Bitcoin Mania
With the exception of a couple tech stocks, Bitcoin has outperformed every other asset class this year.
Bitcoin hit an all-time high last week, marking a year-to-date rally of 180 percent and potentially stellar returns for those who bet on the cryptocurrency, but it appears hedge funds are still not ready to touch the asset class...
Indeed, bitcoin's rally has far outpaced the S&P 500 index, which is up 7.9 percent year-to-date, and the NASDAQ which has seen around a 15 percent rise. In the currency space, the euro has risen nearly 6 percent year-to-date against the dollar, while sterling is up around 4.2 percent. The euro and pound are the best performing major currencies so far this year.
YeeHaw! Gimme some of that sweet, sweet cryptocurrency.
It just makes you want to jump in and buy with both hands, amirite?
There's just one little problem: selling.
# of Bitcoins currently in circulation: Roughly 16,350,000
Current Bitcoin price vs. the USD: Roughly $2500
1,000 bitcoins represents roughly 0.006% of the total number of Bitcoins that exist
Average drop in Bitcoin price from selloff of just 1,000 bitcoins: $30 (see raw data of price moves at Bitcoincharts.com)
Estimated drop in Bitcoin price that would occur from the sale of 10,000 bitcoins (just 0.06% of the Bitcoin supply): $300
Estimated drop in Bitcoin price from sale of 100,000 bitcoins (just 0.6% of the Bitcoin supply): $3000 (but wait, Bitcoin is only worth $2,500, so wouldn’t a selloff of 100,000 Bitcoins plunge the price toward zero? YES, it would.)
Value of Bitcoin if just 1% of current Bitcoin owners try to sell all their Bitcoins: Approaching $ZERO
What percentage of current Bitcoin owners think ALL their Bitcoins are worth the current high price: 100%
Actual percentage of current Bitcoin owners who can unload Bitcoins without crashing Bitcoin values toward zero: Perhaps 1% – 2%
(and that’s generous)Percentage of current Bitcoin owners who are going to learn a very expensive lesson in “tulip bulb mania”: Perhaps 98% – 99%
Yeh. I'll pass.
Comments
Screw bitcoin.
Barter is better.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
@Pricknick I think a new currency
I think a new currency would be great. But not this one.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
The only problem with barter
Is when you take currency for trade.
True barter:
The exchange (goods or services) for other goods or services without using money.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
Disestablish central banks
Bring me that good old gold and silver!
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhraiPTORhI]
But Bitcoin is not the same as currency.
There is a fundamental difference between sovereign currency issued by a sovereign govenment and bitcoins or scraps of paper issued by some random group of amateur grifters.
@PriceRip But since we're moving
But since we're moving out of the realm (strictly speaking) of sovereign government, which is in decline everywhere in the world w/the possible exceptions of China and Russia, it would be extremely helpful for the people to have a currency they could use with each other which is not dependent on the official banks and government. Barter is fine and would co-exist with the currency.
We are being steered toward a cashless society anyway; maybe pretty soon we'll be able to use dollar bills as our alternative currency. Though I'd rather have something that didn't get produced by the government.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Don't forget Civil Forfeiture
Right Now, today ... If I carry too much cash as I travel about, I may be compelled to forfeit said cash with zero recourse. That is the reality within which we live.
Anything we choose to use to circumvent the monetary system
iswill be made subject to Civil Forfeiture just like "cash" in present day USofA.There is nothing wrong with a "cashless society", the problem is with how it is run by who is in charge. If we, the 99%, are not in charge, then it just doesn't matter, the rest is distraction.
@PriceRip Well I didn't say
Well I didn't say we'd have just one thing, nor that we would announce it on caucus99percent. Such things aren't worth anything without the communities of people to believe in them and use them (including, obviously, small businesses).
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
For those of you who like words
Silver, blue and Gold
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q_doVpa1_c]
Damn that broker and the horse he rode in on!
My will-o'-the-wisp AKA ignis fatuus assets have tanked ...
Go with pre-1964 silver coins
to hedge against currency collapse. As long as silver prices remain stable they will have value. Even if silver collapses they will still have face value. And they will always have antique value.
In addition, many burglars are stupid and won't mess with a bag of coins as they are too heavy and take too long to count and spend piecemeal.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Bitcoin
the virtual money that replaces other money, which btw is also a fictional construct we simply accept as real to make the gears of the machine run.
One of my favorite scenes from Lawrence of Arabia is when Auda Abu Tai, an Arab sheik whose tribe attacks the Turks in Aqaba based on the premise he will find gold there is upset when all he finds is paper money.
Then Lawrence writes him a promissory note on behalf of the King to provide Auda with 5,000 golden guineas. The joke is that a promissory note is essentially what paper money represents - a promise to provide something of value.
All money is a social construct, whether we coin it using "precious metals" or print it on paper or invent "bitcoins" using the internet. Nothing about any form of money is real, only our belief in the validity of what we receive. Even gold and silver, though they have some limited commercial use, are valued based on speculation as to what they are worth. Indeed most Americans have their "money" in banks, which merely keep electronic records these days. In effect, your savings in a bank is nothing more than zeros and ones of code.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
Solving the Wrong Problem
Bitcoins, Barter, Gold Coins, Silver Coins, paper money or whatever are just distractions. They have nothing to do with the monetary system, nothing.
If we are to solve the real problem in our economic system we had better fix the problem and not waste time fiddling with irrelevancies. If we do not address the fact that a tiny minority control the economic fate of the vast majority nothing real will ever be accomplished.
Democratize the Enterprise. Cooperatives are the answer!
So many people have tried, and failed, to work within the system to enact change. Unions are essentially dead, protests do not work, voting has been proven a farce.
It's now time for us to perform a pivot and think/work outside the current system. The answer is Cooperative economics. We can only be a true democracy when the workplace itself is run democratically. A cooperative is the perfect evolution of a union as well. Think about it, once regular workers obtain the power to govern their own lives/ jobs do you think that they will ever give up/ fall for the ruling class lies again? No I do not think so.
You all should listen to Dr. Richard Wolff Youtube Channel He explains all of this better than I can ever do. And luckily it seems more and more people in our country are learning this alternative too!
How to make a small fortune...
...start with a large fortune and invest it in Bitcoin.