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> The classic hedge against inflation is stuff with indisputable value, aka commodities. Second-best is real-estate Pray tell then, should retail workers buy b

by csdvrx 4y ago

> The classic hedge against inflation is stuff with indisputable value, aka commodities. Second-best is real-estate Pray tell then, should retail workers buy bars of gold, or mansions? > Critics are super angry that people are being swindled into throwing their money into crypto On HN, critics are super angry that many people got rich for doing things they didn't do themselves, because they consider such things swindle/morally bad etc. > The sooner it crashes and burns, the sooner we can hope to prevent more pointless financial deaths The only problem with this argument is that you are certain it's going to fail/crash/burn. What if it doesn't? As I can't predict the future, I consider the chances of failures are not 100%. Actually, I believe the chances of success may be closer to 50/50. Should crypto not fail, I wonder how people who celebrated the prior crashes will feel? Maybe they will just rationalize all that away, as most people don't seem to have too much of a conscience. Personally, I prefer to avoid such conundrums altogether: my way is to not wish failure and to not rejoice in the crashes of even those things I disagree with: "live and let live". But almost nobody believes they are evil or doing bad things, so I'm sure it a-ok to celebrate the crash because "The sooner the 100% guaranteed crash and burn happens, the better", right?

prepend 4y ago
> Pray tell then, should retail workers buy bars of gold, or mansions? Sadly, retail workers are super hosed by inflation as they don’t have much to invest. But if they did, they could just buy a commodity ETF. It’s been really funny to talk with friends who are “discovering” financial instruments through crypto like they don’t exist in the real world. Pretty much everything is available to the retail investor and is much easier to buy than crypto. So a wage worker is better off buying $50 of a vanguard fund than $50 in some shitcoin or etf. No one is 100% certain and I expect one crypto will make it because we need digital cash. But it shouldn’t increase in value and isn’t a good investment. Just like investing in dollars and putting them in your mattress is stupid, the winning currency will be stupid to hodl. Just like people do win the lottery, people will make money off crypto in the long run. But most people will not as there’s nothing of fundamental value. That commodity etf at its heart is concentrated orange juice, or something real that can be sold and people demand. There’s nothing at the heart of crypto.

by csdvrx 4y ago

prepend 4y ago

> Pray tell then, should retail workers buy bars of gold, or mansions? Sadly, retail workers are super hosed by inflation as they don’t have much to invest. But if they did, they could just buy a commodity ETF. It’s been really funny to talk with friends who are “discovering” financial instruments through crypto like they don’t exist in the real world. Pretty much everything is available to the retail investor and is much easier to buy than crypto. So a wage worker is better off buying $50 of a vanguard fund than $50 in some shitcoin or etf. No one is 100% certain and I expect one crypto will make it because we need digital cash. But it shouldn’t increase in value and isn’t a good investment. Just like investing in dollars and putting them in your mattress is stupid, the winning currency will be stupid to hodl. Just like people do win the lottery, people will make money off crypto in the long run. But most people will not as there’s nothing of fundamental value. That commodity etf at its heart is concentrated orange juice, or something real that can be sold and people demand. There’s nothing at the heart of crypto.