BITCOIN

RolandFlagg

The scams are getting out of hand.
Someone emailed asking me to buy this:

27 Trillion in Circulation.
Unlimited Supply Cap.
25% more made out of thin air in 6 months (during covid)
1% of all Holders own 30%

They want me to buy the U.S Dollar?
Nah...I'm holding Bitcoin instead. 

Scottex99

Frequentlyhere said:

Honestly I think the greater fools here are people not having a small allocation to the fastest growing asset class of all time.
If some new metal appears called SUPER CONDUCTOR ALLOYIUM and after 5-10 years it's being mentioned everywhere, had certain properties, and companies were trading it in the billions, I'd have a look even if I didn't agree it was the "best metal of all time".

I totally get what you mean. If we put aside the points I've already mentioned for the moment, then the reason why I personally still wouldn't is largely because my investing aims are different to yours.

From the way you talk about buying/selling and being willing to lose it all, it seems pretty clear you're open to taking on a lot of risk with whatever money you have in bitcoin. 

In my case, I've followed down the FIRE path and built up wealth steadily via the usual tedious equity trackers, which of course themselves can be volatile. I'm definitely not willing to lose it all, and being able to lose 50% of my net wealth over a year or so is more than enough volatility for me. 

I could still buy a small allocation for bitcoin but for FIRE purposes the problem is that it's behaviour is far too unpredictable. I even have some gold, but I'm pretty damn sure that's not going to fall 90%, which bitcoin might. Or who knows, maybe some Quantam hack will end it all in one go? I'm not prepared to take that on. There's also still the risk of it all being nicked, which even the ETFs don't entirely avoid due to their caveats. 

You say 'certain properties' but it's been 14 years. Those properties are still far far less certain than gold, which is the closest thing I can compare it to (but obvs not the same).

I invest in gold itself holding my nose somewhat by the way as it's price outweighs it's actual utility by a great deal, but it does add just a twist of useful volatility to my portfolio. BTC, even shorn of it's environmental/crime/security issues is still a bridge too far for me.

Yep although a few counters.

I'm not willing to lose it all but I think I have a decent understandings of the risks, so much has happened since I joined the party in December 2017, enough to cover 50 years in Tradfi probably. Doesn't mean I have all bases covered but i'm happy with my risk/reward right now.

I also dont include any crypto in my net worth. Would I be gutted if it zeroed tomorrow? Yes. Would it ruin my life? No.

I have a property, I have some S&S, I keep a certain amount of cash in the bank. What's interesting is in theory the barrier to entry to trading in crypto I think is lower. Not always a good thing but I learned everything I know about spreads, bid/ask, market/limit orders, order books etc from Binance etc not from Tradfi platforms. And then because I'm "relatively" young I've not really spent too much time in traditional stocks, boring compared to buying BTC and other coins. I do have some index funds and stuff, good to be diversified. 

I used to work for HBOS which became LBG. I used to do the Sharesave scheme there. I left to move to Spain and remember thinking ahh I should probably buy LBG stock, it was like 40-60p at the time, post crisis. I bet if I check today its at the same price.

What is intriguing for me is that I can learn a lot from traditional people here and maybe they can learn a bit from me on the crypto side.

Some of the same principles apply, Don't throw all your liquid wealth into NVDA at the top after a 800% run up etc. I think I'm in a couple of adventurous HL funds which I dont know whats in them, monthly contribution thats done 8% return or something. Then I'll throw $400 into a sh**coin and it'll either go to 0 or pump 3x in a week.

Stocks may have an 11-12 year cycle depending on wars, economy etc.
Crypto is closer to 4 and the swings much more wild.

Finally, you could argue this BTC price action was predictable hence the "told you so" vibe that can come out. But is it because there's been a demand shock on top of existing fixed supply/inflation hedge and soon to be supply shock.... or is it because Tether has printed billions and propped it up? 

And on utility, its just mixed messaging I think as discussed before. It could be the global reserve currency but it could never be used for transactions and just hoarded. It's a better version of gold imo. And as you say gold value is debatable. But if its utility is something to hold or to diversify into or something to invest into to make money...then (right now) its doing a fine job.

Never a dull day regardless... 

silvercue

Scottex99 said:

I also dont include any crypto in my net worth. Would I be gutted if it zeroed tomorrow? Yes. Would it ruin my life? No.

You are not calculating your net worth then.  I include every asset and liability, including tax on profits if I sold now.

The only thing I don't include in net worth calculation (yes, I am sad and do this every month with my finances) is a defined benefits pension, though some do include these at about 20x the yearly value.  I don't becuase there is no pot of money there.

Veteransaver

User232002 said:

Veteransaver said:

Apart from some locations close to hydro etc, any crypto mining is going to be using grid energy. 

Literally one page ago posted an article about 'Gridless,' that, predictably given the name, is not using Grid energy.

Veteransaver said:

Virtually nowhere has an excess of renewable energy yet. 

Actually, the exact opposite is true. Renewable energy grids almost always have an excess of energy, which is why the prices for it are so cheap.

This shouldn't be surprising, yet it somehow always is to climate activists. Solar energy is not particularly useful when most energy use occurs in the evening. Hydro power is not particularly useful when most of the energy is generated in a single quarter of the year. There is a reason that Bitcoin miners moved to Sichuan in China during the rainy season prior to 2021. Its why demand response programmes even exist.

Veteransaver said:

So even if Bitcoin can claim to be using renewable energy, it is displacing and mis-allocating renewable energy that could be used for other more socially useful things.

Here is a chart of Bitcoin priced in Egyptian Pounds.



How about we ask an Egyptian whether Bitcoin is 'socially useful'? How about we ask an Egyptian whether the energy expended to maintain the Bitcoin network is 'mis-allocated.' 

Veteransaver said:

That gap is filled with non renewable energy, so this claim is completely disingenuous. 

The only disingenuous claim is you, from your position of relative privilege, telling someone that energy is mis-allocated because you deem it so or because you are relatively inoculated from the effects of it not being expended. 

Fully expect that within the next decade, a Bitcoin mining company simply resolves to build its own energy generation facility. You should be cheering on a private company deciding to invest capital to build something that is normally the preserve of nation states alone.

You're just making stuff up now and using small scale examples to attempt to green wash it.
Name an energy grid that "almost always" has an excess of renewable energy.
And anyway, that excess energy could be used to to put into storage/create hydrogen/ammonia for use later.
Rather than just create meaningless numbers on a block chain.
Whichever way you try and spin it the opportunity cost of mining bitcoin is increased fossil fuel use.

Scottex99

silvercue said:

Scottex99 said:

I also dont include any crypto in my net worth. Would I be gutted if it zeroed tomorrow? Yes. Would it ruin my life? No.

You are not calculating your net worth then.  I include every asset and liability, including tax on profits if I sold now.

The only thing I don't include in net worth calculation (yes, I am sad and do this every month with my finances) is a defined benefits pension, though some do include these at about 20x the yearly value.  I don't becuase there is no pot of money there.

Net worth net of crypto haha.

As I exit and put £ in my bank account that changes of course.

It's also just a personal thing. BTC/ETH holdings I could probably take into account as worst case scenario (not doomsday) of a 30-40% drop in a single day.

Some of the random altcoins that can do 1000% gain in a month I'd likely ignore, as they can (and have) also lost all of those profits just as quick

RolandFlagg

https://www.forbes.com/sites/frankcorva/2024/03/12/unbanked-bitcoin-users-in-peru-are-changing-their-communities/

The Fiat Ponzi is dying and these people have found a life raft.

User232002

Veteransaver said:

Those curtailment numbers may look big and impressive to you, but they are insignificant.

2bn kWh is equivalent of less than 3 days total UK grid demand.

Those goalposts are looking mighty flexible sir.

A reminder of the original assertion:

Veteransaver said:

You're just making stuff up now and using small scale examples to attempt to green wash it.
Name an energy grid that "almost always" has an excess of renewable energy.

Now it seems I'm not making stuff up, I have pointed to two grids, but apparently they don't meet your unannounced criteria.

And another reminder;

User232002 said:

I got this from 10 minutes searching. I could spend longer to find better and more damning sources I'm sure. But the point is that anyone that works in this industry knows that excess renewables are an issue. Its been an issue for nearly a decade, and it will be an issue for at least another decade. 

Veteransaver

User232002 said:

Veteransaver said:

Those curtailment numbers may look big and impressive to you, but they are insignificant.

2bn kWh is equivalent of less than 3 days total UK grid demand.

Those goalposts are looking mighty flexible sir.

A reminder of the original assertion:

Veteransaver said:

You're just making stuff up now and using small scale examples to attempt to green wash it.
Name an energy grid that "almost always" has an excess of renewable energy.

Now it seems I'm not making stuff up, I have pointed to two grids, but apparently they don't meet your unannounced criteria.

And another reminder;

User232002 said:

I got this from 10 minutes searching. I could spend longer to find better and more damning sources I'm sure. But the point is that anyone that works in this industry knows that excess renewables are an issue. Its been an issue for nearly a decade, and it will be an issue for at least another decade. 

"Almost always" = about 1% of the time in your world?

Qyburn

Veteransaver said:

User232002 said:

Veteransaver said:

Those curtailment numbers may look big and impressive to you, but they are insignificant.

2bn kWh is equivalent of less than 3 days total UK grid demand.

Those goalposts are looking mighty flexible sir.

A reminder of the original assertion:

Veteransaver said:

You're just making stuff up now and using small scale examples to attempt to green wash it.
Name an energy grid that "almost always" has an excess of renewable energy.

Now it seems I'm not making stuff up, I have pointed to two grids, but apparently they don't meet your unannounced criteria.

And another reminder;

User232002 said:

I got this from 10 minutes searching. I could spend longer to find better and more damning sources I'm sure. But the point is that anyone that works in this industry knows that excess renewables are an issue. Its been an issue for nearly a decade, and it will be an issue for at least another decade. 

"Almost always" = about 1% of the time in your world?

It's probably much less than 1% if you're speaking about the UK as a whole having a surplus, although it does happen occasionally and the wholesale price goes negative. 

But most of the constraints are due to transmission capacity, so to use that surplus you'd have to move your Bitcoin mining somewhere near to the source. Might have to connect to the transmission rather than distribution network.

RolandFlagg

When any CEO from a failing fiat ponzi company tells you Bitcoin is worthless it's because they fear it.

It is them that are going to Zero.