So my general understanding of crypto folks is based on not having a trust of the fed's ability to print dollars, and seeking a better alternative. It looks here like there'a a strong chance that tether is doing exactly that.... printing tethers. Where I think the crypto folks are failing is in assuming crypto is the only alternative to combat inflation. You can come up with a good basket of commodities to invest in alternatively. Coinbase is doing it right, it wants to be regulated. A large portion of the crypto community wants things to be completely unregulated........ and that simply isn't going to work. We don't have to throw all our money into a completely unregulated industry, because history has shown us plenty of times on the internet that the fraudsters will come out in force. If you read that tweet from the bitfinex founder regarding the ponzi scheme its obvious. I lived it in the poker community where half the sites ended up with some sort of fraud scheme involved in it and that was barely millions of dollars. This is billions (if not trillions). Whenever there's money involved, the fraudsters will come. There have to be regulations. As long as tether has a volume that's equal to the entire industry....... it's eventually going to crash and crash hard. If you're up big, cash out now while you can and come back in after the carnage. It might not be as sexy as it's been lately, but ya can probably make a solid 20% in boring ole gold as the crash happens.
I'm not entirely sure what you are suggesting above. I presume you're point is why should you gamble anything on this space at all. I guess that's your own risk tolerance call. To me the answer has been different and has worked out, frankly, incredibly well. Some of that is dumb luck as we got into the space at a good time and have seen it pay off many, many fold already. And it has also not been without a lot of lumps and lessons about managing risk and taking profits along the way. The initial question was would you invest in Apple or invest in crypto. And that answer remains unchanged for me because Apple does not represent an asymmetric bet. Crypto over the long term very much remains an asymmetric bet. Decentralized ledger technology to me holds incredible promise for asymmetric returns across many different industries. There are other spaces that do as well.
As for some of your points:
1 - The portion of crypto folks who don't want regulation. Why are the feelings of one portion of the crypto industry relevant to anyone's decision to invest or not invest in the space? They don't control what governments do, nor do they dictate how other market actors behave. If your objection is you wouldn't want to be associated with them, ok. You don't have to associate with them. Crypto represents a fraction of my family's overall investment holdings. We hold stocks, tax free bonds, real estate, precious metals and crypto. Does that make me and my wife "crypto folk". I find that funny to even consider. We're invested in the space as part of a broader investment mix. But that's just our personal risk tolerance and the decision certainly wasn't grounded in we'd hate to be labeled as "crypto folk".
2 - We can't have no regulation. Agreed 100%. And crypto is not "unregulated". Go back and parse through that list of developments in the space I provided. The very reason so many institutions are now engaging in the space is precisely because the infrastructure for the things they need to feel comfortable in the space has ramped up massively over the last few years. And they also know more regulation is on the way. NVM you are literally looking at the actions of the NYAG and by implication saying they have completely missed the boat and have no clue what they are allowing to continue. Could that be the case? I guess. But what if you are wrong or have got the longer term implications of being right wrong?
3 - Half of the online poker world was a scam and where ever there is money there will be scams. OK. Not sure why that experience translates into the entire crypto marketplace. More to the point, how does that remove the overall asymmetric bet the space represents? And what about the litany of projects that aren't scams. Coinbase (who lets you trade USDT by the way), Kraken (who has a banking license), AAVE (who has a UK banking license), etc, etc, etc.
How'd I play the space if I were willing to dip in. Depending on my age I'd put anywhere from 2-10% of my net worth in the space (an amount I could afford to lose 50-80% of and not jeopardize my retirement) and manage risk as I go. I learned the hard way a few times you take profits on the way up and on the way down. But that's just my own risk tolerance. Others may vary. You seem to have zero risk tolerance for the space. So be it.
