The Bitcoin Blaze

Ryan Heshmati

November 22, 2024

With Bitcoin dancing around $100,000, there is a renewed jolt of enthusiasm for the cryptocurrency. However, many critics question what value cryptocurrencies like Bitcoins actually bring. Many veteran investors have criticized Bitcoin, and if the view that it holds no real value proves correct, many retail investors could get burned.

The late billionaire investor Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s partner, was a strong opponent of Bitcoin. In a CNBCinterview, he firmly asserted, “The people who oppose my position [on cryptocurrency] are idiots.” He went on to say of cryptocurrency, “It’s worthless, it’s no good, it’s crazy.” Munger is one of many who criticize cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, also in an interview with CNBC, acknowledged valuable use cases for blockchain technology but equated Bitcoin, which serves no real purpose, to a “pet rock.”

Proponents of the likes of Bitcoin argue that the value proposition for Bitcoin is both as a store of value and as a currency. However, Bitcoin is not backed by anything other than the hope that scarcity from a cap on the number of Bitcoin gives it value. However, it is difficult to accept as a store of value when there is no clear value that Bitcoin itself delivers apart from the best market price available to a holder attempting to sell. Further, Bitcoin is not a particularly efficient currency, either. Not only does its value fluctuate much more rapidly than traditionally relied-upon currencies like the US dollar, but transacting with Bitcoin also incurs fees in many cases when many US dollar transactions do not.

If Bitcoin is not a good store of value or currency, why buy it? The only viable reason that remains is hope in the greater fool theory. Essentially, while buying Bitcoin near $100,000 may be foolish, as long as a greater fool comes along to pay you $200,000, it does not matter. Make no mistake, this is no investment. Unlike the purchase of stock, ownership in an entity with operations that create economic value, buying a cryptocurrency on the belief that someone else will pay more for it despite having no value behind it is gambling.

So long as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies continue rising, those with crypto ownership will likely ignore criticisms. Unfortunately, it will only be if the lights go out when, ironically, these cryptocurrency investors will be forced to see the problems with Bitcoin and altcoins like it.