Haha, great reference. Other than learning how to buy it with my son and making a few minor transactions, I'm not into crypto but I don't discount it as a straight out scam. I think the jury is still out.

Exactly: you can't know if it's a scam unless everyone loses their money and someone goes to prison. A Madoff dollar was as good as a Bernanke dollar until it wasn't.

I have all my cash in things I understand....cars and real estate. They go up and down but never to zero.

I had some money ahead about thirty years ago. I decided to invest 5K into mercedes benz and a local lending institution. In three years my stock dropped to about 2500 in value so I sold it. If I had stuck it out it would be worth a lot more today though I don't know how much.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Charlie Munger on Crypto:


Munger has always been brutually honest about his disdain for investing in cryptrocurrency, stating in the past that the digital currencies are fraudulent and deemed bitcoin to be a "noxious poison" as well as "stupid and "immoral."
Sellers of bitcoin and other virtual coins are not trustworthy and the digital currencies are a “mass folly,” he said.
"I think anybody that sells this stuff is either delusional or evil,"Munger told the Financial Review. "I won’t touch the crypto. “I’m not interested in undermining the national currencies of the world.”
He advises investors to avoid them.
"Never touch it," he said. "Never buy it. Let it pass by. I regard it as almost insane to buy this stuff or to trade in it. I just avoid it as if it were an open sewer, full of malicious organisms. I just totally avoid and recommended everybody else follow my example.”

It's not too surprising that a 98 year old man that made his money in a traditional way does not like or understand crypto.


If it is a scam then it is one of the most elaborate scams of all time given it's market cap, trading platform infrastructure, government regulations, and mainstream hedge funds run by the likes of Paul Tudor and Alan Howard investing billions into it. Even Fidelity, one of the most traditional brokers, offers a crypto etf. It's definitely speculative but again, I don't see any indication it's a scam.



Not to get political, but what I do think is a scam is how politicians are able to outperform the markets - something even the smartest and most talented finance guys can't do. This is a fairly neutral article with some interesting stats https://theneighborhoodfinanceguy.com/politicians-top-ten/

I think I'll keep my blue chip stocks and bonds, they're slower to earn value but they're very reliable over time .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

That is fine. I still do not understand how crypto is a scam.

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Sent from an agnostic abacus

2014 C250 21,XXX my new DD ** 2013 GLK 350 18,000 Wife's new DD**

- With out god, life is everything.
- God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller as time moves on..." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

Common sense basically. What is really there when you remove all the window dressing? Hype is endemic in todays society remember.

It may go up and down depending on many factors. The con was it would become mainstream and that was pretty much impossible. As has proven the case.

I seldom use money anymore in the physical sense. You of course realise any value it has is directly related to the legal money supply. It cannot self stand by itself.

It has been possibly related to a pyramid scheme. Sustainable only if a new constant volume of buying occurs. At a much higher amount than those selling.

Over time there will be more losers than people that have really gained. It may have been a form of idealisim and greed as the sales pitch. Just lacking the components of reality. Required to be valid.

I get no enjoyment of watching people get hurt. If you are still holding at a profit. Sell enough to cover your initial outlay. Or sell it all. A bird in the hand is worth something over the unknown.

Just my opinions though. I have enough issues with dealing with real things. I would feel foolish putting any money into that form of vehicle. Perhaps I am just too simple minded.

It's pretty mainstream. It's traded in Federally regulated markets like other currencies. You can buy some products and services with it - a much bigger variety of things than you can buy directly with gold. For example you can pay your AT&T bill with it https://about.att.com/story/2019/att_bitpay.html


Regarding the money supply, this is actually one point where bitcoin has a distinct advantage because the supply is fixed and not tied to any government or other monetary policy. USD M2 has gone from around $4.6T in 2000 to about $22T now. I'm still not willing to invest any substantial amount into it but I'm not writing it off either.

That does not explain why/how it is a scam

__________________
Sent from an agnostic abacus

2014 C250 21,XXX my new DD ** 2013 GLK 350 18,000 Wife's new DD**

- With out god, life is everything.
- God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller as time moves on..." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

It is a society of many scams. People just cannot see them.

People that believe other people they have never met have their best interests in them. Should really think it over when it comes to financial matters.

I know it sounds cynical. Yet it is probably more the reality than not. To me it is imperative that I know real values over hyped ones.

Really concerns me that so many people are only interested in the cost per month of almost anything major now.

So many never even bother to keep a running balance sheet on their situations. To me it is approaching an endemic situation in north American society.

Far too many gamble everything as there are no guarantees they will be able to really service their commitments over time. Worse of all it is a strong indicator of the ever falling true standard of living in north America. So it also presents somewhat of an illusion as well.

Maybe the question should be, what isn't a scam?

Since nobody has been able to answer why crypto is a scam....

Seriously...stock markets, fiat currency, real estate, practically any monetary excange qualifies as a scam to you guys. Just because you dont understand it, does not mean its a scam.

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

That's what it is..

Trade is trade, regardless of the medium of exchange.

Give me a value of crypto if no buyers and sellers exist. To me the products are speculative to the extreme.

Again, your description applies to virtually any market or commodity.

__________________
TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth