut from the same populist cloth.
Further, even if people aren’t out-and-out Bitcoin or crypto supporters, the number of people willing to criticize the industry appears to be dwindling.
There are a number of factors influencing this shift, including the successful launch of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S. Not only did this prove there was intense pent up demand for bitcoin exposure but also that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s years of fear mongering about potential market manipulation was misplaced.
More importantly perhaps, as Sharma’s op-ed suggests, it seems like these elite folks are tired of being wrong. There are only so many supposed Bitcoin autopsies that can be written before critics have to examine their own heads.
Of course, whether or not people in high places begrudgingly accept that it’s not disappearing doesn’t matter much. Crypto still has its flaws. The hope is that, with fewer people trodding out the same tired arguments to be debunked, the quality of industry criticism will rise.
Sharma himself, while accepting that bitcoin is a viable investment, still has his reservations. He noted that bitcoin isn’t being used much as a currency and that the idea that it’ll become “‘digital gold’ [is] still a dream.” He’s not wrong that bitcoin isn’t commonly being used to buy coffee by anyone but fanatics, but he does contradict himself.
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I know you Don’t want to this generational opportunity.
Bitcoin is the ultimate pyramid scheme. The people smart enough to cash out before the crash are the ones who will make money from it. Everyone else will be wondering what the hell happened.
The US dollar is a scam. When it was backed by gold it had an intrinsic value. I am not sure if it ever was actually backed by gold but it was perceived to be. After they made it into the Federal Reserve it became a scam which rich people use to protect and increase their wealth. Unfortunately we the people don’t have the ability to function outside of their system.
$1,000,000,000, dam%. I thought 2 mil was doing well.
I see that Bitcoin has outperformed the dollar by almost 10 times. The question I ask is where is the value of Bitcoin coming from? Gold can be used to make teeth and electrical conductors. It has a pretty color and some physical properties that are very fascinating and at least somewhat useful. Bitcoin is a bunch of electrons that don’t even exist after the bitcoin is created. It is one EMP from being completely gone. Gold will sit in a tin can under your house for years and is easily recognized as valuable by even the stupidest people. I have been working in tech for 45 years and I don’t trust bitcoin one bit.
“I’m still convinced it is a scam.”
Maybe so. But you know what definitely is, was, and always will be a scam?
Social Security, that’s what. I am so happy that the majority of my income was exempt from paying Social Security tax and that I invested a portion of the savings in Bitcoin.
I mean it represents a lot of burned energy creating it with no intrinsic value —obviously fiat currencies don’t really have any intrinsic value either but are generally accepted in society enough to be useful in exchange for things I need.
I have a bit of crypto for speculation, if I had a lot more wealth to diversify I might have more for contingencies but
Agree
“From a practical sense, Bitcoin is a decent substitute for wires/swift for money transfers.”
That’s where it’s actually useful and where its intrinsic value resides. It can save financial firms money every time that they move money around with it. It’s the transaction function that they want it for, not as a store of value.
You’re right that social security is a scam. Sure, if I had known about bit coin and how to invest in it when it was $0.03/bitcoin, I would have bought $10,000 and then cashed out when it reached $40,000/bitcoin.
The smart people got their money in early and have probably existed the system for more secure investments. That’s what you are supposed to do in ponzi schemes. Invest early and get out halfway.
Oh, my cost basis averages about 16,000. I have no problem with some people getting in earlier.
But if you think the dollar is more sound than bitcoin, I have a bridge to sell you, but I only take bitcoin lol...
Bitcoin is "generally accepted" by Black Rock, Fidelity, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, et al as well as companies that accept Bitcoin as payment.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/15-major-companies-accept-bitcoin-155558584.html
Just saying.
The most certain investments right now, imo, are commodities. People will always need their bodily needs met. I do not believe that bitcoin is anything other than a CIA creation. People traded $26 billion in real money for vapour money, that will likely be turned off when it can’t be monetized further.
It’s a great scam. No, I don’t think the dollar is stable either.
Good luck doing what you are doing.....But I have physical gold and silver in my home....
I've traded stocks for years....But now a days....it's been O & G...and metals.
Good luck with how you trade. Hope you make a bundle.
Me neither...FRiend.
I've traded stocks for years....I don't fall in love with them I date them.
I'm presently dating some silver and gold.
I've no use for things that I don't understand.
Each to their own....
Good luck.
$70,000?
Tulips got up to a million dollars.
I did mutual funds for 25 years, put bought boys thru college on them.
I mined ethereum and 44 gpus at the end. They got over 6 btc, after recouping the 85,000 in hardware and electric back plus 6pk for taxes and 20k in my pocket.
I love btc. But I lost money on individual stock;)
I know I am going to owe the IRS too darn much for 23 and 24.
Then I learned to trade....
Good on ya..!!
Glad you are doing well........
My point is you actually own something of value, an physical object that has value.
Bitcoin is just a series of 01s and 00s on a computer.
.Much like those jpeg “art” that was the “latest hot item”
Until it wasn’t.
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