Why do people compare betting and investing in bitcoin (in terms of risk)?

[Chris Barth]

I don't really understand why people see bitcoin as betting. That's what most people believe; they have this mindset that investing in bitcoin is more like playing a bet. But is that true? Capital NO!
I had a conversation with two of my siblings who both know that I'm into cryptocurrency. The older one was asking how much he would earn if he invested about 1,500$ worth of bitcoin. (Tho, I gave him a good explanation that it doesn't work that way). But then, my other sibling was saying that bitcoin is more like betting. Well, I ended up proving my point and here's it:
Betting is risky and so is investing in bitcoin. However, there's a big bridge between them. When you bet, your money is highly at stake than when you invest in bitcoin. This is because when you bet and lose, YOU LOSE ALL YOU STAKED. On the other hand, YOU CAN NEVER LOSE ALL IF YOU INVEST IN BITCOIN. Bitcoin can't just fall to zero. That's impossible. Tho it may need a long growth for one to gain, it should never be compared with betting (in terms of risk).

[mk4]

Of course it's really not 100% the same thing. Some people just compare bitcoin to betting simply because like you said, investing is bitcoin is risky compared to other investment vehicles available. Why? Well, you could say that when you're "investing" or speculating in bitcoin, you're betting that the price will go up in a certain time span. It's pretty much just a small overlap.

[Chris Barth]

Yes, it can fall to zero , Yes it is Gambling,
or
let's say you purchased it at 20K
Now it is less than 10K for years, you lost over half your investment and years later still not recovered,

There are no guarantees, yes bitcoin can drop to zero any investment can, not realizing this can do you serious financial harm.
http://theconversation.com/five-reasons-bitcoin-could-enter-a-more-extreme-death-spiral-108766

Lol. Maybe you don't get what I'm saying. Let me try to be more elaborate.

Like you said;

let's say you purchased it at 20K
Now it is less than 10K for years, you lost over half your investment

You lost over half.... Right? Cool.
Now here's the question; Do you lose over half or all when you're betting? You obviously lose all.

You said bitcoin can fall to zero? Well, you should understand that it can never happen within seconds, hours, day, weeks, or even months. Bitcoin would take a long time if it's price is going down. It cannot be sudden.
And once you see those red warnings, you could simply sell off and lose a little. Unlike betting in which you can lose even 10,000$ in a few minutes.

[noorman0]

Yes, it can fall to zero , Yes it is Gambling,

Really? 

let's say you purchased it at 20K
Now it is less than 10K for years, you lost over half your investment and years later still not recovered,

You will lose half the value of $ investment if you sell at 10k.
When you buy BTC, your assets are no longer $, but BTC. Your BTC remains intact, you don't lose anything.

There are no guarantees, yes bitcoin can drop to zero any investment can, not realizing this can do you serious financial harm.
http://theconversation.com/five-reasons-bitcoin-could-enter-a-more-extreme-death-spiral-108766

*You forgot to include other possibilities, let me
Or bitcoin is recovering and surviving like now even going above its highest price in 2017

[xvids]

Investment and gambling is both different thing unless you are investing blindly,
If you invest because of the hype or the huge speculation then it is just the same as betting,
You are only risking your funds without a proper knowledge on what would happen next,
No other plans and just put it up and wait for the price to go up.

[airdnasxela]

Betting and investing is different from each other and I never see Bitcoin as something we just bet. First of all, betting is for short term while investing is long term. They both have risk but we tend to describe it betting if we're gambling. Basically, Bitcoin isn't considered as a game we can just bet. Betting is like more on luck but investing is not. I'm betting we tend to think of a short term strategy while in investing we need long term planning.

[Farma]

what they talk about is the price. why they sometimes say that bitcoin is a big risk investment because the price can make you lose, even worse than betting.
imagine, when you hold back $ 10,000, and suddenly you see the price is only $ 1000, it makes you feel a big loss because you're not ready. It's different from betting, you won't be surprised by the results, because you're ready. although this is different but has the same thing. if you make a move without any information, you can say that you only bet on the bitcoin investment.

[$crypto$]

Obviously different investments and bets in my view, when you invest in a coin let's say bitcoin with as much as $ 1,500 well there you will invest for a long time or can when the price is rising so you will never lose your money if the investment not for sale so I think investments and bets are better investments that are futures compared to betting are just not important.

Betting is only to guess the numbers if you miss then your betting money will disappear in an instant and therefore people always compare bets and investments are clearly different in my view.

[Chris Barth]

what they talk about is the price. why they sometimes say that bitcoin is a big risk investment because the price can make you lose, even worse than betting.
imagine, when you hold back $ 10,000, and suddenly you see the price is only $ 1000, it makes you feel a big loss because you're not ready. It's different from betting, you won't be surprised by the results, because you're ready. although this is different but has the same thing. if you make a move without any information, you can say that you only bet on the bitcoin investment.

Like, the answer is obvious. Tell me, when your 10,000$ turns to 1,000$ and when your 10,000$ got lost in a 3 minutes betting, which is preferable? See, try to get my point. You can risk 10,000$ buying bitcoin but you can stake 10,000$ on a bet (considering you could lose it all in a few seconds or minutes).

[20kevin20]

Like, the answer is obvious. Tell me, when your 10,000$ turns to 1,000$ and when your 10,000$ got lost in a 3 minutes betting, which is preferable? See, try to get my point. You can risk 10,000$ buying bitcoin but you can stake 10,000$ on a bet (considering you could lose it all in a few seconds or minutes).

The thing is, by betting $10k if you lose, it's gone. Forever, unless you keep depositing and playing with the hope of winning.

Investing the same amount in BTC can turn your $10k into $1k but you'll still have the same amount of BTC in your wallet and the investment will still be worth something at any point.

If after you've lost $10k through betting you wait an year, the $10k will still be lost forever. The investment, however, could turn from a loss into a profit after the same timeframe passed.

[Chris Barth]

unless you keep depositing and playing with the hope of winning.

Which could result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars...😅

Investing the same amount in BTC can turn your $10k into $1k but you'll still have the same amount of BTC in your wallet and the investment will still be worth something at any point.

If after you've lost $10k through betting you wait an year, the $10k will still be lost forever. The investment, however, could turn from a loss into a profit after the same timeframe passed.

Thanks a lot for understanding the idea behind what I'm saying. Betting is far more risky than buying bitcoin. Pretty far. Right now, I can't bet with up-to 10$ but I can invest 100 times of that in bitcoin.

[angrybirdy]

Like, the answer is obvious. Tell me, when your 10,000$ turns to 1,000$ and when your 10,000$ got lost in a 3 minutes betting, which is preferable? See, try to get my point. You can risk 10,000$ buying bitcoin but you can stake 10,000$ on a bet (considering you could lose it all in a few seconds or minutes).

The thing is, by betting $10k if you lose, it's gone. Forever, unless you keep depositing and playing with the hope of winning.

Investing the same amount in BTC can turn your $10k into $1k but you'll still have the same amount of BTC in your wallet and the investment will still be worth something at any point.

If after you've lost $10k through betting you wait an year, the $10k will still be lost forever. The investment, however, could turn from a loss into a profit after the same timeframe passed.

This explains it all.
Betting and investing have their own different risk, if you bet your money and lost, all you bet was gone forever. No return and no exchange, it is lost already.
If you invest, even if your investment will drop its price, the number of coins you invested is still the same, but you still have the chance to increase the value of the investment in the long run.

[gentlemand]

You're forgetting that many new arrivals/fresh meat decide they should go straight to Bitmex and straight to 1,000,000x leverage. And others decide they're going to make their Bitcoin fortune by putting all their money into PieceOfShitcoin and hoping it goes for it. Both of them certainly are betting and both have a strong possibility of leaving you with no money.

And where is the true word that applies? Most people are not betting and most people are not investing, they are speculating.

[dothebeats]

I see it like that since people are taking chances whenever they are putting their money on either bitcoin or any gambling game. It's literally just a matter of chance and luck after all, and no matter how deep your knowledge about trading is, your analysis won't always complement the outcome that's going to be shown on the prices and the markets. You don't control the outcome same as you can't on luck-based gambling games. There'd always be that one window that will be left open even if you're sure that you've closed them all and it could screw you over albeit limiting the risks involved.

[coolcoinz]

In a way investing is betting because you put a money bet on the price going up, but this is still different from normal gambling.
Gambling is always an all or nothing game and there are no possible ways of getting the money back without putting more money on the table. To give you an example, when you invest in BTC, you put 100 USD on the line and if the market goes down your 100 will become 90, or 80, but you will still have the coins that used to be worth 100. Those coins be woth 100 in a week or a month. You can withdraw and take a loss or keep the coins and stay in the game.
If you bet that 100 in a casino and you lose, you lose everything. There's no way to roll it back and you don't have any choices left. It's over.

[Zicadis]

Well, you also need to consider the fact that very few people bet their entire bankroll in a single bet, just like few people trade their entire balance at once.

They are both risky practices. Gambling is risky simply because you are always up against the house edge, while trading is risky because few traders have any idea what they're actually doing and the market can't always be predicted.

The type of risk is definitely different, since there is no house edge per se in trading, just the fees that are associated with the practice.

As such, somebody who is good at trading will likely not fair so well while gambling and vice-versa. They are just completely different.

[hatshepsut93]

From a mathematical point of view, gambling means risking while having negative expected value, while investing means risking while having positive expected value. With gambling it's easy - the expected value can be precisely calculated as per the games rules, but with investing its the opposite - it's hard to calculate even the estimates, especially for a purely speculative asset like Bitcoin. So, in investing your expected value is tied to your knowledge and experience as an investor - if its low, then it's likely to be negative, and then investing is indeed like gambling, but with enough knowledge you will be making money in the long run.

[Cryptoangel01]

I don't really understand why people see bitcoin as betting. That's what most people believe; they have this mindset that investing in bitcoin is more like playing a bet. But is that true? Capital NO!
I had a conversation with two of my siblings who both know that I'm into cryptocurrency. The older one was asking how much he would earn if he invested about 1,500$ worth of bitcoin. (Tho, I gave him a good explanation that it doesn't work that way). But then, my other sibling was saying that bitcoin is more like betting. Well, I ended up proving my point and here's it:
Betting is risky and so is investing in bitcoin. However, there's a big bridge between them. When you bet, your money is highly at stake than when you invest in bitcoin. This is because when you bet and lose, YOU LOSE ALL YOU STAKED. On the other hand, YOU CAN NEVER LOSE ALL IF YOU INVEST IN BITCOIN. Bitcoin can't just fall to zero. That's impossible. Tho it may need a long growth for one to gain, it should never be compared with betting (in terms of risk).

I think they are both games of chances and both need the right knowledge. Any kind of business can be risky or feels like gambling when the right knowledge and attitude is not applied towards learning the intricacies of that investment or business.

[avikz]

I believe there is only one difference between betting and investing - is the individual mindset! You look at the same thing from a different window and receive a different perspective on the same thing!

It also somehow depends on the risk appetite of an individual. If a person is willing to take more risk, he might not see it as a betting. But if the risk appetite is low, he might see it as a betting! It's just different sides of one coin!

[Zeke_23]

I don't really understand why people see bitcoin as betting. That's what most people believe; they have this mindset that investing in bitcoin is more like playing a bet. But is that true? Capital NO!

Because that is how they interpret about bitcoin. Common reason for that is because they just heard it to other people or through social media. Aside from it, sometimes even language barrier becomes the reason for this misunderstanding.
This misunderstanding turns out to be the reason to mislead the correct information.