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Just buy Bitcoin Today and hold it for a year. Then hold it for another year. Buy it with money that you don't ever need again. Don't do so much that you feel l

Just buy Bitcoin Today and hold it for a year. Then hold it for another year. Buy it with money that you don't ever need again. Don't do so much that you feel like you woud be in trouble if you lost it all and don't do it with so little that doubling that money in a year would not be worth the rollercoaster that is bitcoin ownership. The week after I bought mine, it dropped nearly 30% and now it's up nearly 90%. There was a series of emotions because I probably bought enough to be very very engaged but not enough to be in big trouble if it went south.

rb808 9y ago
Yeah that's a good sign that Bitcoin is not an investment its a lottery ticket, or more realistically an entry in a pyramid scheme.
- __s 9y ago
  How is Bitcoin a pyramid scheme as opposed to USD?
  - overcast 9y ago
    Is that a joke? Show me the USD swinging as wildly as Bitcoin does in any time frame. There's a reason it's the standard across the world.
    - baddox 9y ago
      I don't believe there is any conceptual correlation between X being a pyramid scheme and the price of X fluctuating wildly. "Pyramid scheme" is an actual term with a fairly widely-understood meaning. It doesn't just mean "any thing I don't like."
      - overcast 9y ago
        A very small minority of people control the vast majority of Bitcoin, it goes from thousands to hundreds over a course of months. All from manipulation by that small minority.
        rvschuilenburg 9y ago
        There's also a small minority of people that control the vast majority of USD. A pyramid scheme is a business model that recruits members via a promise of payments or services for enrolling others into the scheme, rather than supplying investments or sale of products or services. Bitcoin has no such thing.
        overcast 9y ago
        Except the price of the USD isn't manipulated to such an extreme, only to encourage others to join in so they can be cashed out.
        test6554 9y ago
        It represents a massive massive redistribution of wealth rather than a pyramid scheme. Not an even distribution, but a different distribution for sure.
    - millettjon 9y ago
      There are many currencies that do swing as wildly as bitcoin and we do not refer to those as pryamid schemes.
- cgmg 9y ago
  Can you elaborate on why you think Bitcoin is a 'pyramid scheme'?
- rothbardrand 9y ago
  Bitcoin is the first technological form of money. This means it is going thru the normal technology adoption cycle like a high tech startup does, yet its' a form of money. It's a new thing. Every time the user base expands a bit as more people become aware of it, then the price goes up. At the same time, every 4 years the rate of emission is being cut in half... so, more people want bitcoins but there are less new bitcoins being made. That's not a pyramid scheme but it's also not going to produce a perfect %0.2 appreciation per day type schedule. It is an investment. With a lottery ticket your odds of winning are very small and you will likely lose almost all the money. With a pyramid scheme, the early entrants are paid with money from the later entrants as part of a scam-- and it's unsustainable-- but bitcoin is perfectly sustainable, it's simply an asset that happens to be appreciating. What is it when you buy an asset whose demand is going up and you think it's going to appreciate? Investing. At worst you could call it "speculating" but speculation is just a word for "high risk investments" and risk is in the eye of the beholder.
  - rb808 9y ago
    >It is an investment. With a lottery ticket your odds of winning are very small and you will likely lose almost all the money. With a pyramid scheme, the early entrants are paid with money from the later entrants as part of a scam-- and it's unsustainable-- but bitcoin is perfectly sustainable, it's simply an asset that happens to be appreciating. I think its pretty clear that the early entrants are getting paid with money from the later entrants. The question left is is BTC sustainable. Etherium shows BTC is easily replaced. Currently yes it is an asset that happens to be appreciating - do you think anyone wants to own it when it starts going down?

rb808 9y ago

Yeah that's a good sign that Bitcoin is not an investment its a lottery ticket, or more realistically an entry in a pyramid scheme.

__s 9y ago
How is Bitcoin a pyramid scheme as opposed to USD?
- overcast 9y ago
  Is that a joke? Show me the USD swinging as wildly as Bitcoin does in any time frame. There's a reason it's the standard across the world.
  - baddox 9y ago
    I don't believe there is any conceptual correlation between X being a pyramid scheme and the price of X fluctuating wildly. "Pyramid scheme" is an actual term with a fairly widely-understood meaning. It doesn't just mean "any thing I don't like."
    - overcast 9y ago
      A very small minority of people control the vast majority of Bitcoin, it goes from thousands to hundreds over a course of months. All from manipulation by that small minority.
      - rvschuilenburg 9y ago
        There's also a small minority of people that control the vast majority of USD. A pyramid scheme is a business model that recruits members via a promise of payments or services for enrolling others into the scheme, rather than supplying investments or sale of products or services. Bitcoin has no such thing.
        overcast 9y ago
        Except the price of the USD isn't manipulated to such an extreme, only to encourage others to join in so they can be cashed out.
        test6554 9y ago
        It represents a massive massive redistribution of wealth rather than a pyramid scheme. Not an even distribution, but a different distribution for sure.
  - millettjon 9y ago
    There are many currencies that do swing as wildly as bitcoin and we do not refer to those as pryamid schemes.
cgmg 9y ago
Can you elaborate on why you think Bitcoin is a 'pyramid scheme'?
rothbardrand 9y ago
Bitcoin is the first technological form of money. This means it is going thru the normal technology adoption cycle like a high tech startup does, yet its' a form of money. It's a new thing. Every time the user base expands a bit as more people become aware of it, then the price goes up. At the same time, every 4 years the rate of emission is being cut in half... so, more people want bitcoins but there are less new bitcoins being made. That's not a pyramid scheme but it's also not going to produce a perfect %0.2 appreciation per day type schedule. It is an investment. With a lottery ticket your odds of winning are very small and you will likely lose almost all the money. With a pyramid scheme, the early entrants are paid with money from the later entrants as part of a scam-- and it's unsustainable-- but bitcoin is perfectly sustainable, it's simply an asset that happens to be appreciating. What is it when you buy an asset whose demand is going up and you think it's going to appreciate? Investing. At worst you could call it "speculating" but speculation is just a word for "high risk investments" and risk is in the eye of the beholder.
- rb808 9y ago
  >It is an investment. With a lottery ticket your odds of winning are very small and you will likely lose almost all the money. With a pyramid scheme, the early entrants are paid with money from the later entrants as part of a scam-- and it's unsustainable-- but bitcoin is perfectly sustainable, it's simply an asset that happens to be appreciating. I think its pretty clear that the early entrants are getting paid with money from the later entrants. The question left is is BTC sustainable. Etherium shows BTC is easily replaced. Currently yes it is an asset that happens to be appreciating - do you think anyone wants to own it when it starts going down?