| That’s not what it’s about now. Obviously these digital tokens are a great medium for speculative gambling. Among the many problems of bitcoin as money, is the speculative aspect increases price volatility, which reduces utility as currency. The bizarre thing to me is that bitcoin is a (less than) zero sum game. Meaning the funds for someone’s new Lambo came from others, who instead of having a new Lambo, or shirt, or food, now have “ownership” rights to a digital token. I have a hard time believing that non-owners are going to be happy just handing over real wealth to those prescient enough to buy bitcoin. On the other hand, the mania of speculative bubbles can drive insane valuations, ultimately resulting between transfers of wealth. In the mortgage backed securities, the losses to the losers were so catastrophic, that they were socialized to a degree, and taxpayers wound up footing part of the bill. If you think about that, that every loss for someone, is a win for someone else, the winners in the MBS game truly made out like bandits. This bitcoin mania can run a long time, but the higher the price goes, the less likely it will be adopted for its ostensible purpose. |