4 ms·

Yeah, it's pretty much what happened 500 years ago when people were selling everything they owned (including houses) to buy tulip bulbs[0]. Maybe it's not that

by nickjj 9y ago

Yeah, it's pretty much what happened 500 years ago when people were selling everything they owned (including houses) to buy tulip bulbs[0]. Maybe it's not that bad yet, but it's looking to get that way. Spoiler alert: It ended really badly, but the people who got out early enough did make a lot of money. Plot twist: I did invest in bitcoins back when they were hovering around 2k and sold them for a small profit (~10%). Yep, I wish I invested more and held on, but it's so easy to think this way after the fact. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania.

SippinLean 9y ago
Someone HAD to get the Tulip comment out of the way, I saw pyramid schemes mentioned above, but did anyone call it a Ponzi in this thread yet?
jesusthatsgreat 9y ago
Tulips aren't finite in number nor can they be transferred on a decentralised ledger. Anyone can grow tulips and grow fake tulips that may look like tulips but are cheaper quicker to buy / make. You can't fake Bitcoin nor can you grow it indefinitely in your garden. People who make the tulip comparison simply don't understand the revolutionary aspect of the technology. It's like calling the internet tulip mania back in the mid 90's. Blockchain technology will change the world. Bitcoin's value will boom and bust for many years to come. Where will it end up in USD terms? Nobody knows... but the technology itself will become as indispensable as the internet.
- nickjj 9y ago
  I was replying to someone who was talking about the social phenomenon of bitcoin trading. I wasn't comparing them literally.
- mcv 9y ago
  What are "fake tulips"? There are many types of flower, but I've never heard any described as fake tulips. And why grow fake tulips when you can grow real ones? And why is a decentralised ledger even relevant to tulips? They're not bits of code, they're real things you own irrespective of whether other people know you own it. Also, you need to distinguish between the blockchain technology and the value of bitcoins. Blockchain does not depend on bitcoin. Bitcoin can fail while blockchain continues to change the world. The real value of bitcoin at this moment comes from trust that the hype will continue. It might. Or it might not.
- ryanmarsh 9y ago
  People who make the tulip comparison simply don't understand the revolutionary aspect of the technology. People who make the tulip comparison simply don't understand the Tulip craze.
wallace_f 9y ago
The comparison between bitcoin and tulips is pretty common, JPM CEO, Jamie Dimon, said "bitcoin is a fraud worse than tulips," then his bank apparently bought bitcoin [???], or at least did on behalf of clients. There have been a number of threads on HN though about the comparison. The tulip bubble is apparently not as interesting as its reputation leads us to believe >"the tulip price crashed, not because it was irrationally high, but because of an external shock." [1] https://stratechery.com/2017/tulips-myths-and-cryptocurrencies/ https://stratechery.com/2017/tulips-myths-and-cryptocurrenci...
pc86 9y ago
I bought in slightly after you but sold later (in at ~$2.5k, out at ~$4.4k or so for 1 BTC). It's so easy to get caught up in it and think "man, if I had just bought 10x as much and sold now, I'd have so much more!" I also sold right before that dip to $3k for several weeks, I could have just as easily have lost half my gains.
RoboTeddy 9y ago
There's a reason society eventually settled on gold instead of tulips or pinecones. Good monies have certain attributes. Bitcoin's direct technological antecedent was called bitgold, and it was created by Nick Szabo who is a scholar of the origins of money (e.g. http://nakamotoinstitute.org/shelling-out/ http://nakamotoinstitute.org/shelling-out/)

by nickjj 9y ago

SippinLean 9y ago

Someone HAD to get the Tulip comment out of the way, I saw pyramid schemes mentioned above, but did anyone call it a Ponzi in this thread yet?

jesusthatsgreat 9y ago

Tulips aren't finite in number nor can they be transferred on a decentralised ledger. Anyone can grow tulips and grow fake tulips that may look like tulips but are cheaper quicker to buy / make. You can't fake Bitcoin nor can you grow it indefinitely in your garden. People who make the tulip comparison simply don't understand the revolutionary aspect of the technology. It's like calling the internet tulip mania back in the mid 90's. Blockchain technology will change the world. Bitcoin's value will boom and bust for many years to come. Where will it end up in USD terms? Nobody knows... but the technology itself will become as indispensable as the internet.

nickjj 9y ago
I was replying to someone who was talking about the social phenomenon of bitcoin trading. I wasn't comparing them literally.
mcv 9y ago
What are "fake tulips"? There are many types of flower, but I've never heard any described as fake tulips. And why grow fake tulips when you can grow real ones? And why is a decentralised ledger even relevant to tulips? They're not bits of code, they're real things you own irrespective of whether other people know you own it. Also, you need to distinguish between the blockchain technology and the value of bitcoins. Blockchain does not depend on bitcoin. Bitcoin can fail while blockchain continues to change the world. The real value of bitcoin at this moment comes from trust that the hype will continue. It might. Or it might not.
ryanmarsh 9y ago
People who make the tulip comparison simply don't understand the revolutionary aspect of the technology. People who make the tulip comparison simply don't understand the Tulip craze.

wallace_f 9y ago

The comparison between bitcoin and tulips is pretty common, JPM CEO, Jamie Dimon, said "bitcoin is a fraud worse than tulips," then his bank apparently bought bitcoin [???], or at least did on behalf of clients. There have been a number of threads on HN though about the comparison. The tulip bubble is apparently not as interesting as its reputation leads us to believe >"the tulip price crashed, not because it was irrationally high, but because of an external shock." [1] https://stratechery.com/2017/tulips-myths-and-cryptocurrencies/ https://stratechery.com/2017/tulips-myths-and-cryptocurrenci...

pc86 9y ago

I bought in slightly after you but sold later (in at ~$2.5k, out at ~$4.4k or so for 1 BTC). It's so easy to get caught up in it and think "man, if I had just bought 10x as much and sold now, I'd have so much more!" I also sold right before that dip to $3k for several weeks, I could have just as easily have lost half my gains.

RoboTeddy 9y ago

There's a reason society eventually settled on gold instead of tulips or pinecones. Good monies have certain attributes. Bitcoin's direct technological antecedent was called bitgold, and it was created by Nick Szabo who is a scholar of the origins of money (e.g. http://nakamotoinstitute.org/shelling-out/ http://nakamotoinstitute.org/shelling-out/)