GasGuzzler
Hunter
It's the same as the current dollar. Its value is in belief.
Explain Crypto Currency
- Thread starter JackBull
- Start date
Sugar River
Buckeye
And you could have done the same with Bitcoin.
The whole concept of "money" is murky at best. Our currency has value because we all seem to accept it as having value. In a way its all a Ponzi scheme and someday there will be the suckers who hold a huge amount of American dollars that will be essentailly worthless, but that someday is probably at least several decades away. So in the meantime we can accept dollars and spend dollars because others will accept them as having value.
But crypto currency seems, to me, to be even one more level removed from reality. But again, as long as there are other people who treat those bitcoins as having value, they have value. Will it all end like the hyper inflated value of tulips in 1637? Those who sold their contracts for tulips prior to the total collapse made fortunes, and those at the end lost everything. Personally I would stay away from crypto totally, but that's just me.
Even precious metals only have value because enough people think that those metals are valuable. Real value is determined through barter, but there is no way that our society will return to bartering as a way of conducting commerce. But if the SHTF, and society collapes, we will find what real value means. When you have food, but not much ammo, and someone offers you a box of 50 rounds in return for a few pounds of potatos, real value will be established at that transaction.
But crypto currency seems, to me, to be even one more level removed from reality. But again, as long as there are other people who treat those bitcoins as having value, they have value. Will it all end like the hyper inflated value of tulips in 1637? Those who sold their contracts for tulips prior to the total collapse made fortunes, and those at the end lost everything. Personally I would stay away from crypto totally, but that's just me.
Even precious metals only have value because enough people think that those metals are valuable. Real value is determined through barter, but there is no way that our society will return to bartering as a way of conducting commerce. But if the SHTF, and society collapes, we will find what real value means. When you have food, but not much ammo, and someone offers you a box of 50 rounds in return for a few pounds of potatos, real value will be established at that transaction.
Metals have value because of limited supply, Federal Reserve Notes and Bitcoin have unlimited supply and their value is supported by illusion.
Gold and silver have intrinsic value, they have been used as money for thousands of years.
Bitcoin and the Federal Reserve are scams, whether you can buy a sandwich with them today or not is just a matter of illusion.
They may float on a cloud of illusion for a while...as the information providers protect them from scrutiny, but someday they will fall flat on their faces like Humpty Dumpty all over the pavement.
Sugar River
Buckeye
Here's another way to think about paper money vs crypto.
In January 2021 one Bitcoin would have cost you 33,512 paper dollars. Today that same bitcoin can
be sold for $107,000.
The same $33,512 from 2021 is now worth ...drum roll... $28,385.
In January 2021 one Bitcoin would have cost you 33,512 paper dollars. Today that same bitcoin can
be sold for $107,000.
The same $33,512 from 2021 is now worth ...drum roll... $28,385.
Metals like gold and silver may appear to have intrinsic value, but if society collapsed those metals would be as useless as paper money. Okay, maybe a bit more than paper money but not much. And in terms of value due to scarcity, think about the value of diamonds. De Beers in South Africa has a supply of diamonds that if released all at once would reduce diamond values enormously. The scarcity is totally artificial. Gold and silver are scarcer than, for example, iron or lead, but the value is mostly due to enough humans attributing value to these particular metals. I will concede that humans have valued gold and silver for such a long time, historically, that at least during our lifetimes it still will be valuable and a better form of investment that bitcoins.
Bitcoin/Crypto is not unlimited like the Federal reserve notes. There is supposed to be a built in limit. But then they have made more brands of crypto.
I almost jumped into crypto when it was new, but just couldn't, and still can't, wrap my head around where it gets value. Paper money, when it was based on gold, was just a convenient method to move the value of gold from one entity to another. Once the gold standard was gone it became completely based on thin air.
If you look back in history gold was $20 an ounce for a long time (forever?) Inflation came with the fiat Fed dollars. If you look you will see that what $20 in gold bought in 1900 is still roughly the same. It just has a higher number applied due to being tied to the dollar which is inflated.
The argument that precious metals have no real value is not based on fact. Precious metals have a basis in being utilitarian for some reason or another. Whether it is utensils, moving electricity along with many other actual uses. All beyond the jewelry and "pretty" aspects.
I almost jumped into crypto when it was new, but just couldn't, and still can't, wrap my head around where it gets value. Paper money, when it was based on gold, was just a convenient method to move the value of gold from one entity to another. Once the gold standard was gone it became completely based on thin air.
If you look back in history gold was $20 an ounce for a long time (forever?) Inflation came with the fiat Fed dollars. If you look you will see that what $20 in gold bought in 1900 is still roughly the same. It just has a higher number applied due to being tied to the dollar which is inflated.
The argument that precious metals have no real value is not based on fact. Precious metals have a basis in being utilitarian for some reason or another. Whether it is utensils, moving electricity along with many other actual uses. All beyond the jewelry and "pretty" aspects.
Star43
Buckeye
Silver was the basis of real money for a couple thousand years. It still is as far as I'm concerned. Silver is real. You can hold it and touch it, and will always have its value....as far as any crypto is concerned, Do Not ever get involved with something you do not understand. Cryto's perceived value (which no one truly understands) is sort of like "here today, and could be completely gone tomorrow, and still no one will understand it.
Well, I don't know of any gas stations or deli's that accept bitcoin as payment.
Another good example is baseball cards. If nobody cared about them they would have no worth. probably could have put all my grandkids through college with the ones I ruined in my bicycle spokes....
GypsmJim
Blackhawk
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2011
- Messages
- 874
Does the local gas station and mom/pop restaurant accept bitcoin?
The.Tumbleweed
Single-Sixer
It's very similar to our own fed. Our money isn't based on anything either.
We've been off the gold standard for many decades.
TestEngineer
Single-Sixer
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2022
- Messages
- 160
What gives Bitcoin value is simply that it is worldwide and not controlled by any government.
If I have a million US dollars in the bank, the US government controls my wealth. They can say how much value I move out of the US. They can tax it. They can and do devalue it. If they should choose to, they could confiscate all of it and leave me destitute.
If I own a number of Bitcoins, the US government can't do anything if I choose to move to another country and take the value with me. They can't tax it (in real terms) nor can they devalue it. They cannot confiscate it. They are powerless over my financial security.
It's the desire of people around the world to not be controlled that drives the desire to own some. The value is derived from the demand vs the limited supply.
Governments hate the stuff and have created their own crypto currencies to try to take back wealth control. They absolutely HATE Bitcoin. I wish I had bought into it when it was new, but I didn't trust it or understand it. I would never buy any of the government made/controlled crypto currencies.
If I have a million US dollars in the bank, the US government controls my wealth. They can say how much value I move out of the US. They can tax it. They can and do devalue it. If they should choose to, they could confiscate all of it and leave me destitute.
If I own a number of Bitcoins, the US government can't do anything if I choose to move to another country and take the value with me. They can't tax it (in real terms) nor can they devalue it. They cannot confiscate it. They are powerless over my financial security.
It's the desire of people around the world to not be controlled that drives the desire to own some. The value is derived from the demand vs the limited supply.
Governments hate the stuff and have created their own crypto currencies to try to take back wealth control. They absolutely HATE Bitcoin. I wish I had bought into it when it was new, but I didn't trust it or understand it. I would never buy any of the government made/controlled crypto currencies.
bobski
Hunter
its a form of gambling since you have no control of the outcome.
someone else does.
someone else does.
Who or what limits the supply and why would you trust them? (What could possibly go wrong?)
The.Tumbleweed
Single-Sixer
That would actually define Social Security. Of course, giving money to those that never contributed, eventually it is killed off by the non-contributors.
i'm with you ,if the lights go out tomorrow, you will not be able to access anything that is remotely controlled stocks bank accounts, your social security ck., etc. our faith in our portfolio, our inflated money, now the fog in the cloud ponsi scheme that is bitcoin. ask an amish guy what he's going to do if the lights go out.
