Bitcoin isn't real...is it?

    

But Bitcoin isn't real!

I started buying bitcoin in May of 2019. Colleague of mine co-hosts influential podcast on cryptocurrency. Had long talks with him re pros & cons, his predictions ($40k by eo20 btw). I opened a Coinbase account and got started. Bought more and more, over the months. Educating myself along the way. 

Began interesting debates (and a prediction bet) with another buddy, a retired investment banker, 1% club, successful in all life's facets. Anyhoots, he's as smart as it gets with analyzing market fundamentals, of which cryptos fall outside of. 

His objection to Bitcoin & cryptos is similar to others skeptical of this alternate store of value. For me it helped to have a guru level colleague advising me. Got lucky there. I'm no guru, just someone curious about it and willing to experience it. 

Anyhoots, my reply to this objection is a constant: 'tell me what gold is good for.' Yes it's a physical object, but so what? Do you pay at the pump with your gold coins? Do you buy your groceries with shavings from your heavy gold bar in your hip pack? Yet at the time I write this, gold is at $2,000/ounce. An ounce! Bitcoin just breached $12,000 as I write this btw. And you can buy stuff with Bitcoin at stores, more outside the USA actually.

Parting two comments: Nixon took the USA off the gold standard in ~1971. Prior to then, gold definitely meant something: it was directly tied to our dollar. In fact, the dollars in circulation were finite, tied to physical gold. 

Since then, money can simply be printed, and printed, and printed. We're seeing this on massive scale in 2020. Bitcoin is finite: there will be 21 million Bitcoin produced eventually. You can look up how many to date are 'live.' 

Second, that dollar in your wallet is essentially an arbitrary message from the government we all agree to: 1 dollar is worth '1 dollar' and so on. But how much is 1 dollar 'worth?' This is a mirage we've all grown up with and agreed to. But hey, better than nothing. 

Oh and: if you wanna dip your toe in the crypto world, try the Voyageur Digital app. Fun & easy.