So it's digital gold, and maybe being digital means it has long-term upside.
Best use cash and leave no trace.
I don't have any money to launder so I'm not an expert, but that's seems right?
I might be arguing semantics but if you put dirty money in to a box, and 5 years later it spits out clean money. That's different to a box where you put dirty money, it immediately spits out clean money, but you leave it there for safe keeping.
On the other hand, if you have regular movement of money through a system, it becomes easier to trace the start and end points. If moneys just sitting there, you cant follow it.
It's just solving both the fundamental problems of handling blood money at the same time, ergo Lambos and HODL genius.
For example, when looked at as a currency it acts similarly. Where the small tiny faction of the asset (M0) is used as a medium of exchange where people buy consumer goods and services. With M1 M2 M3 and MB being illiquid parts of the supply used for investment into other assets or for stores of value.
> So people are using it as a store of value, rather than a medium of exchange?
Just like currencies and metal commodities, both, and in similar proportions.
I wasn't making any judgement on what Bitcoin is good or bad for. I'm just inferring from the data how it is actually being used.
Bitcoin is held to a higher standard than actual currencies with regard to how much or little of it is used for purchases, and it is held to a higher standard than precious metals like gold with regard to how much or little of it is not moved at all.
The people educated in those asset classes commenting on bitcoin don't seem to notice, the people not-educated in those asset classes commenting on bitcoin aren't familiar with the economics and velocity of any asset class. That contributes to the state of the conversation today.
To move this discussion a little further, M0 of any currency would be a similar fraction of a percent as the trading portions of any commodity like gold.
With bitcoin, we also have to understand that trading volume on exchanges won't illuminate whether bitcoin is used for buying anything, as that likely would not be a transaction volume reported on exchange, but directly on chain itself and on secondary routing networks like Lightning.
So people are using it as a store of value, rather than a medium of exchange? This would count against it being used just to buy drugs etc wouldn't it?