5 ms·

Again with the tulip bulbs? Surely you've had the time to research this argument by now...

wklauss 8y ago
> Again with the tulip bulbs? Surely you've had the time to research this argument by now... The real intricacies of tulip mania don't matter. Who cares if it was not exactly the bubble we thought it was? It was still a bubble, with serious consequences to those exposed to it. Yes, it didn't move at the speed of the markets move now because markets then were much more slower and it only affected a bunch of businessmen. So what? We use the analogy because we know markets sometimes go crazy around stocks and other assets, with no apparent justification other than thinking the price will continue to grow and usually based on not much more than faith. Tulip mania has become a proxy for that behavior because the absurdity of a flower bulb skyrocketing in price, but if you don't like it, you can certainly point to many bubbles we know existed, had more widespread effects and were equally based on nothing. Some of them are not even a decade old.
- charlesdm 8y ago
  Bubble or not: at $330bn, even if this all goes to $0 tomorrow, the world won't burn. If this asset class would be trading at $10tn then the concerns would likely be valid. Why not put a bit of money into the space and let things develop? If you're right, great, you haven't lost a lot. If you were wrong, you made a healthy return that is likely above any other investments you have access to.
  - gleenn 8y ago
    At a incredibly high and volatile risk for what you're paying. Try and pull some of those Bitcoins out in a market rush, see if you're sale goes through in the next week. Even the high returns we've seen so far don't justify the fact that sometimes you're asset is worth nothing because you can't move it because some company "has a bug".
    - charlesdm 8y ago
      Why would I have to care for small(er) positions? I consider this a high risk binary investment -- either it will work, or it won't. Unless you're investing $100k+ (which for most people wouldn't be a small part of their portfolio) you should easily be able to exit positions. This was clear even during the last correction. From a risk level, (In my view) I'm looking at an angel investment but with better upside odds. The potential upside is disproportionate to the downside, and I'm happy to take on that risk.
    - scalesolved 8y ago
      Try and pull your savings out of a bank when there is a bank run. I agree with the poster above, BTC and others may be in a bubble but the bubble is tiny compared to other asset classes and previous bubbles.
      - csmiller 8y ago
        > Try and pull your savings out of a bank when there is a bank run. Familiar with the FDIC?
        scalesolved 8y ago
        Something that applies to the US only?
        sjwright 8y ago
        Most major countries have a similar scheme https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposit_insurance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposit_insurance
        scalesolved 8y ago
        Take the EU for example from that link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposit_insurance#By_EU_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposit_insurance#By_EU_countr... Limited to 100k, that is extremely low for a lot of people looking for safe asset havens.

> Again with the tulip bulbs? Surely you've had the time to research this argument by now... The real intricacies of tulip mania don't matter. Who cares if it was not exactly the bubble we thought it was? It was still a bubble, with serious consequences to those exposed to it. Yes, it didn't move at the speed of the markets move now because markets then were much more slower and it only affected a bunch of businessmen. So what? We use the analogy because we know markets sometimes go crazy around stocks and other assets, with no apparent justification other than thinking the price will continue to grow and usually based on not much more than faith. Tulip mania has become a proxy for that behavior because the absurdity of a flower bulb skyrocketing in price, but if you don't like it, you can certainly point to many bubbles we know existed, had more widespread effects and were equally based on nothing. Some of them are not even a decade old.

charlesdm 8y ago
Bubble or not: at $330bn, even if this all goes to $0 tomorrow, the world won't burn. If this asset class would be trading at $10tn then the concerns would likely be valid. Why not put a bit of money into the space and let things develop? If you're right, great, you haven't lost a lot. If you were wrong, you made a healthy return that is likely above any other investments you have access to.
- gleenn 8y ago
  At a incredibly high and volatile risk for what you're paying. Try and pull some of those Bitcoins out in a market rush, see if you're sale goes through in the next week. Even the high returns we've seen so far don't justify the fact that sometimes you're asset is worth nothing because you can't move it because some company "has a bug".
  - charlesdm 8y ago
    Why would I have to care for small(er) positions? I consider this a high risk binary investment -- either it will work, or it won't. Unless you're investing $100k+ (which for most people wouldn't be a small part of their portfolio) you should easily be able to exit positions. This was clear even during the last correction. From a risk level, (In my view) I'm looking at an angel investment but with better upside odds. The potential upside is disproportionate to the downside, and I'm happy to take on that risk.
  - scalesolved 8y ago
    Try and pull your savings out of a bank when there is a bank run. I agree with the poster above, BTC and others may be in a bubble but the bubble is tiny compared to other asset classes and previous bubbles.
    - csmiller 8y ago
      > Try and pull your savings out of a bank when there is a bank run. Familiar with the FDIC?
      - scalesolved 8y ago
        Something that applies to the US only?
        sjwright 8y ago
        Most major countries have a similar scheme https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposit_insurance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposit_insurance
        scalesolved 8y ago
        Take the EU for example from that link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposit_insurance#By_EU_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposit_insurance#By_EU_countr... Limited to 100k, that is extremely low for a lot of people looking for safe asset havens.