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> reason that it would be bitcoin? It's the only one immune to Russia/USA/China intervention. > I doubt a country would want to hold something as volatile as

> reason that it would be bitcoin? It's the only one immune to Russia/USA/China intervention. > I doubt a country would want to hold something as volatile as bitcoin Research why it's so volatile.

WJW 5y ago
Bitcoin does not have a single defining feature that would make it more resilient to dedicated government intervention than any other crypto. The only thing that makes bitcoin "special" in the crypto world is that it's currently the biggest and most well known, but both of those factors could easily change in a year or ten. As for the ever-popular "research more" response, everything I ever read about it is that the whole thing is so incredibly volatile mostly because of the massive (over)use of leverage by speculators. In any case, even if there would be a valid reason for the volatility that still makes it unsuitable as a reserve currency. The whole point of a reserve currency is to be stable and bitcoin is anything but.
- andirk 5y ago
  I agree with all of that, but I will add that for everyone who picked up some bitcoin as a hedge or gamble or whatever in its first ~10 (of 11) years of existence are sitting on a very nice reserve for now. Nothing is perfectly stable. Gold, land, even lumber? All have had their extreme roller coaster rides lately. And now the sacred USD is waning from inflation. My only suggestion for those who seek stability is the typical one: diversify.
- danlugo92 5y ago
  > Bitcoin does not have a single defining feature that would make it more resilient to dedicated government intervention than any other crypto It does have one: it's the only cryptocurrency where everyone's vote counts regardless of how much they have, even zero-balance wallets as long as they are online, they have an equal stake on the network as anyone else. I will concede that when Ethereum has Proof of Stake, which would make it cheap in terms of electricity to run, and can distribute power in an equal manner, will be a big contender for Bitcoin as store of value, and even then as a currency but they gotta fix theyr chokehold problems. This is why Ethereum is the 2nd biggest, because this is priced in. Some people say PoS will centralize power, but who knows so everyone buy just in case they do it right. Value goes up. Because if they do it right, they could replace Bitcoin. Bitcoin is the only one that gives you, today, equal voice just like anyone else. > whole thing is so incredibly volatile mostly because of the massive (over)use of leverage by speculators. Yes! Because cryptocurrencies has brought MILLIONS of people worldwide into trading. Whereas they couldn't do anything like that before, Americans are lucky they get easy access to the US stock exchange, in most other countries trading is just not a profitable position. Cryptocurrencies allowed these million of people to actually be traders in a sizeable market: Almost $1 trillion as of now, that's biggest than a lot of GDPs, for example Colombia's GDP is less than $271b, US's GDP is $21t for comparison. You get a lot of newbies and beginner traders that use leverage and stuff like this happens. Doesn't need to be centralized because it's totally transparent (with some caveats, will improve in the future). > The whole point of a reserve currency is to be stable and bitcoin is anything but. Some say when you look at its fundamentals (Market Cap, Volume) and its properties (non-printable, fixed cap) you can deduce it will not go down in the long-term, it will only go up. Whether this is factually accurate I don't know, Economics is hard. Unless they banned it, and they could, that's a whole other can of worms but it might push 1st world capital into the likes of Russia etc. El Salvador does its thing because it wants to attract this capital. There's lots of people that LOVE saving in Bitcoin, even if you don't "get it", this is what some people like, they like saving in crypto, and that's a sizable market for buy/sell pairing (aka trading).
- aaaaaaaaata 5y ago
  Sure it does. Cold storage hold % diversity of holders

> reason that it would be bitcoin? It's the only one immune to Russia/USA/China intervention. > I doubt a country would want to hold something as volatile as bitcoin Research why it's so volatile.

WJW 5y ago

Bitcoin does not have a single defining feature that would make it more resilient to dedicated government intervention than any other crypto. The only thing that makes bitcoin "special" in the crypto world is that it's currently the biggest and most well known, but both of those factors could easily change in a year or ten. As for the ever-popular "research more" response, everything I ever read about it is that the whole thing is so incredibly volatile mostly because of the massive (over)use of leverage by speculators. In any case, even if there would be a valid reason for the volatility that still makes it unsuitable as a reserve currency. The whole point of a reserve currency is to be stable and bitcoin is anything but.

andirk 5y ago
I agree with all of that, but I will add that for everyone who picked up some bitcoin as a hedge or gamble or whatever in its first ~10 (of 11) years of existence are sitting on a very nice reserve for now. Nothing is perfectly stable. Gold, land, even lumber? All have had their extreme roller coaster rides lately. And now the sacred USD is waning from inflation. My only suggestion for those who seek stability is the typical one: diversify.
danlugo92 5y ago
> Bitcoin does not have a single defining feature that would make it more resilient to dedicated government intervention than any other crypto It does have one: it's the only cryptocurrency where everyone's vote counts regardless of how much they have, even zero-balance wallets as long as they are online, they have an equal stake on the network as anyone else. I will concede that when Ethereum has Proof of Stake, which would make it cheap in terms of electricity to run, and can distribute power in an equal manner, will be a big contender for Bitcoin as store of value, and even then as a currency but they gotta fix theyr chokehold problems. This is why Ethereum is the 2nd biggest, because this is priced in. Some people say PoS will centralize power, but who knows so everyone buy just in case they do it right. Value goes up. Because if they do it right, they could replace Bitcoin. Bitcoin is the only one that gives you, today, equal voice just like anyone else. > whole thing is so incredibly volatile mostly because of the massive (over)use of leverage by speculators. Yes! Because cryptocurrencies has brought MILLIONS of people worldwide into trading. Whereas they couldn't do anything like that before, Americans are lucky they get easy access to the US stock exchange, in most other countries trading is just not a profitable position. Cryptocurrencies allowed these million of people to actually be traders in a sizeable market: Almost $1 trillion as of now, that's biggest than a lot of GDPs, for example Colombia's GDP is less than $271b, US's GDP is $21t for comparison. You get a lot of newbies and beginner traders that use leverage and stuff like this happens. Doesn't need to be centralized because it's totally transparent (with some caveats, will improve in the future). > The whole point of a reserve currency is to be stable and bitcoin is anything but. Some say when you look at its fundamentals (Market Cap, Volume) and its properties (non-printable, fixed cap) you can deduce it will not go down in the long-term, it will only go up. Whether this is factually accurate I don't know, Economics is hard. Unless they banned it, and they could, that's a whole other can of worms but it might push 1st world capital into the likes of Russia etc. El Salvador does its thing because it wants to attract this capital. There's lots of people that LOVE saving in Bitcoin, even if you don't "get it", this is what some people like, they like saving in crypto, and that's a sizable market for buy/sell pairing (aka trading).
aaaaaaaaata 5y ago
Sure it does. Cold storage hold % diversity of holders