Posted on 03/05/2021 8:00:19 AM PST by ConservativeDude
With the price of a bitcoin surging to new highs in 2017, the bullish case for investors might seem so obvious it does not need stating. Alternatively it may seem foolish to invest in a digital asset that isn’t backed by any commodity or government and whose price rise has prompted some to compare it to the tulip mania or the dot-com bubble. Neither is true; the bullish case for Bitcoin is compelling....
(Excerpt) Read more at vijayboyapati.medium.com ...
They named a federal agency after _real_ currency you can touch when the grid goes down—alcohol, tobacco, and firearms!
I think the main thing that differentiates the rise in Bitcoin in 2021 vs 2017 is the massive amount of paper money that has been printed over the last year and the inevitable inflation that will result from it. I expect to see both bitcoin/crypto rise along with gold itself.
love it!
The article actually discusses that phenomenon, which is a necessary stage in the life of a monetary system....
Yep.
5.56mm
Article makes no mention of XRP, my understanding of which is a gold-backed crypto. With ties to a possible upcoming Quantum Financial System.
Sticking with physical gold and silver.
What I don’t understand about it is why don’t governments just apply blockchain to their digital fiat money and be done with it. Heck, could they not even make the use of bitcoin, et al illegal if it gets “too big for its own good”?
that’s really the main theme of the article....BTC survives/flourishes first as a reliable store of value. The need for that, to your point, has increased significantly since 2017.
If the somewhat universal store of value thesis is established...then...the other characteristics of currency will emerge (as gold in the 19th century).
In many ways, this is NOT a new history.
correct
I think the article predates XRP
XRP, as you know, is currently in deep kimchi with the SEC. I’m optimistic that the new head of the SEC will allow XRP a victory. He’s a crypto guy, sort of. But who knows?
The article DOES actually state - if only briefly - that the quantum financial system might be a threat to BTC
Good observations; thank you for an intelligent and meaningful contribution to the discussion.
And what make you think they won't pull an FDR and outlaw and confiscate it?
they could “make it illegal” as India and Nigeria have done. But they can’t stop it unless they shut down the internet and electric power.
The article discusses the difficulty for governments in this regard....as well as pointing out that normal people, like me, are definitely exposed to government seizure because I trade on an exchange. That’s a risk.
But they can’t really stop BTC itself.
The article also talks about how subsequent blockchains seeking to either supplant or become a fork in the blockchain universe don’t really flourish.
Ultimately it comes back to the fact that government money with an endless supply, driven by politicians seeking continued incumbency, continually threatens fiat as a store of value.
But BTC will never be more than 21,000,000 (actually less, because many of the early mined bitcoins are now irretrievably lost.....).
Digital fiat is still fiat. It’s just faster.
the difficulty in seizing true peer to peer (not exchange based) BTC is one of the beauties of BTC.
It doesn’t physically reside in a single place. It’s on every computer in the world, sort of.
but to your point, governments will seize exchange based crypto assets. absolutely.
the more interesting thing the article discusses is when nation states start adding BTC to their balance sheet. That’s going to get interesting.
But they can’t really stop BTC itself.
Thanks. I’ll temporarily be one of those commenters who won’t read it and come back to it later.
I have read a number of articles on bitcoin over the years and maybe I am too low tech or read the wrong articles. Those articles are written as well as most books on how the federal reserve “works”. It is not readily understandable even to people with multiple degrees and high IQs. Therefore, I am supposed to have faith that the number of bitcoins are fixed, but never read about any quarterly independently “audits” to give that confidence/proof? Lots of parrotting “how the number of coins is fixed.” Then I read about the need to have “bitcoin harvesters” who make money and consume beaucoup cheap electricity in rural areas helping (themselves get rich) making sure others transactions are legitimately made. These guys probably wear “Go Green” t-shirts and eat hot pockets. Environmentalists never seem to care about these high tech “workers” and electricity consumption. Also, there are articles about people “losing their bitcoins” forever, because they lost a password or something else. If they are lost, who gets to pick them up, like pennies in the parking lot? I am starting to catch on, maybe? You buy ‘em, you lose them forever, and somebody else gets to pick them up. And finally, I love how bitcoins are valued against fiat currency so you can figure out how much they are worth. Perhaps I am displaying my great ignorance about the subject, or how to find the right articles.
At this point I can’t invest in something I don’t understand, because I am to have a religious sort of faith in the high tech people and mathemeticians who speak in languages about electronic currency that the average person cannot understand because they are so honest and would never rip anyone off, that everything is legit. There is no such thing as computer crimes, or is there? Maybe this article will clear it all up for me so I can become a bitcoin millionaire in the next two years - because it will be years before the average Joe gets taken in on the scam, or is it the benefits of bitcoin. No one will want their social security checks in anything but bitcoin.
There is risk with anything. In addition to that, physical has the risk of theft and burglary. It’s a matter of weighing options, considering the risks.
IMHO, (very H), the confiscation you refer to was associated with a multi-generational move to and consolidation of central banking. I believe the CB we have now is going down. Hey, in an unprecedented event, went down for most of the day last Wednesday.
In the place of CB, XFS will be a physical metal-backed system, where ownership of physical is innately linked to participation in using currency and doing our day-to-day financial transactions.
the article discusses that precise phenomenon from a historical and philosophical perspective. I think the author would say, and in fact has some historical basis to say so, that sometimes units of exchange, say shells, actually begin as units/means of exchange without additional value. the additional value, such as with gold, is a plus to help adoption/usage. but it’s not essential, as such.
the article also discusses - and I thought this was a great insight - the nature of a currency “bubble”. we always use that term disparagingly (tulips).
but the author notes, again, I think persuasively, that the bubble is simply the value an exchange unit has above its use value. the bubble is sort of the definition of monetary value. salt has to be worth, well, more than just salt to be widely used as a currency. and strangely, the more usefulness it has as a currency.....the less you are likely to use it as salt. even though chronologically use as salt may have preceded use as currency, lol. fascinating stuff really!
I believe the CB we have now is going down. Hey, in an unprecedented event, went down for most of the day last Wednesday.”
100% correct
What happens when some Bitcoin digital currency becomes the World standard and Dollars are no longer used for Oil transactions? Can’t be good
when you can get to it....I think you will find the article well written, and comprehensible and really insightful
it certainly accounts for precisely what you are getting at in terms of widespread adoption/use and how that may or may not happen....but for BTC to become permanent and extremely valuable as merely a store of value (digital gold), it’s not really necessary to become a day to day unit of exchange.
my point in posting BTC articles here is simply to supply info to good people (all freepers, by definition :)) to help build/sustain their wealth, if, after their own research, they believe it works for them.
i don’t have any interest in helping the other side get more wealthy.
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