WSJ article: The Hottest Business Strategy This Summer Is Buying Crypto

[dlr1493]

 

Absolute folly. What innings are we in here? How do people see anticipate this going? 

[Gamecock-YT]

“When the music stops, in terms of liquidity, things will be complicated, but as long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance.”

[Dave86ch]

Bitcoin is a decentralized protocol that enables permissionless value transfer, data exchange, and asset registration, 24/7/365, without relying on intermediaries.

 

Bitcoin can be exchanged offline by leveraging Cashu, a Chaumian e-cash protocol built for anonymous, bearer-style payments.

 

It is open-source, allowing anyone to audit, improve, or build on top of it (e.g., Layer 2 solutions like Lightning or protocols like Taproot Assets).

 

It is scarce (fixed 21 million supply) and portable, a user can secure full custody of their wealth using just a 12-word seed phrase, restorable from any basic computing interface.

 

Anyone can deploy a miner and join the network permissionlessly, converting stranded or untapped energy into Bitcoin. This sustains a thermodynamically secured monetary network, offering censorship resistance and value preservation, especially critical for the unbanked and those in unstable regimes.

 

Lightning Network, a Layer 2 protocol built on Bitcoin, enables instant, low-cost private payments through bidirectional payment channels.

 

To route payments, liquidity providers lock capital in these channels and may earn routing fees.

 

In some high-demand use cases (e.g. Block's TBD or private channel marketplaces), yields as high as ~10% APR have been reported.

 

In a world of over-financialized assets and distorted market incentives, Bitcoin isn't just a digital store of value akin to “digital gold.”

It is the bedrock of a parallel financial system, a super partes financial settlment layer, one that is programmable, open, resilient, and sovereign by design and a pristine collateral.

 

It’s highly probable these companies see some value in these “tulips.”

Edited July 26, 2025 by Dave86ch

[TwoCitiesCapital]

This is probably going to be the seeds of the next bear market IMO. 

 

Just like Genesis' "we'll lend you money against your GBTC to buy more Bitcoin to convert into GBTC at a premium" unwound in spectacular fashion with multiple  casualties after locking up 3-5% of circulating Bitcoin supply. 

 

My guess is that this is what causes the explosive/parabolic upside than encourages folks to double down late in the game just in time to force them to liquidate on the backside of the cycle.

 

People keep saying the 4-year cycle will break, and I believe it eventually will, but human nature is human nature and every cycle has introduced a new population of people thinking they'll get rich quick off of this which sets up the inevitable correction in those expectations. 

[Paarslaars]

Alts will crash for sure, for BTC I believe the volatility will reduce each cycle but the 4y cycle will not break due to ETFs.

[rkbabang]

Yes, Alts will crash hard at some point.  I think the 4yr bitcoin cycle will remain as long as the block reward is significant, but every cycle from here on out the lows won't be as low and the highs won't be as high as previous cycles.  It will just keep grinding upwards long term.

[Fly]

3 hours ago, Paarslaars said:

Alts will crash for sure, for BTC I believe the volatility will reduce each cycle but the 4y cycle will not break due to ETFs.

 

ETF flows will reverse when things start getting dicey. I don't think we'll see another 80%+ drawdown in BTC, but could see a solid 50-60% drop from the high point. 

[bookie71]

Tulip mania

[TwoCitiesCapital]

3 hours ago, Paarslaars said:

Alts will crash for sure, for BTC I believe the volatility will reduce each cycle but the 4y cycle will not break due to ETFs.

 

26 minutes ago, Fly said:

 

ETF flows will reverse when things start getting dicey. I don't think we'll see another 80%+ drawdown in BTC, but could see a solid 50-60% drop from the high point. 

 

See, the ETF flows are the only reason I believe the 4-year cycle may break. 

 

Having a secular shift in trillions of assets to permanently allocate a percentage to Bitcoin seems to me the primary  force large enough to offset the supply shocks that have historically led to boom/bust. If a small portion of money is consistently moving to BTC, over time, to the point where people own 1-5% of their portfolios in it on average, that seems to be what puts a floor under its drawdowns and not necessarily a contributor to them. 

 

Greater liquidity tends to lead to LESS volatility - not more.