[2017-04-04] Tech Writer Warns The Uninitiated: Don’t Own Bitcoin

[tyz]

Tech Writer Warns The Uninitiated: Don’t Own Bitcoin

David Pogue, the founder of Yahoo Tech and a writer for Yahoo Finance, advises viewers that bitcoin is worthy of study but not ownership in a recently posted video. The video is directed at people not familiar with bitcoin. He says it does not make a good investment because of its volatility.

He also says it’s not good for retail purchases since many retailers don’t accept it. He notes that merchants that accept bitcoin like Subway and Xbox are delighted to take it since they don’t lose 3% of the transaction in credit-card fees.

“Bitcoin is fascinating, it’s just not very useful,” he says.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/tech-writer-warns-uninitiated-dont-bitcoin/

[maku]

Interesting words from a man whose company lost to Google and now is a shadow of its former self.
David Pogue shows us exactly the kind of thinking that made Yahoo a 2nd tier company it is today.
He is not exactly claiming that Bitcoin is bad - he said that is is unreasonable to think you can be rich by purchasing BTC and he is right.
Another liability is when a bitcoin exchange goes out of business - and he is right here as well, but 3rd party companies are not part of bitcoin network.

[cr1776]

Interesting words from a man whose company lost to Google and now is a shadow of its former self.
David Pogue shows us exactly the kind of thinking that made Yahoo a 2nd tier company it is today.
He is not exactly claiming that Bitcoin is bad - he said that is is unreasonable to think you can be rich by purchasing BTC and he is right.
Another liability is when a bitcoin exchange goes out of business - and he is right here as well, but 3rd party companies are not part of bitcoin network.

Agreed.

He has a bachelors in music.  While he may be a good writer who is able to explain things to non-tech people and good musician, his ability to evaluate (not that new) tech is limited.

[1Referee]

It's funny how certain people think Bitcoin is a bad investment due to its volatility. Volatility matters to traders, but not at all to people being long term minded. If you buy and hold Bitcoin for 2 years, why would you care about short term fluctuations? Bitcoin has proven to move up over a longer period of time, regardless of the intensity of the fluctuations that we have been going through. If people don't believe this, then they just need to look at the all time charts, that will show them how much short term fluctuations affect the long term price - absolutely nothing.

If you read the entire article, one thing becomes obviously clear - people should stick to their industry and avoid putting their nose into something they don't know much about.

[Qartada]

The volatility is not entirely a bad thing.  If your aim is to trade, it can be good if you're very good at chart analysis especially since a lot of people investing in Bitcoin are unfamiliar with most other trading.

[panju1]

Tech Writer Warns The Uninitiated: Don’t Own Bitcoin

David Pogue, the founder of Yahoo Tech and a writer for Yahoo Finance, advises viewers that bitcoin is worthy of study but not ownership in a recently posted video. The video is directed at people not familiar with bitcoin. He says it does not make a good investment because of its volatility.

He also says it’s not good for retail purchases since many retailers don’t accept it. He notes that merchants that accept bitcoin like Subway and Xbox are delighted to take it since they don’t lose 3% of the transaction in credit-card fees.

“Bitcoin is fascinating, it’s just not very useful,” he says.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/tech-writer-warns-uninitiated-dont-bitcoin/

For something which is not useful, I am surprised that Bitcoin touched a market capitalization of over $20 Bn a few weeks ago. People who take his advice might be getting ready to sue him a few years down the line. 

[jackydm168]

If you look at the Mexico approach to crypto (which will definitely include BTC and ETH), certain first world countries could be in for a shock by measuring their effectiveness in fiat and bombs.

[TraderTimm]

So he admits some retailers use it, but then turns it around as a reason not to use Bitcoin.

Reminds me of the similarly clueless opinion "Nobody goes there anymore, its way too crowded."

[richardsNY]

I remember a similar article where an investor blog writer sees good points in Bitcoin, but still advices people to stay away from it until the price becomes stable. It's quite annoying that people constantly hammer down on Bitcoin just because of its volatility. What else can you expect from something that can still be seen as highly speculative? Just another article not offering much reading joy.

[d5000]

I read the article and my impression is that he's right with most points.

In the "you won't get rich quick" part, at least according to the article, he's talking about mining. He seems to explicitly mention buying BTC at an exchange as a better alternative.

And I think no one that invests now in Bitcoin will get rich from nothing. If you invest $10K or more, then you could surely make a decent sum of bucks (if the scalability war doesn't ruin it all). But the "get rich quick phase" where you could buy a house in some years with a <$1000 investment, I think, is gone - these were the years before 2013 where you could grab BTC for less than 20$ or even for some cents.