Bitcoin or gold?
Is $Bitcoin (BTC.CC)$ or gold the better investment? Opinions vary widely, with billionaire crypto fan Mark Cuban favoring Bitcoin—and slamming gold—and Euro Pacific Capital CEO Peter Schiff going the other way.
‘Technology comes and goes’
One problem with Bitcoin, he said, is that “we are not sure of the interests, mentalities and preferences of future generations. Technology comes and goes, gold stays, at least physically. Once neglected for a brief period, Bitcoin would necessarily collapse.”
What’s more, he said, “It cannot be expected that an entry on a register that requires active maintenance by interested and motivated people—this is how Bitcoin works—will retain its physical properties, a condition for monetary value, for any period of time.”
Asked about the origins of the “craze for cryptocurrencies,” he pointed to the low interest rates of the past 15 years.
“Lowering rates creates asset bubbles without necessarily helping the economy,” he said. “Capital no longer costs anything, risk-free returns on investment become too low, even negative, pushing people into speculation. We lose our sense of what a long-term investment is. It is the end of real finance.”
One of the results, he argued, was “malignant tumors like Bitcoin.”
‘Technology comes and goes’
One problem with Bitcoin, he said, is that “we are not sure of the interests, mentalities and preferences of future generations. Technology comes and goes, gold stays, at least physically. Once neglected for a brief period, Bitcoin would necessarily collapse.”
What’s more, he said, “It cannot be expected that an entry on a register that requires active maintenance by interested and motivated people—this is how Bitcoin works—will retain its physical properties, a condition for monetary value, for any period of time.”
Asked about the origins of the “craze for cryptocurrencies,” he pointed to the low interest rates of the past 15 years.
“Lowering rates creates asset bubbles without necessarily helping the economy,” he said. “Capital no longer costs anything, risk-free returns on investment become too low, even negative, pushing people into speculation. We lose our sense of what a long-term investment is. It is the end of real finance.”
One of the results, he argued, was “malignant tumors like Bitcoin.”
The ‘everything bubble’
Taleb isn’t alone in noting the effects of what’s been dubbed the “everything bubble”—created by years of loose monetary policies from the Fed and other central banks following the Great Financial Crisis. As Fortune reported this week, the easy money era was filled with bulls—from crypto experts to hedge fund managers to economists and investment banks—who believed the good times would never end.
Interestingly, Taleb was supportive of Bitcoin early on. At the time, as he explained to L’Express, he was critical of then Fed chair Ben Bernanke.
Bernanke, he said, did not see the structural risks of the system before the 2008 crisis, and overreacted afterwards: “Instead of correcting debt and mitigating hidden risks, he covered them with a monetary policy that was only supposed to be transitory. I wrongly thought Bitcoin would be a bulwark against the distortions of this monetary policy.”
Taleb isn’t alone in noting the effects of what’s been dubbed the “everything bubble”—created by years of loose monetary policies from the Fed and other central banks following the Great Financial Crisis. As Fortune reported this week, the easy money era was filled with bulls—from crypto experts to hedge fund managers to economists and investment banks—who believed the good times would never end.
Interestingly, Taleb was supportive of Bitcoin early on. At the time, as he explained to L’Express, he was critical of then Fed chair Ben Bernanke.
Bernanke, he said, did not see the structural risks of the system before the 2008 crisis, and overreacted afterwards: “Instead of correcting debt and mitigating hidden risks, he covered them with a monetary policy that was only supposed to be transitory. I wrongly thought Bitcoin would be a bulwark against the distortions of this monetary policy.”
‘Manipulators and scammers’
Taleb also warned that “the crypto universe attracts manipulators and scammers.”
He’s certainly not alone there.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said at the a16z crypto Founder Summit in late November: “We have to kind of come to terms as an industry with the fact that, I think our industry is attracting a disproportionate share of fraudsters and scammers. And that’s really unfortunate. That doesn’t mean it’s representative of the whole industry.”
Taleb also warned that “the crypto universe attracts manipulators and scammers.”
He’s certainly not alone there.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said at the a16z crypto Founder Summit in late November: “We have to kind of come to terms as an industry with the fact that, I think our industry is attracting a disproportionate share of fraudsters and scammers. And that’s really unfortunate. That doesn’t mean it’s representative of the whole industry.”
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庶民大贏家 : Although these facts，But from the future direction of technology development，Crypto will become the fashion and trend of the future，This is why I have always come to bullish on them
mita23 : why not both