Bitcoin is an amazing piece of technology - anyone can go dig up a tulip bulb this comparison is ridiculous
Tulips are an amazing piece of natural bioengineering, and anyone can go mine a coin. I think this comparison is comparable.
Can you mine a coin by picking it up off the ground without any other hardware, knowledge, investment and skills?
Bitcoins are carefully crafted piece of tech - tulip bulbs are also a carefully crafted piece of tech by nature - but their use value is far lower than that of Bitcoin, clearly. A tulip bulb has been around for tens of thousands of years and will probably remain the same for another few millenia at least, Bitcoin is an emerging, carefully crafted technology which may have effects as profound as the internet itself. No comparison.
blah blah blah...
If the bulls are right, the bears will have to eat their words. If the bears are right, the bulls will eat their words, will most probably choke on thier tongues, and find themselves running out of skyscraper windows.
Obviously the only comparison between a 17th century dutch tulip bulb and a modern day Bitcoin, is that the prices of both were dramatically inflated by people investing in them purely seeking profit, having no intention of actually using the item for its practical intended purpose.
It is said that that one tulip bulb at the height of the mania could buy a house next to the royal palace. Whilst Bitcoin has seen astounding gains in the past few months, it is certainly a long way from that.
As has been pointed out, Bitcoin poses a threat to the status quo of the entire preexisting financial establishment. This fact alone, suggests to me that if one thing is guaranteed with Bitcoin, it is that it is not going to be left to have a smooth ride, and indeed, perhaps this is what we are seeing now. The price being artifically driven exorbitantly higher, in order that the price of Bitcoin one day can have such a an almighty crash, that it leaves a very sour taste in most peoples mouths and in the mean time, its valuation behaves with such volatility, that no serious business can afford to risk touching it with a 10 foot long shitty bargepole.
Jumping on Bitcoin, or already being on Bitcoin, is like being on a thrilling roller coaster ride that keeps spiralling higher and higher into the heavens, but that one day, is guaranteed to go flying off over a cliff edge. Those people who cannot recognise this (i.e. the majority on here), are those who are most likely to get seriously burned.
and the number zero. I hate clumbsy analogies so much because lead you to think you undestand something, when really you dont