Over the last ~2 years, I've seen many Steemians mention that they don't hold any or much Bitcoin.
I've heard them cite reasons such as high fees, slow transaction times, too expensive, not dynamic enough, not this, not that, etc..
The irony is that these many of these reasons will be resolved over time and a blip in its history. I feel like some people talk themselves out of buying/holding Bitcoin because of temporary conceptions/misconceptions. That decision process is treading on thin ice.
Especially at this stage in the game, I'm curious if people could still feel this way.
I'm no economist, but I'd personally be terrified if I didn't hold a good amount of Bitcoin, and not in a shallow FOMO way.
The upside is mind-blowing when compared to the downside.
One can always trade it for alt coins later (if they still exist or are accessible on exchanges), but many have increasing supplies (very unappealing to me).
Some Thoughts:
Governments, corporations, and regulatory bodies are involved now. The writing seems to be all over the wall for me a multitude of reasons I won't pitch here.
While alt coins may or may not be successful as they mature, I see so many advantages of holding Bitcoin for the long term, especially as a likely-stable store of digital value (pardon the cliché).
I personally follow the money, watching volumes closely. Perhaps several under-the-radar alt coins with a track record of low volume/price performance will explode in price at some point, but what if they don't? Is the risk worth being empty handed without a sum of Bitcoin that might be life changing for you and future generations?
Bitcoin doesn't have marketing teams, press releases, vendor booths and other promotional aspects to it. It just is what it is, and huge amounts of money are flowing in its direction.
Bitcoin is and will be scarce. Demand will continue to grow. The logic is crystal clear. There aren't nearly as many "what-ifs" as with alt coins.
If crypto is globally adopted, I'd imagine it's likely going to be led by Bitcoin. We can hope that Steem and EOS will help bring it to the masses through social media, apps, and ease of token transfer, but I wouldn't feel very comfortable putting most of eggs in those baskets.
I hold many alt coins, but they feel like scratch off lottery tickets to me. Bitcoin is a gamble, but it feels like we have an edge over the house here with all that appears to be on its horizon.
Maybe people are stubborn (as I am), maybe I'm blind or wrong, or maybe people are too narrowly focused on the alt coins they hover around most frequently to see the bigger, bolder picture.
If you don't own Bitcoin, or have just a small percentage with respect to your crypto portfolio, I'd really like to hear why.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts. No judgment here whatsoever. No financial advice either.
Well honestly It's already too expensive for me. so I'm investing on xrp and steem now.
I couldn't agree more. Bitcoin will be the defacto for the foreseeable future for several reasons that you have touched on. Being a viable option to replace paper money and gold being just one reason. The best part is it having a fixed supply, it's only a matter of time before we see substantial growth
Replacing paper or gold will likely take a while, but the supply/demand for Bitcoin is awesome in our favor and will probably continue to improve for us. It's just so obvious to me, and if I'm wrong, I'll have not a single qualm in the world for taking a big swing.
My reply probably won't be typical of the average Steemian, but would fall closer to the masses.
I personally see no long term value in Bitcoin. Nor most alts. There is obviously a risk with all alts, but when I jumped into Steem it was only because it had (at that time) eliminated most of the hassles of entry.
I am not much for the whole gold is the investment for hard times either, as you can't eat gold and those who you would sell it to would hold all the cards as at that time (one of desperation for most) they could dictate what you would get.
But at least with gold (and other precious metals) there are practical applications that it is useful for. If things were to collapse, holding numerical sequences accessible online (which might not even be possible in such a scenario) just doesn't add up to a good store of value for me.
I believe that those who believe we are owned by them, the ones increasing the introduction of surveillance tech and passing regulations dictating how we may possess currencies/utilize them want us on these chains where every movement can be recorded and analyzed for all time. Their false claims of chain currencies being the future of black market operations seems laughable to me, as they continue to match wallets with owners. Cash (or physical commodities) passed direct hand to hand can and often is untraceable. Which is why they want to do away with it, as their laws and regulations can never peer into hidden places and once the deal is done there is no record of it.
I do believe however that like with other speculations, the controllers of money manipulate the illusion of values, and for those who do not succumb to the cult of chain nor the cult of greed there is opportunity to make profits as the roller coaster of manipulation rides up and down. Convert on the high to the mass approved paper currency then flow into real assets.
This was an interesting viewpoint. It's definitely a different lens than I have, but I hear what you're saying.
This line did resonate as I'm a bit concerned with this, especially with the KYC requirements. Unless I move to a tax-free zone, I don't mind paying taxes, but I don't think the gov't knows any less about what assets/fiat/bank accounts most people have in lieu of this. Ultimately, I don't mind if the gov't knows how much crypto I have as long as I report it properly and play within the lines.
For the time being, and given my position in life right now, I don't mind holding long with crypto. I have some silver, and would like gold, but I can't see those metals appreciating in value anywhere near the magnitudes crypto can for a while. When the point comes to sell, yes that'd be back to fiat, and into real assets, but perhaps Bitcoin will be a real asset in its own right in the future.
I wasn't holding BTC for a long time, because it was overvalued for the time with the capabilities at the time. They were stubbornly holding it back from upgrades. Then it started to drop, and they actually adopted upgrades that it desperately needed...but at the same time Steem was dropping. Now, I would buy BTC if I had some extra cash that I could set aside and not touch for a few months. I would buy Steem too. I've told my parents to buy Bitcoin...and they didn't listen. Funny, cuz they actually earned a few grand from me telling them when to buy Qualcomm. They would have earned enough to pay off their house if they had listened to me when I told them when to buy Apple as a kid. Some people are stubborn.
It is fully up to people what they buy, but I would buy some now if I could...then sell at the next beginning of a dip...and buy again at the next bottom, and repeat.
My Mom listened to me a while back and bought coins and actually traded them like a baller with my jaw to the ground in disbelief. At least you got them one win.
As for BTC, prices will always fluctuate. I have confidence that BTC's price will appreciate greatly in the upcoming years, so I'm holding tight for a while, likely through the peaks and valleys like I usually have because I don't want to make a mistake. I made one big mistake and haven't really sold/traded since because it was that scarring.
Trading pretty much comes with mistakes. More than likely, if you can manage to keep going, you'll make back what you lose as you learn. Of course, that's assuming you can learn. :P
Sometimes it feels like trading is just guessing and betting. It's not, no matter what anyone says. If there was any game at any casino that was as predictable as trading, casinos wouldn't run it, because it would bankrupt them. Instead they run only games where they have a distinct advantage.
I don't know if I can trade crypto anymore because I'm too emotionally attached to it as a buy and hold asset. If I were to trade, it'd have to be with new funds I deposited to treat as funny money or poker chips where there was no attachment. To do this, I might have to trick myself by trading coins I had no interest in, but had a strong understanding of from my years of tracking them.
Well, there are certainly tons of coins out there that might be alright bets, but you don't necessarily have to have any real attachment to. Even a few bucks is enough to start trading with. Hell, I've made quite a bit trading Dogecoin before.
I don't hold much because I traded most of it for Steem!
Should've waited!
I've bought a little more since. It does make sense to have some!
What are yr views on ETH btw?
Posted using Partiko Android
The ratios will always move around so patience will give you another opportunity. If Steem ever really goes south for a mass exodus, make sure you'd be at peace with the portfolio balance you'd have leftover. It's appealing for the staking and author/curation rewards, but I'm not comfortable with the risks associated with moving my investments over to Steem yet. I'm just earning for now.
ETH was my first investment and I'm very emotionally attached to it. I appreciate how many corporations have sought to leverage the tech in-house, as well as big money/institutions treating it as a blue-chip holding. Its development timeline has created lots of opportunities for competition, but I think there's enough room for several of the platform/dapp chains/tokens to thrive. I was holding most of my ETH to stake it, but recent math on the staking rewards may not be as strong as first advertised. Either way, I'm long on it and it's a large % of my portfolio, just under BTC. I find peace in being and staying invested where the bulk of trading/investment volume is at this time because it feels like demand and adoption to me.
Thanks for chiming in.
I'm massively in on Steem compared to others. Then again this whole crypto thing is something of a hedge for me anyway.
Fun and potentially lucrative but I've only invested tiny amounts.
I may get a little more Bitc and ETH if there's another dip.
Oh the reason I'm mainly in on steem is that I can actually use the token - ATM it's use value is far greater than anything else!
I hope there is a dip you can take advantage of. If there isn't for a while, just be prepared with low buy orders on an exchange if there's an odd crash to catch, or be at peace with what you have if you don't get the chance to buy again at prices you like. Steem will always be a decent faucet for using liquid rewards to tack onto positions with as long as it's around, so there's some immense extra value for you there at no risk.
Because you cannot earn passive income on Bitcoin, because it take forever to transact in a store, because the last time alt coins outperformed Bitcoin (albeit with a delay). Or maybe I am just lazy ;-)
Perhaps at this stage, but the future will open opportunities we may not be able to conceive yet.
Do you think that this will be a permanent issue for Bitcoin in 5-10 years? The institutional money flowing in and government/corporate engagement doesn't seem to mind at this time. Tech is evolving and development will continue to improve.
I'm assuming that you mean outperformed in price? Fads come and go. Prices boom and bust. Most of that past performance was a new wave of crypto newbs buying up cheap coins because the blue chips "looked too expensive," or they maybe didn't grasp that Bitcoin could be bought in fractional amounts. Either way, it was a lot of dumb money pumping into alts last time, and this may happen again. I'd expect that money has gotten much smarter this time around, and there will be another alt season, but price is just a temporary thing and only valuable if you sell.
Hah. Well now's not the time to sit on your hands. In a few years, we may look back on these days and kick ourselves... Think about how lazy we can all be if we invest well now?
A lot of alts claim to be decentralized, but they're not. Bitcoin is. That's powerful and will probably be rather important down the line.
Thanks for the comment.
Too broke
Posted using Partiko Android
Aint that the truth...
Thrift stores!
They don't exist in Asia bro, all my clothes and most everything I got second hand.
Here it's taboo and frowned upon, only the destitute would accept preloved items.. Otherwise I'd open a clothing exchange store. There is a belief that bad mojo can be passed through used stuff..
Posted using Partiko Android
Can you sell braided cat fur bracelets?
If it's Schrodinger's cat maybe...Trying to not have the second world blues over here. But, I appreciate your intentions to think outside of the box and keep my entrepreneurial spirit intact. Or perhaps you're just being silly which is also welcomed.
I find the dynamic in Se Asia to be ripe and full of potential to sell cat fur trinkets. So maybe we can discuss if you're going to BKK for SF4 I might show my face as a troll but have no intention to purchase a steem pass. I know Bangkok well enough and am only interested in hanging out with u virtual entities not in seeing PowerPoint presentations about steem stuff..
Posted using Partiko Android
I'm 50/50 on SF4. SF3 was an amazing experience, but (like you) really just want to go to spend time with the people, not hear what I already know at the expense of thousands of USD and two super long flights. The pool of people I'd want to interact with has shrunk from the one from last year after seeing how they've behaved/treated others on Steem's social media apps, but there's always potential to meet new people and respark my enthusiasm again.
Oooh 50/50 is like a four letter word around here 😂
I'd never even consider trolling sf4 except that it's a cheap quick skip north for me.
I think as heated as things have gotten the worst I've done was calling someone an old fart, but in my defense they said I was being weird. Apparently it's strange to see both sides of a bad situation and make appeals on behalf of bad actors that I've talked with at length IRL and have an all too vivid perspective of why a whale would do whale stuff on steem.
Not getting deeper down those rabbit holes I'll just say I've never seen these particular evil whales call someone an idiot or portray themselves to be more than human interacting on a social media platform that's powered by economic incentives..
I recently made the poor choice of selling some bitcoin to try to sell high buy low but that failed lol. I’m thankfully just a bit shy of the original amount I had before then. Gotta try it at least once to get your hand burned.
I am more conservative than liberal with jumping in on prices and that gets me in the case of bitcoin. We all have stories of not getting it when we could but I was waiting for it to travel near $3000 and it did ..once while I was sleeping. I couldn’t get it close to then again and am curious if it will have a correction back to there again. I’ve got my other major investment in litecoin instead now, that’s my top value. I’ve been going back and forth between that and some others to diversify.
I’m shocked bitcoin is back up to 9k but glad it is, when my portfolio doubles the amount I spent to get it there I can finally tell my wife how much I spent to get it there lol
Ha to your last comment. Litecoin is running but it may slow down after the block reward halving, so keep an open mind to potentially diversifying into some BTC again so you don't kick yourself too hard for trying to flip it before.
Yes, we all have our stories. If it makes you feel better, I have two tragic instances where I was trying to invest and couldn't/a friend hung up on me when I asked how to buy/I was blocked by exchanges for my geographical location early on. I had the money and desire, ready to go, but I couldn't get access to exchanges before two huge bull runs which would've made me completely loaded. I had to watch the coins flying without the ability to buy them, until I finally found access, but far later than I would've... I'd be on a beach right now if my friend didn't hang up on me to deter me in ~2014 or I lived in another State.
Yeah I saw that, it halves in 50 days I think. Will see what moves I can make!
Posted using Partiko iOS
Bitcoin will have this similar situation soon enough. Another wave to ride...
Yup litecoin ftom the research I've done looks like a good diversified addition.
Lol and the being able to tell the wife about btc 😂
I'm hoping to get in on the next btc dip myself, I was one of those that said in 2010 I'm not interested in buying murder or drugs online and didn't see the vision of what btc POW chains represent.. Had access and thousands of dollars fiat to blow didn't see the point.
Posted using Partiko Android
Ahh, "2010." Sorry! I had a little Litecoin years ago but never held onto it. I felt it was redundant with Bitcoin and never really saw myself using it over the latter. I still don't feel the need to have any, but can easily trade for it if a merchant will only accept it in the future.
I save small amount of bitcoin to pay myself this bitcoin I will not spent rest of my life
Posted using Partiko Android
Are you then looking to pass it down as an investment to your family?