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Re:Elon Musk wants clean power. But Tesla's carrying Bitcoin... by slfnflctd on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @11:40AM (#26091420)
> destroying 50% of the value of that cash

If this scenario were to actually play out, a huge number of people 'hodling' bitcoin will cash out. I guarantee it. I wonder what it will be worth after that sell-off surge?

Re:Elon Musk wants clean power. But Tesla's carrying Bitcoin... by rawtxapp on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @11:43AM (#26091473)
I'm one of these holders who hold to avoid cash depreciation, I don't plan on ever selling a single satoshi. Now you might ask, what's the point then, are you not gonna spend it at all? With many new defi projects, I can unlock my Bitcoin's value and use it without ever selling it.

Many holders have similar ideological beliefs, Michael Saylor also said he doesn't plan on selling any and that he would just borrow against it if he needed the cash.

Re:Elon Musk wants clean power. But Tesla's carrying Bitcoin... by danpalmer on Thursday February 11, 2021 @06:18AM (#26100337)
This is similar to what bankrupted the Enron execs. When told to diversify their holdings from Enron stock, instead of selling the stock and buying other stocks/etc, they borrowed against their Enron stock and used that to invest.

When the stock came down it snowballed, they hit limits where they had to settle-up their loans, but to do that they had to sell large amounts of Enron stock that then dropped the price further.

This is a dangerous game.

Re:Elon Musk wants clean power. But Tesla's carrying Bitcoin... by fastball on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @11:50AM (#26091581)
Why would you cash out into a currency you just witnessed can be easily devalued??
Re:Elon Musk wants clean power. But Tesla's carrying Bitcoin... by slfnflctd on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @11:55AM (#26091669)
It's called panic selling. Does anything about the past few months/years of general human activity lead you to believe that our species is any less vulnerable to fear & ignorance than in the past?
Re:Elon Musk wants clean power. But Tesla's carrying Bitcoin... by fastball on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @11:57AM (#26091689)
Why would you panic-sell the currency that was robust? That makes no sense. Not even from a "people are irrational" perspective.
Re:Elon Musk wants clean power. But Tesla's carrying Bitcoin... by slfnflctd on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @12:47PM (#26092381)
To be able to buy things you need. You know, food, water, shelter. That kind of stuff. Not everyone buying bitcoin is doing so from some impenetrable fortress of diversified holdings and complete physical security.

I do not expect the distribution of vendors of essentials to be increasing their acceptance of bitcoin any time soon. In any kind of remotely significant overall crash - which most of us reading this are very likely to see in our lifetimes - it goes back to the barter system & whatever proxy is most stable at the time. Perhaps bitcoin could play a role here, but it remains to be seen how much. I would definitely expect most people owning it to sell it fairly early on in a major collapse. Whether that group collectively owns enough of it at such a point vs. institutional investors to affect the price downward is almost completely unknowable. Which seems like too much of a risk to me.

We have far better ways to establish trust now-- including within the wider cryptocurrency space. I expect the architects of the market(s) will consult knowledgeable engineers who provide them levers of control for multiple variables when opening up new trust systems. When considering these probabilities, in my opinion Bitcoin is clunky legacy tech and a ticking time bomb.

Re:Elon Musk wants clean power. But Tesla's carrying Bitcoin... by motoboi on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @11:45AM (#26091504)
If you guarantee it, please sell me options calls on it.