the moment my supermarket and landlord accept btc i will begin doing this, i dont spend money anywhere else
The one good thing about the falling bitcoin price is that it will encourage people to spend it. Previously when people were watching the price rocket upwards in a seemingly one way trend it was silly to spend bitcoins unless you absolutely had to.
you have this the wrong way around, someone who bought btc for 1100 still sees it as being worth that in his mind and is never going to part with it for 300
What's going on in the trader's mind is irrelevant. His or her bitcoins are worth only what the market will pay for them today.
When I went to apply for a mortgage the bank wanted to know how much my share portfolio is worth today. They didn't want to know that some of the shares were worth 20% more 2 years ago. That was irrelevant to the actual value today.
The trader who bought for $1100 would be quite happy to part with their bitcoins for $300 if the price continues to fall below $300 and doesn't recover. As the saying goes, everyone has a price.
You know I watched this exact line of reasoning take place in someone I know well.
They bought 1 BTC last year in run up at about $200 and got super excited as they watched it rise... I warned them, it will go up for so long, but be prepared for when it comes down. Oh yeah, don't worry I'm in it for the long haul they said. I said just imagine that you have already lost the money, write it off and sit tight. Don't worry they said.
Then the top was in, the price wavered, and dipped. They worried, I reminded them that I said this would happen. They worried.
Then we bounced, back up we started to go towards ~$600 again They then told me I'm just waiting for it to hit ~$1600 (that was 1000gbp) then I think I'll sell. I sighed.
Then they watched it slide for months on end... until eventually, about a fortnight ago, they said £200 and its yours (at the time it was worth about £240). I said "are you serious!?" of course I'll buy it off you!!!
Then *they* asked me if *I* was serious!? Well at this point I was just lost, what on earth is going through their mind?? Then I thought about the classic cycle of greed and fear, and realised that was exactly what I was looking at here. The fear had overcome all rational thought, nothing about the BTC long term binary bet value proposition had changed, if anything the odds were improving all the time.
Their rationale was they had held it for a year and made £80. A 60% rise is not to be sniffed at, they locked in gains. Again, a great strategy. They walked away from the trade 'not holding the bag'. All very admirable.
Except all of that is what you say after you have somehow thrown out every single shred of what you believed when you first entered the trade. Right at the start £120 was an insignificant amount, an amount you were happy to risk on a potentially once in a lifetime opportunity to be in at the start of something big. When it all looks rosy. 12 months later though, your are justifying throwing all that away because you can lock in £80 of profit.
So yes, I agree that there are plenty of people out there that think there bitcoin is worth what the market will pay for them today. That have totally lost sight of the fact that investment is thinking about what something will be worth in 10 or 20 years time.
More fool them.
