Bitcoins - about to hit $5,000 per coin today!

[gib]

Well, I'm not much of a fan of technical indicators, but it would pretty obvious that on basic technical alone we are on an upward phase and through the last bear cycle.

Beyond that there are many major drivers at play which are super bullish for BTC demand.

-Conflict in various parts of the world leading to a demand for assets which are fixed in supply, easily divisible, and transferable across boarders.

-Inflation in many parts of the world, devaluing fiat currencies at a noticeable rate.

-Increasing education and awareness among our citizens as to why a global, uncensorable, uncorruptable, secure, digital, store of value and money, perfectly limited in supply, and decentralized, is so so important into the future we are heading.
 
-Numerous US BTC ETF's poised for approval for some of the largest funds in the world, which will result in hundreds of Billions of fund inflows into this asset class.

-Increasing understand and regulatory and technical and philosophical and economic understanding as to the difference betwen Bitcoin and "cryptos".

- The 2024 halvening due in around 6 months.

-The increasingly obviousness that the US will (and has almost no choice but to) embark on greater money printing than ever before.

-Ai increasingly making use of BTC as a base layer store of value.

-Countries globally looking to increase income taxes.

...all of which, when you combine with even just a slight increase of demand for this very unique limited in supply  asset class, will lead to a MASSIVE upward movement once FOMO takes hold (which will gradually build up and then abruptly take hold and explode in a positive loop upward price cycle).

Oh, and major financial players coming out strongly in support of Bitcoin as the supreme asset class, different and better than all others. Here is a good example, an interview with Fidelity.

i=0vzC9-RkOR5HXg5N

Well, so there we have it @Mayday. Since my buy BTC call of 28 October, we did not have a November collapse as you predicated. Instead, we closed above 38K (well up from 28K on the date of my post). I hope now, (and it should be obvious to all, in hindsight), that all can now understand why I made this prediction and urged others to load up. (BTC's rise will be perpetual over the long term by the way, so no one should feel that they have been "too late", but obviously when we see all the stars align for a pump, we should increase the pace of our buying to benefit from that surge).

As for our discussion on the taxation of gains in BTC in countries who impose capital gains tax on such assets, all I can say, is buy peer to peer (so there is no traceable electronic record of your purchase to any bank account connected with your personal details, and then, when you are ready, use that BTC in a similar manner, or in an off-shore location where no tax is imposed on any gain). This really should only be in a decade or longer after buying. Even though capital gains may be imposed by governments on all assets such as property, art, gold, stock, FX etc BTC's properties are quite unique in terms of you ability to acquire, store and spend it anonymously, (or at least pseudonymously) along with global portability and infinite divisibility.

Capital gains tax, by the way, is incredibly insidious. Lets imagine you buy a house (or Bitcoin, or stock), and your country has a 50% capital gains tax. By halving the value of your currency through money printing, your house (or Bitcoin, or stock), all things being equal, would double (in nominal terms). So the same asset, which you bought for 1m, is now nominally worth 2m, and the Govt then takes 50% of the "gain", effectively having stolen 25% of the real value of your asset. This is why its so important, for those of us in countries who engage in such theft via deception, to know how to defend ourselves against this.

[Flexacon]

Well, so there we have it @Mayday. Since my buy BTC call of 28 October, we did not have a November collapse as you predicated. Instead, we closed above 38K (well up from 28K on the date of my post). I hope now, (and it should be obvious to all, in hindsight), that all can now understand why I made this prediction and urged others to load up. (BTC's rise will be perpetual over the long term by the way, so no one should feel that they have been "too late", but obviously when we see all the stars align for a pump, we should increase the pace of our buying to benefit from that surge).

As for our discussion on the taxation of gains in BTC in countries who impose capital gains tax on such assets, all I can say, is buy peer to peer (so there is no traceable electronic record of your purchase to any bank account connected with your personal details, and then, when you are ready, use that BTC in a similar manner, or in an off-shore location where no tax is imposed on any gain). This really should only be in a decade or longer after buying. Even though capital gains may be imposed by governments on all assets such as property, art, gold, stock, FX etc BTC's properties are quite unique in terms of you ability to acquire, store and spend it anonymously, (or at least pseudonymously) along with global portability and infinite divisibility.

Capital gains tax, by the way, is incredibly insidious. Lets imagine you buy a house (or Bitcoin, or stock), and your country has a 50% capital gains tax. By halving the value of your currency through money printing, your house (or Bitcoin, or stock), all things being equal, would double (in nominal terms). So the same asset, which you bought for 1m, is now nominally worth 2m, and the Govt then takes 50% of the "gain", effectively having stolen 25% of the real value of your asset. This is why its so important, for those of us in countries who engage in such theft via deception, to know how to defend ourselves against this.

Nice call Gib. Although the price still hasn't actually closed above 38k yet.

Don't think it really matters though. Something like high 80s or 90% of BTC held is in profit and I doubt many will sell with the ETFs around the corner. Any correction would be bought up anyway.

Only a US recession in 2024 spoils this now. Although that should be viewed as great buying opportunity. Recession in an election year = money printer.

[gib]

Nice call Gib. Although the price still hasn't actually closed above 38k yet.

Don't think it really matters though. Something like high 80s or 90% of BTC holders are in profit and I doubt many will sell with the ETFs around the corner. Any correction would be bought up anyway.

Only a US recession in 2024 spoils this now. Although that should be viewed as great buying opportunity. Recession in an election year = money printer.

Yes fully agree on all these points.

Regarding almost everyone being "in the money", there will always be someone who will reply "well it didn't help the people who bought exactly at the last peak!".

To those people I would say, that anyone who had simply DCA'd from the last peak until now, would be way up. Again demonstrating that to consistently stack Sats, and then simply HODL is key. Over the long term, time in the market will be Bitcoin's greatest friend.

Same thing will happen this next cycle. The 100K barrier will being a lot of excitement, but some people won't buy in until say 360K, shelling out 360K to become a first time wholecoiner. Then, when we see a reversal to say 120K, some of those who bought at 360K will say never again, and be complaining about Bitcoin's volitivity. Meanwhile, anyone who bought in the prior cycle peak of 60K, or cycle before that that 20K, will all be well up...

[gib]

PS - @ Flex, it seems not only did we close above 38K, but we are now nicely holding 39.

Bring on 40!

[gib]

OK GETBIGGERS, I AM CALLING IT. THE NEXT CYCLE (now to end of 2025) HAS STARTED. AND ITS GOING TO BE EPIC.

I HAVE SAID IT MANY TIMES. THE CHANCES OF BECOMING A WHOLECOINER (IF YOU ARE NOT ONE) WILL GET LOWER BY THE DAY. SECURE YOUR FUTURE AND START SACKING SATS.

And how do you get to that conclusion, you financial expert?

I hope you how now learned your lesson @Affeman...

[affeman]

I hope you how now learned your lesson @Affeman...

You're pretty hyped that your imaginary coin currently sits at around 55% of it's peak price in 2021, aren't you?

[gib]

You're pretty hyped that your imaginary coin currently sits at around 55% of it's peak price in 2021, aren't you?

A few comments here.

It's not my coin. It its the world's coin. The code has been public from the first hash.

Bitcoin was imagined when Satoshi published his whitepaper. Now of course it is real.

Against numerous fiat currencies, BTC is already at record highs. But in any case, anyone who simply bought on a regular basis and hodled, even from the very peak in USD, would be well up. If you happened to be one of those fools who made your only allocation at the exact peak in USD, don't worry though. BTC will go up against all fiat to infinity over time. (I have explained this in earlier posts...).

By the way, you know that this last post of yours will also come back to haunt you in the months to come, don't you. I will make sure of that...

[affeman]

By the way, you know that this last post of yours will also come back to haunt you in the months to come, don't you. I will make sure of that...

Well over 100k by March 2024, right?

I would think we will be well over 100K per BTC coin by March 2024. Once the demand squeeze happens, the spike will be insane, and self-fulfilling, and very fast.

[Flexacon]

PS - @ Flex, it seems not only did we close above 38K, but we are now nicely holding 39.

Bring on 40!

You could justifiably set your sights even higher.

It may mean nothing, but the Feds fund rate peaked and then held in early 2019 and then bitcoin went on a huge run until they started cutting. Rates have similarly peaked now and Bitcoin is moving almost identically to early 2019.

With ETFs and halving and no rate cuts for a few months it's all lining up for a big move up. Blow off top for everything until rates are cut.

[gib]

Well over 100k by March 2024, right?

Glad you are learning young Jedi. Atta boy...

[Slapper]

We're printing a fractal that is exactly like the one prior to the boom in 2019.

Blast off anyone?

[obsidian]

Which proves my point,  people are looking for the next 10x, 100x, 1000x multiplier.


Overnight success has a 10year time frame, majority people trying to get rich off 10k in a short time frame are going to get rekt. Those that succeed will get greedy and hodl all the way up and then down.
Fresh bunch of idiots are born each cycle and that's what centralised shitcoin founders call  exit liquidity.

Life changing gains can be made in btc on a long enough time frame and decent initial investment and can be content knowing that your investment is secured in the most decentrilised and safest network in human history.

If you look at the charts, Dogecoin outperformed BTC over the past 3 and 5-year periods. So a Shitcoin outperformed your precious Bitcoin for 5 years!

Interesting video by Charles Hoskinson. When BTC was released, Satoshi owned 100% of the hashing power. And has about 5% of the BTC supply. Yeah yeah, he's dead or won't ever move or sell those coins.

IIR, 3 pools dominate the BTC mining landscape. How decentralized is that - really? And what happens eventually when mining profits are miniscule? Why would miners stick around to secure the BTC network? Who's paying those fees? BTC has structural issues long-term.

[Theoak*]

If you look at the charts, Dogecoin outperformed BTC over the past 3 and 5-year periods. So a Shitcoin outperformed your precious Bitcoin for 5 years!

Interesting video by Charles Hoskinson. When BTC was released, Satoshi owned 100% of the hashing power. And has about 5% of the BTC supply. Yeah yeah, he's dead or won't ever move or sell those coins.

IIR, 3 pools dominate the BTC mining landscape. How decentralized is that - really? And what happens eventually when mining profits are miniscule? Why would miners stick around to secure the BTC network? Who's paying those fees? BTC has structural issues long-term.

Cry harder shitcoiner, almost crying as hard as Charles hoskinson with the news Cardano is being labelled  a security. Grown man in control of a "shitcoin" screaming and crying online. Yeah, that's the sort of shitcoin/company I want to invest in.

Weather you like it or not Btc is "precious", scarce and desirable. Don't convince me of your shitcoinery, start convincing countries who are adopting it. If you want your shitcoin to flourish and pump then plead your case with the powers that are bring it to the forefront.

Start with Argentina, El Salvador you're  too late. Eth and other shitcoins  are classified securities there.

BTW, what's going on with Eth? That was set to flip btc, I mean with all these changes surely they'd get one right  that would catapult their price way past 100k? I'm sure in time I'll  be proven wrong and many countries will adopt it .


You must have a hard time reading, I've addressed this. Btc mining pools are composed of many individual miners that come and go. They aren't in control of the hashrate, it's miners from all over the world. Miners dont control the network. Seems pretty decentrilised to me. The cost factor to initiate a 51% attack would send a country bankrupt  and we would see it coming from a mile away.

What happens to Eth when it hits 10-20-30k? How many people can afford to be validators with 32 Eth? It's almost as if the more Eth grows the more centralised it becomes to those with wealth. Sound familiar?

Why are you talking  about profits and no more btc mined? That's 100+ years from now when you and I are long dead and the financial system will be vastly different than the one today. So, who cares?

[Mayday]

Paid USD21 in gas fees this morning to do a shitty transaction on ETH.

4yrs have passed, nowhere near ATH frenzy and it’s already shown how fucked a network it is.

I side with gib on digital gold BTC over a network that still can’t fix traffic/fees.

 Vitalickmyballs in 4yrs has achieved dumping 400m+ on people for ‘runway’ yet jack shit has actually made it useable cost wise.


Re BTC Be wary of that DXY……  we are close to 42k and the DXY is right at a support level, if it breaks down then we will rally hard.

[obsidian]

Paid USD21 in gas fees this morning to do a shitty transaction on ETH.

4yrs have passed, nowhere near ATH frenzy and it’s already shown how fucked a network it is.

I side with gib on digital gold BTC over a network that still can’t fix traffic/fees.

 Vitalickmyballs in 4yrs has achieved dumping 400m+ on people for ‘runway’ yet jack shit has actually made it useable cost wise.


Re BTC Be wary of that DXY……  we are close to 42k and the DXY is right at a support level, if it breaks down then we will rally hard.

Thanks for helping to burn ETH! I checked a while ago and the 1 hour deflation was -1%. Now its around -.78%. Since the Merge it's been -0.198%. It will be interesting to see how much it deflates in a real bull market.

But why are you doing shitty transactions to pay $21 in fees? I've never paid that much for an ETH transaction. And could you not have used an L2 for the transaction? I would not do a high-dollar transaction on a Layer 2, but smaller transactions? Sure!

[obsidian]

Cry harder shitcoiner, almost crying as hard as Charles hoskinson with the news Cardano is being labelled  a security. Grown man in control of a "shitcoin" screaming and crying online. Yeah, that's the sort of shitcoin/company I want to invest in.

Weather you like it or not Btc is "precious", scarce and desirable. Don't convince me of your shitcoinery, start convincing countries who are adopting it. If you want your shitcoin to flourish and pump then plead your case with the powers that are bring it to the forefront.

Start with Argentina, El Salvador you're  too late. Eth and other shitcoins  are classified securities there.

BTW, what's going on with Eth? That was set to flip btc, I mean with all these changes surely they'd get one right  that would catapult their price way past 100k? I'm sure in time I'll  be proven wrong and many countries will adopt it .


You must have a hard time reading, I've addressed this. Btc mining pools are composed of many individual miners that come and go. They aren't in control of the hashrate, it's miners from all over the world. Miners dont control the network. Seems pretty decentrilised to me. The cost factor to initiate a 51% attack would send a country bankrupt  and we would see it coming from a mile away.

What happens to Eth when it hits 10-20-30k? How many people can afford to be validators with 32 Eth? It's almost as if the more Eth grows the more centralised it becomes to those with wealth. Sound familiar?

Why are you talking  about profits and no more btc mined? That's 100+ years from now when you and I are long dead and the financial system will be vastly different than the one today. So, who cares?

Give me a break. Bitcoin was developed because of government overreach and FIAT devaluation. Now BTC MaxiPADS are championing the SEC to go after competing projects. Do you want to know why someone like Michael Saylor is doing this? Because the fucker wants to pump his own bags. He reckons altcoins are stealing gains from Bitcoin. He'd rather see all money flow into Bitcoin, and only Bitcoin. Not because he is a swell guy, or because Bitcoin is so amazing. It's because that's what he bought into and he can't jump to other projects without incurring a capital gains tax. He's committed to Bitcoin now 100%. So he is going to talk it up 100%.

After BTC halving in 2032, the block reward will be 0.78125 BTC. 4 years later, in 2036, it will be at 0.39 BTC. By 2048, the block reward will drop to 0.04882812 BTC. That's 24 years from now. If BTC is worth $1 million, the block reward would be worth $48.828.12 in 2048. Not sure how much electricity is required to mine one block, but this site claims: The average household electricity cost to mine 1 Bitcoin is $46,291.24, which is 35% higher than the average daily price of 1 BTC in July 2023 ($30,090.08)

https://cointracking.info/blog/bitcoin-halving/
https://www.coingecko.com/research/publications/bitcoin-mining-cost

Energy costs will probably go up significantly in the next 24 years. It will be interesting to see how much it would cost to mine 1 Bitcoin block in 2048, when the reward will be a payment of 0.04882812 BTC. Perhaps Bitcoin is $10 million by then? Who knows. But it does make you think about how sustainable the Bitcoin POW model will be even well before the last fraction of a BTC is mined. And this will become an issue much sooner than 100 years from now.

Regarding ETH Staking:

You can stake ETH on Lido, Coinbase, Binance, etc. with less than 32 ETH. Yes, it is risky on an exchange. Life is risky. When I was mining ETH via POW, I burned through two outlets. But they were in metal boxes and the circuits were also in conduits. So nothing burned down. But my point is, that everything has a risk attached to it. Risk takers are the ones that have the potential to make or lose money more so than someone who is only content with a 9-5 job. That's just the way it works in life.

Even though liquid staking exists for smaller players, there are plans to upgrade staking to promote even more decentralization.

https://crypto.news/vitalik-buterin-unveils-major-overhaul-of-ethereum-staking-to-enhance-decentralization/

I mined on many pools. I also bought hashing power on NiceHash and redirected the hash power to my Ethereum miner address. The NiceHash power was lumped in with my own personal miners, only it was much bigger. For reference, with around 40 high powered GPUs, you would have a hash rate of close to 1.5 Gh/s. With NiceHash, I had 80 Gh/s at my disposal, or more. The hash power was purchased with Bitcoin. The more hash power you requested, the faster your BTC deposit was depleted. I also had my GPUs mine for NiceHash, In this case, the roles are reversed and other customers purchased hash power and my miners worked for those customers. NiceHash paid me in BTC. The point is, NiceHash could redirect all that hash power as needed. Even though it was a pool, they could control where all the collective hash rate went.

From ChatGPT:

In a decentralized and trustless system like Bitcoin, mining pools operate based on the principle of following the rules of the Bitcoin protocol. The hashrate of a mining pool is the combined computational power of all the miners within that pool. While mining pools can't directly redirect the hashrate of individual miners without their consent, the pool itself can make decisions on how to allocate its collective hashrate.

Mining pools typically allow miners to connect their mining hardware to the pool's mining server, and they work together to solve cryptographic puzzles and validate transactions. The pool's operator can influence the distribution of work among miners, but this is usually in accordance with the principles of fair and transparent mining.

However, if a mining pool were to act maliciously or against the best interests of the Bitcoin network, it could potentially engage in activities that redirect or concentrate the hashrate in a way that is harmful to the network's security. This could include conducting a 51% attack, where a single entity or a coalition of miners controls more than 50% of the network's total hashrate, potentially allowing them to censor transactions or double-spend coins.

It's important to note that such actions would likely be detrimental to the long-term value and integrity of Bitcoin, as the decentralized nature of the network is a key feature that contributes to its security and resilience.

In practice, reputable mining pools are incentivized to act in the best interest of the Bitcoin network to maintain the trust of miners and users. Miners also have the option to choose which pool they want to join, and they can switch to a different pool if they disagree with the pool operator's policies or behavior.

[gib]

Give me a break. Bitcoin was developed because of government overreach and FIAT devaluation. Now BTC MaxiPADS are championing the SEC to go after competing projects. Do you want to know why someone like Michael Saylor is doing this? Because the fucker wants to pump his own bags. He reckons altcoins are stealing gains from Bitcoin. He'd rather see all money flow into Bitcoin, and only Bitcoin.

Obsidian - I believe I explained to you earlier, there is not really any "alt" to Bitcoin in terms of Bitcoin's function of universal money and a universal decentralized store of value. Indeed the use of the term "alt" is misnomer insofar as it suggests there are alternatives, similar to Bitcoin, for this purpose. It of course is very appealing to alt-losers / idiots and fools / gamblers / suckers etc, to believe that they can get "something as good as Bitcoin" (or even "better than Bitcoin"), for a cheaper price. We all know this is a load of nonsense. United in an agreed universal store of value we thrive, divided and diluted we fall - a very basic economic concept. You can devote all the effort you like to promote shitcoins - ultimately you will fail. You would be far better off aligning your efforts with promoting the adoption of Bitcoin, and thriving from the ongoing adoption of a long term trend.

Most of the so-called "alts" are actually, if anything, alternatives to a shareholding in listed companies (albeit companies which are very risky, and typically outright scams with zero prospect of long term success).  They are shares, represented by "tokens", in ventures/projects, which have not been registered securities, despite US securities law requiring this to be done.

The US stock market has thrived over the decades because of regulation and oversight providing investor protection and certainty, resulting in the attraction of investor capital from all around the world. Unregistered securities primarily benefit the issuer at huge risk to any investor. So it is quite right that for public offerings to US investors, companies seeking investor funds should comply with the law.

[Mayday]

Thanks for helping to burn ETH! I checked a while ago and the 1 hour deflation was -1%. Now its around -.78%. Since the Merge it's been -0.198%. It will be interesting to see how much it deflates in a real bull market.

But why are you doing shitty transactions to pay $21 in fees? I've never paid that much for an ETH transaction. And could you not have used an L2 for the transaction? I would not do a high-dollar transaction on a Layer 2, but smaller transactions? Sure!

I used ETH to purchase degenerate POS coins. Or is ETH a network for the rich only?

BTC I still believe fits with digital gold.

ETH I have no idea what it’s supposed to be. You can’t transact on it due to fees therefore, what is it supposed to do?

[gib]

Why ETH is centralized garbage:

https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2023/10/06/ethereum-has-become-more-centralized-since-the-merge-and-shanghai-upgrades-jpmorgan/

[obsidian]

Why ETH is centralized garbage:

https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2023/10/06/ethereum-has-become-more-centralized-since-the-merge-and-shanghai-upgrades-jpmorgan/

Way to convince people to join the BTC bandwagon by calling legitimate projects garbage. Wow! That precious MaxiPAD is wearing a Bitcoin shirt lol! Not even going to watch it. If ETH was garbage, why does it have the most developers working on it? Why would Blackrock file an ETH Spot ETF?

Bitcoin Maxis are extremely shortsighted and cringy with their total devotion to Bitcoin and only Bitcoin. The world's a big place and there's plenty of room for other projects. Bitcoin is unsuitable for doing things that Ethereum or Solana can and will do and would have to be rebuilt from the ground up. Eventually, Bitcoin's POW model will become an issue, once future halving cycles dwindles the block rewards down to fractions of a BTC. And I would I think as soon as 24 years from now, if not sooner.

[obsidian]

I used ETH to purchase degenerate POS coins. Or is ETH a network for the rich only?

BTC I still believe fits with digital gold.

ETH I have no idea what it’s supposed to be. You can’t transact on it due to fees therefore, what is it supposed to do?

False. Learn about L2s.

https://l2fees.info/

[obsidian]

Obsidian - I believe I explained to you earlier, there is not really any "alt" to Bitcoin in terms of Bitcoin's function of universal money and a universal decentralized store of value. Indeed the use of the term "alt" is misnomer insofar as it suggests there are alternatives, similar to Bitcoin, for this purpose. It of course is very appealing to alt-losers / idiots and fools / gamblers / suckers etc, to believe that they can get "something as good as Bitcoin" (or even "better than Bitcoin"), for a cheaper price. We all know this is a load of nonsense. United in an agreed universal store of value we thrive, divided and diluted we fall - a very basic economic concept. You can devote all the effort you like to promote shitcoins - ultimately you will fail. You would be far better off aligning your efforts with promoting the adoption of Bitcoin, and thriving from the ongoing adoption of a long term trend.

Most of the so-called "alts" are actually, if anything, alternatives to a shareholding in listed companies (albeit companies which are very risky, and typically outright scams with zero prospect of long term success).  They are shares, represented by "tokens", in ventures/projects, which have not been registered securities, despite US securities law requiring this to be done.

The US stock market has thrived over the decades because of regulation and oversight providing investor protection and certainty, resulting in the attraction of investor capital from all around the world. Unregistered securities primarily benefit the issuer at huge risk to any investor. So it is quite right that for public offerings to US investors, companies seeking investor funds should comply with the law.

GIB, I think Bitcoin is a sound investment. But I don't agree that it is the only investment and nothing else is an option.

You've heard of the Kennedy Shoeshine Boy story.

https://www.pitzlfinancial.com/blog/ode-shoeshine-boy#:~:text=In%201929%2C%20at%20the%20height,of%20his%20favorite%20stock%20picks.

"In 1929, at the height of an economic boom in America, Joseph Kennedy Sr. (father of JFK) was working as a stockbroker on Wall Street. As the story goes, Joseph was walking around when he decided to sit down for a shoeshine. While polishing his shoes, the young worker gave Joseph some of his favorite stock picks. When Joseph heard the shoeshine boy giving out stock tips, he figured the party was about to end, and it was time to get out of the market. Joseph proceeded to exit his positions in the market and bought short positions that bet on the market going down.

Shortly after that, the stock market entered a free fall. On Monday, October 28, 1929, the market dropped about 13%. The next day it fell another 12%. These became better known as Black Monday and Black Tuesday, and ushered the United States into The Great Depression."

There's a saying that you should buy something when nobody is talking about it and sell when everyone talks about it. Most crypto influencers are only promoting Bitcoin. The average Joe on the street only knows about Bitcoin. And that's where they are missing out on getting into other crypto projects that will most likely result in bigger gains. Yes, you're still early if you buy Bitcoin now. And even more so for Ethereum, Solana, and a few others.

It's likely that Ethereum will outperform Bitcoin in a bull market. And Solana will outperform Ethereum. Bitcoin has a larger market cap and requires more money to flow into the project to move the price. Solana has a smaller market cap and already dumped hard after the FTX fiasco. But it has a thriving community / network effect, is fast (albeit more centralized and prone to shutdowns), and has institutional interest. It's more risky than Bitcoin, but with risk comes the chance of a bigger reward. I currently don't own any Solana but I might look into getting some in 2024.

Ethereum has a really interesting tokenomics right now. We have not yet seen how deflationary it will become in a true bull market. Its inflation has been lower than Bitcoin since the Merge. Long-term Bitcoin's finite supply gives it an edge because it is still unknown what Ethereum's supply will be in the future. Some might argue that lower fees will reduce the amount of ETH burned. Then again, if more transactions occur, it would make up for the lack of ETH burning. What's the use case for ETH L2s If ETH gas fees are lowered significantly in future upgrades? See below...

https://medium.com/blockchain-biz/will-ethereum-2-0-render-existing-layer-2-solutions-obsolete-143c9f98330c

Can Ethereum 2.0 and Layer 2 Solutions Co-Exist?
Let’s take a moment to reflect on the purpose of the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade and existing Layer 2 solutions built on the Ethereum network. At their core, each of these are focused on trying to solve the same issue — scalability.

Layer 2 solutions were built first primarily to solve for the bottlenecks occurring on Ethereum’s base layer. However, once Ethereum 2.0 is in motion, what purpose will Layer 2s serve if the base layer they were built to scale is now exponentially more efficient itself? Will Layer 2s become obsolete as a result?

To answer this question, it is helpful to reflect on Ethereum’s vision, which is to bring Ethereum into the mainstream and serve all of humanity. This is a grand vision and one that requires scaling for a future that contemplates much more than 4% of the total population owning crypto. Even if the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade is able to significantly expand the network’s throughput, it is still questionable whether it would be able to support a future world with billions of potential daily crypto users without becoming congested.

The relationship between Ethereum 2.0 and its existing Layer 2 solutions is therefore likely to be symbiotic. This implies a world with different scaling solutions working in harmony, allowing for an exponential effect on future transaction speeds and throughput. It is these combined effects, and not one or the other, that Ethereum is planning for in order to achieve its vision.

[Theoak*]

GIB, I think Bitcoin is a sound investment. But I don't agree that it is the only investment and nothing else is an option.

Risk is everything in investing, of course there are assets that will outperform Bitcoin but it’s impossible to know which

It’s like saying the returns of powerball can beat a Vanguard index fund. It’s true but irresponsible to suggest as a strategy.

You can cherry pick numerous examples from many asset classes over many timeframes to make various points. ABC shitcoin might outperform it over any 1, 2, or 3 year period looking forward.

I would challenge you to find a single asset of any type that has better risk/reward characteristics looking forward

[gib]

Agree, and @Theoak, I would you are really mixing up asset classes when comparing Bitcoin with other investment schemes you call "crypto".

Bitcoin is a cryptographic currency. Its role is to act as the world's digital medium of exchange and store of value.

As I have mentioned earlier, the other assets you have mentioned, are more akin to a shareholding in unlisted companies (albeit companies which are very risky, and typically outright scams with zero prospect of long term success).  They are shares, represented by "tokens", in ventures/projects, which have not been registered securities, despite US securities law requiring this to be done. They are most certainly not pure currencies, although they do have tokens representing an ownership an a venture, which can be traded. (The main probem here, is that almost all such ventures are absolute BS, or trade at a value no where close to the market cap of the tokens. FileCoin might be a rare exception here, but even there, FileCoin, whist an amazing venture, is certainly not "cheap" by traditional VC valuation standards, although it is one of the most "legit" ventures I have analyzed, represented by electronically tradable tokens).

That is not to say that an investment in art, or gold, or shares or property or unregistered securities or lottery tickets may not be successful. They might well be, especially if you happen to "get lucky". Of all these assets, those where an investor really knows what they are doing, and can add value with their analysis, include property and stocks, less so in gold, even less so in art, and once you get into the "crypto / lottery tickets" you really are kidding yourself if you think you know what you are doing in terms of having any hope of trying to calculate and justify your "investment" on fundamental value (although possibly at a very macro level you can do OK - ie like now, knowing that BTC's rise will float all boats due to scam victims still not understanding how alt promoters schill BTC value into empty alt promises).

The sly part of the alt scam, is convincing innocent suckers that the tokens being issued are somehow an "alternative" to Bitcoin. They are not. Happens every cycle, and every cycle, these "investors" end up eventually getting brutally raped. In terms of BTC's purpose and goals, we are as GetBiggers all much much better off aligning our focus to BTC. United we stand, united we thrive.

[gib]

Just blasted through 43K...

Reminds me of the good old days at the beginning of the prior BTC cycle back in 2019, during the 3K price moving up to 5K price phase (which ultimately peaked at 64K). Only this time, 4 years later in the next cycle, (we have an added zero), 30K moving up to 50K phase. Time will tell if we peak at 640K...

I am by no means a fan of charts, but the chart does look like a God-candle is possibly forming.