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It’s being “used” as a speculative asset. That’s not a firm foundation to run a governmental monetary system on. Maybe there are other cryptocurrencies better s

It’s being “used” as a speculative asset. That’s not a firm foundation to run a governmental monetary system on. Maybe there are other cryptocurrencies better suited to the task, but BTC isn’t

dodoisdodo 2y ago
Governmental monetary systems are usually founded on hopes and prayers (and military might).
- ethbr1 2y ago
  Government monetary systems are all inflationary, for a lot of very good reasons.
- whoiscroberts 2y ago
  Military Might ( and hopes and prayers)
  - notpushkin 2y ago
    Depends on the particular government. The ones that are heavy on hopes and prayers usually don’t do well though.
- oblio 2y ago
  Governmental monetary systems have been used by every government for what now? 3000 years?
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - hshshshshsh 2y ago
    Humans didn't have the technology to build a decentralized currency for 3000 years. That tech was invented only 17 years back 3000 years from now what would be the store of value would be the question to ask.
    - oblio 2y ago
      I'm fine with letting decentralized currency maturing for say, 300 years, in some small corner of the world, before letting it loose on the rest of us.
- lxgr 2y ago
  They're founded on the shared illusion that the money they create is worth something, and the fact that this works pretty well is arguably one of the most important achievements of human civilization.
Gud 2y ago
Don’t forget buying drugs online! Which is mostly what I use it for…
- girvo 2y ago
  Well, for buying Monero to buy drugs online right?
  - passwordreset 2y ago
    Don't try to reason with them. Their minds are as closed as a MAGA.
    - Gud 2y ago
      Sorry what?
      - passwordreset 2y ago
        I said "Don't try to reason with them. Their minds are as closed as a MAGA."
        Gud 2y ago
        And what was your point?
        passwordreset 2y ago
        My point is: Don't try to reason with them. Their minds are as closed as a MAGA.
  - Gud 2y ago
    Yes. First I buy bitcoin from the X, then I transfer it to my bitcoin wallet. Next I transfer it to kraken, convert it to Monero and deposit it on my drug market of choice. It used to be simpler but this is how I do it nowadays.
hshshshshsh 2y ago
Everything is a speculative asset. Your marriage is a speculative asset that your wife doesn't cheat on you in future and actually loves you. S&P is a speculative asset that it will perform like it has been performing in last 30 years. USD is a speculative asset on US not going bankrupt. Your career is speculative asset that you don't get fired tomorrow and you can find another job if you do get fired. Bitcoin is a speculative asset that a decentralized cryptocurrency is better than relying on coins issued by bankruptable nations. You are a speculative asset of your ego.
- tel 2y ago
  Yeah, that’s true. We invest in a lot of things, hoping for future value. But I guess I still treat those differently. I only hold enough USD for upcoming purchases. And I struggle to understand how investing in my marriage is speculative. For a variety of reasons I can’t (or wouldn’t want to) manage that risk like I would in normal speculative investment. I can’t hedge, size up, size down. So I think I’m missing something. I feel like you’re suggesting that we should be more comfortable speculating because we do it all the time, but I’m not seeing how those are all the same.
  - hshshshshsh 2y ago
    In my POV it's all the same since all of them are essentially beliefs with various probabilities. You don't know what will happen in any of the cases. You just choose to believe one more over the other based on what has happened in the past.
    - tel 2y ago
      I think that's right. At some level, any anticipation of a future state has to be measurable in some kind of confidence level. I suppose where I get lost is that, at least subjectively, I end up treating different anticipated return distributions differently. I want a mixture of risks, both in terms of their covariance and the absolute properties. When I think of "speculation", I am intentionally shaping only a small portion of my personal portfolio toward high risk, high reward activities. And I only really feel comfortable doing that because a larger fraction of my personal risk is in safer vehicles. Atop that, I also think a lot about liquidity time bounds. I want access to a reasonable amount of highly-liquid, low-risk investments. I need that flexibility to be safe in the event that I need to buy something. To my eye at least, I qualitatively differentiate between speculative investments and these liquid/low risk ones. If I felt I only had one kind of risk, I would seek out the other in some proportion.

dodoisdodo 2y ago

Governmental monetary systems are usually founded on hopes and prayers (and military might).

ethbr1 2y ago
Government monetary systems are all inflationary, for a lot of very good reasons.
whoiscroberts 2y ago
Military Might ( and hopes and prayers)
- notpushkin 2y ago
  Depends on the particular government. The ones that are heavy on hopes and prayers usually don’t do well though.
oblio 2y ago
Governmental monetary systems have been used by every government for what now? 3000 years?
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- hshshshshsh 2y ago
  Humans didn't have the technology to build a decentralized currency for 3000 years. That tech was invented only 17 years back 3000 years from now what would be the store of value would be the question to ask.
  - oblio 2y ago
    I'm fine with letting decentralized currency maturing for say, 300 years, in some small corner of the world, before letting it loose on the rest of us.
lxgr 2y ago
They're founded on the shared illusion that the money they create is worth something, and the fact that this works pretty well is arguably one of the most important achievements of human civilization.

Gud 2y ago

Don’t forget buying drugs online! Which is mostly what I use it for…

girvo 2y ago
Well, for buying Monero to buy drugs online right?
- passwordreset 2y ago
  Don't try to reason with them. Their minds are as closed as a MAGA.
  - Gud 2y ago
    Sorry what?
    - passwordreset 2y ago
      I said "Don't try to reason with them. Their minds are as closed as a MAGA."
      - Gud 2y ago
        And what was your point?
        passwordreset 2y ago
        My point is: Don't try to reason with them. Their minds are as closed as a MAGA.
- Gud 2y ago
  Yes. First I buy bitcoin from the X, then I transfer it to my bitcoin wallet. Next I transfer it to kraken, convert it to Monero and deposit it on my drug market of choice. It used to be simpler but this is how I do it nowadays.

hshshshshsh 2y ago

Everything is a speculative asset. Your marriage is a speculative asset that your wife doesn't cheat on you in future and actually loves you. S&P is a speculative asset that it will perform like it has been performing in last 30 years. USD is a speculative asset on US not going bankrupt. Your career is speculative asset that you don't get fired tomorrow and you can find another job if you do get fired. Bitcoin is a speculative asset that a decentralized cryptocurrency is better than relying on coins issued by bankruptable nations. You are a speculative asset of your ego.

tel 2y ago
Yeah, that’s true. We invest in a lot of things, hoping for future value. But I guess I still treat those differently. I only hold enough USD for upcoming purchases. And I struggle to understand how investing in my marriage is speculative. For a variety of reasons I can’t (or wouldn’t want to) manage that risk like I would in normal speculative investment. I can’t hedge, size up, size down. So I think I’m missing something. I feel like you’re suggesting that we should be more comfortable speculating because we do it all the time, but I’m not seeing how those are all the same.
- hshshshshsh 2y ago
  In my POV it's all the same since all of them are essentially beliefs with various probabilities. You don't know what will happen in any of the cases. You just choose to believe one more over the other based on what has happened in the past.
  - tel 2y ago
    I think that's right. At some level, any anticipation of a future state has to be measurable in some kind of confidence level. I suppose where I get lost is that, at least subjectively, I end up treating different anticipated return distributions differently. I want a mixture of risks, both in terms of their covariance and the absolute properties. When I think of "speculation", I am intentionally shaping only a small portion of my personal portfolio toward high risk, high reward activities. And I only really feel comfortable doing that because a larger fraction of my personal risk is in safer vehicles. Atop that, I also think a lot about liquidity time bounds. I want access to a reasonable amount of highly-liquid, low-risk investments. I need that flexibility to be safe in the event that I need to buy something. To my eye at least, I qualitatively differentiate between speculative investments and these liquid/low risk ones. If I felt I only had one kind of risk, I would seek out the other in some proportion.