Look at all of the white people in that picture. They couldn't find a single minority to have a seat at the table.
32
Where are the women that work at Gemini? I see very few in that photo.
2
Or woman.
2
My thoughts exactly!
2
Does this company Gemini employ only white people? From that photo, there is not one person of color at that meeting. It's almost 2018 and that is shameful.
10
I had the exact same thought
2
Do any people of color move in their circles? Let's be honest, everyone there got their job by knowing someone from Harvard or really tight friend.
10
And women?
2
Note to PR and Marketing managers: the downside of allowing photographs of your company's staff meeting is it's likely to reveal your all-Caucasian staff. Try some diversity. It's good for the country and good for business.
17
True that. Even the "whitiest" t.v. shows know to include at least two token people of color; one black, one Hispanic (out of an entire so - white - I need shades because it makes my eyes hurt fancy high school). This way, they are "diverse".
Shouldn't we focus more on the good that people do with their resources rather than just how many resources they have?
5
Have to admire the twins for being on the cutting edge on two major investments. But I would like to have heard their take on Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC), which has been soaring. Do they wish they had filed to form a trust instead of an ETF?
1
How much money have they spent advertising and publicizing bitcoin? I’ve seen billboard advertisements — are these guys the ones paying for them? I’d also like to know if there is any verification or proof of the various claims they make with regards to their current holdings.
2
These two white privileged guys were in an article not too long ago, therefore I couldn't stomach reading this one past the first paragraph.
1
So they say they won’t sell until it reaches the value of all the gold in the world.
Translation: I own a billion dollars of a not entirely liquid asset that is so anonymous that it is the currency of choice for drug dealers. Let me hype it up in any and every public forum to increase the size of the bubble while I quietly sell $1 million or perhaps $10 million a month.
Last quote in the article not to be taken at face value (no pun intended)!
3
The Times article subhead is hysterical. More than a billion dollars is a whole lot more than just a 'moment' of vindication...it's at least a hour, or several lifetimes.
1
i guess this proves the winklevie were smart enough to create facebook
2
That helps explain the insanity. As long as enough rich twits refuse to sell, prices will increase. But if any major investors/gamblers decide to cash out, the lack of buyers will trigger a panic and serious correction to the bubble.
I remember when NYC taxi medallions were such a sure bet they were selling for over a million dollars a pop. Now they're worth less than half that. But at least you can make money off of a taxi medallion.
1
And they apparently only hire white men judging off the pictures.
1
The WInklevoss P.R. machine at work again. Every year at least one fluff article not saying much of anything. Wonder how much they "pay" to get an article written for their clients.
2
They had better find some moron to give them actual useful currency soon, before their billions evaporate.
1
Next time you hear someone insisting that giving money to the rich will create jobs, think of the Winklevoss twins. Giving money to a billionaire is like giving jewels to dragons -- hoarding is their innate response. Think of Scrooge McDuck wallowing in his bathtub full of cash.
9
I can't get past the feeling that this is some kind of bizarre cartoon with these guys.
2
Aren’t they cute. They have no clue about the meaning of currency. Let’s ask them about the closing of mercury mines in the Chihuahua desert. Bitcoin has about that much value.
1
I'd sell sell sell.
1
Stories like this allow me to admire Madame Defarge more and more
4
i imagine that what they say and what they do have to be different if they really are such smart, competitive capitalists. remi nds me of that rod stewart song. theyre using you, to grow their investment...
Nobody seems to understand how the fabrication of Bitcoins isn't just like the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale where straw is spun into gold. This was the burning question a group of us--a Berkeley administrator, an IT guy, a physics educator, a library manager, a CPA actuarial and a history teacher--debated recently with no answers. We could understand Bitcoin's technical proclivities to various degrees, but not how 100s of people pounding computer keyboards in factories in China could be creating money just because somebody (the Winklevoss Twins) said so. Can anyone on earth explain it to the public???
3
It's a new version of a database called "block chain". Basically the "Chinese people pounding keyboards" are making the system of bitcoin transactions itself more secure. With every "pound of the keyboard" bitcoin releases new currency as a reward for these keyboard pounders keeping the system secure. It's a self reenforcing system of accountability. A public ledger in which corruption of the currency itself gets harder and harder with every new block on the chain created. Cheap electricity is key hence why 30% of all bitcoins are mined in China. It's the security of the system that makes this an amazing new development in technology. NOT the wildly swinging prices of already made bitcoins.. that's just old school securities betting run amok in this new world. Things will smooth out. Bitcoin is actually really innovative!
2
It's the perfect mechanism to launder money. I wonder if the drug titans in South America are paying attention.
1
They will be brilliant only if they start selling off now while the tulip craze is high/ the getting is good
1
Interesting side observation: At that "daily meeting at Gemini in New York City" - I don't see a person of color in the room. Could they be behind the camera? Off to the side? Hmmm. . . I can see they aren't at the center table. For all the rage that consumes Trump voters over "minorities taking over" and the alleged concern that Progressive Clinton/ Sanders voters may profess over their "commitment to diversity, this is the age old story of rich people debating how they've become richer - Bitcoin Bubble notwithstanding. What a nice, quick snapshot of what the true world of true high finance, consulting, and business really looks like. Truly "a different world" from the majority. Just an observation. Good article nonetheless.
10
The most telling line in this story. "The biggest winners have been a relatively small group of holders who had plenty of money to start with..." That is the same as it is in all of the American economy. Which is why we need 100% tax on estates so that no one in America gets a head start on everyone else.
10
Gold has value in manufacturing, in engineering and in art beyond the use as currency and the same is true of silver and platinum. Bitcoin is not even a tulip bulb.
6
Without the real money payout from their Facebook settlement - the Winklevoss twins could not have moved into their Bitcoin venture. One wonders if this irony is lost on them.
Our currency is not backed entirely on "faith" or "trust" - but the assets of the entire country (at one time just its gold). That is - our currency is backed by a national GDP that is measurable, accountable and diverse. The Bitcoin - as has been pointed out - has no measurable underpinnings other than itself.
5
Currencies have no inherent value and are only as strong as the trust put into them.The foundation of that trust is ultimately the reliability of legal enforcement of any promises made using them.
I may be wrong, but the only entities capable of such enforcement are governments, entities that have numerous reasons not to enforce contracts based on cryptocurrencies.
3
I am keeping my money in tulips. Thanks anyway.
22
Ethereum has more of a chance of surviving because of the way it was setup to allow other coins to exist within its network. Bitcoin is too limited. There will be a fall of Bitcoin soon enough.
Breaking news: Rich people play with their money.
24
The rich get . . .
The poor get . . .
9
"Everybody knows, that's the way it goes."
The late Lenard Cohen
the rich get tax cuts
the poor get trumped ... lol
4
I went to the supermarket to buy groceries but couldn't because the clerk didn't have change for a 20BTC (Bitcoin).
18
Bitcoin is like someone letting his hairdryer run non-stop for 2 month and having his neighbor writing a certificate that it ran indeed two month on full power. Then you go around and say that the electric power consumed cost 200$ so this certificate must be worth something. You find somebody stupid enough to think “That makes sense” and buys it “cheap” for 210$.
3 years later people do not care what this certificate really means; only knowing that people pay higher and higher prices, so they buy hoping to sell at even higher price.
You say this is crazy? Replace the hairdryer by a high-end PC/GPU platform for produce hot air; replace the neighbor by a block-chain and the “certificate” by “cryptocurrency” and voilà stupidity is at loose.
23
That’s a very nice and thought-provoking metaphor, but by the same logic, US dollars are only pieces of paper bearing pictures of famous dead people. If the people buying bitcoin are crazy, why doesn’t the same logic apply to the people trading useful, tangible things (food, labor, merchandise) for ordinary (non-crypto) currency?
It probably has to do with the fact that no nation is backing this currency.
When I first started working in the 1950s, I would get cash at the end of the week that I could deposit or spend just as it seems possible to do with bitcoins. I didn't understand money in an economic way but I knew what it allowed me to access. Now I don't even get money. Each month a series of numbers appear in my bank account the memo say they are from the treasury department pop the US Gov. Other numbers appear from a source identified as a 401k. I go online and tap a few keystrokes and magically my fiduciary obligations disappear. It's magic. I don't understand it but I know how to use it. Bitcoin is similar but it has not had a history long enough to know it it will become an international financial player.
Interesting article. Hours later, SEC suspends Bitcoin trading until January 3rd. Wonder how the twins are feeling now ....
5
Wrong. That never happened. Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies are trading freely.
What you're likely referring to is the suspension of The Crypto Company (ticker: CRCW). This has zero impact on bitcoin or the Winklevosses.
8
I I can’t get over how many commentors say there are no women in the picture attached to this article. I count six and the picture is not even showing all those assembled in the room. I sometimes think I’ve gone through the looking glass.
5
They didn't know to click on the magnifying glass to expand the picture, Tim.
3, tops.
Sorry, but bitcoin is a scheme and a scam, albeit one writ large. It’s a way for a very small number of people to possibly make money capitalizing on the hype surrounding bitcoin, pure and simple. As a functioning currency, it is a total failure. The winklevoss twins’ holding valued at $1.65 billion ? No, I don’t think so. It’s all an elaborate illusion.
11
Exactly. What knucklehead would keep his or her money in an "asset" with no underlying value after realizing gains of a few hundred, or even thousand percent? I am betting that most of the early investors are already out of Bitcoin, and most is now in the hands of all of the suckers new to the game. It's nominal "value" might only be propped up by investment schemes that have allowed large outflows to happen without scaring off new suckers, and causing an immediate crash.
Anyone buying this now is playing Russian roulette, and a few people have already pulled the trigger on empty chambers. I wouldn't want to be the next one to put the gun to my head, but that is very likely what new buyers of this farce are doing. The higher this goes, the more devastating the crash. I only hope that people aren't betting their "farms" on this, or if they are, that they have a strong character. Otherwise, there will soon be a lot of people jumping from high windows around the world.
7
Hopefully, the government won't bail out the losers in this scheme.
6
As the New Yorker used to say: "Block that metaphor!"
With Russian Roulette, if you pull the trigger on an empty chamber, you are no worse off (but don't try it too many times). With Bitcoin, pulling the trigger on an empty chamber means you lose bigly. And you might be tempted to jump out a window, depending on how much you lost.
1
I recall hearing about the proposed ETF and thinking both that they were nuts and that I'd like to hold a few shares in case they weren't. Tough luck for me.
2
I read this board all the time. You know what we need to do? Tax these guys to death! Let’s go through all the standard reasons: 1) they don’t deserve it 2) you should have it instead 3) they exploited minorities through their race and class privilege 4) why should anyone have more than you have. Who cares that they were smart and incredibly hard working (Olympic rower) and beyond brave and forward looking. Sanders! Sanders!
5
Well, taxing them would at least get some of their money into the economy. As it stands, these billionaire hoarders are like black holes, sucking wealth out of circulation and making everyone poorer in the process.
2
Sorry. I still do not understand why people will pay money for a piece of code that resides in a network of computers. I should ask for my money back from the MBA program at the University of Chicago.
9
Because your degree does not stand for "Morons will Buy Anything".
6
There's a sucker born every moment -- even several at every moment, in this day and age.
6
The more Bitcoin they amass the more difficult it will be for them to unload it. If they try to sell even a small percentage of what they have it could start a stampede that could bring the price back down to $140.
6
That's the real reason the 'W'vosses' live Spartan lives. They can only unload a few Bitcoin at a time. Its probably difficult to keep up a coop apartment in Gotham with the trifling amounts the Winkies can eke from their 'fortunes.' I'm not angry at them, I'm just getting tired of having to read about them every time there's a Bitcoin news story eruption. I can't find a way to spend the 3 quarters I've carried in my jeans change pocket for six months. There's just nothing that costs that little to use them to buy. I'm starting to find change summarily dumped near convenience store gas pumps. I go through a period of concern about whether its worth it to pick the change up. Inside old ladies ahead of me in line with bags of cheetos and mountain dew, fish in their cavernous purses for checkbooks and elusive coin purses to pay, while the most of us with credit/debit cards gnash our teeth in lines behind them... waiting.
Wasn't it another pair of plutocrat brothers who created the great silver bubble of the 80's? Silver never really recovered from the subsequent crash.
2
They are merely participants in the greatest pyramid scheme the world has seen. It is not "a programmable store of money", it is just merely the purchase of an entry on a secure ledger that you can sell to a greater fool.
And no, it is not like dollars; dollars you can pay taxes and government fees with and the government is 30% of the economy. The same goes for any other major fiat currency.
33
I imagine that the owners of the fastest unicorn in the world have something pretty valuable. If they can cash out without depressing the market. Until bitcoin is a readily and widely accepted medium of exchange for food, medicine, and bullets, it is not as valuable as those commodities when the inevitable reckoning comes, which it will sooner or later. The Roman emperors were pretty wealthy too, and they ended up not doing so well. "In the long run, we're all dead", and cybercurrency or not, I don't believe geniuses as smart as the Winkelvoss twins, or even, dare I type it, Trump himself, have figured out how to take it with them...
4
What the heck do so-called ordinary people buy with Bitcoin besides drugs?
8
Dollars in some cases. A high school friend of my daughter's has gotten into this stuff. He is paid $100,000 weekly in bitcoin and cashes out half of it. Even if it crashes he will have made a fortune by promoting it! Everyone with historic knowledge knows about these bubbles. Even stocks drop, sometimes drastically. Remember October 19, 1987? One doesn't even have to go back to 1929. And those stocks were related to functioning businesses. Only fools and some very naive people believe they have a fortune resting in "data" in computers in China.
1
Girl, sell some before it’s worth nothing. Remember pets.com. (Google it.)
5
The Winklevoss brothers do not seem to understand that Bitcoin, especially at this point, is highly speculative. It reminds me of an interview that 60 Minutes conducted years ago, just prior to the Great Recession of 2008-9. An 'investor' in real estate in the Las Vegas area had about 5 million dollars in likely profit if he had sold right at that time, just before the huge market crash. But the man stated, quite confidently, even after the reporter mentioned that the market was at an all time high, that he would hold tight. Asked if he feared losing heavily if the market came down suddenly, he had the same attitude as the Wink brothers.
I have a feeling that if they consulted Warren Buffett for sage advice on holding or selling Bitcoin, Mr. Buffett, always the sage and sane true investor, would be to sell immediately!
5
I have a feeling Mr. Buffet would have gave them this selling advice already 3 years ago. Who was right then today? They put in money they could lose back then, I think they still see it that way today. It will not affect their financial well being. It’s like the avarage man puts in 1000$.
4
Good point. I wonder why he has been silent on this. I bet he'll speak up about his views very soon. And if he says what I think he'll say, that will be the pin to this bubble of air. Maybe that's why he's been silent - all of his hedge fund pals have been begging him to: "just keep quiet about this for a little while longer!"
Fascinating! A sibling rivalry between the twins and MZ has morphed into a contest over who can amass the most wealth!
At the cost of whom?
You and me. I am not enchanted by either side of the contest.
5
MZ does not seem yo be part of this competition. He wrote code, they did hair and make up!
And when those "big money" holders get out, the Ponzi scheme will come into fruition.
Surprise.
9
They got 45 Million from Facebook in shares which grew to 300 Million when it went public. So these twins each got 150 Million. Gee, that used to be enough money to live on the rest of your life. What is enough these days?
14
What's enough these days?
Look at the new tax bill with loopholes, look at our Cabinet:
NO amount of money is enough.
18
The term millionaire is so passe nowadays.
4
So the Winklevoss Bros. "live relatively spartan lives with few luxuries" - the key words there being "relative" and "few," no doubt.
Thanks for the laughs!
24
Honestly, I could live happily in a large cardboard box, if I knew I had a few hundred million in a bank account. Well, not all in a bank account.
1
Yet...the value of Bitcoin is measured in Dollars......So I can't understand the value of Bitcoin. I just need more Dollars. Then I'll be Okay
12
These guys beat a lifetime of returns by Warren Buffet or Bill Gross in a few years, but that is not important. Cryptocurrencies are Internet 2.0, and the value created is due to the potential and disruptive power of the blockchain, distributed apps and smart contracts. It is okay that that most people don’t understand this – they didn’t understand the potential of Internet 1.0 until great wealth was created there too.
18
Oh now impressive.
Starting out with millions and making more millions from it, through connections set in place by family.
I would bet 90% of people alive could 'succeed' as well as these playboys/Trump types, if they were given half a chance at the outset.
14
What am I missing here? If you tell me that virtual currency would one day replace paper money and credit cards, I won't fight you. But I thought any kind of money is only as good as the confidence, security and ease with which it can allow for transactions to happen. Now, they tell me one Bitcoin is worth $18,500! Oh, they also say that it takes about 10 full minutes to complete a transaction using Bitcoin! Are we supposed to accept this magical coins as literal gold just because they tell us they are "mined" into being, just like gold! At what point does all the nonsense make us forget that we are talking about "currency", and remember that currency is only as valuable as its ability to facilitate transaction. Can any kind of currency, virtual or literal, survive long after it lost any meaningful connection between itself and the commodity whose transaction it is supposed to facilitate? I don't get any of this, all I see is bubble.
26
Smoke and mirrors. They should cash out but the price will plummet when they do.
12
How is bitcoin going to be taxed, capital gains when cashed in at a bank, or does it have any real value. I hope the brothers pay a generous tax if and when they cash in.
4
They will pay 20%, which is the max long term cap gains rate.
They will pay the tax in BitCoin
2
And while Bitcoin has a self-imposed limit on the number of bitcoins that will be produced, there is no limit to the number of virtual currencies. Consequently, the long term value should be no more than the cost to produce a bitcoin (i.e. $40 of electricity plus the amortized cost of hardware (which gets cheaper every year). So the scarcity and demand for the time being, but a tulip bulb only costs what it costs to grow and ship to market.
7
The fact that Wall Street is reluctant to enable Bitcoin to be publicly traded serves as some level of warning to investors. Still, last week CMF and CBOE both started offering Bitcoin ETFs with trading restrictions.
No one wants to be left behind or suckered - there are too many stories of being swindled - hell, look at Bernie Madoff.
It's fascinating and frightening, but the only way to understand it is to participate. Finding a platform to trade cryptocurrency is the first hurdle, the second is gambling your monies in such a manner that you gave up something that you could touch and turned it into something that you cannot hold.
At least in traditional gambling, you can see and touch the one-armed bandit. On the cryptocurrency platform, all you see are numbers - trading in ether - whose first definition includes "colorless, volatile liquid that is highly flammable." You can spend your money or watch it go up in smoke.
3
So the children of privilege leveraged their great wealth to create even more wealth, via dubious means that provides absolutely no benefit to society. Hooray! Lets throw them a virtual parade!
141
you rock
6
All value is perceived. Gold, silver, the painting your child made when she was five. It is simply a controlling mechanism created by slave owners. Stop being slaves.
14
There is no there, there. No gold, no real estate, no “mine”, no government, nothing! Just a little man behind the curtain, churning out code. This is the ultimate Ponzi, pyramid pile of steaming you know what. Once people start cashing in, ( do it NOW, Winklebrothers!) it will evaporate.
37
Their value will ascend to Heaven and then it will collapse. Tulips, tulips, tulips.
13
"Bitcoin" will remain relegated to the dark web. Its nonsense. And will remain so.
7
It is just so easy to dislike them so much...........but they bought bitcoin at the beginning.......and held it......kudos to them...
I will never know them but they have shown massive courage in their convictions and now they will reap their rewards.
Kudos to them.
19
And the rich get richer. Same story, different day.
7
I wonder what happens when currency ( of any sort ) becomes moot ?
It is going to happen sooner than people envision or expect, because such decimal points will become irrelevant when our civilization, planet and lives are seriously threatened from climate change.
A gallon of water will be priceless.
7
A bullet will be priceless, after most of them have been used. And those with wealth, who think they will pay for guards, might consider who guards them from their guards?
2
You make a good point. Small arms ammunition is probably a great investment. You don't even need a permit to buy ammo - do you? You'll be able to trade 9mm rounds as if they were gold nuggets - for anything you need! When crypto-currencies crash, we'll be much closer to this scenario, so there's your next lucrative investment bet.
1
How is the investment protected when the power goes off?
15
Maybe they can buy Facebook (back)?
8
THERE are now 600, maybe 1000 alternate crypto currencies besides bitcoin.
They outnumber real national currencies.
Bitcoin is a winning lottery ticket--at least today.
-
And like the lottery, over 99.99% of crypto currencies will prove to be duds.
Your choice is to buy Newcoin, Cryptocoin, VirDollars, Intermoney or just buy a lottery ticket.
The rate of success is about equal.
7
Began amassing in 2012 and now there is a bubble?
Why do I feel manipulation is afoot?
3
And you're still in? What are you waiting for? You can't expect me to believe that you actually think this will keep going up? No. I feel anyone who claims they still have large holdings in Bitcoin are actually trying to get out right now - quietly, so as not to alarm the sheep, so they can get the highest possible price - from those sheep.
1
I should have bought, but then I thought, what exactly was it I was buying?
10
Yeah, but there are two of them - the both couldn't possibly be crazy?
3
Two sides of the same coin?
8
Don't sell! Trees grow all the way up to the sky! Happens all the time.
3
Imagine if their bitcoin became valuable enough to buy FB!
2
How does the creating of Bitcoin solve any real problem i.e. melting polar ice, cancer, etc. ? It's a glorified video game siphoning off real resources of time, money, and expertise into a meaningless black hole. One Bitcoin trade uses enough electricity to power a home for a year. Yet another way for the rich to get richer off the backs of the poor. Also, a great way to launder money. Kinda like encrypting the Cayman Islands and putting them on a server.
Well, back to clipping coupons.
17
Why not actually google it instead of simply assuming it is useless? But anyway here are a few things to consider. There was no simple and cheap way to transmit money between countries before bitcoin. Remittance payments cost something like 15% of the amount. Online payments require going through intermediates like VISA and Mastercard who charge exorbitant prices for their services. Serivices like PayPal represented a minor improvement, but is still a centralized solution which allows monopoly power and hence monopoly prices. Any money received through PayPal has to be transmitted using their services at prices they set at their lesuire. As they grow, they gain more and more market power and can squeeze you more.
Not a good solution. Bitcoin and other crypto currencies levels the playing-field. No company owns the network. Any company can offer exchange services on this network, hence there is free competition, which means lower prices.
5
Yes, but a currency that can be manipulated solely by the whims of the general public is not legitimate.
Central banks notwithstanding: any economy that is predicated on 70% consumer spending like the United States is, by definition, manipulated by whims.
Like many moneymaking schemes, the actual cost of doing business is kept off the books (socialized), while the profits go to the wealthy investors. Right now, Bitcoin transactions cost more to society than they are worth. Still, there is no such thing as an egalitarian currency.
Incidentally, there are many ways to transfer money between countries for free, or at a nominal fee. Paypal is one. They don't necessarily need to charge you upfront fees as they make money on the back end.
1
Good lord. Am I the only one that the number of women and people of color in the photograph of their meeting at Gemini screams out at?
13
You mean "zero"?
1
It’s hard to be sure, but I think I can identify 5-6 women in the photo.
They should sell half. Thats enough to live happily ever after and fund the next idea. They leaves keeping half.
2
Sell it for......Dollars???
3
The can’t sell half without crashing the market.
4
Suppose thats what selling still involves, at this moment.
Scarcity + Pays for items or services = Currency.
It's hard to quit yourself of the idea of a currency not being backed by some authority but essentially it boils down to the above as I understand it.
Bitcoin, gold, greenbacks, dirt (the movie Waterworld). All the same thing.
3
Correct!
So, so glad the the privileged and wealthy WinkleVosses got to be even more privileged and wealthy. What if they had been forced to be merely wealthy scions of daddy’s money, without making another pile of their own? That would be so sad! I’m also grateful that the NYT is devoting time and energy to covering the personal anxieties of the 1%. I can’t wait for the Magazine feature on how WinkleVi spend their Sundays. I’m eager to read all about their paleo brunches, and rowing jaunts on the East River.
15
They're something those two. All that family money, education, brawn and brains. I can't decide if they are evil or superheroes or evil superheroes. They're gorgeous, fascinating, despicable and greedy and all wrapped up in two massive American flags.
7
How does the government tax this profit? How would the government know a profit was made? Is the manner in which cryptocurracies are valued all that different from the dollar or the yen? The day people decide the dollar has no value is the day it has no value.
2
Bitcoin is the perfect currency for the Age of Trump. Maybe it's real, and maybe it's a con. Something with the potential to be an untraceable and un-taxable way to make transactions fits the era perfectly. I'm not an expert on currency and finance, but over the last 40 years, following financial news as an amateur, I've been pretty good at figuring what markets and products don't smell right. Sadly, whatever I think will crash and burn next year usually persists and grows, and then takes 5 to 10 years to descend, with even more victims than are corralled in now.
13
Hot potato? I dunno, I felt the same at $1,000/bitcoin, so I'm no expert. It's more about human psychology than computers/math at this point, imho.
5
The wildly escalating value of bitcoin means it cannot be used as a means of transaction, its stated purpose. Nothing can be priced accurately if the value of the currency changes by the minute. Think Venezuela but in reverse. The idea behind bitcoin might be interesting, but the rampant speculation on it will kill it. Investors owning this will be very wise to sell their stakes and run to the hills with dollars in their pockets. U.S. dollars.
16
Ah, the Winklevii. They are sort of like Kardashians. Just when you start forgetting about them, they pop up again.
I have never understood how it is that the people who have either the luck or the acumen (or some mixture of the two?) to make several tonloads of money on paper like this never seem to have the ability to let go, cash in and enjoy themselves.
Of course they don't want to sell so fast they pull the price down. But, they could easily create an algorithm to handle that and pay themselves an ample stipend -- a sort of DIY Bitcoin annuity.
I know what I would do. It's not even that lavish. It involves antique cars (but ones I could actually drive, not stuff that is so rarefied it has become static art), and a bigger house so I can keep indulging my midcentury furniture habit. And some charity. But really, the most important part of cashing in sensibly is to end the stress.
But it seems like people who make money this way have a bit (so to speak) of the compulsive gambler addictive personality in them. They are living off the thrill of doubling down and letting it ride.
8
I think the difference here is that this pair started with money. Being wealthy is not a new thing for them. When you have always been able to buy what you want, you often don’t desire much.
9
PforP: According to the article, the twins made their money from their settlement with FB, which they demanded in shares, which they later cashed in to buy their bitcoin. They created their value by inventing the precursor for FB.
2
@A, the twins were born into an affluent family. They were raised and educated in privilege. That is what I was referring to, not the FB settlement.
3
I don't know why the Winklevii are feeling good about this. After all these years they apparently haven't had one creative thought between the two of them.
9
I (unfortunately) own no bitcoins, but the value is not ethereal if it can be used to purchase goods and services. It seems there are a growing number of businesses that are accepting bitcoin for their products.
I can imagine the dollar not being accepted one day if we continue to increase our debt, while reneging on loans or investing in our future.
Gold or diamonds have no intrinsic value save for the desire to grace the bodies of our wealthier bipeds.
1
Gold and diamonds can be held and even admired. Bitcoins only exist in the imagination.
The blockchain technology that underlies Bitcoin is what gives the cryptocurrency its value, much as the US' government, legal system, regulatory regime, and financial institutions give value to the USD. What makes Bitcoin so valuable is that it is able to cut out all of the inefficient institutions that government-backed currency requires, reducing the cost and time for transactions to occur. It also decentralizes the ledger the records all transactions, so there is transparency. If you value cost, time and transparency, then you should give Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies another look.
11
I suggest you look at the currencies of countries without all those pesky regulation and checks and balances. Right now Bitcoin seems to have a disciplined infrastructure but without a real ability to back its values with good and services It is vulnerable.
6
Do you mean the failing countries like Venezuela and Zimbabwe, whose citizens are adopting BTC rather that some other fiat currency? And what good or service backs the USD? You can buy goods or services with the USD, but what exactly backs it other than what I described in my first post?
Bitcoin is endlessly fascinating. I’m really impressed with the jargon associated with it like blockchains and cryptocurrency. It makes the commodity sound important and very serious. What is amazing to me is that the people who have come up with Bitcoin have invented it out of thin air. For Bitcoin to be viable requires a great deal of investor faith not unlike the faith consumers put into paper currency which isn’t worth the paper it is printed on save for users willingness to accept it as a means of exchange.
What I have trouble understanding is why no one else comes up with another form of currency independent of anything of substance backing it? What, in other words, is to stop anyone from inventing another form of Bitcoin and calling it something else?
It is a very clever conjure, admittedly. But it is difficult to see its practical application or usefulness other than to create paper wealth at the moment.
4
What is to stop anyone from inventing another form of Bitcoin and calling it something else? Nothing but money. There are several others already. My question is what is the use of multiple cryptocurrencies? Wouldn't it be more useful to have a single one that is universally accepted?
3
This might come as a surprise, but creating paper wealth for themselves is all the incentive some people need.
2
Either the Winkleviss twins are clairvoyant in coming up with Face Book, and now Bitcoin. Or they move ash around: they hire strategists who come up with financial "future" scenario investments that will increase in value exponentially in the short term at which point they cash out. There is something Mellon and Morgan about these financial manipulators.
1
There is a better currency than Bitcoin. It's called the U.S. DOLLAR, and it dumped gold as a backing a long time ago and was switched to be worth the value of everything owned in the U.S.
When the currencies really start to compete in value, the dollar will be left standing while other currencies buy as many dollars as they can afford before folding.
There's also a board of directors behind the dollar. It's called The Cabinet and one day in the not too distant future the Chief Deal Maker will take on the Fake Currencies and the U.S. Treasury will be just fine.
5
I'm a little bit split in my view of the Winklevii. On one hand, I love their ambition and the risks they are taking. But then I read quotes like this:“We are very comfortable in very high-risk environments with absolutely no guarantee of success,” Tyler Winklevoss said. “I don’t mean existing in that environment for days, weeks or months. I mean, year after year.”
C'mon guys, frame it up a little better. You were children of privilege, who attended private schools your entire lives, and have undoubtedly always had gold-plated safety nets to fall back upon. I'd feel better if they said, "we have been fortunate enough to have always been able to live and work in high-risk environments", because that's what it really boils down to. Yes, I admire their instincts, but many of us would invest in Bitcoin, too, if we had the privilege to do so.
177
If it is possible to track Bitcoin trades the minute one of them sells run for the hills. If Bitcoin is being manipulated where can the dirty deeds be prosecuted. Nations stand beside their currencies who stand by Bitcoin? Faith, Belief, irrational exuberance?
12
Bitcoin: From thin air thou art, and to thin air shalt thou return.
57
The lead up to Trump : the Winklewasses , Zuckerberg, Bitcoin.
Throw them all into the dustbin of history. As Auden said of Poetry (poetry make nothing happen) we can say the same for the 1% trilogy (WZB). All they do is make the rich richer, and they all are part of the Trump gang.
2
Dr. K: You mean you don't use Facebook? I use it to keep in touch with my daughter who lives on the other side of the world. So, FB has value for me, and I guess I have MZ to thank for that.
Haters gonna hate. The people who keep talking tulips and bubbles are just sour to have missed out on an amazing opportunity. Bitcoin will be well past $100K by end of 2018.
1
Could not help but notice. 22 people pictured in that photo of their meeting at their company, Gemini. All white. At least 16 of them are men. Happens way too often in industries that control capital and look to keep people out. And given that Bitcoin strategy seems to require and exclusionary ethos, I must wonder aloud if the Winklevoss twins are deaf to the optics of that ethos and how it creeps into other aspects of what they do. Probably not, but a picture, as they say is worth a thousand words.
1
CORRECTION TO SUBMITTED POST:
Could not help but notice. 22 people pictured in that photo of their meeting at their company, Gemini. All white. At least 16 of them are men. Happens way too often in industries that control capital and look to keep people out. And given that Bitcoin strategy seems to require and exclusionary ethos, I must wonder aloud if the Winklevoss twins are aware of the pitfalls of that ethos and how it creeps into other aspects of what they do. Probably not, but a picture, as they say is worth a thousand words.
5
Right. Makes MUCH more sense now.
I'd buy some if I could figure out what it is.
78
I couldn't figure out what Enron did either,
12
I'm focusing on the yet two more new billionaires. There is something truly obscene about any individual, or individual family, having the much wealth. So, what can we do about it? Answers?
4
One of them might do something bold, like take up piano lessons, or found the Museum of Rowing.
3
Make the only legal currency the DOLLAR.
ben Avraham, more regulations?
And this innovation didn't help Russian's get the calamitous President Trump elected. Facebook was always, and still is, a tremendous waste of time.
6
What does Facebook have to do with the Winklevii? Nothing, really (watch the movie Social Network). Bitcoin also took no creative effort or work -- all they did was buy it in the beginning, using a tiny portion of their family money.
3
And they invented Facebook. Creative destruction. or maybe just destructive destruction. Bitcoin is a great way for the super wealthy to hide their loot.
8
I realize that money, the good ol' American George Washington, all the gold in Ft. Knox notwithstanding, has value solely due to the good faith and credit of the United States. It's not hip and fancy but it does have a couple of things going for it the Bitcoin does not. A history measured in centuries not single-digit years. Resilience. The trust of billions of users. These attributes mean something. Peace of mind comes to mind.
Trusting, believing in Bitcoin is akin to trusting, believing in Trump, the multiple casino bankrupter, contractor and partner stiffer cum President of the United States. I prefer my assets a bit less volatile than Trump and considerably more substantial than his hair.
8
Glen, you left out a gigantic military. More and more this is the only strength the US has as its moral capital is frittered away by the grifters who inhabit our government.
It would be a form of karmic justice if these twins became multi-billionaires. As indicated in the article, Hollywood in the person of screenwriter A. Sorkin made them into waspy uptight stereotypes, while Mr. Zuckerberg was the bright clever underdog. Is anyone surprised?
2
Actually, it would be karmic justice if bitcoin crashes next month, right before the Winkelvii had finally decided to sell a portion of their "holdings".
3
I may certainly live to regret it; but, generally, when I don't understand something I figure that there is a reason for this and I then avoid whatever is of concern. Here, I don't get bitcoin; I don't understand it and, it seems to me, whatever hard currency value it has is directly related to the next buyer. This is not a formula for sustained value. So, when I read or hear "bitcoin"; I think and visualize "tulip".
The Winklevoss brothers were, in my opinion, cheated by Mr. Zuckerberg. I wish them well; and, my unsolicited advice would be to take maybe $750,000,000 off the table .
I think they could balance, then, regret and disappointment.
6
I don't know... You can only come up with billion dollar-making ideas once every 6 years....
There'a a sense these are financial manipulators of the first order who will use their enormous wealth to make enormous wealth. It feels they use the US to churn profits, and need to be taxed much higher. Instead, make something; do something; employ people. Use those great brains to contribute real value, not just make wads of cash they already have.
4
Gosh, I read this and was somehow saddened that these two have amassed such a fortune. Seems like the bad guys are always getting ahead lately, and part of me hopes Bitcoin crashes before they sell or diversify. I think living in the age of Trump has made me feel this way. It's un-American to dislike success. What's happening to America?
5
Jobs, Ford, Rockefeller, Bezos each made something, created something that moved the general economy along and employed many. These guys are traders who use the underlying value of the US to game the system for massive personal profit.
4
We still like success, just not gross success when the gap between rich and poor is so wide, pensions are disappearing, home ownership is impossible for so many, health insurance costs are as expensive as buying a used car every year, and jobs are disappearing for living wages. Is it fair for such a small number of people to hold such a large percent of the money? No. There is money enough for everyone to have health care, houses, and a retirement. Success is great; greed is not.
2
How are they bad guys? Because they made it big?? Why wish for someone’s misfortune ? They took change & were proven right. Good for them!
1
One can never predict the future but you sure can write about the winners of the past. Sure, Beenz and Flooz were also going to work out great as virtual currencies back when...That bitcoin started as the currency of illegal transactions and remains is another issue.
1
I don't mind admitting that I just simply don't get this whole concept. The bitcoin ledger is apparently open to all, so everyone can see exactly who has transacted what, so the same bitcoin can't be spent twice. But now we are also told that if you have the private key to a bitcoin, you can steal it. And it's impossible to retrieve.
How can these two things be simultaneously true? If a bitcoin is stolen or hacked, why can't it simply be flagged?
I will stick with tulips.
6
Richard: during a quick read on Wikipedia, I think the point of the open ledger is that a single bitcoin can't be duplicated (i.e., counterfeited).
But a single bitcoin can be spent and sold as many times as there are buyers and sellers.
1
I congratulate them on building on fortune on vapor. What's next. Tulip bulbs?
8
Most readers will never comprehend the physical and mental discipline not to mention the countless hours of practice, repetition and concentration that the sport of rowing requires. Most of us are content with a little money, food, occasional sex, and sports. These guys are operating on a much higher level and their relationship with risk and reward is grounded in an end-game far into the future. Tyler and Cameron are enigmatic visionaries who live life full bore with no brakes.
7
Well Bill, I see it that Tyler and Cam are two very rich guys who bring virtually no value to the economic system they so greatly profit from. If you have millions, there is little risk going for billions when you can fall back on millions if it fails. I only see reward and very little risk except to paper profits.
5
Because their family is rich. It must be nice to love that way knowing if you fail, the family money will bail you out.
4
There were geniuses who invented complicated methods of becoming millionaires in 1929. Some them jumped out of high-up windows.
The Winklevoss twins also undercut the cyberpunk movement, the progenitor of the cryptocurrencies, by advocating regulation against the philosophical design of the technology. Sound familiar? Several people, not the Winklevoss twins, ended up going to jail as a result. The investors got stupid rich and the actual inventors got punished. To this day, the real inventor/s of bitcoin choose to remain anonymous. We only have a pseudonym and speculation. No one has actually taken credit. Although, the list of names is pretty short.
The Winklevoss twins aren't actually heros. They had the money and good fortune to invest in the right product at the right time. There's a good chance Bitcoin will ultimately collapse though. We're currently in an unregulated VHS versus Beta type war regarding cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin is currently ahead but there's a lot that can happen before the monetary mechanism normalizes within financial systems. Winklevoss might not be so lucky after all.
I love that you can become a billionaire by owning nothing but blinking numbers on a screen.
4
Isn't life grand? Creating wealth out of thin air and without any social utility. American avarice at its worst.
9
How much coal do you have to burn to create a bitcoin?
2
I am struck by the envy, spite and resentment from the critics in the peanut gallery here. Not everyone who has invested in Bitcoin is a trust fund baby. My husband and I (not members of the elite) invested a modest amount in a Bitcoin related fund in May of this year. We have since cashed out part of it to retrieve our initial stake and are "playing with the house's money" to the tune of a 6 figure paper profit so far. If it goes to zero(which I don't expect but it could happen) at least we were in it. Trust me it is a lot more fun to enjoy being part of something new, innovative --and yes, risky-- than to stand outside and rain on a parade you didn't join.
62
same here Lisa...i bought that fund also cashed out enough to pay back my initial investment and now just along for the ride. it may crash and go back to zero but what if it soars to the moon....crazier things have happened like electing a clown to be president...who would have thunk it.
2
What will Bitcoin's reach be into other financial instruments? How will the connection to those financial instruments effect the economy as a whole?
1
Now that you have me on the subject, I need to expand on the concept of cryptocurrency more generally. Blockchain technology is what it is. The idea actually isn't that dissimilar from a networked application of the basic kernel theory but that's a different debate. I won't go there.
For monetary purposes, most cryptocurrencies operate like a distributed accounting ledger. Everyone mining bitcoins is keeping track of every transaction that has ever occurred with bitcoin. Meaning, if you encounter a discrepancy, the problem generally self-corrects because the number of possible duplicate ledgers is basically infinite. You can't cook the books. A coin is a coin is a coin.
More importantly though, financial institutions no longer need to rely on any one federal reserve system in order to facilitate financial transaction because there is no formal financial institution. You're essentially operating on a supranational mathematical algorithm. Hence, the transnational appeal.
There's a problem though. Bitcoin has a finite number of coins by design. Technically speaking, adopting bitcoin is the equivalent to readopting the gold standard. The gold is infinitely divisible due to computing but the coin supply is finite. Furthermore, because the money supply is unregulated, distributed, and finite, the currency is basically privately owned. If the Winklevoss twins accumulate enough coins, they become a de facto non-governmental federal reserve. You should see the cause for alarm.
26
In the late 80's/early 90's no one knew where the internet was going. We couldn't imagine ordering groceries or shoes on the internet, nor could we imagine the value of the technology that emerged since then. No one knows exactly where virtual currency is going either, but brave pioneers will take chances to build an infrastructure. Most people barely understand virtual currencies, but that doesn't mean it won't be a relevant aspect of our world financial industry. Some will win, others will lose, but it's naive to say that it's a scam.
8
How many "skeptics" here would have mined bitcoin in the early days, when described the technology, principles, and application? How many skeptics here would put a great chunk of their fortune in a new asset based on what benefit it might have for humanity--a benefit that translates into utility and hence value.
I suspect no skeptic here would take the risk. It is good to be skeptics, but these people are also critics. Maybe we should turn the tables and criticize the skeptics for choosing to be blind to the potential for new technology, and further point out that this blindness has denied them success of the magnitude the Winklevosses have enjoyed.
18
And how many, if they did "mine" bitcoins would still have them, given the Bitvault failures and the cellphone hackers....?
The Winklevoss' primary success was winning the birth lottery. They were born into wealth. They are not a rags to riches story. And they got what $600MM out of Facebook?
3
Oh to be born as a Winklevoss twin!
6
I viewed the movie The Social Network very differently than the author. I saw the twins as the original creators and visionaries, while Zuckerberg as an unethical thief.
97
Let’s not forget “The Social Network,” while adapted from a book based on real events, still took creative liberties beyond even that of the book. It wasn’t a documentary, a genre which itself still takes creative liberties.
9
In other words, Zuckerberg created a personal fortune the way most fortunes are created. It’s the American way!
What about Star Wars? Did you view the emperor and his Storm troopers as being misunderstood freedom fighters trying to make the galactic empire great again?
1
How is Harvard Business School an unorthodox way to a fortune. It's like being born into organized crime.
141
FWIW I think they were undergraduates at Harvard, quite different from HBS. Looks like the MBA came from Oxford. But the point stands, Harvard -> Oxford -> wealth is not exactly shocking.
1
They didn’t go to Harvard Business School. They went to Harvard University.
1
Bit coin is a scam, a massive pyramid scheme wrapped in nerdy crypto mambo-jumbo...why the authorities have allowed it to mushroom to this height is confounding...If the scheme behind bitcoin was operated by some financial huckster without the crypto nonsense that person will likely be in or headed to jail right now.
Do not be impressed by all the nerdy talk about blockchains...it is like the IT guy who uses meaningless nerd jargon to show you he's an expert.
34
Edmond: Everything you said is untrue. It might make you feel better to believe the untruths, but it does not make them true.
3
Blockchain tech is much broader and deeper than its’ purely monetary iterations like Bitcoin or Ethereum, etc. It is quite valid, very real, and is going to be very nearly ubiquitous at some point in the not-so-distant future, but in more prosaic functions and roles than as a cash substitute/replacement.
Amazing how successful those born into the world of prestige and wealth can become.
Another boring story of rich kids thanking Daddy.
Get them out of my newspaper.
120
Sure, it's easy to be envious. But let's be fair here - the twins have show a great deal of savvy and gravitas, not to mention smarts. It wasn't all daddy's money. Clearly the gods smiled upon the twins and bestowed them extraordinarily well . . .
2
WHAT IF these brothers used their ingenuity to cure some of the worlds problems, rather than create a currency favored by thieves and drug dealers?
5
By the looks of these two, their next move is to open a Brooks Brothers franchise location!
5
Bubble bubble dingus double, "Vinklevoss" is slang for "trouble."
Bitcoin's just a pig in a poke, and these two fops will soon be broke.
7
Video games, digital film and music, can cost hundreds of millions of dollars to produce and generate billions of dollars in revenue. But at the end of the day they are just algorithms of 1s and 0s -- like Bitcoin.
5
Let's make this clear: bitcoin is NOT a currency, it is a commodity like gold or French impressionist paintings. Bitcoin is a lot more artwork than metal when you think of it, because it can be made to vanish, and someone clever can make a forgery. At least gold has some physical permanency to it, and is impossible to fake.
3
Bitcoin can't be forged. Please educate yourself on a topic before posting as if you are an expert. Also, my condolences for missing the train.
5
Actually, there have been scams in which people made "gold bars" having the same density as gold and coated with gold, so that unsophisticated buyers might get snookered.
1
Good luck selling. The market isn’t that deep, the block chain can’t handle that many transactions at once, and most holders are retail investors that don’t really know what they own and will flee at the first sign of weakness (eg. caused by a big seller).
32
I recently watched an hour long documentary on bitcoin in which aficionados, including the Winklevosses, touted it as the currency of the future. Most of those interviewed were libertarians and/or techies who to a man (almost literally) opposed government regulation. The man who wrote the NYS regulations for Bitcoin quit his job to open a consulting firm to facilitate compliance with the new laws. Women, the whistleblowers in the last crisis, were were given, perhaps, 2 minutes total air time. These women included the woman who invented the Credit Default Swap, a lawyer for the Winklevosses who thought some regulation was necessary, and a group of older housewives (caricatures by the way) who were scratching their heads. After an hour, my husband and I who both have passed graduate level math and computer courses were scratching our heads and thinking of tulip mania. Apparently Jamie Dimon, the JP Morgan Chase CEO and no stranger to financial debacles, had the same thought. At the end of the hour the documentary indicated that some banks and investment firms are now looking into Bitcoin investments. What could possibly go wrong?
57
You have a lot of good questions that you should research yourself. I believe you will find the answers illuminating. It is wonderful that you have a background in mathematics. You may want to also brush up on your game theory and computer science, but you are off with tremendously good footing. I wish you safe journeys on your travel to greater knowledge about cryptocurrencies.
1
Until they sell they have nothing. They have a 'thing' that they can sell, mostly, to new people wanting to buy into the rising price.
If they sell a significant amount the price falls and there is no incentive for new buyers.
Good luck to them. On paper they are worth lots, its just they can't buy real everyday things with it.
12
Read what Simon Schama has to say about the Dutch tulip bubble in his book "The Embarrassment of Riches." Amazing how consistent humans and their innate greed are from one era to another...
1
Maybe you cant buy too many everyday things, yet. I was at a restaurant in NYC a few weeks ago that took only cash or bitcoin as payment. No credit cards .
How do you give change at a restaurant for a $16,000 Bitcoin?
6
Two Questions:
1) The code guarantees the scarcity of bitcoin, but how reliable is that guarantee? If practically every technology ostensibly impervious to hacking has in fact been hacked, why not bitcoin - especially given the enormous incentives to do so?
2) Assuming that bitcoin can't be hacked, how is scarcity guaranteed when alternatives are being created every day? The number of bitcoins may be fixed, but the volume of alternatives is growing at ferocious speed. If the alternatives are transactionally superior, the only reason to buy bitcoin is to speculate on its price. In other words, unless it is in fact superior as a means of exchange and store of value, it's worth no more than any other blockchain ledger entry.
7
Why waste column space in the NYT on scientists or researchers trying to cure cancer when you have subjects like this? Will the 1,000 years of Anglo-American greed ever teach us something?
75
Column space is rather like bitcoins.
More can be supplied as needed.
3
Ah, the age-old question of how do we give anything value.
Gold and gems have value because they're somewhat scarce and pretty.
Money has value because we all agree on it and it's backed by governments.
Everything else is open to the pressures of supply and demand or the whimsy of a select few, and a monetary value is thus attached.
Bitcoins have zero value. Or they are worth a million each.
The former makes more logical sense. The latter is a pipedream or a con.
Today they are accepted as a "currency." Tomorrow? Last I checked, they aren't insured by anyone.
65
Remember when the world's largest insurance company was bailed out with your tax money because they could not cover their obligations? That led to a financial meltdown. In response to these systemic problems with traditional financial systems, bitcoin was created, and individuals were able to obtain it in a fair way.
2
I have never understood much about or why we value diamonds, gold, etc. the way we do - they serve no real useful purpose (aside from an ascribed value). Just shiny trinkets for which untold thousands have been enslaved and died and lands raped and destroyed . . .
Is Apple stock insured by anyone?
When they decide to sell their holdings there will likely not be a growing market for Bitcoins, and releasing their stash on to the market will create a surplus. That, in turn, will lower the price, and then the demand will decrease even further--spiraling downwards. End of this particular bubble. Econ. 101.
19
Bitcoin represents everything that is navel gazing about technology. No real value and elaborate and expensive to maintain. Also, the fact that the energy required to 'mine' Bitcoin is equal to many European countries, making it an emblem of the waste of our modern society. Seriously, it sounds like a video game for adults that aren't actually grown ups.
59
I suspect that when they do decide to sell the question will be: to whom. And for those who missed the bitcoin boom, I have some tulips that I am willing to sell for a song.
30
Agree - it is tulip mania all over again - Lemmings all.
3
And tulip bulbs are edible, if it comes to that.
1
Many years ago while on vacation in California, my wife and I visited a farm that raised, among other things, ostriches. The owner told me that each ostrich cost something like $50,000 (when that was real money). Now I knew that ostrich feathers can be used for something, and that ostrich steaks can be sold, but I wondered as to how you'd get $50,000+ out of that (plus the ostrich would be dead). As I talked to the owner a little more, it was clear that his business relied on finding others to pay more than $50,000 per ostrich. Tulip mania on a small scale.
9
They look like geniuses...today, at least. But as we all know, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
“And if it’s not, we’d rather live with disappointment than regret.”
Spoken like some one whose future is assured no matter what happens.
200
Like the Koch Brothers, the Winklvosses take grand risks because they aren’t really taking any real ones.
2
Gosh. It all sounds too good to be true.
5
Imagine risking $11M on something. How would you advise someone in that situation. You would probably say it is too risky and to put your money in stocks and bonds. Now they would have maybe $15M. A great return, but nothing like they enjoyed. When people make risks, they know they may end up with nothing. If they win, why feel any resentment towards them?
5
Everyone is mentioning the Dutch tulip bulbs mania in the early 1600s for insight to bitcoin. But I've been looking up examples of 'asset bubbles' that have happened more recently, and what caught my eye was beenie babies in the 1990s.
The creator of Beenie Babies was very careful to maintain both novelty and limited supply by releasing new products and then "retiring" them from production fairly quickly.
The nature of attention and demand is what drives the pricing in bubbles. Excitement over the resource, and a limitation of supply are essential.
The question is at what point the bubble has to collapse. One issue, is the entrance of new money.
It's not enough for the Winklevoss twins or others to simply hold their bitcoins. To support an ever rising price, there has to be new money willing to pay for it.
And all the new money in bitcoin is based on the belief in a rising price, whether that is short or long term.
When the price extends outward far enough, so that the perimeter of expansion exceeds the availability of new money, the price will collapse. In other words, when supply exceeds demand.
So as long as demand exceeds supply, the bubble can continue to grow. With so much money in investment funds, it takes very few decision makers to keep the bubble going.
One thing for sure, nothing goes straight up forever.
48
They would rather live with disappointment if Bitcoin crashes than regret if it keeps going up. Classic greed, heading for a fall. As if reaping half a billion in profits isn’t enough.
33
This thing is the real deal. Will hit $100K in the not too distant future and here is why....
With Trump and the GOP placing grotesquely unqualified people into government agencies and Federal Court benches, why should anyone have more confidence in government backed currencies than in Bitcoin? At least Bitcoin has highly qualified intelligent people working behind it.
8
You make a good point, but there are other currencies besides the US$. The Swiss Franc for example. Or the Japanese Yen. Who needs a speculative "currency' as a safe haven? Nobody that isn't a speculator.
4
So how does bitcoin really differ from gold? At least gold can be useful as well as artistically appealing.
3
It differs in a lot of ways, not least of which being that with gold, eventually somebody somewhere has to drop a gold coin into the slot. With Bitcoin there is no slot because the entirety of its existence is "slots."
1
Wish I had purchased $1,000 in Bitcoin way back when. But I'd have sold it long, long ago! Still unsure if it's just a gimmicky fad or the real thing.
9
"The mysterious creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, is believed by researchers to be holding onto Bitcoin worth around $19 billion." With all
Bitcoins valued at $310 billion, there is one person who holds over 6% of the value and described as the 'mysterious creator'. If this doesn't seem like tulips its only because people are creating value for something no one is using. Seems like bitcoin holders should question why 1 person has over 5% of all bitcoins and what that holder's plan or motivation.
37
I would imagine that, whatever it initially was, making $19 billion from thin air is a key part of it.
10
The holding part is always what has bothered me about Bitcoin. I see an enormous Ponzi scheme, with nothing of real value at its base. But then I am not a billionaire, so what do I know?
47
That person has over 5% because the first bitcoins were relatively easy to mine. As more bitcoins are produced the necessary calculations become more and more complicated keeping the rate of growth in the number of bitcoins relatively stable even as the number of miners (computational resources) have increased geometrically. So anyone that started mining early had a leg up on those coming in later.
5
If I were a financial advisor to or a friend of the Winklevosses I would recommend they sell one-half of their Bitcoin holdings yesterday.
92
I wonder what the Winklevosses' net worth is. If most of what they have is in Bitcoin it would be a very very good idea to sell half and diversify.
6
Let's face it, you would have told them to sell one half when it was $800.00.
1
It's becoming a Faustian problem. If the twins sell a substantial bit coin position that could alarm other holders to divest as well. Once people head for the exits it could be a stampede- that's when people get trampled. Like any arbitrary holder of value, bit coin only has worth as long as others covet it. There is NO VALUE ADDED in the bit coin standard, it is a floating medium of exchange. Bit coin could easily be replaced by other similar formulas- and many economists believe it eventually will.
2