Bitcoin is NOT a investment

[Mjbmonetarymetals]

Bitcoin encourages saving and a little spending, the governments encourage no fiat saving and wreck less spending into indebtedness

[fr33d0miz3r]

In the 1990s, those Russians who invested in USD, became rich after the ruble (RUR) crash.

[taltamir]

I don't understand all the venom thrown at the op.

He made a clear argument that bitcoin is a currency, and you can get rich speculating on a currency, such speculation is gambling rather then an investment. That speculation in of itself does not produce wealth, only transfer wealth from those who bet correctly to those who bet wrongly (just using dollars because "everyone is" is still betting, you are speculating on dollars)

He didn't even argue that people shouldn't gamble on bitcoin being a success. only that such an act should be called "currency speculation" and not "investing".

And people are attacking him personally arguing that he is attacking bitcoin. Even though he is clearly a supporter of it.

[kik1977]

are you really this fucking retarded?

Are you really so much in need of calling someone retarded just because you disagree with him?

[Mike Christ]

You can invest money into money, I believe, though this sounds more like a conversion to me.

[Chaoskampf]

bitcoin is whatever we make it

[taltamir]

bitcoin is whatever we make it

You are missing the point entirely.

The guy argued the semantics of the term investment. Arguing that currency speculation should not be called an investment but be called currency speculation, nothing more nothing less.

[BitcoinBarrel]

IMO, Bitcoin is not a Currency, but is a Digital Commodity that people want to own. Bitcoin is no more a currency than Pogs or Beanie Babies are currencies.

And since people invest their money into Bitcoin with the hopes of turning a profit through Appreciation, I would consider Bitcoin an investment as well.

[hilariousandco]

You don't invest in USD or EURO or etc... you use them. Bitcoin is a currency, and a tool. It wasn't meant for people to make money. People made money holding Bitcoin while it is in growing phase, is simply an abnormality. Once Bitcoin reach user saturation, there probably will be no more such occurrences.

Also Bitcoin may forever be an obscure experimental internet currency, that may never make it mainstream. There are no guarantee that it will become mainstream. So user saturation MAY already happened.

You can invest your money in EURO or USD or any other currency if you want. You can invest your money in potatoes or tulips as well. There are plenty of people  who make good livings off trading various currencies with each other.

Yes, BTC is a currency, but people are investing their money in it by speculating on the value. At BTC's peak I was up nearly 1000%. I plan on holding it for the future in the hope that it does become a mainstream or more wildly accepted currency, which I believe it will, then I will begging to spend it and/or possibly sell it for GBP. I think people can use it or do with it what they want, and that includes using it as an investment or even a get rich quick scheme.

[smoothrunnings]

You don't invest in USD or EURO or etc... you use them. Bitcoin is a currency, and a tool. It wasn't meant for people to make money. People made money holding Bitcoin while it is in growing phase, is simply an abnormality. Once Bitcoin reach user saturation, there probably will be no more such occurrences.

Also Bitcoin may forever be an obscure experimental internet currency, that may never make it mainstream. There are no guarantee that it will become mainstream. So user saturation MAY already happened.

Sounds like you don't like the price of bitcoin going up!! Well that's too bad for you then. Bitcoin is the peoples money currency it will continue to become worth more and more dollars. You should be more worried about USD and the EURO as there is trouble brewing at the Federal Reserve and we could see the start of a implosion of the USD by April of next year. The markets as we know them today would collapse, the collapse in 2008 proved just how interconnected the markets are to one another; we live in a globalized marketplace.

[hilariousandco]

IMO, Bitcoin is not a Currency, but is a Digital Commodity that people want to own. Bitcoin is no more a currency than Pogs or Beanie Babies are currencies.

And since people invest their money into Bitcoin with the hopes of turning a profit through Appreciation, I would consider Bitcoin an investment as well.

It is a currency. Is the USD and other fiats no more a currency than Pogs or Beanie Babies too?

[Francky85]

Bitcoin is a currency, which also makes it an investment oppourtunity for some.....whole companies are set up to trade Forex and make money off price swings, just as they do with stocks and shares etc.

People saying it speculating or a gamble....that is the definition of an investment....you put your money into something with the hope that you see a return on your investment...no-one is ever 100% sure on an investment, so that makes it a gamble or speculative.

And im sure a lot of people on this forum have made very large returns on their investments over the last couple of years.

[luqash3]

Kokojie you are equipped with a high level of intelligence but these days investors have got too crazy for a digital currency bitcoin which wasn’t formed for profit but now days everyone is holding to book a profit for himself and then leave bitcoin alone. Bitcoin has turned highly volatile due to these investors who are greedy for making money for themselves. 

[Interized]

Bitcoin encourages saving and a little spending, the governments encourage no fiat saving and wreck less spending into indebtedness

Actually government encourages saving, because your savings lose value over time.

Bitcoin itself doesn't encourage saving, but won't lose value over time.

[ljudotina]

You don't invest in USD or EURO or etc... you use them.

google "forex" before you write silly things like this

[Noruka]

You don't invest in USD or EURO or etc... you use them. Bitcoin is a currency, and a tool. It wasn't meant for people to make money. People made money holding Bitcoin while it is in growing phase, is simply an abnormality. Once Bitcoin reach user saturation, there probably will be no more such occurrences.

Also Bitcoin may forever be an obscure experimental internet currency, that may never make it mainstream. There are no guarantee that it will become mainstream. So user saturation MAY already happened.

it doesn't matter what people classify or even label as what constitutes an investment. if you store some of your hard earn wealth in it, and it grows over time then that is an investment. If one person can find a way to grow his wealth through pink elephants then that is an investment.

Bitcoin is an investment because it can (and has) been to used to grow a store of wealth over time. People label it as a none investment doesn't actually matter. sorry

and yes people invest in fiat currencies all the time and make profits off it.

You also have no evidence of your assumption of saturation or that there will not be any more occurrences of the price rising.

Ignorance is bliss because you are always right.

[taltamir]

Bitcoin encourages saving and a little spending, the governments encourage no fiat saving and wreck less spending into indebtedness

Actually government encourages saving, because your savings lose value over time.

Bitcoin itself doesn't encourage saving, but won't lose value over time.

I think he meant encourages with their policy not with their words, the two differ because they are liars

[subcoin]

I think, I understand the root problem:

OP and couple of other users argue that holding and trading of Bitcoins does not produce wealth; therefore, it is not an investment.
I do agree, that it doesn't produce wealth.
However, definition of investment says nothing about wealth, it only states that investment will appreciate the value.
Therefore, if Bitcoin (or any other asset) appreciates in value, it is an investment.

[Ecurb123]

You don't invest in USD or EURO or etc... you use them. Bitcoin is a currency, and a tool. It wasn't meant for people to make money. People made money holding Bitcoin while it is in growing phase, is simply an abnormality. Once Bitcoin reach user saturation, there probably will be no more such occurrences.

Also Bitcoin may forever be an obscure experimental internet currency, that may never make it mainstream. There are no guarantee that it will become mainstream. So user saturation MAY already happened.

You may use USD or Euros but that doesn't mean other people don't do other things with them. If people want to invest in bitcoin then they are investing in bitcoin. Maybe the argument can be made that it's not a good investment.

[GigaCoin]

I don't understand all the venom thrown at the op.

He made a clear argument that bitcoin is a currency, and you can get rich speculating on a currency, such speculation is gambling rather then an investment. That speculation in of itself does not produce wealth, only transfer wealth from those who bet correctly to those who bet wrongly (just using dollars because "everyone is" is still betting, you are speculating on dollars)

He didn't even argue that people shouldn't gamble on bitcoin being a success. only that such an act should be called "currency speculation" and not "investing".

And people are attacking him personally arguing that he is attacking bitcoin. Even though he is clearly a supporter of it.

any sort of investment is pretty much a "Transfer of wealth" one way or the other, when you're buying real-estate, gold, silver , etc etc if you are defining things this way it's all gambling as the price can go up or crash down.