I've noticed a common thread with many pundits who have erroneously claimed that bitcoin does not have any intrinsic value. That thread is either a distinct lack of knowledge in valuation and/or a misunderstanding of what bitcoin is. Thus, first order of the day is to determine exactly what it is that we are discussing.
What is Bitcoin?
Bitocin (with a capital "B") is protocol-based network. In that regard, it is similar to the Internet - another protocol based network. Bitcoin uses "consensus algorithms" that facilitate network participants in agreeing on the state of affairs in the network. In that regard, it is like a large digital democracy, cum global network computer. This global network computer needs applications to run on it (like the Internet). The first (popular) applications on the Internet were FTP and email. The first application on the Bitcoin network is also (thus far) the most well known. That application is a digital currency called bitcoin (with a lower-case "b"). It is "b"itcoin that many attempt to value and evaluate, but they don't realize it. Because of that misconception, they fail to see the whole value. You see, the full value of bitcoin cannot be separated from that of Bitcoin - at least for knowledgeable investors. See the video below at the 3:10 mark for an explanation.
What is the significance of differentiating between "b"itcoin and "B"itcoin?
You see, the network that "b"itcoin travels on, "B"itcoin, adds significant and material value. It allows bitcoin to be used on a fully automomous basis.
In addition to full autonomy, you can program bitcoins - so much so that you can cause a simple bitcoin transaction to behave as an equity/public stock sale or an interest rate swap or any swap-style transaction using any of over 30k active tickers found on Bloomberg, tracking the underlying basis point by basis point - all without counterparty or credit risk.
Here's a screenshot of our smart contract-enabled bitcoin wallet that is sitting on the same tablet that I'm using to type this article...
In case your wondering... Yes, Bitcoin can replace the prime brokerage function of an investment bank - without the balance sheet exposure. Here's a video of a simple Apple equity exposure trade.
Wow! I didn't know it could do all that? So, why isn't everybody using it?
Well, the FIRE (finance, insurance and real estate) industries are really trying to use it, but they are confused and compromised. They are confused because the word bitcoin has become anathema among the financial elite. Why? Well, because they believe what they read in the pop media and the pop media has attached bitcoin to drug dealing, child porn and all other sorts of underworld murky things (the same things that the USD and the EUR are used for more than any other currency). So, instead of doing their own independent investigation, they jumped to inaccurate conclusions.
But... The underlying technology behind "B"itcoin is so revolutionary, the FIRE sector decided to attempt to co-opt it for their own private label uses. These efforts go by many names, but the most popular are:
- Private Blockchains
- DLTs - Distributed Ledger Technology
- Federated Blockchains
- and the most realistic name of them all, distributed databases.
Now, this can be an entire article onto itself, so let's just suffice it to say that these efforts are doomed to mediocre success at best. Why, you ask? Because:
- The purveyors of these technologies are generally consortiums of large players in the same industry who are direct and often fearsome competitors, and;
- They simply can't benefit from the wide (and increasingly wider) adoption rate of Bitcoin.
Point one is plain on its face. Goldman Sachs does not share trade secrets with Morgan Stanley or JP Morgan. Point two is just as clear once obvious comparisons are made. If you remember when I said the Bitcoin network had some similarities to that other popular network - the Internet. If you were to purchase - of value - two versions of the Internet, one with 30,000 users (roughly the amount of clients of a major US money center bank), and one with 11 million users (the rapidly increasing number of clients for the Bitcoin public blockchain. Which would you consider more valuable? It's like choosing to buy JP Morgan's intranet, versus the entire World Wide Web!
Here are some videos to help drive this point home...
You see, it's the network effect - that byproduct of Metcalf's law - that cements such significant intrinsic value within Bitcoin (in addition to all of the other stuff above).
How much of a value add is the network effect for Bitcoin? I decided to calculate it and plot it out for you...
With that understanding, one should surmise that we believe Bitcoin is a medium term "buy".
Here are some pricing and market depth metrics from today. We will happily assist subscribers in purchasing both bitcoin and bitcoin derivatives, as well as advising on trading, storage/security and strategy.
The next installment will illustrate how to bitcoin into your investment portfolio.
We are now offering consulting services for those institutions are HNW investors who wish to have a deeper dive into this topic, how to monetize it, and handheld guidance along the way.
Yes put money into BitCoin it has intrinsic value. So do these other crypto currencies. Also google FedCoin. Technology is great and I like the idea of crypto however to me it's not money it's currency.
coinmarketcap.com
Bitcoin
Ethereum
Ripple
Litecoin
Monero
Ethereum Classic
Dash
MaidSafeCoin
NEM
Augur
Steem
Iconomi
Factom
Tether
Waves
Zcash
Dogecoin
Golem
DigixDAO
Ardor
GameCredits
Stellar Lumens
Lisk
BitShares
Bytecoin
BitcoinDark
Stratis
ShadowCash
Gulden
Decred
Bitcrystals
Siacoin
Golos
E-Dinar Coin
SingularDTV
First Blood
Counterparty
Storjcoin X
Emercoin
Xaurum
AntShares
Peercoin
Nxt
Byteball
I/O Coin
SysCoin
Rubycoin
Nexus
YbCoin
Synereo
PotCoin
Agoras Tokens
Pascal Coin
Nexium
Namecoin
LoMoCoin
SuperNET
BelaCoin
SolarCoin
NAV Coin
GridCoin
Creditbit
BlackCoin
Adzcoin
SARCoin
HEAT
vSlice
Boolberry
Global Curren...
SIBCoin
DigiByte
BitConnect
Swiscoin
Expanse
Dimecoin
Clams
Aeon
Radium
NautilusCoin
ZCoin
BitBay
LBRY Credits
Omni
Lykke
Vertcoin
CureCoin
DNotes
HiCoin
Jumbucks
Incent
Steem Dollars
MonaCoin
Burst
Veros
Yocoin
VPNCoin
Auroracoin
Qora
Viacoin
Primecoin
Good, I don't have to state the obvious. Bitcoin is simply the usual suspects doing some R&D for their digital currenct rollout. Every entity can startup their own 'Bitcoin', so it comes down to the same variables as any other fiat... which is what this is, FIAT. Who created it? We still don't know, yet Reggie has no problem with that? Keiser has been a big supporter as well, yet no word on who started it, why one is better than another... nothing, but a sales push, which sounds exactly like WallStreet itself...
I don't think these guys are stupid, just too engrossed in the system. They fail to see the obvious, everyone could startup their own BitCoin as the above list demonstrates, so again, it comes down to a popularity test... which we learn in high school, don't last long.
The code for the Internet is open sourced to, and you can start up your own internet tonght. Does that mean you will be competitive with that thing that the World Wide Web is resting on? Doubtful, right?
Yes, i get it. There are a limited number of bitcoins, hence scarcity.
But how do you guarantee a limited number of Satoshi-type bitcoin inventors?
Anyone?
Well, if these digital coinage systems are actually from the usual suspects of fiat money, then they are the ones limiting these 'inventors'... same as always. Thus 'scarcity' is a marketing ploy to continue the manipulation of the masses..... same as always.
Call me crazy, but somehow I just prefer the emotional security holding my Maple Leaf coins, gives me...
...since they're unaffected by any Internet kill-switch, rumored to exist.
Bitcoin is great, but still a long way to go in order to be a real currency. https://fortresscapitalinc.com/invest/managed-futures-strategies/
Good stuff
ShepWave
ShepWave Pre-Market / Intra Day Update for Wednesday. YOU JUST CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!
by ShepWave.com
Posted: 1/31/2017 17:27 EST
CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!
TIME TO TURN OFF THE CNBC!
Was that an Island Reversal we saw? So far it sure appears to be, huh? But remember, we are always watching for confirmation action and signals.
The markets are beginning to heat up and volatility will be coming back in a good way for objective traders. The indexes will be providing many profitable opportunities that will be predictable; just as they have been.
Remember how all of the talking heads were calling for a sell off if Trump won; or the mantra, "Sell the Inauguration"? Well they will continue to use emotion as a tool. But it never works.
Log In at www.shepwave.com for Wednesday's'Pre-Market / Intra Day ShepWave Update.
9:49 AM ET USA. Intra Day Update. NEW TRADE!
This morning's gap up open fits with our anticipated overthrow of the wedge pattern we indicated yesterday.
You just can't make this stuff up!
So, what now? Are the markets going to rally to the moon, to 50,000? (That is my CNBC impersonation.)
Log In at http://www.shepwave.com/ for today's Intra Day ShepWave Updates and Trade Details.
10:12 AM ET USA. Intra Day Update. YOU JUST CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!
Well, there you have it. By viewing the wave patterns and chart patterns and using the basic principles taught from ShepWave (even regarding gap opens) we got into a short term aggressive trade in which the timing could not have been any more precise.
AGAIN, YOU JUST CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!
Now, will we need to exit this trade today? What are the mid term implications of the technicals? Read notes and analysis closely in today's Updates.
Log In at www.shepwave.com for today's Intra Day ShepWave Updates and TRADE DETAILS.
Click Here and Click Here to see recent time stamped charts with markets calls. These are periodically changed to show the wide range of vehicles that ShepWave covers.
Runny dog poop.
FIFY
Would someone PLEASE sign up for ShepWave's $39/month scam? He really wants to move out of his Mom's basement but he lost all of his money using his daily "nailed it again," "time stamped," trading calls. Since his trading calls lost everything for him he's trying to earn a living by spamming ZH for $39/month.
He registered the following spam accounts on ZH to promote his scam, giving himself thumbs ups, commenting between his spam accounts, pretending to be multiple people praising ScamWave. - 4Xleverage, AliSONY, Babs.St.Louis, Billy G, Chi Juan, Dr.Carl, ErikE, FemDayTrader, FRLEPU, Irvingm, jasony, John Beau, KanSass, KC Spike, lostinhedge, MadhyaBharatx, Marilee, MexInvest, MikeM54, Miss Lou, Mon T, P Christmas Carole, Penny Trader, Pinky and the Brain, PUNE, RoBERTAZ, RonnieM, RudolPHDs, Sonya B59, Stan Your Man, StevieTexie, Timming, Van G, Virginia Wooolf, wisetrader224, and xantippa
Sorry Reggie, the ONLY thing people "NEED" is technically FOOD.
"Full FAITH and credit" motherfucker.
"We are now offering consulting services for those institutions are HNW investors who wish to have a deeper dive into this topic, how to monetize it, and handheld guidance along the way."
$$$,$$$,$$$,$$$-BIT-COIN...!!!
BITCOIN is the biggest scam going since the creation of the Federal Reserve.
Anybody that supports crypto-currency is enabling the end of days for personal rights and freedoms on a planetary scale...
Buying Bitcoin = Playing Russian Roulette
Probably too late for the thread, but nevertheless: IMO the issue is not the value or non-value of shitcoin in your possession but rather, how do you conduct the following processes without the risk of getting fucked over, cheated or relieved of your stake by the intermediaries in control of such processes:
1. Buy Shitcoin fast using fiat at any time or place- the easy part, right?
2. Sell Shitcoin fast for fiat at any time or place without getting fucked over re. the exchange rate: i.e. actually realize the spectacular trading gains all these shills are boasting about
3. Buy goods anytime anyplace with Shitcoin
4. Sell goods anytime anyplace for Shitcoin
Many people have accumulated bitcoin with no third party intermediaries and routinely use it for purchases.
If you don't like third party risk don't use a third party.
If converting back and forth to USD presents problems don't do it.
Converting in and out of bitcoin and USD has nothing to do with using bitcoin, it's pure speculation.
Not to say speculation is inherently bad. To speculators volatility is a best friend. To users not so much.
Although when it has been the best performing asset class for three years running during in a zero interest rate environment it certainly hasn't done anything but help the average user either.
In other words the problems you're apparently having with bitcoins are ones you chose to have and are not inherent to the bitcoin ecosystem as designed and intended.
Wither bitcoin after an EMP from man or the sun? http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/massive-solar-flare-narrowly-misses-ea...
Wither bitcoin, when the internet is centrally controlled?
Not if, but when.
The value of a Mercedes Benz is in the engineering and materials, which are expensive to replace.
The value of hold and silver is in the cost of discovery and mining, which is expensive to replace.
The value of fiat is the ability of the country to repay its debt by raising enough taxes to replace that debt.
The value of BitCoin is something that can be replaced by a 15 year old with a computer in his parent's basement.
You seemed to have failed to read the article. A 15 year old can't produce 12 million users of a $19B network that is immutable, unhackable and full programamble, with its own rails around the world in his basement overnight.
Don't forget a $1.6B annual investment roll rate and technology adoption by nearly every large bank (although they are adopting it the wrong way, but they'll learn).
Currently, Bitcoin is worth about 1/4 of Daimler, but growing much faster with much more potential.
So your argument is only large corporations and others with immense resources should be able to make money not the average Joe.
Idiot.
Wait so reggie says bitcoin has intrinsic value? Can i actually touch it or does it have some sort of a physical use, or can i just touch whatever i can buy with it or use whatever i can buy with it? If i can only touch or use what i can buy with it then bitcoin is a currency, if i can touch or use the bitcoin itself then it has intrinsic value. This stuff isnt rocket science.
You can't touch compound interest either yet it's one of the most powerful forces on the planet.
" This stuff isnt rocket science."
No, it is not. The internet wasnt rocket science either, and you also cant touch it. Rocket science is quite old, very interesting, and I enjoyed it alot, but it is not really that hard. You can study and master it early in graduate school. This is more like "computer science" It takes alot longer to master that. Thats essentially the problem here. Bitcoin is geeky. But that doesnt mean that aint coming at you like the internet did. You think Trumps coming on hard, watch the Blockchain.
All one need to 'watch for' regarding Bitcoin, Blockchain, etc., is how eager & fast governments adopt it for wide-scale public use - voluntary or otherwise.
Seems to me that BitCoin works like a high tech stock traded via an online brokerage.
Its value may be very unlikely to go to zero, but it can still be bid down by emotion-driven selling, and of course, if the online brokerage melts down, you can't get your value out when you need it.
Yes, I understand that BitCoin, the system is widely distributed and unlikely to be completely disabled, but for any given jurisdiction, it can become completely unreachable.
A fool and his money are soon separated!
All that being said, any diversified portfolio of stored value should contain some bitcoin as well as fiat cash and PMs - each varies in ease of use, anonymity, and stability of value against real goods - hence the diversification. Safe investment, no, heck, even gold's purchasing power is not stable in the short term, but as part of said diversified portfolio, it makes total sense.
Reggie Middelton! I have been wondering what happened to that, err, talking head.
I wish he'd go about choosing places with better acoustics for his videos.
Reggie is doing naked selling with this article. I don't like iit and I pity those institutionals and HNWI's, who will succumb to such tempting in the short term. I was a client of similar "consulting and hanguiding service". IBy sheer luck I caught that guiding hand navigating towards my an...s. So, be warned – unless, of course, you like this sort of thing!
Yet Reggie is to a large extent right about the substance of BTC, can't deny that.
banksters all around the world are trying to ban cash.Why dont they try to ban bitcoin?are you sure that the internet cant be purge from Bitcoin software?
that why is bitcoin exceptional...they cant. ... It will be even more unbeatable with coming decentralized internet.
Go Reggie!
Money objects get their so called "intrinsic value" from being widely recognized as money objects. Every good Jew knows that, which is why he goes to so much trouble to get dumb goyim to recognize his money object. A huge amount of those dumb goyim would sooner keep a jewish digital fiat dollar in a jewish bank than a specie bitcoin they own on the blockchain. A lot of those otherwise awake goyim are to be found right here on ZH, but don't worry, bitcoin has no concern for that foolish corner that resides in your minds, if you can't understand btc, then at least swap the jewish digits for the shiney, its being heavily discounted at the moment.
I recently had a credit card stolen. When i tried to make a purchase on line my card was declined because it was an international purchase. I made the purchase with BTC and it was approved instantly.
The wonderful thing for all of you haters is that NO ONE is FORCING you to buy bitcoin. That being the case, I'm not sure why you hate on it so much unless it is your secret fear that you are missing out on something that you don't understand. If you are right and it is just the latest tulip mania, then you will have lost nothing. Why not spend your outrage budget on things you hate but can NOT avoid like the IRS?
I would (humbly) suggest that the argument here is not so much about 'hate' as it is about government adoption/co-opting of the technology for its own ends. For much like wide-spread trade or barter with precious metals, the government will absolutely not allow wide-spread (un-government authorized) use of Bitcoin as a standard currency mechanism. It simply will not be allowed to happen.
"The wonderful thing for all of you haters is that NO ONE is FORCING you to buy bitcoin."
It also keeps the price down. Kind of like the PM haters.
Nowhere in the article did I find an explanation as to why bitcoin has an intrinsic value.
That's because this is an advertisement from someone who probably went way too heavy on bitcoin.
As a programmer by trade, I found the references to Metcalfe's Law particularly amusing.
You'll find out what bitcoin's true intrinsic value is when the network is not available.
"Imbibe the Gospel of True Education" == "drink the Kool-aid"
"You'll find out what bitcoin's true intrinsic value is when the network is not available."
Very true. But the same can be said for alot more than bitcoin when that happens. Then, the shiny kicks in and stocks and bank accounts disappear. We stack $, Au, Ag, Pb and Btc while trying to keep a job.
Right, and when that network goes down your bank, and your fiat bank account, will still be working too?
Cash will still work without the network.
bitcoin has utility value - medium of exchange, anonymity - at the very least.
not sure about 'intrinsic' value, which i associate with coin metals like copper & silver and other commodities (fuel/wood/grain) that are readily traded worldwide. one could argue that bitcoin's 'intrinsic' supply constraint is in itself a source of intrinsic value.
but if you're telling me that fiat $USD has intrinsic value while bitcoin does not... well, I'll have to disagree with you there.
Nothing in this physical universe has intrinsic value - all objects come today and go tomorrow, including PMs and BTC.
However, if anything in this world helps the Dreamer of the World wake up, then it has near intrinsic value.
Regarding BTC v PMs v FIAT: If the three are prioritised appropriately the spell of the central banks can be broken. The Dreamer of the World has to break this spell to ever have a chance to wake up.
Who is the Dreamer of the World? You are.
Shit talkers think they know better than the likes of Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Max Keiser et al.
Just pissed that their metals have declined about 50% over the same period bitcoin has risen 6000%.
Deflation will bring metals to zero. Fucking fiat ponzi shiny pet rock of a barbarous relic piece of shit. 5,000 year bubble. Put money into gold/silver, bury it or drop it in a lake. Now you have no money you can spend, fucking brilliant.
Banks control comex price, and maintain it despite more people demanding delivery. All this hype about people demanding phyz causing the fiat paper scam scheme to collapse has not materialized and never will. You got scammed. Only way to use metals is to sell them for fiat, online or at a coin shop. You pay a premium over spot to buy, and get paid under spot to sell. Always losing.
Remember that book from 2011 called "The Silver Bomb"? Silver was supposed to have depleted supply by now. Still waiting. Remember all the screams of collapse around that same period? Then nothing happened, other then silver tanking. It was a scam.
You've either been buying bitcoin and money multiplying, or buying metals and losing it all. One scam, one winner. If you think the winner is the scam, you're insane or retarded.
Go easy on the shit talkers, they're a little slow is all. In time those who know better will gently show them the light.
Slow ? These dumbfucks have had 6 or 7 years notification here on ZH. Fonestar was telling them to buy in at sub 2 dollars. They still take the piss out of Fonestar , guys probably sitting on a yaught surrounded by pussy laughing at the retards who already lost 50% on their PM investments , crying into their bowl of stale prepper food in some damp basement , still trying to convince themselfs , 7 years later that 'bitcoin is a tulip'.
When the flash crash comes, and fiat dies, you'll wish you had some stale physical corn flakes in your bowl...
Making fun of preppers while the grocery shelves are still full makes you look real smart, until the Black Horse rides, and a loaf of bread costs a days wages.
I'm wondering what effect the web kill switch will have on the value of your bitcoins, and the beans, bullets and band-aids in my basement? I'll bet a box of Bic liters will be more valuable then your bits in the sky, after the whore falls...
Bitcoin's value is based on whichever underlying fiat it will be converted into; and all fiat values reach ZERO over a log enough time-frame.
They are confused because the word bitcoin has become anathema among the financial elite. Why? Well, because they believe what they read in the pop media and the pop media has attached bitcoin to drug dealing, child porn and all other sorts of underworld murky things (the same things that the USD and the EUR are used for more than any other currency). So, instead of doing their own independent investigation, they jumped to inaccurate conclusions. - END
Their not confused (you are); it is the same ARGUMENT they use to propagate the narrative of banning cash for the public good; while they are the money launderers. Therefore since the same narrative is being used for Bitcoin...what does that tell you???
There are already several cpmpanies that accept bitcoin directly for physical bullion.
JM Bullion does
Dear Reggie,
Aside from all your really stupid bitcoin chart porn
You're a fucking idiot.
Sincerely,
A ZH Reader
There is an idiot around here but its not Reggie.