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I didn't think Bitcoin was a bubble 5 years ago. The only people I knew using it were using it to buy drugs, and the price seemed to reflect that utility plus t

I didn't think Bitcoin was a bubble 5 years ago. The only people I knew using it were using it to buy drugs, and the price seemed to reflect that utility plus the novelty of its implementation. That real estate agent probably did quite well for herself, even at current prices.

wpietri 4y ago
Depends upon her timing and what she was doing. Bitcoin had a peak in late 2017 and then fell 75%, taking 3 years to recover. If whatever she "invested" in was even valid, it's plausible that she made her bet based on rising prices. Or that the hardware became obsolete sooner than she was told. Or that she doubled down based on thinking the fall was a blip. There are a lot of ways for amateurs to lose money, and many of those ways are, as here, engineered by the people eager to take advantage of amateurs.
- atwood22 4y ago
  I guess it just feels a little elitist to assume she didn't know what she was doing because she was a real estate agent. She definitely was a part of the scene way before most people, so hindsight makes me think she should get some benefit of the doubt. Like yea, she sells real estate, but maybe likes to socialize with a more tech-oriented crowd, or used to work in tech herself but chose real estate to have better hours, etc.
  - skinnymuch 4y ago
    You can frequently tell how tech savvy someone is, at least to a degree. Just like someone can tell I don’t know anything about cars within a minute of talking about cars.
  - wpietri 4y ago
    I'm not assuming it was because she was a real estate agent. I specifically said she had no tech knowledge. It's nothing personal against real estate agents; half of one side of my family was in real estate. What makes you good in real estate is mainly dealing individually with people in a sales-y way, plus moderate knowledge of your local property market. It requires only 9th-grade math and no tech savvy. Is it possible she was also a tech genius? No. Because she not only said she wasn't into technology, she also quickly demonstrated that lack of knowledge. But more importantly, she was excited about bitcoin, which even then was obviously a technology that was not good for much besides creating a zero-value, highly hypeable speculative instrument.

wpietri 4y ago

Depends upon her timing and what she was doing. Bitcoin had a peak in late 2017 and then fell 75%, taking 3 years to recover. If whatever she "invested" in was even valid, it's plausible that she made her bet based on rising prices. Or that the hardware became obsolete sooner than she was told. Or that she doubled down based on thinking the fall was a blip. There are a lot of ways for amateurs to lose money, and many of those ways are, as here, engineered by the people eager to take advantage of amateurs.

atwood22 4y ago
I guess it just feels a little elitist to assume she didn't know what she was doing because she was a real estate agent. She definitely was a part of the scene way before most people, so hindsight makes me think she should get some benefit of the doubt. Like yea, she sells real estate, but maybe likes to socialize with a more tech-oriented crowd, or used to work in tech herself but chose real estate to have better hours, etc.
- skinnymuch 4y ago
  You can frequently tell how tech savvy someone is, at least to a degree. Just like someone can tell I don’t know anything about cars within a minute of talking about cars.
- wpietri 4y ago
  I'm not assuming it was because she was a real estate agent. I specifically said she had no tech knowledge. It's nothing personal against real estate agents; half of one side of my family was in real estate. What makes you good in real estate is mainly dealing individually with people in a sales-y way, plus moderate knowledge of your local property market. It requires only 9th-grade math and no tech savvy. Is it possible she was also a tech genius? No. Because she not only said she wasn't into technology, she also quickly demonstrated that lack of knowledge. But more importantly, she was excited about bitcoin, which even then was obviously a technology that was not good for much besides creating a zero-value, highly hypeable speculative instrument.