I had a rough weekend visiting two old buddies who happen to both be very sick and nearing the end. Friends gathered in the city where we all met in college, which happened to also be where they both live. I ran into some people who I haven't seen for years.
At some point I got into a conversation with one of them. Due to a disability, he has not worked in years. He is now retirement age and trying to get by in the US on social security and a small retirement account. He is politically left of center.
He was ranting about Trump and the way he is destroying his investments, when he said "I'll tell you one thing I will never sell, and that's bitcoin. "
I couldn't believe it. I played dumb and asked why. He asked me if I noticed how bitcoin hadn't gotten crushed that badly lately. He explained that he heard RFK jr say that he had most of his wealth in bitcoin. I feigned complete ignorance, curious to hear what he was thinking.
He explained that RFK jr and the whole Trump team are planning to prop "crypto" up and get rich off of it while they destroy the economy. They will all make a killing in bitcoin.
I nodded. I asked him at what price he had bought bitcoin. He told me 78 dollars. I gasped. I asked how many years ago he had bought it. He said only 6 months ago. I said I thought it was like $90 k. He then says, "no, the Fidelity ETF is at like $82 now." He then explained to me that nobody buys actual bitcoin. You just buy the ETF. It's safer and easier.
There was no time for me to dig into the conversation. I realized that there must be a lot of people with a skewed idea of bitcoin out there, buying up microstrategy and ETFs. It was depressing, but maybe this is part of that "sly, roundabout way."
