At latest count, there are 1,170 crypto-currencies that have traded at least once in the past 7 days. The entire rationale for buying cryto-currencies is because they are based upon blockchain technology and therefore have a finite supply. Hence, in today's lingo, they're not "fiat" currency nor infinitely expandable. All good, except they're multiplying by rabbits, and Bitcoin is forking on a regular occasion, as various camps of developers and miners disagree over the future ponzi direction. In other words, there is an infinite number of currencies, each having a finite supply of coins.
For those not in the "know", 'HODL' is the drunken term for "Hold". I shit you not...
Now back in 2011, I heard the same bullshit about gold - it's not fiat, it's not infinitely expandable, it's going to infinity. It went straight up and straight down again. And yet gold can't be forked so gun to head if I had to buy gold or Bitcoin, I would put everything in gold. Because it's never going to zero and when the Idiocracy lands on welfare checks for everyone eventually, gold will reach its potential.
Meanwhile, those who have no knowledge of the real world, finance or even business should not be handing out advice on Bitcoin. CHS gave us this amateur hour lesson on currency convertibility. Unfortunately, what he didn't mention is that consumers and merchants who use Bitcoin to conduct business have exposed themselves to currency risk. Let's say you're Amateur Hour coffee shop. You take half your payments in dollars and half in Bitcoins. Your payables are all in dollars. Depending upon what Bitcasino is doing at the time, you either have ample money to pay your suppliers, or you're bankrupt. Of course, I'm not making the de rigueur assumption that Bitcoin only goes up, because it happens to be the most volatile asset class on the planet right now. In another example, you're a consumer who holds all of their assets in Bitcoin but buys goods in dollars. The analog experience would be one week buying gasoline for $1/gallon, the next week it costs $5/gallon. A little hard to budget for that scenario.
This is not a currency it's a ponzi scheme. And if you made a lot of money, congratulations. Just don't count any unrealized gains in dollars.
You know what to do
