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reidjs

Why’s it still so darn expensive then?

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Because [a rapidly diminishing number of] people still believe that they have value.

By "it" do you mean Bitcoin?

Because it is designed to be deflationary?

Because its (energy cost) overhead is still sky high and likely to remain reflected in prices?

Because it is the "brand name" market with whatever caché remains to that name reflecting in prices?

Because sunk costs of existing investors want to keep the price high for as long as possible?

Those are just a few of the more obvious reasons. Not that I think it's any one thing here, it's probably some admixture of the above and other reasons.

>Because its (energy cost) overhead is still sky high and likely to remain reflected in prices?

This is a huge fallacy.

How is it a fallacy? Do you have a source to cite? I can easily find a few:

https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/12/bitcoins-insane-...

Yes, it's down from the bubble peak in mining, but it is still a massive over-expenditure of energy per value. Right now, still, according to the Digiconomist stats above, ~15 average US homes can be powered for a day with the energy spent to make a single Bitcoin transaction block. That's a considerable amount of energy.

The fallacy is in the second part of your statement, that it's reflected in the prices.

The mining viability follows the price of bitcoin, not the other way around. The mining costs are in no way reflected in the costs of mining.

That’s a relative term, is like saying amazon is expensive st 1500 as opposed to 15 after did a 100:1 split. The point is no one knows how to price BitCoins and what to base the price on. At the current price point it could go up or down based on how happy people are with it, almost zero fundamentals to say what is worth.

> The point is no one knows how to price BitCoins and what to base the price on.

That's because bitcoins base price is a very round zero, and the only value associated with them was derived purely from speculation and prescribed prices used in money laundering operations.

Venture investment in Blockchain went up in 2018. The median deal size increased over $1.0mm and the number of deals is also up. [1] Once the ecosystem of complements matures, Bitcoin's utilization is expected to increase. [2] The price of Bitcoin is driven by speculation that utilization of Bitcoin creates value. [3]

[1] https://medium.com/@PanteraCapital/market-update-pantera-blo...

[2] Crossing the Chasm, 3rd Edition: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers. Paperback – January 28, 2014

[3] https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/091814/what-...

to add to this, adoption rate for cryptocurrency increased this year as well

https://www.investinblockchain.com/cryptocurrency-adoption-r...

The stats can be misleading, because I have 3 verified accounts. How many people expanded the number of accounts they hold to access more ICOs / tokens / P&D?

BTW, the reference states

"The study indicated user growth rates were higher in 2017 but continued on into 2018 at a rapid pace."

Private blockchain seems to be crossing the chasm at a much better place. Bitcoin has yet to offer something of value to the mass market. My money is pretty much digital already, and I'm not really down with my transactions being out in the public. Perhaps another crypto currency will meet the needs of the major market, though I have a hunch the current financial institutions will get there first.

I think Bitcoin would be a good fit for transferring value between large entities (governments, banks, etc.), where having public accountability would be especially valuable. Those entities could then exchange it with other lower-valued cryptocurrencies, fiat currencies, precious metals, seashells, etc. more suitable for day-to-day consumption by the general public.

Would you have your transactions out in public view?

Not necessarily, but I'm not a government or other large institution :)

There’s millions/billions in sunk costs embedded in them, in the form of electricity bills already paid by miners. But being sunk costs, they do not contribute to any intrinsic value on their own.

Compared to what?

Compared to a transaction at a bank, via PayPal, a credit card, or just about anything. Is there a more expensive (financial and environmental) way to make a transaction?

Actually useful things. Established currencies. A sack of beans

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