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Bitcoin Businesses

Bitcoin at $100,000 in 2021? Outrageous To Some, a No-Brainer for Backers (reuters.com) 123

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
Bitcoin investors, which include top hedge funds and money managers, are betting the virtual currency could more than quintuple to as high as $100,000 in a year. From a report: It's a wager that has drawn eye-rolls from skeptics who believe the volatile cryptocurrency is a speculative asset rather than a store of value like gold. Since January, bitcoin has gained 160%, bolstered by strong institutional demand as well as scarcity as payment companies such as Square and Paypal buy it on behalf of customers. Bitcoin is within sight of its all-time peak of just under $20,000 hit in December 2017. It debuted in 2011 at zero and was last trading at $18,415. Going from $18,000 to $100,000 in one year is not a stretch, Brian Estes, chief investment officer at hedge fund Off the Chain Capital, said. "I have seen bitcoin go up 10X, 20X, 30X in a year. So going up 5X is not a big deal."
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Bitcoin at $100,000 in 2021? Outrageous To Some, a No-Brainer for Backers More

Bitcoin at $100,000 in 2021? Outrageous To Some, a No-Brainer for Backers

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  • John McAfee still hasn't eaten his own dick yet as per his claims.https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7qawy/john-mcafee-no-longer-willing-to-eat-his-dick-on-tv

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Unless you're slashdot then its something something tulips.

    • It's completely predictable and ancient, to anyone with any wisdom on this.
      I wasn't one of them. You aren't yet. Not to worry, have fun with your first ride. But this game has been played ever since cavemen bartered meat and berries.

    • Please define "interesting". In particular, I feel like asking you to carefully distinguish "interesting" discussions of cryptocurrency from "interesting" discussions of stock prices. Or why not go all the way to explaining the differences from theories of how Hugo Chavez helped steal the election for his great buddy Joe Biden. And how Chavez actually died while experimenting with a prototype of Covid-19, too!

      At this point America is #1 for suckers and fools with no actual understanding of "currency, techno

    • Whatever your opinion about the various aspects of bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general. It's existence has led to a lot of interesting discussions about the nature of currency, technology, security, responsibility, usability, investing and more.

      Or Bubbles. Becaus this is going to be a hella big one.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • You think it is going to inflate again?

          Just like the stock market or subprime loans and whacky derivatives, the concept is to get people's money. After that, it can disappear. The original people made their money. At some point, the bitcoin market is going to fall apart when the biggies cash in their coins.

          It's no dissimilar to gold. I don't have the figures on me - there is a good reason to not publish them, but suspect a lot more money has been lost on gold than made on it.

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            • > suspect a lot more money has been lost on gold than made on it

              Maybe I'm gay tired, but that sounds impossible, care to explain how that could be?

              It's the concept that many people buy high, and sell low.

              Prudent people who invest in Precious metals should hold on to them, and buy during the low spots. But altogether too many buy on the way up price wise. Then when the market is near i's peak, the buying tails off. Then it crashes. But the selfsame people sho bought it as the price is skyrocketing think "It'll recover!" but it doesn't, and they sell it after they've lost money.

              I have some investments in PM. But the stuff is locked in a safe, and I

              • Comment removed based on user account deletion

                • But for every dollar lost, someone else makes a dollar, right?

                  But it's who and what. There are a lot less sellers, and likely a corporation, that gets all the largess. And they tend to do it right. Perhaps it would be better is I said a lot more people lose than make?

    • The problem with Bitcoin and all other cryptocurrencies is that new ones can be created practically out of thin air. You could create Bitcoin 2.0 based on Bitcoin technology, and after that Bitcoin 3.0, etc. Now suppose there's a meta-cryptocurrency you can buy and sell, that behind the scenes is buying and selling all cryptocurrencies in the market (usually spreading risk is a good thing). However due to the nature of creating cryptocurrencies out of thin air, your investment would thin out over the course

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mysidia ( 191772 )

        is that new ones can be created practically out of thin air. You could create Bitcoin 2.0 based on Bitcoin technology, and after that Bitcoin 3.0, etc.

        Its not really an issue that new ones can be created. Same deal with the stock market... just because thousands of new companies and stocks can be created out of thin air does not mean Microsoft stock will be diluted by the new stocks coming into existence.

        When new cryptocurrencies are created - Not enough people to matter will even bother using or acqui

        • its not really an issue that new ones can be created. Same deal with the stock market... just because thousands of new companies and stocks can be created out of thin air does not mean Microsoft stock will be diluted by the new stocks coming into existence.

          That's not a correct analogy. The service provided by Bitcoin is anonymous trade over the Internet. Each of the dozens of cryptocurrencies out there provides the same service, with new ones popping up all the time.

          If serious competitors to Microsoft, providing the equal service - cloud computing, office suite, etc. were popping up in the dozens, you can bet the value of Microsoft would drop as competition increases and customers switch to cheaper offerings.

  • ... as certain John Mcaffe who said he would eat from a fresh "one coup" he made himself if bitcoint did not reach $100K at the end of 2020?

    No?

    Not even a bet like Mr. Bob Metcalfe (of Ethernet fame) when in 1996 he bet he would eat his words if the internet did not suffer a massive collapse ? (when he lost the bet he took a piece of paper with the word printed, put it in a blender with some water and ate/drank the pulpy goo)

    Not that one either?

    Oh, then this is just market pumping...

  • The best part of 2019 and 2020... (Score:3)

    by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Thursday November 26, 2020 @04:16PM (#60768502)

    Was that these bullshit stories of people saying Bitcoin will reach 100x profit increases weren't a thing.

  • Somebody’s working hard lately (Score:5, Insightful)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Thursday November 26, 2020 @04:18PM (#60768512)

    The past few weeks, someone is really working to get Bitcoin in the news. I’m expecting this will turn out to be a pump and dump.

    • Re:Somebody’s working hard lately (Score:5, Informative)

      by Joce640k ( 829181 ) on Thursday November 26, 2020 @04:29PM (#60768556) Homepage

      I’m expecting this will turn out to be a pump and dump.

      It definitely is and I can prove it.

      Go here: http://bitcoinity.org/markets [bitcoinity.org] and set the horizontal timeline to "all"

      The purple bars behind the graph are trading volume.

      Look at the big peak in 2017/2018, massive trading volume. Supply is following demand, it's all good (idiotic, but good).

      Look at the big peak now - zero trading volume. Nobody's buying. The "surge" is coming from from a few sock puppet accounts trading small amounts between themselves at stupidly elevated prices, ie. somebody is pumping like crazy.

      • Bitcoin is designed as deflationary over time so it makes sense that the value would keep increasing against national currencies even as volume of trading declines.

        I'm not saying that is a good thing. Most modern nations aim for inflation to keep markets moving. Deflationary markets tend to cause hording.

        Which is pretty much what we are seeing here, right?

        There's probably some hedge funds out there that have been collecting Bitcoin in little bits over time and are tossing them around between themselves to k

        • Deflationary markets tend to cause hoarding.

          ... and the hoarding causes even more deflation.

          With a national currency, this deflationary cycle can cause real problems, as it did in America in the 1930s and Japan in the 1990s.

          But for Bitcoin, the built-in deflation makes owning it a no-brainer.

      • That's weird, because on other websites the trade volume is fairly normal:
        https://coinmarketcap.com/curr... [coinmarketcap.com]
        https://www.blockchain.com/cha... [blockchain.com]

        Seems Bitcoinity is providing some weird numbers.

        • That's weird, because on other websites the trade volume is fairly normal:

          I feel a conspiracy theory coming on...

          Seems Bitcoinity is providing some weird numbers.

          Or ... maybe it's the only one telling the truth.

      • So much of the currency is held in a few dozen fat-wallets that price manipulation is easy and some would say practically guaranteed given the huge potential for profit.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by DrXym ( 126579 )
      Exactly. Bitcoin is hyped up by those with significant investments and then sold onto a wave of "investors" (suckers). It is not so much a currency as a relay race scam.

      • Re:Somebody’s working hard lately (Score:4, Interesting)

        by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Thursday November 26, 2020 @06:12PM (#60768814)

        If you really believe what you say, then you can short Bitcoin and make a fortune.

        Five ways to short Bitcoin [investopedia.com]

        When you liquidate your positions, be sure to come back here and post a photo of your yacht. Good luck.

        • Re:Somebody’s working hard lately (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Lanthanide ( 4982283 ) on Thursday November 26, 2020 @07:38PM (#60769002)

          Predicting that bitcoin is eventually going to crash and burn, is not the same as predicting when it will crash and burn, nor what prices it may reach in the meantime.

          “the markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.”

          • “the markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.”

            True, but do be careful, there are people here who consider quoting Keynes equivalent to heresy.

        • I can see crashes coming without being able to time them. I think Bitcoin is going to crash at some point. I have no idea when. If I did, I would short it then.

          • I think BitcoMaking vacuous predictions is veryin is going to crash at some point.

            Many people said that back in 2010 when Bitcoin first reached the ridiculous value of an entire cent.

            Since then, it has gone up by 180000000%.

            They haven't been proved wrong yet. It could still fall back below a penny.

            I have no idea when.

            So you don't know when, or the peak, or how far it will fall.

            Making vacuous predictions is very safe: If bitcoin goes up to $100k and then falls back to "only" $90k, you can still say "I told you so."

            If I did, I would short it then.

            So would everyone.

        • I'm not sure if you can short bitcoin in any meaningful way. The real issue is counterparty risk. If bitcoin fails spectacularly, and your counterparty depends on bitcoin being a profitable businessmodel, then there is a great risk they will go bankrupt before they can pay you any money.

          If you can find a short issued by someone who primarily makes money from other business (like a big traditional bank), then it might be worth considering. Otherwise it is just like buying a short on Lehman Brothers from Lehm

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Didnt bitcoin just drop like 3k in value overnight?

  • "Backers" (Score:3)

    by DrXym ( 126579 ) on Thursday November 26, 2020 @04:51PM (#60768626)
    I think the correct word is "boosters".

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mhkohne ( 3854 )

      I think it's 'Bagholders'

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by leonbev ( 111395 )

      Funny, I always preferred the word "Shill" instead.

      The "Boosters" (your term, not mine) have been oddly silent until November this year. I guess that a lot of them are still stinging from the big selloff in early 2018, which looks like it might be due to repeat itself in early 2021.

  • It's more a collectable than a useful currency and that's not likely to ever change.That doesn't mean you can't make money on it, but it's really only useful as a western union style payment replacement. That's where it really shines, not for use as a common currency and even then the fact you need internet to use it kind of sucks. It would be trivial for a country to lock down all bitcoin transfers in their country. It's not resilient in a disaster or from government control and the transition process is o

  • It's what you get when you have imaginary value.

    Bitcoin isn't even to blame for this. It's the victim here. As are we, if this results in some of those gamblers deciding to actually use the money they tricked some victims into paying for their $imaginaryWorth tokens.
    It would work exactly the same with glas beads if they'd become increasingly wasteful to make.

    This should be prosecuted as a Ponzi scheme, plain amd simple.

  • If the untraceable currency for buying drugs can now be traced by the feds, what's the point? Other than being a weird hobby for stupidly rich geeks of course...

    • It was never untraceable. The blockchain is public, you can see the transactions made by every wallet. That's much less privacy than your bank account.

  • So many Chinese use bitcoin as a method to move currency out of Chinar and into ANY other useful currency. They don't care about rates/investments, they just want their money out of Chinar and away from the CCP. Bitcoin is nothing more then worst method of currency trading. It has no value and if you lose the code or your wallet get hacked you are screwed. How are those two risks in ANY WAY acceptable in a 'investor'. Gambler? Speculator? Sure. Investor? lol no.

  • "t's a wager that has drawn eye-rolls from skeptics who believe the volatile cryptocurrency is a speculative asset rather than a store of value like gold."

    Since bitcoin doesn't have a finite amount in existence like gold, nor any practicable use like gold, it can't be anything other than speculative.

    • Since bitcoin doesn't have a finite amount in existence like gold

      If you don't know anything about the topic being discussed, don't comment on it.

    • Gold isn't that useful. The most useful thing we can find for most of the world's supply is keeping it in vaults as a store of value.

      Bitcoin does have a limited supply. Supply will get to 21 million.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

        Gold is extremely useful. If it was obtainable at its industrial value we'd have all kinds of things made of gold. Instead, because it's shiny and easy to work so you can make baubles out of it, we keep it locked up in vaults.

        Diamonds are sort of analogous. The big shiny ones are hard to buy so they're stored in vaults and not used very often. But unlike gold, which you can melt and reform, there are lots of little diamonds people don't like to look at, and they show up all over the place: drill bits, saws,

  • Bottom line is that it's all just talk and no one knows what's going to happen. That's kind of the beauty of it: it's an essentially worthless asset that only has value due to market forces. It's pure capitalism. Some people will guess right and make a profit, plenty others will guess wrong. All we can really do is watch it unfold. It probably makes for a great economics study.

  • It's caused by Paypal and speculation. Remember, Paypal started allowing cryptocurrency trades a couple of weeks ago so everyone is hoping the mass influx of whales and fools will boost it.

    Problem is, it's also Christmas, so people will be dumping soon in January to pay the bills.

    And if you think people don't understand Paypal, thing about cryptocurrencies in general. After all, a lot of "I hate paypal" comes from people not understanding credit cards and how you can get your account locked as a regular mar

  • Simply agreeing itâ(TM)s worth nothing, literally makes it worth nothing. There is no there, there. Itâ(TM)s a big goober circle jerk.

  • Bitcoin at $100,000 in 2021? Outrageous To Some, a No-Brainer for Backers

    ....and still utterly stupid to the rest of us.

    Bitcoin: for the other 1% - that 1% being just the geeks this time around

  • Bitcoin at $100,000 in 2021? Outrageous to some, a no-brainer for backers

    People said Bitcoin at 1$ was not happening. Then they said similar things when Bitcoin's value reached 10$. And then 100$, 1000$ and 10K$.

    Big money is just starting to enter the picture (banks, financial institutions, etc). If you think 100K$ Bitcoin is outrageous, you better start searching for more words to describe your astonishment when it reaches 1M$ in 2030~2035.

    • Didn't the first exchange sell bitcoin at $1 and didn't it go to $10 within a week of the exchange being opened? I think you're talking crap.

  • Yes, it could quintuple. It could go to 5X as easily as 1/5X. There is no way to determine it's future value, because it has no present value.

    If it's value was based on sunspot activity, there are a small number of people who might wager a good guess on it's future value.

    If it's value was based on the suborbital spin of the Hydrogen atom electron, there are a small number of people who might wager a good guess on it's future value.

    But because it's value has no basis on anything in this universe, it's impo

  • Please stop referring to BTC as Bitcoin as it's nothing like coin described in the Bitcoin white paper. It's not a chain of digital signatures. It does not support irreversible micropayments. BTC was hijacked by a company called Blockstream. They neutered the protocol so that they had a business model (Liquid). The Bitcoin protocol lives on and the coin is traded under the ticker BSV. It has the backing of Satoshi Nakamoto (Craig S. Wright) and no it will not trade at $100k in 2021. That's all folks
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Bitcoin Price Drops Almost $3,000 With Sharpest Sell-Off Since March https://www.yahoo.com/finance/... [yahoo.com] Fools and their $$$$ are soon parted !!!

  • !money.

    Money is a store of value, currency and medium of exchange.

  • Bear shits in woods.

    It comes as no shock that people who have invested in Bitcoin want to talk up the possibility of it going to $100,000. How else are they going to convince idiots to buy it from them at more than they paid for it? Every idiot they convince to buy is another dollar in their pocket. It won't be long before it's reaching the point of being like Russian Roulette.

  • I have seen bitcoin go up 10X, 20X, 30X in a year. So going up 5X is not a big deal.

    My income more than doubled in a week once. When I was a kid my allowance went from $2 to $5. Based on this, I think it's perfectly reasonable to expect my income to once again double, any day now.

  • Prior to reading this, I want to see MSMASH and Slashdot come out and tell us all how much they own in Bitcoins. Just so we know how much they're pumping this up.

  • Reading through these comments is incredibly stupid. And some of the comments in the article were incredibly stupid too.

    One word: Scarcity. There will only ever be 21 Million BTC. That's a very rare commodity on a planet with 7+ Billion humans.

    The volume arguments would make sense if we were experiencing the consumer fomo from 2017. But we're not.

    Pretty much ALL investment analysts have lost faith in governments and the stock market. We know how ludicrously inflated a lot of these numbers are, and we

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