Bitcoin Was the Top Performing Currency of 2015 | Hacker News Reader

Bitcoin Was the Top Performing Currency of 2015

money.visualcapitalist.com

23 pointsmagoghm9 comments

> Bitcoin Was the Top Performing Currency of 2015

The functions of a currency are as a store of value, a unit of account, and a medium of exchange. So let's see, is this article saying that:

1) Bitcoin had the most stable value among currencies? Oh...no. Bitcoin's value was quite unstable.

2) Bitcoin was the most widely used currency? Oh...no again. Bitcoin is not widely used, and it's difficult to compare items using Bitcoin prices.

3) Bitcoin was the easiest to exchange for goods and services? Oh...still no. Bitcoin is not accepted by many merchants and service providers.

Apparently there's a new 4th role for a currency: Ability to let lazy journalists write misleading headlines. I suppose Bitcoin might actually be the best at that.

If you could pay taxes in Bitcoin then it would actually be currency, otherwise, it's just another commodity. You can live in the middle of the woods and barter and/or only use Bitcoin, but without USD you're still getting your stuff taken away and going to prison for tax evasion. Barter is taxable after all, and trading commodities is taxed via capital gains.

What does "top performing currency" mean? Best for consumers? Best for investors? Best for economies?

It's value vs. other currencies.

Which is a really braindead metric for comparing bitcoin to anything.

You mean exchange rate.

Best for garbage infographics and blogspam.

looks like it's each currency's percentage increase/decrease in value from last year.

Red was the highest performing color in Vegas in 2015.

Bitcoin's historical volatility (3-10x the currencies listed) makes for an unfair comparison to other currencies--as a currency's volatility increases, so does the probability that it will be an outlier, especially over an extended period (like a year).

Not to mention that currency appreciation is questionably positive and does not warrant the label "top performing."

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