this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2024
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Obligatory Line Goes Up video, although not exclusively about Bitcoin.
I do admit that early in Bitcoin's life, around 2013, i was a interested in Bitcoin as an alternative to banking, but the volatility and speculation alienated me from the community. Anyone buying BTC now for $90k, you need to realize this turned into a pyramid scheme and you're not at the top of it. You may be able to find someone who's more of a sucker to take the Bitcoin off your hand and make a profit, but it's not sustainable, someone has to loose. Any gains you make are probably less than 10% what the person made by selling it to you.
If you do end up speculating on crypto, don't invest more than you can afford to loose, and assume you'll loose it all. It's very likely you'll either get hacked/scammed, loose your wallet, leave your wallet in an online exchange who runs off with your keys, etc. You're on your own if that happens. If you do end up making any profit, it'll be a blessing and you'll be way happier than if you thought this would be your key to get rich, and you end up loosing it all.
To be fair, the idea of "alternative to banking" is still very much alive. BTC and LTC are very much used as currencies, even though BTC has fees too high for small transactions. Monero was developed specifically with utility rather than investment in mind - now reading about how exactly anonymity is enforced there (especially after the Chainalysis leaks), it's pretty interesting. I kinda hope we invent something better than blockchain-based currencies that is equivalent in uncensorability, but right now it's the closest we got.