The Future of Cryptocurrency

Discussion about Cryptocurrency

I had a discussion with a friend of mine who spoke on the intrinsic value of cryptocurrencies and the long-term growth of the crypto market. Me, being an avid disbeliever in this asset class, thought I'd share his arguments and mine. I'd like to open the forum to a discussion on it. 

Claim for Cryptocurrency

(1) The laws of supply and demand state that the increased convenience of a good will increase it's demand, and given how cryptocurrency supply is limited, the price will gradually increase to a new equilibrium over the next five years. Large payment platforms and financial institutions have allowed payment in bitcoin and e-wallet integration to invest in cryptocurrency. Thus, as more financial institutions further the adoption of cryptocurrency as another alternative asset, it will push the price higher. 

(2) Just like in the stock market, there are bad companies and good companies with strong fundamentals. In the emerging crypto market, certain cryptocurrencies are being thought of as "meme currency" and they probably won't be around in 2-3 years. Some may make outlandish returns in the short-run, but the intrinsic value and the utility of the currency will catch up to them if no corporation decides to adopt the currency. 

(3) With the push to digital currency, and less reliance on physical currency, there's a strong chance that society will move to a digital currency in the future. This may open the gateway to having a cryptocurrency equivalent of common currency as the new basis for trading. Although this may not be realized, and may take several decades, the push to digital currency is apparent. 


Claim against Cryptocurrency

(1) The laws of supply and demand don't always account for externalities. The demand for currency like bitcoin or dogecoin wasn't pushed on any intrinsic value, but the perceived value decided upon by momentum investors or traders with little understanding of the concept of bitcoin. There are also other momentum cryptos, most notably, Dogecoin. Although it's true e-wallets are on the rise, the intrinsic value of any given crypto is indiscernible given I could create my own cryptocurrency tomorrow called "FinesseCoin" and provide it a ratio of traditional currency to FinnesseCoin itself.


(2) The "fundamental" analysis is difficult to translate in full to the cryptocurrency market, a market in which there are no cashflows, or payments, the capital gains are decided at times at random, and even in several years, the it's not the survival of the most convenient, but most adopted. For instance, Dogecoin is on the rise, and institutions may allow for it to enter portfolios or use it as payment. However, fundamentally, the currency itself was created as a meme and was never meant to generate any significant returns. 

(3) The push to digital currency could easily be done through the use of block chain technology, but not tied to any existing or future cryptocurrency. Specifically, my belief is that there will exist a platform where there is an agreed up universal currency of sorts that will be used at a global scale in 20-50 years. This currency will be a base medium of conversion between regional currencies and all regional or global trades will happen digitally. Obviously, this is conjecture, but the point stipulates that although cryptocurrency seems to be on the rise as an alternative asset, it may not and probably won't substitute physical currency (or current digital currency means). 


Thoughts?

 

FinnesseGod

given how cryptocurrency supply is limited, the price will gradually increase to a new equilibrium over the next five years.

Some cryptos have unlimited supply.

https://www.nimera.io/blog/crypto-fixed-vs-unlimted-supply

”Let's find out how coins with unlimited supply differ from tokens with limited supply in terms of price economics and more.”

”In cryptocurrency ecosystems, the protocols with infinite supply play the roles of central banks and have their own rules for issuing the new coins. The most known cryptocurrency with the unlimited supply is Ethereum. However, it is only infinite given an infinite amount of time, as the developers issue a fixed amount of Ether per year.

Ethereum has inflation. But in practice, the more ETH is mined the lower goes the inflation. Why? Instead of decreasing the amount of new Ethereum developers decided to issue a fixed amount per year. So the same 18 million ETH is mined every year irrespective of the total supply. 

Therefore technically, the percentage of inflation is decreasing every year. When the supply of Ethereum is at 100 million and 18 million Ether is mined, the inflation is at 18%. A few years down the line when supply is at 200 million, the same 18 million ether will be mined. Then inflation is only at 9%. 

This also does not have a major effect on the price of Ethereum because the ETH is different from the $USD or $EUR in its utilization. Fiat money is essentially only a note of debt. When you pay $5 for a sandwich at a café you basically say “I owe you $5” to the clerk. 

Ethereum is different, as the price of ETH indicates the overall health of the ecosystem and the investor’s trust towards it. ETH also finds utilization in the form of Ethereum Gas used for transaction fees on the Ethereum blockchain.”

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

I’m going to build an app this weekend based on ETH. Been tracking it and investing in it. It’s really interesting tech. 

“The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.” - Nassim Taleb
 

FinnesseGod 

(3) With the push to digital currency, and less reliance on physical currency, there's a strong chance that society will move to a digital currency in the future. This may open the gateway to having a cryptocurrency equivalent of common currency 

Society has already moved to a digital currency. I’ve been using Bitcoin for years for online poker. 

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

FinnesseGod

We were speaking in the pretense where physical currency is phased out leading to a rise in a new medium or basis for all primary transactions. Like how frequently a credit card is used now, only, in place of all physical currency to the point where physical currency is no longer accepted as legal tender.

I don’t think that fiat currency is going away anytime soon. 

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

IronThroneBanker

Where do you play? Can Americans use the site or do you need to use a VPN? How easy is it for you to cash out? Can you cash out in BTC? 

I play on America's Cardroom. Yeah, its not illegal to play in the US. No VPN needed. I buy in with a credit card and cash out with bitcoin. Its a pretty good site - good volume, lots of tourneys. 

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 
Most Helpful

I have said some of this on a prior forum but as a quick highlight and reference, Murad Mahmudov's podcast with Anthony Pompliano in November of 2018 nailed everything. Michael Saylor is now repeating a lot of the same points and I tend to agree with their views. 

The most important thing to remember is -> It's all about Bitcoin

If Bitcoin fails. The party is over. Every other crypto will lose value. Not debatable. 

The crypto revolution is being looked at like a tech revolution. While this is partly the case, at its core, this is a revolution in monetary policy. This is why it is all about Bitcoin. For hundreds of years we have assumed that just because you can gather up enough men with weapons to hold a border that you also get the power to issue currency. Bitcoin changes this. Anyone with connection to the world wide web can now store their economic energy (rewards from their labor) digitally. This basically gives everyone in the world a certain level of property rights. By mining bitcoin at your home you are fighting for the property rights of the baker in Venezuela. This is why you see people say "Bitcoin is hope" "Bitcoin is freedom" "Bitcoin is change." The network is already big enough and is capable of storing trillions of dollars worth of monetary energy ($1T+ right now). The order Murad laid out:

1. Collectors Item 

2. Store of Value (we are here)

3. Medium of Exchange

4. Unit of Account

5. Money (the dollar, euro, pound will still be around but will be derivatives of Bitcoin similar to gold 50+ years ago)

The supply curve, network, decentralization, adoption, all combined with a first mover advantage have made Bitcoin the clear winner. There is not a battle between Bitcoin and other crypto assets/networks/tokens for the store of value proposition. Bitcoin is truly decentralized, unlike Ethereum (DAO) and many other cryptos. Yes, networks like Ethereum will grow as well but the value proposition is different and probably smaller. Ethereum and other crypto networks like it can make things more efficient, effective, cheaper etc. but they cannot do what Bitcoin will/has do/done. In addition, it is important to note that all of these are "networks" and most are trying to be money...meaning we won't have 100 or even 20 winners. My guess (and Murad's) is there will be 2-20 crypto assets left in 50 years (safe to assume Bitcoin will be one). There might be hundreds or thousands of other blockchain based tokens, projects, networks but they won't be decentralized forms of money. They will likely be for very specific use cases. 

Right now Bitcoin is taking part of the Gold market, and over the next 5-50+ years it will take negative yielding sovereign bonds, then corporate bonds, then stocks, then some real estate, and eventually everyone will own it. Bitcoin will suck up some or all of the store of value premium from every asset class. It isn't just tweens, family offices, and hedge funds that own Bitcoin... now its you, your parents, F500 companies and soon it will be governments. In our lifetime you will see governments buying Bitcoin, mining Bitcoin, and eventually linking their currencies to Bitcoin. The developed countries will go last because they can. Less stable governments will lose the power to issue currency first. Bitcoin has already won. It is not a question of "if" but only "when" will Bitcoin reach $100k, $500k then $1mil+.

Now if you wanna hit me with any of the FAQs go for it if my quick answer doesn't work.

- Bitcoin has been hacked (No it has never been hacked. Only exchanges or wallets, choose a good custodian)

- Bitcoin could be hacked? (Yes, you would need to amass an insane amount of hash power, this would be visible in the network, worse case scenario (very unlikely) would be a fork (Like ETH/ETC))

- Bitcoin is used by criminals (Yes, criminals adopt new technology first because they have to. This doesn't matter, doesn't stop Bitcoin being the best store of value asset)

- Bitcoin doesn't do enough transactions (It is a 1st layer payment network, the transactions will be done on other layers)

- Bitcoin could be banned (Depending on the countries size it will maybe slow things down not stop it, didn't seem to matter in Turkey/Argentina recently)

- Bitcoin takes too much energy (Takes the marginal energy on the edge of grid. Also it is a good use of energy. Secures the network.)

- Blockchain not Bitcoin (Missing the forest for the trees...)

- Bitcoin won't be used to buy coffee (Correct, see #5 above)

 

I'm not super well versed in stable coins but I think the main potential problem is Tether represents leverage in the crypto system. The ratio of Tether's market cap to Bitcoins is 1/20. Also Tether is leverage for all the coins not just Bitcoin. Also I think Tether was audited (I don't know if it was a financial statement audit or something else) in 2018 and there weren't any discrepancies. 

 

This is spot on. One thing up for debate is the eventual coexistence of sovereign currencies alongside a bitcoin standard. I believe lightning will render sovereign currencies unnecessary. To summarize the above post: bitcoin is sound money and will continue to capture store of value from other asset classes indefinitely. And including bitcoin with shitcoins like ethereum and others and calling it "crypto" is like lumping astrophysics in with astrology and calling it "astro".

 

Cryptocurrencies seem to be having a blockbuster 2021, having picked up well in the first four months of the year. Understandably, there has been a lot of noise over the digital assets. Many markets, which were earlier hostile to the idea, have started embracing it. Many industry leaders have issued ringing endorsements in their favour. The extent to which these virtual currencies have gained significance can be estimated from the fact that world’s largest index provider S&P Dow Jones Indices has started three new indices to exclusively focus on various cryptocurrencies.  The returns on digital assets have dwarfed the returns from stock markets – which experts believe are on steroids due to global liquidity. 

A new cryptocurrency has made a phenomenal impact on the market after making its debut on Monday. The digital currency, called Internet Computer (IC), has already achieved a market value of US$45 billion,(news source:kalkinemedia) making it one of the largest cryptocurrencies in the world.

 

The $45 billion dollar question is how to discern the noise from the value. Just like in the stock market, there are companies that are overvalued and may face bankruptcy when they grow insolvent or illiquid. How can you determine which digital asset has a basis or justification for its exponential growth or value? 

The long-standing first principle of valuation is that it's the present value of future cash flows or growth, and yet, cryptocurrency defies that theoretical principle in real-time. 

I personally haven't heard of IC prior to today - could you speak on why it might have a $45 billion value and how it's differentiated from Dogecoin, Bitcoin, or Ethereum? 

 

I couldn't agree more. I find it ridiculous to see retail investors influence these prices. 

The buying power of retail investors for cryptocurrencies is far higher than the stock market because of how notional these currencies are valued in their infancy stage. Bitcoin was valued at $0.25 and rose to $40,000, so at the time, a retail investor could theoretically own a significant portion of bitcoin with very little financial risk. If he invested $100 and received 400 BTC, he could more than retire 3-4 years later or not care for its loss.

Institutional investors, who's buying power dwarfs retail investors, avoided these markets, which lead to the sole purchasing power and market influence falling on the hands of retail investors. The argument I'm making here is that even if technical analysis was performed, it wouldn't prevent retail investors from investing a few hundred dollars to artificially increase the value of a digital currency for no other purpose than to place a bet. 

 

Exactly, much of the movement is speculative. These traders are drawn in by the quickly rising price of these assets. I've taken experimental positions in both BTC and ETH as a bet on their respective technologies, though I think ETH has a more promising future. A lot of these guys can't afford to lose their stakes in crypto and it's such a new market that we don't know how it will handle a bear market

 

Don't understand the need for a digital dollar put out by governments. 

Most people I know receive $ via direct deposit and spend money on a debit/credit card so they never see the physical cash to begin with. Where the US is lacking IMO is NFT and contactless payment infrastructure. 

I've spent a lot of time in London and you can just tap your debit/credit card onto the turnstile at a tube station and it's debited from your account instantly. I haven't seen this anywhere in the US and our contactless payment systems from my experience are years behind what I've seen in the UK. 

NFT/Contactless payments would be easier to implement and replace the need for a digital USD. 

Thoughts? 

 

Well, the main argument when compared with the digital infrastructure is the store and growth of wealth. If I invested $1,000 in my savings, it grows at 0.5% a year, whereas Bitcoin may grow 30% (or FAR greater as we've seen historically) over that same period. The other argument is that it serves as an alternative asset - it's unaffected by market friction or market shocks (like the pandemic, where it actually rose in value). It's also highly liquid, so if I invested, and cashed out a year later, I could earn a 30% return seamlessly with the digital infrastructure already built. 

 

I'm not talking about BTC/ETH I'm talking strictly about a digital USD put out by the US government. 

There is no difference between that and what we currently have in place with direct deposit followed by spending $ via a debit/credit card from an end-user perspective. There would be no need for a digital USD if we improved our NFT/Contactless payments infrastructure similar to what exists in the UK.

 

You've never seen contactless payment systems in the U.S? I'm in NYC so maybe my perception is skewed, but anecdotally speaking I'd say ~75% of places I go have contactless payment systems whether that is digital (Apply Pay) or tap to pay (physical card), including every subway station. This is such a marginal societal improvement IMO and not even on the same planet of "revolutionary" as select cryptocurrencies. 

 

I moved out of NYC in 2019 (moved to LA and haven't been back since) and tap to pay wasn't an option to pay on the Subway then using my banks (BOA and Chase). Apple Pay/Samsung Pay/Android Pay has been the extent to which I've seen contactless payments in the US. I love tap to pay (what I was referencing in the UK) but hate Apple Pay/Samsung pay/Android Pay. Whenever I've tried to use Apple Pay/Samsung pay/Android Pay there's always been some kind of issue or it takes like 3+ minutes to process compared to tapping your card. 

What societal improvement does a digital USD/digital Yuan/digital Euro offer that tap to pay doesn't?

I'm not talking about any altcoins, BTC, ETH, etc., or blockchain technology broadly just specifically a digital currency issued by a government. You would have to invest hundreds of billions of dollars (probably more IMO) into building out a digital USD infrastructure to ensure that the platform was robust, secure, and able to handle transaction/exchange volumes without fail. You could throw hypothetically 10% (likely less because the technology already exists) of that into tap to pay and the impact to the US citizen is the same.

 

The blockchain technology and the idea of a cryptocurrency are two completely different things. Almost everyone agrees that blockchain technology seems very smart and useful, so it'll be a case of who can apply it to a business problem where it'll enact an improvement by at least an order of magnitude (eg. land title registries, debits and credits in accounting T-charts could be done simultaneously and globally, supply chain management, version control in some online sphere like coding or design work, etc.). 

Cryptos on the other hand...I mean what are they? Let's focus in on Bitcoin to keep it simple. Is it a currency? Is it a store of value? The list of the 5 stages (Collectors Item, Store of Value, Medium of Exchange, Unit of Account, and Money) really isn't that useful because you could argue that tulips and beanie babies were following that same schedule. I mean there are tons of things that get stuck in one of those 5 stages and never move on. Things like paintings or real estate or whisky could all be classified as stores of value, even mediums of exchange.

On decentralization: something like 95% or more of all crypto value is held in less than 2% of the wallets. So there is a huge centralization of wealth in this "thing" that's supposed to be decentralized. You have these random splits that have happened in BTC and ETH, which seemingly go against these claims of 1) decentralization and 2) fixed supply constraints (Vitalik Buterin has also stated he sees this as a regular occurrence that will happen semi-frequently). Tangentially, I've never understood why the claims of a fixed supply is necessary for a currency as we moved away from that style of banking system over 50 years ago now (where the money supply had to be backed by some physical item: gold / silver). The purpose of central banks is to be able to push or pull the levers depending on the vitality of the economy. This allows for the velocity of money in a society to remain high and for an economy to grow. The balancing act is with inflation and growth. I don't see how a BTC-based currency handles that.

Economics of BTC: Claims that Bitcoin is taking over the gold market seem overblown. Its not just about market cap vs. market cap. Gold has 2 very functional uses: jewelry and electronics. People have demonstrated a willingness to pay for gold over thousands of years for the former, and more recently for the latter. Would a homeless person prefer gold (which has a real physical functional use), or BTC (virtual and for now, purely speculative)? I just struggle to see how bitcoin will grow to become the underlying security that every currency is thereafter pegged towards. With respect to altcoins, why wouldn't any government issue its own coin? Each nation could setup its own sovereign version of Tether. Further, why couldn't the US Fed setup its own official version of Tether? That would make holding Tether coins useless. Why have this arbitrary virtual coin when you can have one backed by the government whose currency you're supposed to be pegged to? But you can take this further...why would I buy XRP for financial transaction assurance/insurance/completion/verification/etc....when a conglomeration of the biggest banks in the world could come together and setup their own coin for tracking financial transactions? Immediately the value of XRP becomes $0. I think retail is missing that point entirely. They can be right with their investment thesis that cryptocurrencies will do XYZ, but how will you decide which one to pick and who is to stop someone else doing the same?

I think the strongest case for bitcoin is as virtual dollars. If we ever start uploading our minds and/or porting into a virtual and/or online world, then it could make sense to have bitcoin has the default virtual currency.

 

Let's focus in on Bitcoin to keep it simple. Is it a currency? Is it a store of value?

Could be both. The second one is more important. It will be used as a currency in countries that have bad currencies. 

The list of the 5 stages (Collectors Item, Store of Value, Medium of Exchange, Unit of Account, and Money) really isn't that useful because you could argue that tulips and beanie babies were following that same schedule. I mean there are tons of things that get stuck in one of those 5 stages and never move on. Things like paintings or real estate or whisky could all be classified as stores of value, even mediums of exchange.

No. None of those things have the qualities of Bitcoin. Monetary policy, network strength, decentralization, and none of them are digital either lol. 

On decentralization: something like 95% or more of all crypto value is held in less than 2% of the wallets. So there is a huge centralization of wealth in this "thing" that's supposed to be decentralized.

This is a common misconception with Bitcoin that I didn't touch on in my FAQs above. The statistic comes from using wallet addresses as a proxy for Bitcoin ownership. The problem is that exchanges hold the ownership of many in a few wallets. In addition, lost coins from pre 2012 (amounting in the millions) are concentrated. Also Satoshi's coins (1 mil) haven't moved and are concentrated.

You have these random splits that have happened in BTC and ETH, which seemingly go against these claims of 1) decentralization and 2) fixed supply constraints

Incorrect on BTC. Correct on ETH. Other crypto assets have "forked" the Bitcoin chain but the Bitcoin traded today is still the original blockchain. ETH had the DAO incident where the dev team chose to fork the project. I addressed this and I agree, this is not decentralization. 

The purpose of central banks is to be able to push or pull the levers depending on the vitality of the economy.

This is the problem. This argument resonates with Americans but that's about it. People trade: Time -> Labor -> Money. When central banks pull the lever to print money they waste people's time. Why do a dozen central bankers have such an outsized impact on the relationship between time and money. This is why Bitcoin is freedom and hope. 

Gold has 2 very functional uses: jewelry and electronics.

Yes. What portion of the $1,800 per ounce price of gold is attributable to the metals use in jewelry and electronics as opposed to store of value? Bitcoin will take the store of value part over time.

In regards to your comments on altcoins. I tend to agree. 

 

Ethereum Luminary Makes $1 Billion Covid-19 Gift—in Shiba Inu Coin

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/ethereum-luminary…

“Vitalik Buterin, co-creator of the crypto network Ethereum, donated more than $1 billion on Wednesday to a relief fund to combat the spread of Covid-19 in India.”

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday on Twitter that Tesla has "suspended vehicle purchases using bitcoin," out of concern over "rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for bitcoin mining."”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/05/12/elon-musk-says…

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

After Elon's comments today, I think a new crypto could be created that always runs solar to power the mines called "Solar" - SOL. It would be a pretty good business concept. 

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Cardano is one of the only winners in the past 24hrs 

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"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Cardano Surges During $300 Billion Crypto Crash As Musk Eyes Sustainable Bitcoin Alternatives

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/05/13/cardano-surges…

"While the broader cryptocurrency market plunges after billionaire Elon Musk said Tesla would no longer accept bitcoin because of its hefty environmental cost, the price of Cardano’s ada, the world’s fourth most valuable token, surged, as crypto traders and analysts plow into the token that promises it’s a much less carbon-intensive alternative."

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

There's no 'trying' - I don't typically initiate.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

1) my shits are limited as well (at some point I'll die and won't be able to produce more). and the total supply only increases by about 1 per day. should their market value be at multiple billion USD?

2) there are openly shitty crypto like Doge, which doesn't hide that they are a joke, and there are other crypto who pretend like they will solve all world problems but they're useless. we have currencies already. why the fuck would we need a currency that fluctuates by 10% per day and can lose 90% of its value within a month, whereas we already have relatively stable and efficient currency (can be printed more or less depending on the economy, etc.). crypto is offering a horrible solution to a problem that has been solves like several thousand years ago.

3) there is no push, just hype. nobody will push you to stop using dollar - why would anybody?

 

- Proof-Of-Stake Coins Surge After Musk Trashes Power-Hungry Bitcoin

https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/proof-stake-coins-surge-after-musk-tra…

  • With Proof of Stake (POS), cryptocurrency miners can earn more crypto if they hold more coins.

  • Proof of Stake (POS) was created as an alternative to Proof of Work (POW), which is the consensus algorithm that Bitcoin uses.

  • Several coins that use alternative consensus algorithms to Bitcoin have increased in value.

PoW systems use huge amounts of energy to secure the network. Miners use powerful computers in a race to solve complicated mathematical puzzles; the winner receives newly-minted crypto.

By contrast, in a PoS system, miners validate transactions based on the amount of coins they hold. The more coins a miner hold, the more likely they are to win the right to validate transactions.

Because PoS networks do not suck up the immense amount of energy consumed by PoW networks like the Bitcoin network, they are environmentally friendlier.

In the wake of Musk’s announcement, at least six cryptocurrencies have increased in price. 

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Razja

you're not alone isiah. My heart hurts, but i bought another 5k of ethereum since i believe long-term crypto will continue to go up

Yeah I guess it’s a good time to buy at these prices. 
 

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"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Celo is the only crypto that’s looking good today:

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"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

I just bought a little more ETH at $3,388.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Driving me bonkers the amount of stupid articles around energy efficiency today on twitter/linkedin even the effing theverge. People who look at energy emissions in a vaccum really should be yelled at. Automation/efficiency does not make our society use more carbon, why did no one care when data centers all over the place took our energy usage way higher...and why do all the FANGs nail their energy efficiency goals...

No shock on Elon, hes always been scared of AI and robots...even though he wants to take us all to the moon.

 

I think the rationale that it's a bubble is valid. The definition of a bubble is when an asset, regardless of it's intrinsic valuation, is inflated. We've seen some examples with the housing market, the cannibis market, bitcoin and now, cryptocurrencies. The cause of this inflation is due to a multitude of retail investors investing into the crypto market that drastically increased the demand for a limited supply, artificially increasing the return. Dogecoin rose from $0.002 (May 2020) to a high of $0.64 cents (April/May 2021) - a 31,800% return, the whole rise captured in the previous months of 2021. The increase did not exist due to a greater acceptance of the currency, more innovative technology, or more efficient store of wealth than the other crypto currencies in the market. It was driven off of a mass purchase enflamed by celebrities and forums promoting it for one reason or another.

Now the fact that it's a bubble leads to two arguments: we invest and aim for short term gains or not an aim for other asset classes. A friend of mine put it aptly: Take $1,000 and invest in a series of crypto currencies, worst case, you're out $1,000, best case, you stumble onto the next bubble before it pops.

 

I think people just looking at it as a currency, investment, store of value etc. are looking at the wrong things. You need to be looking more into DeFi and Dex protocols. If they can be scaled, simple software can take the place of market makers, brick and mortar banks, etc. There's already ways that everyday people, through crypto, can provide and take out collateralized loans through smart contracts. Add in Dexes that won't just shut off trading bc the little guy is winning (@robinhood) that every day people can also provide liquidity to and make fees off of etc. If you're just thinking the only crypto/blockchain use is to replace currency you're looking at it all wrong.

 

I think this the biggest opportunity crypto offers, but also is the least understood or discussed. DeFi presents a working prototype of functional capital markets with all the features (or the potential to develop all the features) of the capital markets we're familiar with. That's a really big deal.

Borrowers and lenders cut out the middle man, like banks that need to earn a spread to stay in business. So borrowers can get credit at lower rates while lenders can save money at higher rates.

Interest rates are decided by supply & demand, not central planning committees. Before any of us were alive, you could save money and earn an interest rate comparable to what the market returns annually. Now, if you save money or buy bonds, you're probably earning a negative real yield. Who's excited to earn 0.5% APY? But the thing is, in DeFi you have the kind of gains you'd expect from your stock portfolio. And all you're doing is providing liquidity to people who want to borrow it - the same function as a savings account

It's pretty amazing honestly. 

 

Exactly, everyone thinks of crypto in such a black and white way. It's either a fiat replacement or store of value. Really instead of calling the field "crypto" we should probably just say blockchain tech. I think the biggest uses aren't going to be using digital coins as currency. The biggest uses will come from some of these protocols solving problems and really innovating such as Chainlink. Also people the art is what will be benefitted by NFTs. I don't at all. I think important documents can be connected to smart contracts via oracles and the hard copies you'd usually get in these transactions will be coded and secured by being NFTs. Things such as house and land deeds etc.

Edit: Also people talk about the "EneRgY UsAgE" of crypto and blockchain. If defi and blockchain code wrecks market makers think of all the brick and mortar shops, electricity, people commuting there etc you could forego.

 

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