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Comment by llamataboot | Hacker News Reader

There will be a lot of blood on the floor though. The rise of Bitcoin as a speculative asset (and its inevitable crash) will do some damage for sure.

I'm bullish on blockchain technologies over the next decade or two, but we're gonna have to clean up for awhile.

My hope is that blockchain enthusiasts are taking their profits and using them to invest in building something better.

(There's also a lot to be said here about the hucksterism, shilling, get-rich-quick schemes, and an almost-fanatical belief in the power of a pure free market inherent in the BTC community from the beginning, but that's best left to another post)

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I totally agree. I'm confident a crypto coin crash is coming to eclipse any we've had before. The combination of volume, transactions/second limits, and weak exchange infrastructure; when people want to get out things are going to get ugly.

Whenever someone says they're sure of a crash, I assume their true feeling is isn't confidence of a crash but frustration at having missed out. Have you shorted Bitcoin? That would help you to profit from your belief.

Sure I could short Bitcoin, but it cost me nothing to speculate about a crash. I also make the assumption when I see the FOMO argument that the person has a stake in Bitcoin/Crypto Currency. Perhaps both of our assumptions are wrong?

Once the bubble burst then no one argues that they were in a bubble.

something something about markets being able to stay irrational longer than an investor can stay solvent

Also agree. It seems many people are convinced that others will just keep holding forever. Eventually there's less money flowing in and people will realize they aren't getting rich. When people aren't making more money they will start selling.

Worse, the people buying in now aren't true believers. They are "investing" because they think it is easy money. These folks represent a larger percentage of the market cap and are also least likely to have confidence in bitcoin for it's utility. They also stand to lose the most because their buy in point was so much higher. (people who bought in at say $1000, are just losing profits)

A panic sell will happen at some point.

The cult-like “hodl” culture in the Bitcoin community exacerbating the already limited supply of Bitcoins (if it were a stock, it would be a “low-float” stock, which results in increased vol) has served as the perfect breeding ground for a bubble.

As Bitcoin becomes extremely mainstream, those who hodl Bitcoin with religious fervor are increasingly becoming a smaller minority. Eventually it’ll reach critical mass and there will be enough disloyal Bitcoin ownership to cause a panic at the first significant sign of selling.

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