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.
It's a crappy "M"...but if you stick to certain sectors...it's doable.
I think it’s still a scam, a pyramid scheme.
What do I get when I invest in Bitcoin other than an electronic transaction that my real money has been converted into faux “currency” which has no intrinsic value.
Stocks are part ownership of a real company
Bonds are debts that will be repaid with interest.
Gold, silver, copper have real world uses.
Corn wheat and pork bellies are foodstuffs I can eat.
But Bitcoin is a ponzi scheme.
Trump should know better.
It is, but you can't do anything about it.
They'll put you in jail if you try to work around it.
Trump was and still is correct when he says crypto is a scam. However, he is also correct to say Bitcoin which as an asset surpassed SILVER today is not a threat.
Most people have no idea about anything related to the term Bitcoin and the term crypto currency. With BTC is the only crypto to classified an asset, beyond 6 other coins that have an actual use, the thousands of other meme and crypto coins are junk.
Bitcoin ETFs in less than two months have exceeded the first three years of the Gold ETFs.
Gold ETF funds are flowing out and directly into the BTC ETFs.
At 73k it is still a bargain. IT will hit 124k by April 19th and probably double by the end of the year from April.
Blackrock will purchase 529m USD or approx 8,000 BTC tonight.
They will buy 14-15,000 before the weekend.
Trump is smarter and better informed than 98% of Americans on this issue.
“How, then, is the fiat US dollar not a scam.”
It is legal tender back by the US government... For now.
When the US debt becomes so larger it crashes from the weight of its own gavitional pull, then it becomes worthless.
Bitcoin is just one panic away from being absolutely worthless.
We sold two about four years ago when it hit $18K. We bought at $6K. If we had held, we could now realize about $100K instead of the $24K back then.
I am confident you can invest 10 USD in BTC on coinbase (they will give you $10 if you sign up), and it is going to be worth $13-15.40 by April 19th.
As an incentive, if you join Coinbase and get the free $10 and your BTC isn’t worth at keast $13 by 19 April, I will send you $10 just to teach you.
I am good for it. I’ve been here on FR since July 1998.
I believe. I really don’t want you to die broke only to find out in Heaven it wasn’t a scam.
These metals have cost you 40% of the dollars purchasing power every ten years since 2007....
Since it’s inception BTC has outperformed the dollar 950%.
At least you did something which is more than 65% of all Americans.
I think someone has been told it wastes electricity.... They never asked themselves the comparative question about physical mining of metals and oil, electricity and water;)
When you invest you still get paper for your grains and pork belly.
You should simply ask yourself what did Trump learn in the oast two months. Ten minutes on ETFs would be life changing for anyone.
I wish I had some.
Not saying one cannot make money from it.
My dad bought a 1958 Rambler in 1974 for one hundred dollars for Mom to used to carry and ferry us kids to sports and buy groceries . Four years later they sold it for two hundred dollars.
Bernie Madoff had customers who made money but look at them now.
By the end if the year they might be worth 400k together.
You’ve actually bought them and can legally take delivery for them.
Costs money for delivery but those 1o,ooo bushels of wheat are yours
Trump’s a rich man and can afford to write off his losses, I cannot.
And Trump has lost big money on some of his investments, Trump casinos, Trump steaks, Trump University etc.
Not bashing him but he’s taken a few lumps.
Unless you are a farmer, grain and feed operator or a prepper for some Mega Chuch what are doing with with that grain?
Perfect, that is my plan if my investments pan out.. If I stay on track and healthy, I should have about 10 figures american. If not, my family after me, or I lose 3K invested from Covid checks. What did everyone else do with the Fiat gift checks? Get a nice new TV?
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