4 ms·

If bitcoin can cause a financial meltdown at a 1T market cap then what about Apple at 2.3T or Microsoft at 2.2T? Facebook is at 915B and is not doing to so well

If bitcoin can cause a financial meltdown at a 1T market cap then what about Apple at 2.3T or Microsoft at 2.2T? Facebook is at 915B and is not doing to so well lately either. I would think these companies would need to be split up as it would be too big of a risk that a "financial meltdown" could occur...

throw1234651234 5y ago
Short and yet the most informative post here.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
tootie 5y ago
There's a huge difference in that the apple and MS produce an enormous amount of value and gain mountains of revenue by producing goods and services. Apple's market share could wane the same way as IBM but it won't crash. The value of Bitcoin is 100% notional. It's all demand driven by FOMO. No one needs it. We could lose interest really quickly the way we did with Friendster and it would be dead really quickly.
- ur-whale 5y ago
  > It's all demand driven by FOMO. No one needs it. That would squarely fall in the "that's my opinion, unbacked as it is" bucket. There are people who actually need BTC. Ask wikileaks, for example.
NikolaNovak 5y ago
I see your point; all stocks are to certain (or large:) degree ephemeral. But at the same time, I like the quote: “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.” Apple's stock may crash; but there'll still be 10's of thousands of people selling 100's of millions of iPhones. They'll keep doing it, as I don't see interest in iPhones being cut off in a day (slow or fast decline, maybe). Heck, even Blackberry as a company is still around somewhere. Bitcoin is ALL market sentiment / vaporware / belief. (A comparison to Fiat money may be more apt, though would take me out of discussion - I simply haven't the foggiest deep understanding of "what if currency X crashes / how likely is it / what is it backed by REALLY if anything" )
- sschueller 5y ago
  Facebook is all "virtual". Their entire userbase could run to another platform within weeks to a point where it becomes too expensive to operate.
- ur-whale 5y ago
  > Bitcoin is ALL market sentiment / vaporware / belief. Sure, but if you take minute to think about it, so are iPhones. They sell because people want them. Supply and demand. You are then going to tell me about utility. I claim that: a) utility is just another way to describe demand b) cryptos do have utility: - shielding wealth from govt - shielding wealth from inflation - shielding wealth from disgruntled spouses - moving large quantities of wealth quickly across borders You might or might now agree with the "morality" of these attributes, but that's neither here nor there: when it comes to economic utility, that's not really a part of the conversation.
  - gunshai 5y ago
    Personally I am pulling back on the inflation claim. Im not sure that the claim that bitcoin is an inflation hedge is accurate. Or at least I haven't investigated it enough to continue advocating that claim. I'm also not sure that bitcoin does shield wealth from government, at least in the US it doesn't. It certainly does a better job if your government is not the US. The other two claims I agree with. To me the utility of btc is simple. It's the ability to opt into a different and codified monetary policy. That policy is collectively securitized. If I don't agree with the monetary policy of a or any government I can opt I to a system outside of that. Imo this serves as competition to centralized banking.
duud 5y ago
Facebook has billions of daily users and its stock trades at a reasonable multiple of earnings. Imo the average person thinks of Bitcoin and they think it's something you buy and if you're lucky you get a Lambo (to flex on Instagram). The speculative hype to utility ratio is different to that of FB, Apple, etc

throw1234651234 5y ago

Short and yet the most informative post here.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

tootie 5y ago

There's a huge difference in that the apple and MS produce an enormous amount of value and gain mountains of revenue by producing goods and services. Apple's market share could wane the same way as IBM but it won't crash. The value of Bitcoin is 100% notional. It's all demand driven by FOMO. No one needs it. We could lose interest really quickly the way we did with Friendster and it would be dead really quickly.

ur-whale 5y ago
> It's all demand driven by FOMO. No one needs it. That would squarely fall in the "that's my opinion, unbacked as it is" bucket. There are people who actually need BTC. Ask wikileaks, for example.

NikolaNovak 5y ago

I see your point; all stocks are to certain (or large:) degree ephemeral. But at the same time, I like the quote: “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.” Apple's stock may crash; but there'll still be 10's of thousands of people selling 100's of millions of iPhones. They'll keep doing it, as I don't see interest in iPhones being cut off in a day (slow or fast decline, maybe). Heck, even Blackberry as a company is still around somewhere. Bitcoin is ALL market sentiment / vaporware / belief. (A comparison to Fiat money may be more apt, though would take me out of discussion - I simply haven't the foggiest deep understanding of "what if currency X crashes / how likely is it / what is it backed by REALLY if anything" )

sschueller 5y ago
Facebook is all "virtual". Their entire userbase could run to another platform within weeks to a point where it becomes too expensive to operate.
ur-whale 5y ago
> Bitcoin is ALL market sentiment / vaporware / belief. Sure, but if you take minute to think about it, so are iPhones. They sell because people want them. Supply and demand. You are then going to tell me about utility. I claim that: a) utility is just another way to describe demand b) cryptos do have utility: - shielding wealth from govt - shielding wealth from inflation - shielding wealth from disgruntled spouses - moving large quantities of wealth quickly across borders You might or might now agree with the "morality" of these attributes, but that's neither here nor there: when it comes to economic utility, that's not really a part of the conversation.
- gunshai 5y ago
  Personally I am pulling back on the inflation claim. Im not sure that the claim that bitcoin is an inflation hedge is accurate. Or at least I haven't investigated it enough to continue advocating that claim. I'm also not sure that bitcoin does shield wealth from government, at least in the US it doesn't. It certainly does a better job if your government is not the US. The other two claims I agree with. To me the utility of btc is simple. It's the ability to opt into a different and codified monetary policy. That policy is collectively securitized. If I don't agree with the monetary policy of a or any government I can opt I to a system outside of that. Imo this serves as competition to centralized banking.

duud 5y ago

Facebook has billions of daily users and its stock trades at a reasonable multiple of earnings. Imo the average person thinks of Bitcoin and they think it's something you buy and if you're lucky you get a Lambo (to flex on Instagram). The speculative hype to utility ratio is different to that of FB, Apple, etc