37andhappy
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2008
- Messages
- 187
Its a good point on the code. Many who are new to the space and trying to understand Bitcoin are truly not aware that BTC has the world's best and brightest constantly working on improvements, methodically and very carefully improving the code, and how we carefully review any proposed improvements, voted on, and incorporate etc. They also don't realize how all this is public, and how anyone can participate. Nor that there is an economic incentive among all, to improve (as opposed to harm) this incredibly important technological innovation.
Once the doubters understand that, the next question becomes "Oh well, in that case, what if someone hacks the code and makes more coins" or something like that.
Part of the problem is that many of the older generation do not have a fundamental understanding of mathematics and programming or how a decentralized proof of work blockchain works. Perhaps they even have an inherent destruct for technology, hence the "Oh well at least with gold I can touch it", that used to be a common FUD a few years back.
The irony of course being that the same skeptics (at least those here in the US) seem to blindly trust an electronic record of every devaluing fiat currency, presented to them by a (high leveraged bank), which they believe is "their money" but is actually simply a right they have against the bank as a creditor. (We would find a very different attitude among other pasts of the world, who have experienced bank collapses and rapid currency devaluations.
Comments on a few other of the questions above:
The "generational thing" is also not just that a younger generation is more familiar with tech / cloud / and digital assets, but also that they take a more global view of the world, as are less "materialistic and more focussed on experiences vs physical assets).
But perhaps most importantly its this - the "older generation"* typically unquestioningly believe that it is the Government which should decide how we should store value, and what we should use to exchange value with each other. The "new generation" have figured out that there is an entire ecosystem of value, accessible and acceptable globally, which requires no intermediary, has no counter party risk, and operates outside of any Government control.
These terms are of course generalizations. They are not intended to be offensive - each person can decide which category they call into, and whether age is a number or a mind-set.
To the person who asked why I don't have all of my wealth in Bitcoin the answer basically is that there are benefits in diversification, both in building wealth but even more so in protecting it. I explained above in an earlier post, that for most people, Bitcoin should essentially be viewed as a hedge or insurance against a range of scenarios. I won't go over all these scenarios in this post, but if certain things were to occur, you could see the value of a Bitcoin hit phenomenal levels (USD 5m+ in today's values). So this is why I would suggest allocating only 1% or so of your total worth to BTC as a starting point. For me I started with around 1% and it grew over time of my total net worth as I HODL'ed. I don't plan to use any of that for at least the next decade, but its good to know its there. It gives me a range of unique options and protections that no other asset class I have does. I do know a number of people in the wealth range of 5-20m who have the majority of their wealth in BTC. Some are 80%+, some in in 40% range, some 25%ish. To me that's a scary amount to have in any asset class, but furtune favours the brave - I hope its works out for them. To some extent its self-reinforcing - the people at the parties we go to, the types of people we mix with, the scene of entrepreneurs, open-minded people, elderly HNWs who are still nimble and young at heart, the global nomad scene, the various countries we go to, etc etc,
It should be apparent from threads like this, that once a person gets exposure to Bitcoin, they have numerous incentives to encourage others to do so also. To me this is not a phenomenon what should anger of upset others. Rather we should look at the phenomenon and consider how best to benefit from it. The amazing thing is that everyone's incentives are aligned, from the housewife in Venezuela, to the coffee trader in El Salvador, to the arms dealer in Russia, to the divorced HNW in Paris, to the tech entrepreneur in Berlin, to the Only Fan's performer in Nebraska, to the banker in New York, to the taxi driver in Korea. And then add in the banks, funds, insurers, Universities, sports clubs, unions, companies with unutilized (declining in value) cash on their balance sheets. Its a beautiful thing, and open for anyone to join on an equal footing.
For those who understand the viral potential of a new monetary technology like this, and then combine that with the knowledge of what is happening on a macro-economic scale (not just here but globally), Bitcoin really is a no-brainer.
Last edited:
