Here’s Why I Know Bitcoin and Ethereum Are In a Bubble, Built On Top of Outright Scams
ZeroHedge.com
Most people aren’t familiar with the cryptocurrency market. They merely see the price of Bitcoins trending higher and say ‘hey, that’s really cool. I should buy some for my clients.’
Let me explain to you why you’re a fucking moron for doing so.
The price of Bitcoins and Ethereum are totally dependent upon the ICO market. Oh, you aren’t in the least familiar with this wild west “Initial Coin Offering” market?
Let me explain.
Instead of going through the rigorous process of raising money via traditional means, the IPO or VC market, start ups and now raising hundreds of millions, maybe billions (hard to say, it’s not tracked efficiently) — by floating their own tokens aka ‘currencies’ to crypto lovers. Unlike in the VC world or IPO, the buyers of the tokens do not possess voting rights or even own a piece of the company — just the essence of the company.
Sometimes the tokens could be used to purchase whatever that company sells. If it was iBankCoin, you could take the Flycoins to buy Exodus subscriptions or After Hours with the Trading Addict. You could then trade those tokens to people who wanted the service, or on an exchange, where people bid up the price, with reckless abandon, to valuations that make the dot com bubble look conservative.
There are companies backed by NOTHING worth hundreds of millions. When I say ‘NOTHING’, please do not misconstrue that with your typical start up trying to build a business. No, these NOTHING companies are literally jokes, without business models. They are just shitposting and raising money for the fun of it.
Dogecoin, a currency backed by likeness of Shiba Inu dog, an internet meme (nothing more) — valued at $194 million.
How prolific is this ICO market?
A company named Tezos just raised over $200 million in a record offering. Doing a cursory google search will reveal that the ICO market is much bigger than is being reported. Companies are raising money in Bitcoins and Ethereum, which is the reason why those two currencies, especially the latter, are so strong. Each offering provides fresh demand for them. It is, without question, the biggest bubble since the housing collapse of 2008.
Presently, there are over 800 currencies valued at over $82 billion.
Here we have a company that issued a token called ‘Useless Etherum token‘ valued at $42,000 — down from a high of $75k.
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In short, when you buy Bitcoin or Ethereum, you are buying into a digital currency that is predicated upon an ICO market that is totally unregulated, backed by only the white papers they publish, ‘peer reviewed’ on Github and Reddit — beset upon by countless hucksters and future American Greed stars whose only interest is to get rich off the hype.
If the SEC ever decides to step in, light’s out.