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The potential of cryptocurriences seems pretty amazing, but the killer to me is the incentive to horde as an "investment" rather then spend. Also the ease and

The potential of cryptocurriences seems pretty amazing, but the killer to me is the incentive to horde as an "investment" rather then spend. Also the ease and unfairness of early adopters accumulating a mass of the imaginary bitpoints that they can later sell for dramatically inflated "value" once it becomes harder to mine is absurd.

m3rc 12y ago
Not to mention how delusional it is to talk about how amazing a new crytpocurrency will be under wide adoption, but then think that they'll make a ton of money. It is impossible for something to be simultaneously a good currency, AND a good investment. A good currency won't fluctuate in value, and a good investment will do precisely that. If you purchase and hoard bitcoin, you're basically ensuring that it doesn't become widely adopted.
- nosuchthing 12y ago
  That incentive to horde is baked into the system. Once there's a significantly better cryptocoin protocol and a clean slate begins as the incentive in the BTC network is lost to the newer coin, BTC will flatline.
  - aminok 12y ago
    It's not inevitable. It took 800 years for human civilization to produce a fundamental innovation in how money is stored and transferred, with the invention of Bitcoin, which upends the bill of credit. It could be another 800 for the next "paradigm shift".
- zzalpha 12y ago
  It is impossible for something to be simultaneously a good currency, AND a good investment. If that were true the forex market wouldn't exist.
  - TylerE 12y ago
    Forex is generally not a good investment. Sure, some people get lucky and have hot streaks, but it's very very tough, even with high frequency trading.
    - zzalpha 12y ago
      And yet forex is literally the highest liquidity market on the planet, plenty of which is speculative trading... go figure.
      - TylerE 12y ago
        Yes. Its liquid bexaus huge multinationals will a arbitrage $1,000,0000 to profit a few bucks. That isn't investment. It's day trading.
      - ufmace 12y ago
        I'm not a finance expert or anything, but I don't think the forex market is really meant for long-term investment with continual profits. From what I've heard, it's more for stuff like making it possible for companies that deal with multiple currencies to manage and put a specific price on the risk of relative value fluctuations.
        deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
  - m3rc 12y ago
    Forex makes money off of bad currencies. Sure currencies fluctuate, but always to their detriment.

m3rc 12y ago

Not to mention how delusional it is to talk about how amazing a new crytpocurrency will be under wide adoption, but then think that they'll make a ton of money. It is impossible for something to be simultaneously a good currency, AND a good investment. A good currency won't fluctuate in value, and a good investment will do precisely that. If you purchase and hoard bitcoin, you're basically ensuring that it doesn't become widely adopted.

nosuchthing 12y ago
That incentive to horde is baked into the system. Once there's a significantly better cryptocoin protocol and a clean slate begins as the incentive in the BTC network is lost to the newer coin, BTC will flatline.
- aminok 12y ago
  It's not inevitable. It took 800 years for human civilization to produce a fundamental innovation in how money is stored and transferred, with the invention of Bitcoin, which upends the bill of credit. It could be another 800 for the next "paradigm shift".
zzalpha 12y ago
It is impossible for something to be simultaneously a good currency, AND a good investment. If that were true the forex market wouldn't exist.
- TylerE 12y ago
  Forex is generally not a good investment. Sure, some people get lucky and have hot streaks, but it's very very tough, even with high frequency trading.
  - zzalpha 12y ago
    And yet forex is literally the highest liquidity market on the planet, plenty of which is speculative trading... go figure.
    - TylerE 12y ago
      Yes. Its liquid bexaus huge multinationals will a arbitrage $1,000,0000 to profit a few bucks. That isn't investment. It's day trading.
    - ufmace 12y ago
      I'm not a finance expert or anything, but I don't think the forex market is really meant for long-term investment with continual profits. From what I've heard, it's more for stuff like making it possible for companies that deal with multiple currencies to manage and put a specific price on the risk of relative value fluctuations.
      - deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
- m3rc 12y ago
  Forex makes money off of bad currencies. Sure currencies fluctuate, but always to their detriment.