[jojobas]

That "nothing useful" bit is where you don't get it.

Is Taylor Swift useful? Sex and the City? Options trading for Tesla stock?

You could eliminate 80% of the US service sector for not being useful. "Somebody wants to pay for it" is the best criterion and bitcoin fits.

[wlesieutre]

If people want to say “I’m a bitcoin fanboy” to justify it that’d be one thing, but there’s always this insinuation that any day it’s going to find its killer use case that isn’t already solved better by a centralized system instead of only existing to buy in hopes of the price goes up

[738292748]

The killer use case has existed from day 1: remove the middleman. That is banks, or goverments. That's it. There's literally nothing else to it. Speculating on its value, while possible, has nothing to do with its purpose.

[AlexandrB]

And yet here we are, discussing a Bitcoin ETF, which involves plenty of corporate middlemen and has no benefit to the Bitcoin community besides increasing Bitcoin's speculative value.

[jojobas]

You reckon it's a charity to boost bitcoin holders' wealth? The purpose of this ETF is to extract profit, the rest is unintended.

[toenail]

Haha, ok, all successful investments are charities.

[wlesieutre]

And I’m sure plenty of other people were buying and holding in exchanges like Coinbase already, instead of buying bitcoins in direct person-to-person cash transactions like the decentralization advocates imagine they will

[npoc]

Its purpose is to provide an escape hatch from fiat currency that steals people's wealth, available to everyone in the world, ultimately shutting down the global scam that is central banking.

It is the hardest money that mankind has ever seen, digital, with an issuance schedule that is set in stone - no select few people have the ability to effortlessly print it, stealing the wealth of the rest and corrupting the world at its core, causing third world poverty, endless wars, corrupt media etc.

[the_gastropod]

I think its purpose was to provide fresh blood to the John Birch Society. It seems to be working remarkably well, in that respect.

[npoc]

Yes, a common side effect of going down the deep bitcoin rabbit hole and discovering how the world really works.

[the_gastropod]

I'm sure you're aware of this... but every conspiracy theorist and cult member thinks this way. A moment of self-reflection may be in order.

[jojobas]

For one, a bitcoin wallet can't be seized by fiat by any 3-letter agency of any country. A fair amount of it is speculative, but unlike a pure-speculative ponzi scheme it's rooted in some appreciation of intrinsic value.

[metw02024]

I'm confused by this comment. What do you mean "seized by fiat"? Custodial wallets can and have been seized by government agencies. Cold wallet storage devices can and have been seized. Bitcoin has no intrinsic value, only imputed value.

[jojobas]

Nobody can order the bitcoin network to freeze assets of Johnny Wanted the way they can order banks and other financial institutions. Nobody can stop you getting paid even for non-criminal activities the way Mastercard/Visa do.

If you lose or surrender you private key - fair enough, but that's not the same.

[Klonoar]

The first two are pure entertainment and hardly a comparison to an attempt at a new banking system.