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A comment on Cryptocurrencies are the tulip mania of the 21st century. Parent comment

Re:Cryptocurrencies are the tulip mania of the 21st century by runeks on Tuesday September 19, 2017 @12:45PM (#15286262)
Don't rely on Wikipedia to tell you what the true explanation is. From the linked section:

> If the price rose above 100 guilders, the speculator would pocket the difference as profit. If the price remained low, the speculator could void the contract for only 3½ guilders.

The Dutch government enabled risk-free speculation in tulip options contracts (formerly futures contracts). How could the price of such a contract not rise under these circumstances?

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Re:Cryptocurrencies are the tulip mania of the 21st century by dnautics on Tuesday September 19, 2017 @12:49PM (#15286312)
Sounds an awful more like the ways leverage (for wealthy speculators) is protected in our society. That has implications bforbthe stock market more than it does Bitcoin.

Do we know about how much Bitcoin trading is done on leverage? I suspect it's relatively low (as securities go).

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Re:Cryptocurrencies are the tulip mania of the 21st century by runeks on Tuesday September 19, 2017 @01:58PM (#15287060)
I don’t see any parallel in our currency financial system. If you know an investment where losses are limited to, at most, 3.5% and potential profit is unlimited, please let me know.
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