I solve Sudoku puzzles (quickly)...Am I a bitcoin millionaire?

[Ksihkehe]

Great write up, but it avoids the fundamental issue I've been talking about...the notion you can generate value from some kind of "work" which doesn't necessarily benefit others...which is the fundamental underpinning of BTC.

I thought I addressed it here

Bitcoin is just the first attempt at attaching a standard of value to digital processing power, which is really just another evolution of turning work into a commodity. It's just what people will pay for it.

Bitcoin does provide a value in it's original use case. The use case was a borderless means of exchange that is cryptographically secure and globally accessible. Another use case was people could avoid moving into local currency. That's good for people with a lot of currency instability in their home country. As we've seen in the news even the most free nations in the world now shut down the bank accounts of political dissidents. Bitcoin was an alternative network that couldn't be shut down at a single centralized source. Like cash, it is also practical for criminal enterprise. The blockchain surveillance is a lot better than it used to be though, so that still requires some degree of laundering or skirting of some laws.

Those use cases are still valid uses, but it's not practical for high volume/low value transactions.

I'm not convinced the real use cases will ever drive the price again, but as Wall Street and nations started accumulating it there will probably be a market. They're essentially creating another asset class to pad balance sheets while they finish off the middle class. They keep pumping the chip producers to stupid valuations and the mining of BTC is a great driver of demand. They're even trying to pitch it as green by using renewable energy and beneficial use of the heat generated. The use case for BTC wasn't really to sit in a hedge fund account to be loaned out and borrowed against for profit, but hedge funds aren't going to complain.

When you look at the total economy, the derivatives and crazy artificial markets, the addition of BTC as an asset class isn't going to move the needle much on how little real collateral there is for every dollar in markets. In my opinion it's almost logical that something as illogical as Bitcoin would become a store of value. Very low overhead, lots of potential for derivatives. Just another upside down pyramid where a little value holds up trillions in market flows.

I have also observed a multi-year campaign by people in banking, hedge funds, federal agencies, and international parties, to secure or help others secure positions in the cryptocurrency markets. They did this while publicly and politically attacking it. The circles of people moving around this in the background are the people that act on inside information or direct influence, not speculation. A bet on BTC and some selected cryptocurrencies is like a bet on the system rewarding insiders, which is always a good bet in the near term.

I don't have any stake in it and have never held any Bitcoin except for a few occasions where Bitcoin was easier for moving funds. Now there are much better options. I don't think it's logical, but I think it's already been decided. If you bought Enron early and managed to get out at the top, it was a good investment (assuming you weren't in on it, which is criminal).