This is actually quite an important point.

I think platinum is rarer than gold and has more uses.

But gold is simply valued more because of its color.

It has to be discussed with urgency, as it was brushed under the rug during covid.

It should especially matter to Bitcoin evangelists and maximalists, as if Bitcoin were ever to reach the same market capitalization as the US Dollar, it would need half of the world's electricity to support it.

I reckon Elon Musk simply has too much on his plate with Tesla, SpaceX, Bitcoin and the media.

He obviously needs to blow off steam, and his joking around with Dogecoin shows that. Even though it's a bit hypocritical as Dogecoin is energy intensive.

He can't go on living at 1000mph for ever, so he will have to slow down and relax and hopefully stop throwing his opinions around for fun.

Yep, I doubled down on Ethereum earlier this year as I had a feeling there was going to be a shift in sentiment.

To tell the truth, I'm just a lazy speculator and I just buy 20 quids worths of every new token on Coinbase for luck.

I'm just rifling through them now learning about them and trying to gauge which ones Musk could tout next

I think the old adage "buy the rumour and sell the news" works well in these wild west days of crypto.

Do you look at alt coins?

I don't even see some of these as competitors to Bitcoin as they are not really currencies, but shares in infrastructure.

I don't think Musk will go at it half heartedly though.

I reckon he'll get into something like Cardano which will provide a bit of "green washing PR".

I didn't sell any Bitcoin BTW as I can't be bothered thinking about capital gains tax, my no-doubt British buddy

Elon Musk is putting the brakes on Bitcoin until the energy issue is sorted out.

He says he is looking at more energy efficient crypto, no doubt "proof of stake" alternatives.

What do you guys think he will go for?

I've got some Cardano and EOS on Coinbase.

At first I thought Elon was playing a dangerous game by pumping Doge that would destroy confidence in crypto.

Then I thought any publicity for crypto is good publicity.

Now I think we are going to have to go through lots of these sorts of ups and downs if crypto is going to be robust enough to survive.

Ultimately I think Elon is a genius in a unique position who therefore sees the big picture more than anyone else, so we should trust his opinions.

Raymond Reddington says he knows Satoshi Nakamoto in The Blacklist 

My first glance I thought that Max meant Max Keiser.

I think the approval of a US ETF will buoy the price again this year.

However, I think FUD over environmental/electricity issues will resume next year when covid dies down, and Bitcoin will crash properly.

That's going to be the time to buy more, and then wait for Bitcoin to sort out the mining carbon emission problems.

Once the energy aspect is sorted out, the sky's the limit.

The thing that annoys me most is that although people are aware that a lot of crypto is mined using green energy, some will say:

"Oh, but that green energy could be used for something else".

This seems like a paradox to me, as that energy wouldn't have been brought online if it wasn't for crypto mining.

These green energy companies are hardly going to start creating energy if there are no customers for it.

These sort of ETFs are common. You can even find them for individual stocks such as Apple.

However, they usually are leveraged by 2x or 3x, so you can make more on trades (or lose more obviously).

They are usually aimed at day traders and are just more proof that Bitcoin is going mainstream, so are to be welcomed.

I'd say dollar cost average with a smaller amount if you are convinced it is a bull market.

During a bear market, increase the amount.

"[Bitcoin] is probably rat poison squared"

― Warren Buffett

 

Uniswap is up 400% or so in the last month or two.

I think the improvements on Ethereum will boost Uniswap even more, and the Coinbase IPO is going to pique interest in decentralised exchanges too.

I still see Bitcoin as being digital gold though, whereas these tokens behave more like stocks.

Interesting times though 

Yes, of course I understand that the rest of the world uses energy. Again, let me reiterate that I not a crypto evangelist; I am only in it for speculation and to make money. So I don't feel the need to justify it in comparison to other things.

Regardless of whether the electricity concerns are true, I speculate that there will soon be a huge wider negative reaction to cryptocurrency because of climate fears. This has taken a backseat during the pandemic. I think this is neither a good or bad thing. I just think it is going to happen.

If Bitcoin does crash because of environmental concerns, then I will buy some more at a lower price.

However, I think that that the crypto community is intelligent and dedicated enough to solve this problem eventually, so I will always remain invested.

(Before I go any further, I'm a normal middle aged guy who uses bitcoin as 10% of a well balanced portfolio of stocks/bonds/other crypto etc. However, I have already started dumping bitcoin because of climate fears. I am completely emotionless about the concept of Bitcoin and am in it for speculation - although I do enjoy the odd conversation about it such as this)

This is the article I read about it:

"If Bitcoin were to be adopted as a global reserve currency," he speculates, "the Bitcoin price will probably be in the millions, and those miners will have more money than the entire [US] Federal budget to spend on electricity."

"We'd have to double our global energy production," he says with a laugh. "For Bitcoin."


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-56215787

Bitcoin mining uses electricity.

Come on, spit it out, what are you trying to say 

Well, if you want to get into mathematical terms such as "infinity" then we have to look at other terms such as "probability".

For Bitcoin to replace the Dollar as the world's reserve currency (never mind infinity), then it would involve half of the worlds electricity.

I think the "probability" of that being allowed to happen is quite low 

I would have that thought that any genuine FX trader would be all over Bitcoin, purely for the volatility.

It might even save money on leverage fees.