Bitcoin just passed $5,000

If you go back far enough, you didn't even need to download a specific mining software, just download the Bitcoin client at the time and you could generate bitcoin (or mine) using it. So crazy to think about now in hindsight. Back then you had to really try hard to find someone that would accept any amount of them.

and we all feel stupid we weren't doing it then

In the last year Bitcoin is up 7x while Ethereum is up 38x.

Ethereum isn't a store of value

Seems like you read too many articles, and not enough white papers.

Because people actually use bitcoin. It’s heavily used for transactions for gray market activities (its very popular for online gambling transactions).

There is a good reason; Bitcoin has a known supply and is a financial constant. To serve the ‘world’ the money supply in bitcoin has to increase in USD terms. Think of the market cap as the money supply of bitcoin in USD terms. In a simple model, one would expect the price to increase proportional to what it is at a given moment due to the rate of new people learning about it and passing on knowledge. On a long term trend an exponential model is a good proxy so far. Why is BTC going up and ETH not? This is purely mean reversion on the ETHBTC ratio. Look at momentum indicators on the ratio and the recent breach of the 200day after multiple lower bounces off it. ETH was up 50x at one point this year, you need to factor that in also.

Saying that Ethereum is strictly superior to Bitcoin is a very bold statement. I would certainly not invest based on that assumption.

First, Bitcoin is already as good as it will ever need to be to function as a practical store of value. Even without scaling, it can support enough transactions to effectively work this way. This can support price growth for a long time, and first-mover advantage is critically important here.

Second, Bitcoin development, as fraught as it is, isn't dead. If such changes come about as to make Bitcoin seem obsolete, there's still a good chance that Bitcoin would adopt those changes. Also consider that a solution for an effective 2-way swap would make protocol differences essentially moot.

Finally, I admire Vitalik and other Ethereum developers and think their musings about cryptocurrencies in general have advanced the field as a whole. However, I'm still skeptical that Ethereum, as envisioned by Vitalik, can be made to work through sheer force of engineering. It's stunning how far it's come, but it still faces very real problems. A successful move to proof of stake would be the first indication that it might happen.

Footnote: "consensus under one leader" is probably the most critical weakness for Ethereum right now. Not only for legal/state interventions with the DAO precedent, but as a single point of failure. I think it's fair to say that Satoshi left Bitcoin precisely because it needs to "stand on its own feet" if it's to be truly decentralized. In this way, I consider Bitcoin to be far more mature.

"There is no good reason that Bitcoin is still going up once Ethereum came on the scene. Transaction times, transaction cost, decentralization, future development work,"

BTC is not popular because it's a currency - though 'it can be a currency' and people like to think about it as such, that's just what gives it the veneer of 'utility' and therefore value.

'That it is technically a currency' is a necessary aspect of getting some kind of valuation - that's not what is driving the valuation.

BTC is popular because it's a speculative thing that has 'gone up' which creates a further dynamic of that, at least for some time.

It's really not used as a currency, there's no underpinning value, there's no 'ownership of anything' - and so there is no way to actually value BTC. It's the most purely speculative thing ever.

To compare Coins on their 'technical merit' misses the underlying premise of their valuation, which has nothing to do with technology, valuation or finance - and everything to do with mass psychology and memes.

'Some people are willing to pay $X for a number'.

That is the beginning and end of it's valuation at any given moment.

Bitcoin is the first, the biggest, the sanest, the nopremine, no tricks blockchain. Bitcoin has the biggest amount of brainpower behind it. Bitcoin has the biggest market cap, liquidity, and brand. Bitcoin is the best crypto for government resistance, and the victory over Bcash, and soon over segwit2x, shows the determination of the community to ability to fully utilize it all over the world and behind anonymization network like Tor etc. Bitcoin has its scalability vision ready (Lighting Networks). Bitcoin is the killer-feature of the blockchain, and the only reason blockchain makes any sense.

Ethereum is just a pump for people that think they've missed the boat on Bitcoin. That's why it grew up so quickly, and people are willing to throw so much money at whitepapers with nothing behind them. Ultimately, Bitcoin can do anything that Ethereum can - it's just a matter of time before it will suck the marketcap out of ETH, just like it did with many other cryptos.

The reason for the recent Bitcoin pump is most likely the upcoming fork. Everyone wants to hold, in hopes that the Bitcoin gold will rise like Bitcoin Cash did in the last fork - Although, I doubt it will

I also invest in Ethereum over Bitcoin, along with a few other cryptos. However, it is pretty awesome seeing the prices a coin can reach.

its considered actual (gov't approved) currency in Japan and South Korea... beyond that, I don't know.

"Intranet has real promise, but Is anyone buying domains on the Internet for anything other than speculation?"

Payment obfuscation (which is not inherent in the protocol, but how you use it).

International money transfers. I've personally met a few backpackers who use bitcoin ATMs in SE Asia in addition to the traditional banking system.

FWIW I suspect that these use cases are negligible compared to speculation.

Drugs and ransomware.

There are a ton of cryptocurrencies with practical real world use cases. Instant micro-payments is an interesting area where a more recent coin like IOTA could have application. Etherium smart contracts solve a lot of problems in the transfer of wealth. You can even get a credit card to spend your crypto if you want.

It's hard to find real numbers on this but it certainly seems like most of the money is coming from speculators. Of course Bitcoin is also used in actual sales transactions sometimes and in black markets etc but it's mostly speculation.

you mean you didn't marry her?

The price people are currently paying for it on exchanges [0], with > $1 Billion in volume over the past 24 hours.

[0] https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/#markets

It's hit a milestone.

You’re either right or wrong and your opinion is valid. Downvote isn’t justified IMO.

Things are worth what people are willing to pay for them.

Had you considered that your people are simply not “investment people” and that’s why you chose not to invest when you first heard of it?