Why Bitcoin Is More Than a Made-Up Investment Bubble

[keanbosch]

http://www.ahametals.com/bitcoin-made-investment-bubble/

[bridgesro]

While many influential financial figures, including ... investor Warren Buffett, have dismissed the potential of bitcoin...

Didn't Warren Buffett come around on Bitcoin? Or am I thinking of someone else?

I've felt that one of the biggest problems Bitcoin has faced was the view of it as an investment instead of a form of payment. I think that strong attitude early on painted it too much like a get rich quick scheme of the internet. A lot of the bad rep from situations like Silk Road didn't help either. Investment bubble or drug money: neither view helped us out any.

But it's coming around very nicely now. I think announcements like what Dell released earlier are really going to push things in the right direction. Strong support of Bitcoin as payment and not some "weird cyber-stock" is what we need to give Bitcoin legitimacy without government interference or regulation.

Well, to contradict myself a bit here: I think the IRS ruling ultimately helped as well. Most of us may not want government laws on Bitcoin, but it did give Bitcoin a sense of recognition that I think helped it gain ground with companies like Dell (and hopefully more to come).

If we can push the investment bubble view out of the way and make Bitcoin more accessible and understandable to the average consumer, we'll be in great shape.

[AliceWonder]

Yes, there are lots of ways to spend bitcoins but not very many ways to get them.

My local sellers charge an arm and a leg and exchanges - well, Mt. Gox wasn't the first to steal money and won't be the last.

More regulated exchanges are desperately needed.

I wish Western Union had the foresight to see they could make a killing by selling them, they already have a huge infrastructure set up.

[Cryptopher]

I don't think that there was enough to gain from really successful, large companies integrating/accepting Bitcoin payments a few months ago. Overstock were brave to go in when they did, and it did them well - lots of recognition as a result was a nice fringe benefit. Fortune favours the brave and all that.

Now seeing organisations like Dell showing some love to Bitcoin we find that the technology is seeing some serious recognition, much more than the chit chat between experts and successful folk in business.

[slaveforanunnak1]

Warren Buffett is a dinosaur 

[Melbustus]

It blows my mind that more firms/professionals haven't done quantitative analysis such as this: http://honestnode.com/bitcoin-fair-value-a-first-assessment/

You can disagree with the assumptions in that piece, but the math yielding conclusions about bitcoin's market-cap/price if the assumptions are valid is solid.

Yet all the naysayers *still* just tend to say things like "it's a bubble" (like that Bloomberg piece today), as opposed to trying to refute the underlying assumptions that lead bitcoin bulls to their conclusions. In other words, most of the naysayers try to make the conversation emotional, rather than intellectual.

[World]

Great video on how to valuate Bitcoin, and calculator tool to use on your assumptions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2nXgK34HIM
http://worldbitcoinnetwork.com/BitcoinPriceModel-Alpha.html

[CokeCoin]

This guy sounds like he knows what he's talking about, but he says silly things.

"Great medium of transaction, but that won't affect price." Really? supply and demand dude.

"Not useful as a store of value." It is literally the most secure and profitable store of value on the planet.

[DjPxH]

Well, it does provide new features and aspects no other currency provided before. Of course it has some Ponzi-like characteristics in so far as early adopters profit from it. But that's just the incentive people need to join Bitcoin. Why should they join something if it's just risky without actually providing any benefit?