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Comment by helsinkiandrew | Hacker News Reader

> and you think Bitcoin will go to zero AFTER its available to every investor in the US through every finance app and is being sold by giant hedge funds?

The reasoning is (I'm not saying I believe this will happen just that it is an interesting thought experiment) that if people quit the shady exchanges and start trading Bitcoin ETF in substantial numbers it could begin to starve the crypto network of transaction fees and the exchanges and other crypto companies of customers.

If Bitcoin ETFs become the main way bitcoin is traded then purchasing bitcoin is just for speculation and not an 'investment in crypto and the future of finance', in that case it's much easier for the bubble to burst.

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Why would ETFs become a main way? Bitcoin is still a currency, can I trade, holdl or spend my ETFs?

> Why would ETFs become a main way?

About 70% of the S&P 500 stocks are held by mutual funds or ETFs rather than individually held.

If you trade stocks and would like to buy bitcoin (as an investment) are you going to do it with an ETF through your broker where the money is protected fairly well by law and insurance, or manually and make sure you don't loose it, or through an unregulated crypto exchange?

Use of Bitcoin as a currency (for buying things) has dropped from 57% in 2019 to 32% in 2023, the rest is speculation and inter exchange transfers

Protecting whom at what fee and cost privacy? I would still go with the 'unregulated exchanges' I guess.

I get your point but without bitcoin being an actual real thing the whole ETF thing won't last either.

where's the stat about btc being used to buy things from?

By definition you can do all 3. Spend by selling convert to fiat and then buy whatever you want. "Holdl"(sic) just say long despite what sanity or logic says. Trade buy/sell like anything else.

I can sell the art on my wall and spend the earned money. That doesn't make art a currency or spendable. Trading and holding sure sounds possible :)

it sure does. wanna launder money? sell your art -- sounds like it's a currency to me ;-)

>it could begin to starve the crypto network of transaction fees and the exchanges and other crypto companies of customers.

"Nobody Goes There Anymore, It’s Too Crowded"

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