4 ms·

Is it just me or recently in last year or so I am noticing more and more of ... I don't know what to call these: - Baseball/pokemon card auctions - Bitcoin an

Is it just me or recently in last year or so I am noticing more and more of ... I don't know what to call these: - Baseball/pokemon card auctions - Bitcoin and crypto in general - Meme stocks - and now this NFT stuff It is all exploding. Usually, this was limited to much smaller stage and scale, besides may be the art world. Ofcourse auctions are older than the dust, I am just noticing increasing pyramid-schemes/tokens/scarcity-driven-value-stores and personalities such as deepfuckingvalue/elon/chamath/etc. Is there an underlying pattern here?

jowsie 6y ago
It's basically MLM's but instead of tupperware they're peddling FOMO.
bitdizzy 6y ago
Financialization of everything until tokens themselves become financialized.
- Pxtl 6y ago
  Isn't "tokens themselves become financialized" basically Bitcoin?
ralusek 6y ago
Growing distrust of institutions. General increase in postmodern philosophy, deconstructing concepts of inherent value. Stock market valuations increasingly decoupling from underlying business to the point that everyone realized we were just betting on abstract entities. Large portion of the population not earning enough for traditional investment vehicles to net returns that would meaningfully impact their lives, so instead going for YOLO meme investments for a marginally slim chance at completely changing their lives. I'm sure there're more reasons.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- Ekaros 6y ago
  I'm starting to believe that both or even all sides are in the game now. Rich have more money than places to put it. People distrusting markets look at this thing and feel FOMO. And then you have some average guys with extra money and time to look at things they are nostalgic about.
bigmattystyles 6y ago
Uneducated guess: Quantitative easing of the US dollar has led to some people to accumulate an outsized proportion of the money and are now seeking higher/easier returns where they can. In my mind, recklessly.
- snicksnak 6y ago
  Everytime i read "quantitative easing" I chuckle, because this thing is stuck in my head https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTUY16CkS-k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTUY16CkS-k
matwood 6y ago
Maybe all those old baseball cards I have will finally be worth something...maybe...
- Ekaros 6y ago
  There is probably some value in those. Large part of market is nostalgia. I would personally now sell any of them that have risen substantially. They might go up more, but eventually they go down when the generation who have nostalgia is gone... It's common pattern that can be seen with things like cars, outside the very special ones.
jariel 6y ago
There's definitely evidence of huge pools of liquid capital and probably an expression of bad economic policy i.e. QE vs. minimum wage. I suggest there's a time for both, but the time as long since passed for a minimum wage hike or other, better demand-side initiatives instead of the supply side economics that have dominated for the last 40 years. I'm note speaking politically or ideologically, just pragmatically. That we have people holding 3 jobs with no healthcare in an economy where people are paying $500 for shoes and 'digital art' and other speculative things is just not healthy.
- fermienrico 6y ago
  > 3 jobs with no healthcare in an economy > $500 for shoes Why are they mutually exclusive? Should people give up luxuries?
  - jariel 6y ago
    ? Yes. Paying $500 for shoes you won't wear is less important than food, or making sure that your kid is supported and shows up to class so that we don't have to blame it on the schools.
    - fermienrico 6y ago
      Isn’t that individual responsibility? How can you even stop someone from spending on whatever they want?
      - jariel 6y ago
        We cant. But we can try to make sure that surpluses are spread rationally, at least to the extent non-market interventions are concerned i.e. supply-side (QE) vs. demand-side fiscal/monetary policy and governance. That there are huge markets for useless things at the same time people are struggling without healthcare is not a positive sign.
dandanua 6y ago
It looks like the idea of money got completely detached from a useful value. Probably due to the world scale corruption. This is not going to end well.
xiphias2 6y ago
While collectibles are superior to fiat currencies as a store of value ($2T was just printed from nothing without any limit to do it in the future), Bitcoin is divisible, which gives it a great liquidity advantage. I expect most collectibles to decrease in value compared to BTC in the long term.
- pmlnr 6y ago
  Currency was never meant to be a value store, ever. The US gold backing was a silly thing to start with. A currency's function is to be a glue, a common denominator.
  - xiphias2 6y ago
    ,,Currency was never meant to be a value store, ever. '' It's not that simple. If people wouldn't use it for store of value, seignorage wouldn't be so profitable for banks. Gold backing was also very profitable for banks, as they could sell the gold and lie to people about the gold still existing. It wasn't like people wanted it: gold was taken away by force and by shaming people who hoarded it.
SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
I really lean towards the view that it's just because people are stuck inside. I'll be a lot more concerned about the trend if it persists into 2022.
KirillPanov 6y ago
> Is there an underlying pattern here? Fiat money printing. It causes speculative bubbles.
rasz 6y ago
Inflation. People have too much money, and nothing to invest into.

jowsie 6y ago

It's basically MLM's but instead of tupperware they're peddling FOMO.

bitdizzy 6y ago

Financialization of everything until tokens themselves become financialized.

Pxtl 6y ago
Isn't "tokens themselves become financialized" basically Bitcoin?

ralusek 6y ago

Growing distrust of institutions. General increase in postmodern philosophy, deconstructing concepts of inherent value. Stock market valuations increasingly decoupling from underlying business to the point that everyone realized we were just betting on abstract entities. Large portion of the population not earning enough for traditional investment vehicles to net returns that would meaningfully impact their lives, so instead going for YOLO meme investments for a marginally slim chance at completely changing their lives. I'm sure there're more reasons.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
Ekaros 6y ago
I'm starting to believe that both or even all sides are in the game now. Rich have more money than places to put it. People distrusting markets look at this thing and feel FOMO. And then you have some average guys with extra money and time to look at things they are nostalgic about.

bigmattystyles 6y ago

Uneducated guess: Quantitative easing of the US dollar has led to some people to accumulate an outsized proportion of the money and are now seeking higher/easier returns where they can. In my mind, recklessly.

snicksnak 6y ago
Everytime i read "quantitative easing" I chuckle, because this thing is stuck in my head https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTUY16CkS-k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTUY16CkS-k

matwood 6y ago

Maybe all those old baseball cards I have will finally be worth something...maybe...

Ekaros 6y ago
There is probably some value in those. Large part of market is nostalgia. I would personally now sell any of them that have risen substantially. They might go up more, but eventually they go down when the generation who have nostalgia is gone... It's common pattern that can be seen with things like cars, outside the very special ones.

jariel 6y ago

There's definitely evidence of huge pools of liquid capital and probably an expression of bad economic policy i.e. QE vs. minimum wage. I suggest there's a time for both, but the time as long since passed for a minimum wage hike or other, better demand-side initiatives instead of the supply side economics that have dominated for the last 40 years. I'm note speaking politically or ideologically, just pragmatically. That we have people holding 3 jobs with no healthcare in an economy where people are paying $500 for shoes and 'digital art' and other speculative things is just not healthy.

fermienrico 6y ago
> 3 jobs with no healthcare in an economy > $500 for shoes Why are they mutually exclusive? Should people give up luxuries?
- jariel 6y ago
  ? Yes. Paying $500 for shoes you won't wear is less important than food, or making sure that your kid is supported and shows up to class so that we don't have to blame it on the schools.
  - fermienrico 6y ago
    Isn’t that individual responsibility? How can you even stop someone from spending on whatever they want?
    - jariel 6y ago
      We cant. But we can try to make sure that surpluses are spread rationally, at least to the extent non-market interventions are concerned i.e. supply-side (QE) vs. demand-side fiscal/monetary policy and governance. That there are huge markets for useless things at the same time people are struggling without healthcare is not a positive sign.

dandanua 6y ago

It looks like the idea of money got completely detached from a useful value. Probably due to the world scale corruption. This is not going to end well.

xiphias2 6y ago

While collectibles are superior to fiat currencies as a store of value ($2T was just printed from nothing without any limit to do it in the future), Bitcoin is divisible, which gives it a great liquidity advantage. I expect most collectibles to decrease in value compared to BTC in the long term.

pmlnr 6y ago
Currency was never meant to be a value store, ever. The US gold backing was a silly thing to start with. A currency's function is to be a glue, a common denominator.
- xiphias2 6y ago
  ,,Currency was never meant to be a value store, ever. '' It's not that simple. If people wouldn't use it for store of value, seignorage wouldn't be so profitable for banks. Gold backing was also very profitable for banks, as they could sell the gold and lie to people about the gold still existing. It wasn't like people wanted it: gold was taken away by force and by shaming people who hoarded it.

SpicyLemonZest 6y ago

I really lean towards the view that it's just because people are stuck inside. I'll be a lot more concerned about the trend if it persists into 2022.

KirillPanov 6y ago

> Is there an underlying pattern here? Fiat money printing. It causes speculative bubbles.

rasz 6y ago

Inflation. People have too much money, and nothing to invest into.