4 ms·

Any market that is just a market is a zero sum game.... One cannot create value from trading.

• avmich 6y ago
  > One cannot create value from trading. I think you're wrong. An illustration could be McDonald's offering of a burger for $1, where you'd prefer burger and McDonald's would prefer $1. If you give them $1 and McDonald's give you the burger, both of you would be better off.
  • chii 6y ago
    The underlying assumption is that your utility of the burger is greater than $1. Which is true because MacDonald is very, very efficient at making burgers (compared to you). With bitcoin, it's a speculative trade. Everybody is "equally" good at making a coin. So the trade is happening purely due to an expectation of future utility, which may or may not come. So therefore, speculation is zero sum.
    • chx 6y ago
      > due to an expectation of future utility, which may or may not come. It's been 11 years and there's not an even idea of what legit utility it might have that existing tools and protocols do not fulfill. A significant proportion of suggestions could be done much better with git of all things...
• fidelramos 6y ago
  Isn't it the opposite, that any free market is not zero-sum? If two parties trade it means that each offers the other something they value more, so both parties end up in a better situation than before, thus increasing value.