Price discovery is impossible with the whales controlling 90% of all bitcoins minted.  The original intent of bitcoin as a neutral asset disappeared long ago.  Those at the top are trying to get more users in to keep it's price stabilized. 

Bitcoin kind of reminds me of the push for solar energy to replace engines using fossil fuels.  Big marketing push by those who benefit from it's adoption even though it doesn't have the value advertised.

Two 1.5 hour videos on the subject on streaming TV interviewing early adopters and investors who have made and lost money. 

"Tulip Trading Limited".

Tulips...

Europe just banned Russia from Crypto markets. 

Pretty much sums it up.  Fortunately for bitcoiner's - there are more naive fools than rational people these days - so the game will go on until most get burned and realize they've been had. 

Blockchain technology itself is not the same thing - that has major potential.

Digits for sale:  I am selling 6 - 26 digit asset locations on the blockchain.   $10k each or 50k for all 6.  Limited supply - act fast.  Fiat currency via Paypal or Venmo please. 

Snowshow is the only adult in the room and some respondents here put their immaturity on full display.

Buy more electronic digits and convince yourself there is no stopping the B-train. 
 
This old Spanish saying couldn't be more fitting:  "alábate pollo que mañana te guisan"

Please learn to read what is written.  

I voted for Ron Paul and have been a member of RonPaulForums.com since it's inception.  I understand the fiat money issue.  Time is a good teacher.

The whole "digital asset" meme is a sand castle built on the shore or a rising ocean.  With bitcoin - there is no company, there are no employees, there is no product, no revenues and no profits.  The value they say is "the network itself that is growing exponentially".  Digits on a computer masquerading as digital assets for a group of people looking to get rich quick or motivated by a strong distrust of the fiat money system.  Many of who have only been alive in a falling interest rate environment.  If rates go above 3.5% - look out below - for everything.

There are profits to be made pushing the bitcoin narrative - and an entire industry has grown up around it.  They love you and want more of your money.  Don't listen to the naysayers - they don't understand cyberstuff, you are a genius, and there is no stopping the B-Train.  Only one problem: look closely and the network itself has to be accessed through a series of gates (physical & political) that that are outside the control of the network.  Sand castle on the shore. 

Michael Burry understands:  https://youtu.be/H7PHNGtgDwg 

"Money for nothing and chicks for free"
"If it sounds too good to be true - it usually is"
"Don't say no one ever warned you"

Don't join the debating club. 

- Regarding value in debt:  I hold a mortgage on someone's property.  They pay me interest on the loan as well as pay back principal.  Their debt is my asset.

- There is no hard or sound money aspect to bitcoin.  It is digits on a computer not backed by anything except pure faith and a hatred for the status quo financial system. 

If anyone is guilty of soaking up crap - it is people who are belligerent to the facts.  That is basis for a good con. 

This is the most honest answer posted yet.  Thank you.   

I would not invest in Bitcoin or Tether.  My original question related more to the actual use of cryptocurrencies as currency - but that is not what the vast majority of bitcoin holders use it for. 

Never ceases to amaze me how little people know of history.

Huh ?

There is nothing false or sensational in this video.  Here's another take:

https://jacobin.com/2022/01/cryptocurrency-scam-blockchain-bitcoin-economy-decentralization

People are buying into the "coin" of bitcoin when there is no such thing - it is merely a set of digits referring to  an entry in a closed system in cyberspace.  One of the greatest marketing schemes in history that has made some rich and hurt many people.  Using it is a store of value works until people eventually wake up to realize there is nothing there except digits.  

 

Why do people not promote Tether instead of Bitcoin? 

Is it because there is no money to be made in Tether?

Isn't the whole idea of Bitcoin to have a decentralized network that is useful and fair?  Isn't that Tether?

1:1 seems fairer than 1:20,000 ...

why don't you summarize your views here so we don't have to read a 74 page paper...  I am trytolearn... 

I think you mean devaluation not inflation.

Here is a thought experiment:  If there was no published bitcoin price metric - what price would you trade your fiat for it?

If you are starving and I have a basket of apples and you have 1000 bitcoins - what has more value?

All theories about the origins of bitcoin are just that.  Since no one really knows who started it (does that make any sense whatsoever?) - anything is possible.

I have listened to a couple of podcasts where they theorize that Bitcoin may have been started by the NSA as a way to get people hooked on the idea of an all digital currency and to drain capital out of the system.  One of the biggest problems central banks face is the massive amount of currency sitting outside the banking system.  If you are a conspiracy theorist - it makes perfect sense to hook people in and then destroy capital - since the ultimate goal seems to be total control of every aspect of people's lives.  Do not underestimate the depths of deceit, underhandedness and lies of govt. 

I am new to Bitcoin and it gives me a different perspective than those that are immersed in it. 

I've spent the last 3 days researching it and reading both sides - pro and con - and my take is that "Bitcoin" itself has been hijacked by a group of whales that seek to control it's price and convince younger generations that it is a way to "stick it to the man" and preserve wealth.  There really is nothing to Bitcoin except a movement - and the real benefit is the technology below it that runs it (IMHO).  Think of a train carrying freight - Bitcoin is the freight and the train and tracks are the important part because that is the part that really has value. 

Just my 2 cents and again I'm new - but that is what I see.