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richtr | 8 years ago

Crytocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are legitimate stores of value and have been compared to the use of other finite stores of value such as precious metals.

The market capitalization of gold currently stands at 7.5 trillion USD. All cryptocurrencies combined currently stand at a market capitalization of 87.6 billion USD (1.14% of the market capitalization of gold).

Cryptocurrencies with a finite supply can supplant other finite stores of value and actually provide a number of benefits over existing finite stores of value (instant exchange to sterling currencies, improved transactional ability, traceability and general liquidity). It is likely we are just getting started.

Calling any legitimate store of value a Ponzi scheme is missing the point.

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rhino369|8 years ago

>Bitcoin and Ethereum are legitimate stores of value

What does legitimate mean? The only difference between monopoly money and bitcoin is that people right now believe in bitcoin. But that belief could easily falter.

The same could be said about gold, but gold a very long history and has somewhat strong demand for use in jewelry.

At this point in time, essentially all demand for cyrpto is for speculation purposes. There is some use for illicit markets but it's very minor.

I wouldn't call it a ponzi scheme because those are intentional. But the current pricing for cryptos is definitely an embodiment of the Great Fool Theory of investing.

SimonPStevens|8 years ago

Neither agreeing nor disagreeing with your general point about legitimacy, but there are a few big differences between monopoly money and bitcoin. I could fairly easily and cheaply buy a decent printer and print my own fake monopoly money that you wouldn't be able to tell apart from the real thing. Also, even genuine monopoly money could be easily printed in vast quantities by the makers if it ever actually became valuable enough to give them a reason to do so. You can't do the same with bitcoin. There is a known, genuine supply of bitcoin, a known schedule for creation of more, and forgery is impossible (at least not currently discovered to be possible).

zanny|8 years ago

If you have invested in gold or bitcoin at $1000 per unit, does it matter if the price after the faith in its value goes away is $0 or $10?

The vast, vast majority of the price of gold is the same "it is scarce and other people value it so I too value it" that composes bitcoin or usd or any other thing you consider valuable.

By comparison, a lot of metals like aluminum have relatively low portions of their valuation wrapped up in stores of wealth.

We really should strive to replace gold with crypto. All the gold reserves in the world could be put to much better use than sitting in a vault as bricks. The artificial price inflation caused by the use of gold as reserve has inhibited its use in many practical applications due to its dramatically higher price per gram compared to many other metals in similar problem domains.

tomp|8 years ago

OP isn't calling cryptocurrencies a Ponzi scheme, but specific contracts (e.g. in Ethereum you could make a "smart contract" that acts as a Ponzi scheme).

_coldfire|8 years ago

>compared to the use of finite stores of value

Ethereum has no cap on supply. Bitcoin is capped at 21m coins.