OK, this was really fucking stupid.
I used to respect Tim Harford at the FT a lot; he made economics sensible and fun back in the day. In recent years he's devolved into meaningless guttural sounds
Bitcoin is an even stranger case. It was designed to facilitate digital transactions without the need to rely on institutions such as banks, and to preserve the anonymity of users. But Bitcoin is cumbersome, expensive to use, generally relies on large intermediaries and is pseudonymous rather than anonymous, meaning that not even criminals are particularly happy with the cryptocurrency’s usefulness. It has failed to achieve any of its purported objectives, yet it has succeeded wonderfully at being an asset the price of which tends to go up.
This is unbelievably stupid, worthy of some Roger Ver ramblings. For fuck's sake! Blocks are sub-1sats/vbyte, it's been EASIER THAN EVER to transact or learn... but still, the ~2017 objections are alive and well.
Fuck.
Right.
Off.
Some pockets of finance now make no distinction between illusion and reality; everyone in those pockets is looking for social approval, and finding it; and what matters above all is not substance but glittering appearance
AND THEN YOU HIT ME WITH TULIPS?!
If anybody says tulips again, I will personally come to your house and CUT YOUR DICK OFF WITH A MEMPOOL FILTER. Jezus fucks
#785459
"What we can say about financial markets today is that, whether or not they are in a bubble, they keep flirting with the surreal."
No, sir, you are. Please retire