I wish I never bought Bitcoin

> This is a major flaw in how many bitcoiners imagine post-apocalyptic scenarios. They assume that when the USD and society collapses they'll be able to do and buy anything because bitcoin survived hyperinflation. It might resist inflation, but it'll be futile if the populace turns against them, or bitcoin.

This is a pretty good point. Many assume that the collapse of the USD will neatly transition us to BTC without any real evidence. Not to mention all of the alleged BTC price manipulation that ran up the price last time.

The more I think about it, the harder it is to envision the public accepting a new currency that doesn’t even have paper. In such a scenario, a BTC crash would probably be the end of it.

> Slowly I became like Gollum. Which is ironic because I love The Lord of the Rings for the exact opposite reasons: calling for adventure, exploration, to love your friends, and to live in harmony with nature.

...

> When the lock-down was in full effect it dawned on me: bitcoin is indeed utterly useless when things go haywire. What's the point of wealth if you can't do anything with it, won't do anything with it, or have no one to share it with.

During his journey home, Bilbo gifts a portion of his treasure to the King of the Wood Elves. This generosity is juxtaposed with Thorin, who

  A) Roped his 12 buddies and Bilbo into a speculative venture (with ZERO plan to realistically defeat Smaug), 
  B) obsessed over the Arkenstone to an unhealthy degree, 
  C) refused to share the spoils with Lake Town or the Wood Elves, and
  D) locked himself away in the mountain. 

The moral of Bilbo's gesture was to demonstrate that wealth should be shared. Rather than hoarded in "Erebor, the Lonely Mountain".

The author sounds just as fanatic as the Bitcoin Maximalists. If either side wants to convince me, they need to start off by sounding calm and reasonable, not emotional.

If it stressed him to the point where he went to the doctor thinking he had cancer, I think that's his problem, not Bitcoin's problem. He could have just as easily obsessed about something else other than Bitcoin.

I don't want to 'blame the victim', but it sounds like he's not taking responsibility for his own actions. No one forced him to buy Bitcoin.

I won’t invest in Bitcoin for one reason:

No one knows who created it!

What if, despite its open source code, its mysterious creator or creators hid a back door or some other nefarious design in it?

What if all the computer experts thus far haven’t found it?

Probable? After this many years, not really. But it’s possible, and I’m far too skittish an investor to take that chance.

Index funds, CDs, and munis are old hat, boring, and basic... and that’s the way I like it.

So an ad hominem attack is legit argument nowadays. Got it.

>Invest in yourself and others you believe in. A financial instrument that brings out the worst in people—greed—won't change the world for the better

If we're going to get into bad philosphy, this is pretty much the creme de la creme of bad philosophies.. that so-called "greed" is bad. That self-interest is somehow bad, that we should just all invest in other people and the world will be a better place. We'll all sing in perfect harmony. I don't buy it.

The world is full of bad actors, incompetency and smart people making bad decisions. I can't really dictate how you should behave, but I can always act in my best interest. If that means getting rich, I'm going to have plenty of competition.

Did I miss it or did the author not say how much he made on his trades? I think bitcoin is nonsense but without knowing how much he made, this reads like "do as I say, not as I do"...