Bitcoin is still early

[Nysoz]

Quite a few nurses have been talking about Bitcoin lately. One of them asked me about pi crypto currency too. Maybe not bubble since they’re not selling everything to buy it... yet.

As for the Tesla analogy, yeah it’s definitely a risk but would take completely new technology like solid state batteries or so much abundant energy hydrogen can make sense. Then they would have to be so big or ingrained in their ways that they can’t/be willing to change.

So if there’s that new technology that should or needs to be incorporated to the blockchain and Bitcoin is too large to pivot, that’s when the young upstart could disrupt them (like Tesla did to oems). But yeah could be years or never.

[Jantoven]

That’s the question then. What happens when there’s a better crypto in every way backed by super/quantum computing or some other technological advancement. All it takes is some high profile individuals and corporations to sell their Bitcoin to buy into the new one. Call it gold 3.0 or whatever.

Even if there’s some Bitcoin hodl going on, it would transfer value and hurt the underlying thesis of Bitcoin. Once that happens then I could see a collapse of Bitcoin or at least a large permanent decrease of value.

Sure, that's certainly a valid point. The world is constantly evolving, and there indeed could be something better that one day comes along. 20 years ago, no one could have predicted something like bitcoin coming out and taking the financial world by storm as it has.

Maybe in 20 years, there will be something significantly better, and money flows out of bitcoin into the new asset. The same threat holds true for many things in life - Amazon, Apple, Tesla, etc.

For now at least, it seems that bitcoin (and crypto/blockchain technology) is a revolutionary disrupter in the financial world. High volatility and high risk, but that said, I think the people best positioned to take some risk in life are those with the most stable jobs - i.e., those in health care.

[jacoavlu]

From what I heard from someone else (but this is completely anecdotal and may not be accurate), the firewall in China blocks anything to do with Bitcoin.

from Wikipedia :

China (PRC)

Legal / Banking ban Financial institutions are not allowed to facilitate bitcoin transactions.[13] Regulation prohibits financial firms holding or trading cryptocurrencies.[8]:China On 5 December 2013, People's Bank of China (PBOC) made its first step in regulating bitcoin by prohibiting financial institutions from handling bitcoin transactions.[81] On 1 April 2014 PBOC ordered commercial banks and payment companies to close bitcoin trading accounts in two weeks.[82] Cryptocurrency exchanges or trading platforms were effectively banned by regulation in September 2017 with 173 platforms closed down by July 2018.[83] In early 2018 the People's Bank of China announced the State Administration of Foreign Exchange led by Pan Gongsheng would crack down on bitcoin mining.[84][85] Many bitcoin mining operations in China had stopped operating by January 2018.[83]

more bitcoin mining happens in China than anywhere else. Bitcoin ASICs that are used in mining bitcoin are all made in China.

[jacoavlu]

Asset inflation is not CPI inflation.
I don’t generally stand in the way of central bank directives. Most of the developed world central banks have said they intend to leave short interest rates close to zero for at least 2 years. If this is true and inflation is above zero then cash is unattractive which is what they intend (to reduce precautionary demand for cash).

From this somehow people conclude there will be high inflation and you should invest in gold or Bitcoin.

I didn’t ask about CPI inflation. I couldnt care less.

[jacoavlu]

It’s hard because most the arguments I see for Bitcoin is the same argument for the blockchain. The only difference Bitcoin has over others is first mover advantage and therefore more widespread adoption with corporations.

From what I hear, there are different cryptos that are better at doing everything than Bitcoin.

Facebook is valuable because of popularity and ability to sell ad space. Is there nothing that could come down the road and make it become the next MySpace?

whatever you are seeing and hearing is wrong. Point me to another crypto that is truly decentralized. As in anyone can easily run a full node and there is no central authority or figurehead making decisions.

and does that same crypto also have a fair origin? No premine or ICO?

see the thing is bitcoin 2.0 couldn’t happen today. It had to start slow and languish the way it did, to become what it did.

if someone tried again, large corps or mining conglomerates would be there day 1 to snatch up the coins. Which makes it unattractive to plebs like you and me. Which means it never becomes bitcoin 2.0.

[jacoavlu]

I personally think generally Bitcoin is synonymous for blockchain and vice versa although

explain further

[Panscan]

we are still in a discovery phase where vast majority of people/institutions aren't in. Things that make blockchain considered to be more legit make people consider bitcoin more legit and vice versa. Bitcoin is essentially the prototypical blockchain use. Right now I feel they are inextricably tied together. I cannot imagine a situation that benefits bitcoin right now that does not benefit blockchain or vice versa.

We aren't at a refined stage where random coins are succeeding while bitcoin isn't. There is a ton of correlation. In the future when institutions are debating adopting other coins or other forms of blockchain implementation then they won't be synonymous. For now they are in my opinion. I am aware you disagree. In the future this may change and my opinion would change with it.

It's like Tesla and the EV. Tesla is the EV effectively right now. In the future there may be more separation of the two. For now there really isn't IMO. There are few situations that would help Tesla but harm EVs in general or vice versa.

[jacoavlu]

we are still in a discovery phase where vast majority of people/institutions aren't in. Things that make blockchain considered to be more legit make people consider bitcoin more legit and vice versa. Bitcoin is essentially the prototypical blockchain use. Right now I feel they are inextricably tied together. I cannot imagine a situation that benefits bitcoin right now that does not benefit blockchain or vice versa.

We aren't at a refined stage where random coins are succeeding while bitcoin isn't. There is a ton of correlation. In the future when institutions are debating adopting other coins or other forms of blockchain implementation then they won't be synonymous. For now they are in my opinion. I am aware you disagree. In the future this may change and my opinion would change with it.

It's like Tesla and the EV. Tesla is the EV effectively right now. In the future there may be more separation of the two. For now there really isn't IMO. There are few situations that would help Tesla but harm EVs in general or vice versa.

so you seem to be using “blockchain” as another term for “altcoin” am I understanding you correctly?

[Panscan]

no not necessarily but yes I think there is heavy correlation with reasonable cap altcoins and bitcoin. Obviously there are uses of blockchain that don't require crypto. I think those uses are taken more seriously and will have more people interested in them because of bitcoin.

Everyone loves comparing blockchain or bitcoin to the internet. Blockchain is like the internet, the new overarching tool to use. Bitcoin is one specific application of that, or a webpage that gets people to see how the tool can be used in a valuable way. Then new ways to use that tool are discovered because people explore the overarching tool and what its capable of and vice versa. Do you think youtube would be what it is without search engines first existing? It all helps each other, especially at the beginning, which I think we are still in.

[jacoavlu]

bitcoin is an asset

blockchain is a technology. Decentralized blockchains are quite inefficient. Add a high level of security and efficiency goes down. Add in a necessity of backwards compatibility and efficiency goes down.

this is why “better smarter faster” bitcoin isn’t really possible. And why the “blockchain, not bitcoin” argument doesn’t make sense.

sure there can be other applications of blockchain and possibly useful altcoins. But that’s not an argument against bitcoin the asset

[Panscan]

I don't understand how that relates to what I said at all. Who has said blockchain not bitcoin? I said they were synonymous. Someone who believed blockchain not bitcoin wouldn't say that. That would require decoupling them.

[jacoavlu]

We aren't at a refined stage where random coins are succeeding while bitcoin isn't. There is a ton of correlation. In the future when institutions are debating adopting other coins or other forms of blockchain implementation then they won't be synonymous. For now they are in my opinion. I am aware you disagree. In the future this may change and my opinion would change with it.

It's like Tesla and the EV. Tesla is the EV effectively right now. In the future there may be more separation of the two. For now there really isn't IMO. There are few situations that would help Tesla but harm EVs in general or vice versa.

I still don’t understand what you’re saying.

[Lordosis]

Too big to fall. Famous last words.

[CordMcNally]

Too big to fall. Famous last words.

Didn’t work out well for Dom Deluise.

[jacoavlu]

Too big to fall. Famous last words.

bitcoin, or USD?