Some stats on the crypto bloodbath
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I never bought crypto because it’s always seemed like a pure speculative play. There still is no convincing use case besides money laundering and drugs. While the ‘store of value’ argument could someday be true it has not behaved that way to date, even the best behave like a risk asset.
I could imagine the ‘store of value’ case becoming true some day for BTC and owning some for that reason (and forgetting about it). But I’m just not motivated to do it. Maybe if I had a longer investment time horizon I would.
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I’d like to have some btc. No interest in any others. My broker doesn’t allow btc to be directly bought last I checked. But I think there is an ETF. Maybe I should dip in now.
@Horace Thats part my ‘not motivated to do it’ reasoning. Vanguard doesn’t allow it, I think they even block the ETFs, so I’d have to open a new account, move money, etc. If I could just buy some coins in my IRA and forget about it I’d be more likely to do it. And this week wouldn’t be a bad time.
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@jon-nyc LOL on the joke.
Other than wishing I would have bought some crypto money 20 years ago when it was like $0.01/coin, I am not smarter now about it than I was then.
When ever someone tries to tell how great crypto is, I offer to give them a challenge.
We each get $XX for a month. Me in USD (or the currency of my choice) and you the equivalent in crypto money. We will see who will have a better month living. The rule is that you have to spend your currency directly. No conversion.
So, if I go into a store and buy something, I have to pay with USD. You go to a store, get a taxi, pay your electric bill, rent, etc., you HAVE to pay with crypto money. No exchanging into USD. We will see how well you do.
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Paying with crypto in a random store would be about as difficult as paying with gold bars, or Apple stocks. This is not a good test whether something has value.
Also, there's a category of stores in the Internet that are often on the borderline of being legal where you can only pay with crypto.
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Paying with crypto in a random store would be about as difficult as paying with gold bars, or Apple stocks. This is not a good test whether something has value.
Also, there's a category of stores in the Internet that are often on the borderline of being legal where you can only pay with crypto.
@Klaus said in Some stats on the crypto bloodbath:
Paying with crypto in a random store would be about as difficult as paying with gold bars, or Apple stocks. This is not a good test whether something has value.
Also, there's a category of stores in the Internet that are often on the borderline of being legal where you can only pay with crypto.
Not really. The apps are pretty sophisticated and with NFC, it would be as simple as using Apple Pay. The problem is the value fluctuations. I wouldn’t want to take $30K in Solana for a piano at 10AM to have it be worth $28K that afternoon.
But the ease of use would be simpler than cash…
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Paying with crypto in a random store would be about as difficult as paying with gold bars, or Apple stocks. This is not a good test whether something has value.
Also, there's a category of stores in the Internet that are often on the borderline of being legal where you can only pay with crypto.
@Klaus I agree that they have value. But everything has value to somebody. I am guess that an autographed picture of Klaus would go for a lot (at least on this forum board!). LOL
But, the people who talk up crypto-currency say that the name is correct, that it is a currency. I disagree with that. Maybe someday in the future, but right now, it is just something that some people think is worth something, like Apple stock or an old painting or a set of dishes.
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Would need an escrow agent probably who would provide contracts for buyer and seller for a specific dollar amount the crypto is worth at the time the contract is signed by both parties. No surprises and the escrow agent makes money through fluctuations by taking a cut.
The precious metals dealers online have massively cut the amount they are willing to pay for silver. Used to be that you could sell Eagles at spot since eagles have some collector value beyond the metal. Now they can be sold at 90% of spot. The middlemen in crypto transactions would pull similar tricks in times of high volatility to guarantee their own profits.
Current difference online between buy and sell prices for silver is 25%. I guess these guys are making plenty of money even through these fluctuations. And that assumes the customers are acting intelligently by buying low and selling high, which is not necessarily the case. I bet the metals retailers profits have spiked enormously through all these fluctuations simply because they dictate the spread, and demand for transactions has spiked.
