So many people on this forum that claim to understand Bitcoin are basically saying what I said in the title.  Stupid.  Then there are people that believe that countries won't ban Bitcoin simply because their citizens "earn" from it.  Idiots.  If I apply their logic, then all drugs would be legalized or decriminalized since substantially MORE of their citizens earn A LOT MORE money from the drug trade.  But this begs the question...if Bitcoin was made illegal would people take the same risks being involved with Bitcoin as they do with drugs?  Those with brains know the answer to it.  $5

I read this forum looking for gems of knowledge from time to time.  Instead, all I see is an infestation of stupidity and arrogance with respect to the opinions and views thrown around here.  Don't people realize that those who stumble upon this forum would be turned off by Bitcoin after reading most of what is posted here?  I know a couple of people that have come here and they said it was the silliest discussion forum they've ever seen.  If they were on the fence about Bitcoin, they are now completely turned off by it after seeing the quality of the individuals involved in it based on their writings.

I don't know what else to say other than police your ranks.  The media and large financial institutions read these forums.  Is this the face you all want to present to the world?

End of rant.

After reading this forum for long enough I get the impression from most posting here that they believe that Bitcoin will be the ONLY coin accepted by merchants/vendors or otherwise used by the mainstream.  I don't think I've ever read anyone put forth a point of view like I am about to write here and it is this:  Over time, most vendors will accept several cryptos just like they do with multiple credit cards or debit cards.  In the case of cryptos vendors will probably accept more cryptos than they do credit cards.

I posted something earlier questioning the reasons why so many are loyal to Bitcoin vs. other cryptos.  I pointed out that Bitcoin is facing many problems scaling and therefore has high fees and long transaction times for typical purchases.  Those that respond miss the point when they say that "sooner or later other cryptos will see the same problems".  The point is that these alt-coins currently do not have the same problems and they may have already solved or plan to solve any potential scaling problems.  We all will have to wait and see what happens.  While all of this is sorting itself out I believe that vendors will expand the range of coins that they accept.  The less volatile the better.

Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Diners Club, Discover, etc are accepted by most mainstream merchants.  Now swap out these credit cards for the top cryptos...you can do it in your head but if you want to write it out here that's up to you.  I believe that this is a vision of the crypto future...and the coins worth buying if one is so inclined.

Do you agree or disagree with this assessment?  Why or why not?

It's no secret that BTC has a big problem with fees and transaction times and it's getting worse with rising valuation and number of users.  That's the first issue.  Bitcoin's closest market cap competitors don't have these issues....at least not yet.

The second issue is that other cryptos have given better returns year-on-year vs. Bitcoin...especially in the past week to a month.  During that period BTC went up 100% but some of its closest competitors in market cap have returned 200-300%....or better.

To me, this is a no-brainer.  Even some merchants and vendors have dumped Bitcoin in favor of other cryptos.  Most know of the STEAM example.

So why are so many on this forum not switching?  Most of you would be in a position to get in before the crypto ignorant (new investors) start piling in fresh cash.

I really do not understand the logic since I don't believe for a second that it is an issue of brand loyalty...especially how little it is discussed as an option.

Thoughts?

In the following thread the OP asks where the profit in BTC come from:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2552365.0

The answers came fast and furious...and they are almost all complete nonsense or otherwise demonstrate zero knowledge of how BTC allows people to profit in and of itself.

The correct answer: Someone bought or mined a coin.  In the case of buying they paid the market price which was approximately the cost of electricity involved in mining.  This was at the beginning.  Assuming it has been mined and sold, the person that bought it held onto it for awhile until the price went up.  How did the price go up?  It went up because people on podcasts, discussion forums, and by word of mouth began hyping it and telling everyone listening not only wonderful it will be as a currency as well as how much it will be worth due to how much people will be willing to pay for it in the future.  As a result of this marketing and hype people began to offer increasing amounts of money to get others to sell it to them.  Repeat cycle.  New owners of BTC pay the previous owners the original amount plus a premium.

These Bitcoins did not produce any goods or any service.  They did not perform work.  They did not pay dividends.

Here is where everyone will get mad:  PONZI SCHEME.

Go ahead...try to deny it.  I don't care anymore.  I just posted this to prove that most people posting on this forum and probably the majority of Bitcoin holders have no idea how it works or where/how profits are made.  Good luck explaining your way out of this one noobs.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/540921/the-looming-problem-that-could-kill-bitcoin/

This was over 2 years ago.  Those that ran the price up over the last $9000 probably have no idea about these issues.  With things the way they are they will find out...and that's when the panic selling will begin.  This is not FUD...it's FACT.  Everyone was warned by the top dev...and nothing was done.  Now is a good time for everyone to look into futures and options to hedge their bets if they cannot sell.

I've recently read several articles that put forth that the drop from $11,000 to $9,000 was due to a DDOS attack on several exchanges.  Most people on this forum would just shrug it off and insist that BTC and other cryptos will bounce back.  As of December 1st, this might very well be true.

But here's where it gets interesting...or terrifying...depending on ones point of view.

Let's fast forward to when the futures markets like the CME allow short positions....in the next couple of weeks.  Anyone holding a short position would make millions or even billions if the same kind of DDOS attack happened.  Again, most people will shrug and insist that everything will bounce back.  I don't think it will be that simple as I'll describe in the following scenario, keeping it as simple as I can:

Wealthy and connected group with several million in risk capital leverage untold thousands (or even millions) of BTC in a short position on the CME.  Shortly after their purchase, a large or powerful group of hackers that they hire launch one of the largest DDOS attacks ever seen to take down as many exchanges as possible for as long as possible.  The CME futures would go limit down for at least as long as it takes to get the sites back up.  If the attack is sophisticated enough it could disrupt the exchanges for days.  This would probably drive the futures price to $0 or near $0.  When the exchanges are finally allowed to come back online when the DDOS attack was over there would be panic selling like never seen before.  There's no telling how low prices may go.

Again, most on this forum might shrug and insist that it's a buying opportunity.  But there's only one problem...all confidence in crypto will be destroyed for probably an entire generation as far as people looking at cryptos like an investment or store of wealth.  This might be a good thing to those that want to see cryptos used as an actual currency with low fees and fast transaction times.

So that's how the "big short" might come about when futures allow big money to be made on the downside.  Everyone asserts that BTC cannot be hacked and it has no weakness in and of itself.  While this is probably true, everything is only as strong as its weakest link.  In this case, the fatal flaw to crypto is not what most focus on in their reasoning.  The flaw is the underlying system that it depends on to function.....bandwidth.

DDOS have been going on for years.  Don't think for one second that groups aren't planning this already.  Those that are cheerleading $10,000 will only have themselves to blame if they ignore the warnings.  Some will call if FUD...I call it irresponsible to not keep in mind.

Everyone that is currently "investing" in BTC and other cryptos are the "crash test dummies" of the future.

Most major banks and many large/wealthy governments are coming up with their own cryptocurrencies.

Why have these entities not released them yet?  Because they are watching, waiting, and learning from all of the mistakes that other cryptos are making.

High fees.

Slow transactions.

Volatility.

Insecurity of wallets and exchanges.

Public distrust.

Reactions to media attention.

Criminality/money laundering.

Backed by fiat currency.

Lack of patent.

And on and on.

I've been reading this forum for days and I don't see this big picture addressed except in rare cases.  Almost everyone making predictions truly believes that BTC will be around for 50-100 years let alone 2-3.  Every day that goes by is just one more day that forces and entities with far bigger market caps than $100 billion are learning from all of the mistakes and problems plaguing the existing paradigm.

If one is to make a wise investment, they need to be aware of how quickly these markets can change...and literally overnight.  I don't expect much from the fanatics other than irrational reasons why my train of thought is flawed, but I do hope I see some of those individuals that are usually silent come out of the woodwork to offer solutions.  In other words, BTC can only survive if its community takes a mostly pragmatic point of view.  Otherwise it is doomed to be raped and discarded in a way that will leave most reliving their failure to act like that will leave permanent emotional scars like that of PTSD.