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I'm openly a skeptic, and this is a great mental reframe for me. I knew about bitcoin since it was shared at defcon as a 30/40 minute presentation in the middl

I'm openly a skeptic, and this is a great mental reframe for me. I knew about bitcoin since it was shared at defcon as a 30/40 minute presentation in the middle of an afternoon. I want to guess around 2010, sub $1 for sure. As I have watched it be a bad buy(in my opinion) year after year and repeatedly being wrong to the tune of multiple retirement opportunities, I still think it is a bad buy. Why? Not anger, but fear. Fear not that I've been wrong, but that I've been right. I don't want to be left holding the bag, and the $20k I might or might have thrown at bitcoin I would sell shortly after making a 20% profit, same as I would have regardless of the price. I just don't get it. I probably won't ever get it. And I hope those making fortunes with it put the money behind things more worthwhile than NFTs and other energy intensive proofing "products." I saw you were downvoted, but thanks for helping me better understand, and in the future articulate, my no-coiner stance.

xiphias2 6y ago
Read the Bitcoin Standard book. It was created for openly sceptic people as yourself. And you're right, you shouldn't buy Bitcoin until you understand why you would buy it.
anonporridge 6y ago
And this is the problem. You shouldn't buy in if you don't understand why you would want to hold it for years and decades. If you're just looking to scalp some gains off the mania, then you're very likely to exit at a loss when you experience your first 30% correction that happens over a couple days. The best explanation I've ever read about why smart, well educated people can be so diametrically opposed in their opinion on bitcoin, is the level of trust they have in the establishment system. For various reasons in my personal experience and resulting philosophy on life, I have severe issues in relying on systems of human trust. As much as feasible, I don't want to give others power to abuse and use me without my consent, and bitcoin is a vessel of that need. I see bitcoin as a new, incorruptible foundation of trust from which human cooperation can build off and flourish. If you don't have a similar kind of lived experience, you might not ever understand the value of bitcoin. Or at least, you won't realize the value until it's too late.
louloulou 6y ago
Generally in investment it's helpful to recognise we're not infallible and ask: what is the probability I'm wrong on this? And that's generally a good way to size positions for things you don't want to own, but that the market is telling you to. If I was in you're position, I'd think there's at least a 0.1% chance I'll be proven wrong (after all money is based on social consensus). So I'll take 0.1% of my investable assets and dump it into Bitcoin to hedge myself, and then forget about it.

xiphias2 6y ago

Read the Bitcoin Standard book. It was created for openly sceptic people as yourself. And you're right, you shouldn't buy Bitcoin until you understand why you would buy it.

anonporridge 6y ago

And this is the problem. You shouldn't buy in if you don't understand why you would want to hold it for years and decades. If you're just looking to scalp some gains off the mania, then you're very likely to exit at a loss when you experience your first 30% correction that happens over a couple days. The best explanation I've ever read about why smart, well educated people can be so diametrically opposed in their opinion on bitcoin, is the level of trust they have in the establishment system. For various reasons in my personal experience and resulting philosophy on life, I have severe issues in relying on systems of human trust. As much as feasible, I don't want to give others power to abuse and use me without my consent, and bitcoin is a vessel of that need. I see bitcoin as a new, incorruptible foundation of trust from which human cooperation can build off and flourish. If you don't have a similar kind of lived experience, you might not ever understand the value of bitcoin. Or at least, you won't realize the value until it's too late.

louloulou 6y ago

Generally in investment it's helpful to recognise we're not infallible and ask: what is the probability I'm wrong on this? And that's generally a good way to size positions for things you don't want to own, but that the market is telling you to. If I was in you're position, I'd think there's at least a 0.1% chance I'll be proven wrong (after all money is based on social consensus). So I'll take 0.1% of my investable assets and dump it into Bitcoin to hedge myself, and then forget about it.