rkbabang

Of course. I obviously don't think I'm wrong. I thought Krugman was an idiot when I first read that quote in the late 90's and I think Munger is just as wrong now. I think history has proven me correct about the internet and I think it will eventually prove me correct about bitcoin. But of course I could be mistaken. Munger doesn't seem to have the humility to think that he could be wrong, he just wants governments to use violence to go after something he doesn't like.

Indeed. When I say "he doesn't get it," I am not saying he doesn't understand how it works. Let me give you an example of what I mean. In 1998 everyone pretty much understood how the internet worked. It's a network of computers that everyone can join, every device has an address on the network, and the devices can communicate with each other via a multitude of protocols. Conceptually not very complicated. But while everyone understood what the internet was, some people didn't get it. Paul Krugman wrote: "By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet's impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's." He clearly didn't get it. He understood how it worked just fine, but he still didn't get its potential, what it would become, what this capability would enable, what people would do with it, and its potential future impact on the economy and how people live. It is in this sense that I say Munger doesn't get it. Of course as @Dave86ch said above, there is the possibility that he does get it and just doesn't like it, but I don't want to think that about him, so I give him the benefit of the doubt and say he doesn't get it.

I'm up more than 50% on mine, but I'm going to hold. I paid up for another 23 months from now which I think should put us into the next crypto cycle. I'm not sure what I'd do if I held the Jan 2024s.

+1 He doesn't get it, and that's ok. Not everyone has to understand everything. It is unfortunate, though, that he has such a strong opinion on something that is way out of his area of competency and trying to use his considerable influence to sway the opinions of others.

The type of human being who wants to be a rulemaker is literally the worst among us. We are have set up a system where the worst possible people are always in control. At least with kings there was some random chance that once every few hundred years or so you could randomly end up with a good one. With democracy ending up with good people in control isn't even possible.

Picked up a few more SI 2025 $12.5 calls and a few more 2025 OSTK $25 calls.

The thing is that if you have a quantum computer which can do this it is only a matter of time until someone else does as well, so you probably wouldn't have a year. As @wachtwoord said the code to harden Bitcoin against this already exists, as quantum computers get better it will be adopted long before there is a real risk. Anyway I'm not too worried about this. Quantum computers are kind of like nuclear fusion, it is always 30 years away.

Yes, only if you don't give someone else your Bitcoin and trust them with it. The same for money with banks. I know there is FDIC deposit insurance because the government wants you to trust your bank, but if you have an amount above that in the bank when it fails it is gone. The whole point of crypto is that it is trustless, you don't have to trust anyone to hold it for you. If you do just give it all to someone else to hold and hope for the best, well stupid is as stupid does.

^ Exactly. Public blockchains are a winner take all endeavor. People are always going to want to store their wealth in the most secure blockchain on earth. No one will ever want to take a chance with a less secure blockchain that can be vulnerable to a 51% attack. @Parsadkeeps saying that blockchain is the real innovation not bitcoin, but that is not true. A blockchain is just a linked database. If the blockchain can be edited or changed by any individual, corporation, or government, then it is no better than any other private database. The real innovation is a publicly secured blockchain which no one controls. And for the entirety of its existence the most secure blockchain by far has been Bitcoin.

There are some benefits to cryto mining. Crypto mining coupled with increased nuclear power could justify an increased base load with the ability to modulate the mining power draw to help stabilize the grid in times of high demand and stress. Also it promotes renewables because you can justify building a much larger amount of renewable generation capability if you know that the excess can be sold to miners in times of low demand when it would otherwise go to waste. Batteries are not a realistic option because the amount of rare earths that would be required to stabilize the entire grid run on renewables would be impactable to say the least. Not to mention miners can generate electricity from off grid options like gas flaring and unused hydropower. In the end protecting the worlds most secure blockchain will have a positive impact on our energy system, which will far exceed the negatives. https://www.utilitydive.com/news/bitcoin-mining-as-a-grid-resource-its-complicated/617896/ "Along with providing demand flexibility, the crypto mining industry can help bolster the grid and develop clean energy in a variety of others ways, crypto miners say, often by taking advantage of crypto mining wherever there is cheap energy and internet access. Crypto miners can consume energy that would otherwise be curtailed, said Bitfury’s Brooks, by locating near renewable generators and providing baseload consumption for solar and wind. They can also consume natural gas that would otherwise be flared at oil drilling operations “to turn that dead-weight loss into economic value,” he said. That same locational flexibility can help with transmission losses and distribution grid efficiency, he said. “The mobility of Bitcoin mining allows the industry to construct data centers close to the power generation source, thus reducing these losses and turning the associated power into economic value while also reducing the need for additional investments in transmission and distribution infrastructure,” Brooks said. Digital Power Optimization’s Webber said his company is also looking at how cryptocurrency mining can help revitalize the United States’ aging hydroelectric infrastructure. “There’s a lot of defunct and underfunded hydroelectric assets around North America and elsewhere, frankly, that maybe haven’t had their maintenance ... kept up to date,” he said. “There’s a lot of opportunity there to repair some of America’s infrastructure.” “Crypto mining can actually revitalize disused, underused, underfunded energy assets that are 100 years old,” he said. “And on top of that, whatever you’re not using for your Bitcoin mine, you can then sell into the grid.”" https://www.nhbr.com/canadian-bitcoin-company-has-big-plans-for-berlin-manufacturing-facility/ "“Bitcoin Mining Rovers” at the Presby Steel site (the former Isaacson Steel fabrication plant) in Berlin and will ship out the decentralized bitcoin modular units to places where they can be fueled by the cheapest source of energy. It is increasingly looking at off-grid locations, flares from oil and gas fields and landfills, to behind-the-meter hydro facilities and even nuclear power plants. The company sees itself working with the energy industry, being an “energy sink” – a guaranteed sale point for the industry, a way to convert energy to cash."

Bitcoin is the most secure blockchain on earth, no individual, corporation, or even government can modify or destroy it. It is the most secure commodity on earth today. I'd say that is pretty hard.

Funny how an invention is just totally worthless if the inventor wasn't omniscient.

asset (n) something useful or valuable.

Getting a little tired of rehashing the same things again and again here, but Bitcoin is a hard asset.

All this talk about raising rates, in realityy rates still aren't that high. You can get 5.5% 30 year fixed mortgage in the US today. I bought my first house in 1997 when the economy was absolutely booming and took out a 30 yr fixed at 8.5%. As long as the fed doesn't get really crazy raising rates I don't think what they've already done is going to do all that much damage. I'm not one who thinks rates should be anwhere near 0. Rates should be reasonable and predictable so businesses and people can make long term plans to allocate their capital wisely.

Ah well you know what I mean - thats a yoke i found online to illustrate a point...........lets just call them domestically produced services, consumed domestically....... It's more accurate to call it: Highly government regulated or highly government subsidized services. The freer market type stuff is bellow the line or at least closer to the line.

No one ever went broke taking profits. I too always sell way too early. I'm holding Jan 2024 puts on Tesla and Rivian right now and have been thinking about selling them because they are in the green over 100%. I haven't yet, but I know the moment I do sell those stocks are going to take a nosedive and I will be kicking myself yet again.

No, not in the slightest. Just when such "critism" is entirely made of non sequitors, ad auctoritatem, ad hominems and other logical fallacies as they hold zero merit. Good luck with the mental gymnastics! I've yet to read anything on the Amazon thread like: All public companies are scams and Ponzi schemes. Why would you invest in any public company when someone else could just start an equivalent competing company tomorrow that does the same exact thing? Look at how far the market has dropped, see I told you it was all nonsense!

Help me understand. Some guy got robbed due to bad security on his internet connected devices and is crying about it to the feds. Aaaand this translates to all enthusiasts (millions and millions of them) will stop championing the decentralization of cryptocurrencies? I don't see how those dots connect. It's more like you found a story about some poor guy who got robbed and it confirms your preexisting biases.

Does anyone else remember a recession/depression that was anticipated and expected by absolutely everyone like this coming one in 2023 is? Makes me thing that gregmal may be correct and it doesn't happen.

The old buy high, sell low trick that the average investor seems so fond of.

I agree with this lately. Treason wasn't bad, but it was just mediocre at best. The other series I watched lately was "The Recruit". It was probably better than Treason, but not great either, because it wasn't believable. It was almost a cartoonish idea of how the CIA operates. I don't know if they were trying to be funny or what, but it ended up just being somewhat dumb.

According to Fidelity performance tab for all of my accounts as of 12/31/22: 1 year: -19.81 (vs SP500 -18.11) 3 year: +15.91 (vs SP500 +7.66) 5 year: +12.94 (vs SP500 +9.42) My positions which were all down this year. BAM, BN, BNRE, JOE, APPL, AMZN, MSGE, AIV, AIV calls, NVDA, OSTK, SE, CLPR, VET, SHOP, TRUP, TRRSF Luckily I also bought and held BRKB, FRFHF, ATHOF, EPSN, ALNY, WMB, RIVN $30 puts And I sold for gains: UI, WFCF, EPD, OBE, APTS, APTS calls, VRE calls, VET calls I broke even on TSLA puts which I sold and lost money on APPL puts which I sold. EDIT: Also down a large amount in Crypto I've held BTC and ETH all year, bought some more, but haven't sold any this year. I haven't calculated the % loss on that.

What? Who thinks it’s going to be $1M by 2025 and only has $5K invested? I must have missed that post.

yes it will eventually happen, and you can probably guess what I think will replace it? No one is going to want to give one nation the kind of power the US has enjoyed with its currency being the reserve currency of the world. One by one everyone is going to switch to something neutral and stable. “Stable” meaning can’t be messed with or controlled.