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How Buying BTC For Less Than $1k Shaped This Hodler's Outlookby@david
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How Buying BTC For Less Than $1k Shaped This Hodler's Outlook

by David Smooke2mSeptember 16th, 2019
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In the US, I’d like to see a lot more regulation to protect the average person from financial sharks or from bad actors causing systemic risk. I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect Bitcoin to replace the USD. It will never happen. But over time, perhaps governments will stabilize the value of their currency some using Bitcoin as a reserve. And people with the worst of the worst governments can switch to Bitcoin to opt-out. Having that option of a self-sovereign & secure value store, even though most people in most countries don't need it, is significant.

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this is derived from a hackernoon community thread. these answers are by @BeastlyBeast.

How do you think the bank could work differently for the next couple generations?

In the US, I’d like to see a lot more regulation to protect the average person from financial sharks or from bad actors causing systemic risk. I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect Bitcoin to replace the USD. It will never happen. But over time, perhaps governments will stabilize the value of their currency some using Bitcoin as a reserve. And people with the worst of the worst governments can switch to Bitcoin to opt-out. Having that option of a self-sovereign & secure value store, even though most people in most countries don’t need it, is significant. As for the US, payment convenience is an overrated use case for Bitcoin. We already have Apple Pay, credit cards, etc.

Why did you decide to buy or sell bitcoin?

I grew up playing poker, so was able to easily recognize an “asymetric risk:reward” opportunity. I was comfortable losing 50-100%, especially at that time in my life, for the prospect of a 100-200x gain. Most people failed to see the potential upside, even if unlikely. Haven’t sold yet, but don’t think I have the fortitude to weather a third bear market… I held through the entirety of the last two, but my equity is large enough that a violent selloff seriously messes with my psychological well-being. I no longer want to be that person who wakes up in a cold sweat at 2AM, rolls over, and checks the Bitcoin ticker on their phone.

What is the profit margin on luxury cars?

Depends on the luxury car company, but Ferrari makes $90k per car and they do so by 1) keeping supply low, and 2) using their brand to build profit centers selling other things like merch or F1 sponsorships. Clearly, limited supply is also a driver of Bitcoin’s price. And a close analogy to Ferrari’s other profit centers, for Bitcoin, would be Layer 2 tech.