If I was smart I would have stopped under-estimating the stupidity of the average rube and bought a pile of useless Bitcoin back when it first became a meme. I

If I was smart I would have stopped under-estimating the stupidity of the average rube and bought a pile of useless Bitcoin back when it first became a meme. I don't consider myself to be particularly smart but I do know a scam when I see one. If somebody already mined the first coins everybody getting involved afterwards is either getting ripped off or will have to rip somebody off to get out before the realisation hits that what you are trading in is burned computer cycles and promises of a "new means of exchange" that doesn't actually work except for criminals activities. What happens when a country abandons a fiat currency or devalues it via inflation, you end up with wheelbarrows full of worthless paper and nobody to take it. yet at some point it was valued highly and people hoarded in mattresses and were happy to exchange goods for it. I like to think about it this way: People stop worshipping a particular god and the whole religion disappears, leaving nothing but stories. Nobody makes material sacrifices to that god any more, the temples fall into ruin, the high priests run out of money since their temples are no longer supported and followers move on to something else. c.f. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zurvanism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zurvanism Gold however has been sought after for thousands of years and still has uses outside of being a very inefficient currency (super compact boat ballast? why not). Bitcoin does not, can not and never will.