Just be careful
After almost 5 years in the bitcoin space, I now find it funny how many people are so eager to tell me, personally, to be careful. I've already paid off my house and done very well with cryptocurrency. I wonder, are they just trying to make themselves feel better about not getting involved themselves?
I've got nothing but love for you, @uberbrady, and I genuinely believe you care about people and don't want to see them get hurt. I also think borrowing money to buy into a speculative investment is straight up crazy (I told a friend exactly that just a few days ago). That's why I mention FOMO in the post. I invested after getting out of debt and already having investing in traditional ROTH IRA mutual funds for retirement. Maybe I should emphasize that point more because some people are just financially stupid and take irrational risks.
As to dhh and so many other cryptocurrency skeptics (see this fun reply to patio11 yesterday), I sometimes feel it's not worth our time debating with them. I heard the exact same arguments as bitcoin went up to $100 in 2013 and there was even more volatility (percentage wise) then.
It won't go up forever, obviously, but it will go up until it reaches a market equilibrium in perceived value. The arguments I've seen (and linked to in this post) for $100,000 or $1,000,000 a bitcoin seem sound to me. $10,000 is really cheap if those are actual realities in our future.
For me, it's not about the inflation rate of the USD that concerns me as much as the deflation rate we're not seeing. How much purchasing power is being stolen from people because deflation is not allowed? What if this massive spike in purchasing power in cryptocurrency is more of an indication of how much wealth exists as an emergent property of humanity's technological advancement? What if instead of the government cronies skimming all the value off the top, we had a universal basic income powered by the blockchain?
How much would human well-being improve?
Your caution is noted. As I said in my post, I watched bitcoin go from $1,200 to $250 in 2014. That would be like it going back down near $2,000 today. I'm prepared for that, and I agree with you that others should be as well. Diversification is key and not just in the cryptocurrency space.
RE: When Will You Join the Cryptocurrency Future?