Bitcoin.....

[grand1001]

I enjoy reading and value your input^^

I tend to believe they'll be healthy as long as we have the current administration.

But...who really knows. Elon Musk is doing amazing things, but he is an attention-seeker, He beefs(jokes) it up about dogecoin, but even the guy who founded dogecoin said he started it as a joke. To me, that is not somebody who is interested in making it bigger and better.

I also can't get out of my head something I read "Somewhere else" the other day.
These crypto companies are selling crypto to get your American dollar.

[Ben Rhimene]

These crypto companies are selling crypto to get your American dollar.

First of all, thanks.

Your point above nails it.

Everybody is selling things. I spend $ to buy toothpaste so my teeth won't rot. I spend $ on gas so my car runs and I can drive to where I need to go. Those are products we need, and it is relatively easy to determine the value. I live alone so making my own coffee is time-consuming and wasteful so I spend $3 at the local coffee joint every day. There is a guy at work who shudders at paying that much and drinks the free swill in the office. We have both ascribed values to the coffee situation...they just differ.

To be a bit crude, I pay $ to ladies here for companionship (plus some!). Those are services I want. I won't bore you all, but there are threads all over about how everyone values those services differently.

But crypto is neither a product or a service...it is merely an alternate currency. Like gold, or Euros. There are only 2 reasons to swap one currency for a different currency. One, you need it. If I fly to Italy for vacation I will need some Euros, even if I use credit cards for most things...at some point I will need local cash. But I don't NEED crypto for anything (yet). Sure, I could have bought a Tesla with it, but I could also pay $. The second reason is because you think the second currency will be more valuable than the first. In other words, I may think over time the Euro will appreciate faster than the dollar. Often, this is based on macroeconomic differences between countries, such as inflation rate differences. Sometimes global conflict leads to flight to quality trades. Typically toward the dollar, but sometimes away from the dollar and into gold! Everyone was using a gold standard before Bretton Woods.

Because crypto is not necessary the growth is due to expected appreciation. But unlike inflation rate deltas, monetary policies, or global conflictt, I cannot see why crypti is better than a $, at least right now. Personally, I think as blockchain grows as a tool to fight fraud there MIGHT be a need for crypto. But it strikes me as being too early to tell, and thus this massive run-up is pure specilation at its finest.