Every time Bitcoin goes through a major move, the "bubble" crowd comes out of the woodwork, while having done absolutely no effort in understanding what Bitcoin is.
I mean, what is it if not a worse gold? All assets can be roughly divided into few categories: currency, debt, equity, derivatives/bets, collectibles. It's not an equity or debt instrument, it's not a derivative, and it's not a currency as nobody settles transactions in it. It's a collectible (like gold or paintings), with a short history (unlike gold), that delivers zero value for the holder in the meantime (unlike paintings).
(And please spare the tech; people really do understand it, at least to the level that matters)
Essentially, yes, except that: 1) this is a rough categorization, there's a lot of things out there that do not fit into any single one of the categories (a convertible bond is debt, equity, derivative? a little bit of all), 2) there could be something genuinely new, outside of all the previously known categories, but it hasn't appeared so far in thousands of years (yes, I mean thousands).
Gold is a collectible, with a marginal use as a commodity. A commodity is an input to industrial processes, not really an asset though you can call commodities assets too if you want to.
It used to be a currency quite a while ago - people would actually use it in contracts, most importantly long term debt contracts (long term contracts is where the value/acceptance of the currency really shows; imagine taking or issuing a 30yr mortgage in Bitcoin, as in the homeowner is obliged to pay fixed X Bitcoin per month, lol). A big part of the great depression fighting/relief was to make debt contracts denominated in gold unenforceable.
A digital trading card that's used for speculating and buying drugs?
I understand what fundamentally motivates people to trade it and that they tell themselves all sorts of stories about a "new financial system" because it feels better than saying they invest in Charizards. I also know not to touch it.
To Bitcoin's credit, it made a lot of people think about what makes something a currency, the differences between investing and speculation, consequences of deflation, etc.
> having done absolutely no effort in understanding what Bitcoin is
To see its value, I don't need to make an effort to understand what a pear is, or a bar of gold, or a house.
I and others have looked at Bitcoin, and its trillion dollar market cap (which means Bitcoins are worth more than JP Morgan Chase and Johnson and Johnson put together) and realized it has absolutely no value.
At least subprime mortgages, 1999 dot-bomb stocks and the like had some value. Bitcoin has no value. On the next market contraction like 2008 or 2000 or the like Bitcoin value will collapse. Maybe even before that.
I wonder how long ago that "realization" occurred, and if you have since then "realized" how much the market has disagreed with your conclusion, or if you've "realized" the size of the opportunity loss?
The market also said 14 years ago that subprime mortgages were worth over $1 trillion. This year it says Bitcoins are worth $1 trillion.
There is a language of such bubbles - not, here is why it has value, like a loaf of bread or chair or bar of gold, but think about FOMO and that type of thing. There have been fly by night scams since Ponzi's postal reply coupons, or Dutch tulip bulbs and before that - I don't worry too much on missing out on the latest scam.
You use the word "value" in this comment to mean something different than the market price, but the definition isn't obvious to me. Maybe it's your personal values?
(And please spare the tech; people really do understand it, at least to the level that matters)