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If I bought a brand new $500 desktop computer (yes they're that cheap these days) -- and then bought a brand new 500 gigabyte hard drive that cost $100, and put

If I bought a brand new $500 desktop computer (yes they're that cheap these days) -- and then bought a brand new 500 gigabyte hard drive that cost $100, and put it in the new computer........ then I gathered 200 people who each had between $500,000 and $1million to invest, and told them "this hard drive is worth at least $500,000. I'll start the bidding there, at $500,000." How many would bid?

lsadam0 10y ago
You fail to understand that you just made up the price of 500,000. No one will invest. BTC, however, has reached the current USD value by natural market forces. You don't get to just make up prices, and neither does BTC.
- youngButEager 10y ago
  You missed the point entirely. I'm not saying everyone who read this missed the point entirely. But you clearly did. The $100 hard drive is being used as cold storage for $500k btc. I won't apologize for having to spell everything out for you here, because you didn't think things through given the context of the post. The post's message was "bitcoin is not a medium of exchange" and "bitcoin is a highly speculative gambling vehicle." The point was, and again I'm not going to apologize for having to spell things out in this level of detail since you did not 'connect the dots' -- the point was, if you gather 20 people who have $500k to $1M dollars to invest, no one will bid on the $500,000 hard drive. The vast majority of people with $500k to $1M dollars to invest will seek a reliable asset like gold or other legitimate asset that is backed by something. Would a gambler bid $500k for the hard drive? Maybe. But then again, if you go to Vegas or Reno, you will find lots of gamblers who will never gamble on card games in the casino due to cheaters (cards being the easiest game to cheat at as everyone knows). So even gamblers are selective and may not put money on btc. The point made was -- the vast majority of the population are NOT GAMBLERS. They want to see lots of evidence that the value of their $500k+ will be recoverable in a traditional manner that is widely accepted. - such as precious metals, which cannot be wiped clean by exposure to a magnetic field (unlike cold storage for btc) - such as real estate - such as an ETF of higly-liquid stocks On the "safest to mostly gambling" continuum of placements of your money in search of a good return, precious metals are at one end of the spectrum. Poker chips, the craps table, and btc are at the far other end. My entire point was, the profile of a btc 'investor' is that they're a gambler. And with the U.S. government seeking to curtail efforts to use btc as 'money', only gamblers willing to lose everything overnight use btc.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - lsadam0 10y ago
    You either fail to understand how BTC actually works, or you are purposely disingenuous for the sake of argument.
    - youngButEager 10y ago
      No, neither. My point was that BTC users are gambling. And most of them don't even realize it. There is no "there" there. Nothing stands behind BTC to back it. The best thing that can happen is for a widespread public awareness of where BTC falls on the continuum from "highly risky and speculative" to "safe" investments. I've got an MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas school. My peers know where BTC is on that continuum of "absurdly speculative and risky" to "safe and secure." My post was to say that it's not appropriate content for HN to hold up such a risky gambling vehicle that BTC is as somehow viable as an investment. An article, which I have flagged, about an ETF based on this dangerously speculative, easily-manipulated modern-day Dutch Tulips, is just not appropriate for HN without massive disclaimers citing 1) its failure to attain acceptance as a medium of exchange 2) the government's effort to shut it down 3) the massive number of scams that have duped people like you who aren't aware of the extremely speculative and risky nature of BTC. "A fool and his money are soon parted."
      - lsadam0 10y ago
        You have a degree relevant to every conversation, apparently. You are in love with the 'appeal to authority' fallacy. So, whatever. Arguing about what BTC is or isn't seems like a tremendous waste of time, does it not? No matter what you or I think, the market will decide, will it not? It's been kind to me, so take it as you will. Historically, the market has strongly disagreed with your subjective assessment. Your dumb argument amounts to assessing the value of gold by the value of the container in which it is stored. You clearly have an agenda, I can't be bothered.
        10y ago

lsadam0 10y ago

You fail to understand that you just made up the price of 500,000. No one will invest. BTC, however, has reached the current USD value by natural market forces. You don't get to just make up prices, and neither does BTC.

youngButEager 10y ago
You missed the point entirely. I'm not saying everyone who read this missed the point entirely. But you clearly did. The $100 hard drive is being used as cold storage for $500k btc. I won't apologize for having to spell everything out for you here, because you didn't think things through given the context of the post. The post's message was "bitcoin is not a medium of exchange" and "bitcoin is a highly speculative gambling vehicle." The point was, and again I'm not going to apologize for having to spell things out in this level of detail since you did not 'connect the dots' -- the point was, if you gather 20 people who have $500k to $1M dollars to invest, no one will bid on the $500,000 hard drive. The vast majority of people with $500k to $1M dollars to invest will seek a reliable asset like gold or other legitimate asset that is backed by something. Would a gambler bid $500k for the hard drive? Maybe. But then again, if you go to Vegas or Reno, you will find lots of gamblers who will never gamble on card games in the casino due to cheaters (cards being the easiest game to cheat at as everyone knows). So even gamblers are selective and may not put money on btc. The point made was -- the vast majority of the population are NOT GAMBLERS. They want to see lots of evidence that the value of their $500k+ will be recoverable in a traditional manner that is widely accepted. - such as precious metals, which cannot be wiped clean by exposure to a magnetic field (unlike cold storage for btc) - such as real estate - such as an ETF of higly-liquid stocks On the "safest to mostly gambling" continuum of placements of your money in search of a good return, precious metals are at one end of the spectrum. Poker chips, the craps table, and btc are at the far other end. My entire point was, the profile of a btc 'investor' is that they're a gambler. And with the U.S. government seeking to curtail efforts to use btc as 'money', only gamblers willing to lose everything overnight use btc.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- lsadam0 10y ago
  You either fail to understand how BTC actually works, or you are purposely disingenuous for the sake of argument.
  - youngButEager 10y ago
    No, neither. My point was that BTC users are gambling. And most of them don't even realize it. There is no "there" there. Nothing stands behind BTC to back it. The best thing that can happen is for a widespread public awareness of where BTC falls on the continuum from "highly risky and speculative" to "safe" investments. I've got an MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas school. My peers know where BTC is on that continuum of "absurdly speculative and risky" to "safe and secure." My post was to say that it's not appropriate content for HN to hold up such a risky gambling vehicle that BTC is as somehow viable as an investment. An article, which I have flagged, about an ETF based on this dangerously speculative, easily-manipulated modern-day Dutch Tulips, is just not appropriate for HN without massive disclaimers citing 1) its failure to attain acceptance as a medium of exchange 2) the government's effort to shut it down 3) the massive number of scams that have duped people like you who aren't aware of the extremely speculative and risky nature of BTC. "A fool and his money are soon parted."
    - lsadam0 10y ago
      You have a degree relevant to every conversation, apparently. You are in love with the 'appeal to authority' fallacy. So, whatever. Arguing about what BTC is or isn't seems like a tremendous waste of time, does it not? No matter what you or I think, the market will decide, will it not? It's been kind to me, so take it as you will. Historically, the market has strongly disagreed with your subjective assessment. Your dumb argument amounts to assessing the value of gold by the value of the container in which it is stored. You clearly have an agenda, I can't be bothered.
      - 10y ago