
So you're thinking about investing in Bitcoin? Don't - charlysl
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jan/15/should-i-invest-bitcoin-dont-mr-money-moustache
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freddealmeida
Almost everything in this article is wrong. This is someone that does not
understand bitcoin or crytpo. In many ways, the market is overvalued but not
in every way. There is too much here to try to clear but its clear that mr.
mustache has no real understanding of this.

This is not tulips or finger nail clippings. this is something new. something
wonderful. but yes with its own problems.

~~~
sharemywin
for one tulips and nail clippings are psychical and can't be transferred
around the world near instantly.

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ddnb
"Even if you win money through dumb luck, you have lost time and energy, which
means you have lost."

Winning money while losing time and energy is what happens to most when
working a job, should we just give up on working as well then?

The story about the cancerpill also isn't comparable to cryptocurrencies.

"You could make the same argument about my fingernail clippings: they may have
no intrinsic value, but they’re in limited supply so let’s use them as the new
world currency."

If everybody can agree on this then you have a new currency, no? Isn't that
the same as our current currency? We just agree on pieces of paper to
represent a monetary value.

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gnfurlong
How do you get everyone to agree when the barrier to creating yet another
crypto currency is so exceptionally low?

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freddealmeida
Maybe explain why you think its low? I think it may actually be very hard to
build one of any value. 90% of crypto is worthless. But so is 90% of fiat
currency. Unless you think your Haitian currency is worth something.

~~~
sharemywin
creating a crypto currency easy. creating one that lots of people will trade
and use quite another.

Then even if you were to get a lot of paper wealth as a founder, sell large
quantities of it without disrupting the market price.

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wozz
Who the hell is writing these articles? The author sounds like the kind of
person who loves his 20 second reads on Slate. I didn't expect much better
coming from The Guardian. It makes me wonder, are they just pushing out these
articles to force weak hands to fold or never enter in the first place?

So you're thinking about writing an article about Bitcoin? Don't

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sharemywin
You could make the case for momentum investing as well. The underlying asset
has value but not at the premium you paid for it. or any stock that doesn't
pay a dividend it has no intrinsic cash flow.

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sharemywin
To me one of the neat early ICO projects is shared wifi access. outside of the
coin that can only be traded space. which is were the true potential of crypto
currencies can shine.

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kevinios
(...) we need to separate the usefulness of the underlying technology called
“blockchain” from the mania of people turning bitcoin into a big dumb lottery.
Blockchain is simply a nifty software invention (which is open-source and free
for anyone to use), whereas bitcoin is just one well-known way to use it.
(...)

Will just comment on this sentence: careful here, blockchain is just one of
the technologies that Bitcoin uses. But there are other important elements to
Bitcoin, such as the concept of decentralization. A company or a bank can use
blockchain in a centralized manner. This video by Andreas Antonopoulos
(bitcoin advocate) helps make the distinction: Bitcoin vs. blockchain
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHbtp7pOftU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHbtp7pOftU)).

From the video description: "Blockchains are only one of the foundational
technologies. In an attempt to co-opt the interest around Bitcoin, companies
and governments are trying to circle the square by creating centralised and
permissioned versions while entirely missing the point: decentralization."

PS: That being said, Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency using blockchain
and decentralization.

