Have no fear, naysayers called Amazon "a bubble" for its entire history as well!

in #bitcoin7 years ago

For every dollar that Bitcoin inches higher, the "Bubble" crowd grows louder and louder.

However, it should give some solace to the Bitcoin bulls that another revolutionary idea/company was also called a bubble, for just about its entire existence.

Take a look at some of the old headlines for Amazon dating all the way back to 1997:

Most of the headlines were not favorable.

If fact, for years, Amazon was called things like:

"Amazon.con" 

"Amazon.bomb"

As you can see, many analysts and investors in the technology sector did not look fondly upon the Amazon business model dating back two decades ago all the way to today.

Now, Amazon is the largest electronic commerce conglomerate on the planet, growing it's market cap and market share seemingly by the week.

Bubble indeed! (sarcasm font on)

Well, if it is a bubble, it still hasn't popped yet after close to 20 years.

The same kinds of things have been said about Bitcoin, basically since it stormed onto the scene back in 2009.

Mostly coming from a lack of understanding as well as a lack of a traditional valuation method, ie Bitcoin not having any intrinsic value.

This was underscored by Mark Cuban, who for years has been a major Bitcon critic. Almost to the extent that Jamie Dimon has been.

Now, something very interesting has happened, Mark Cuban has become a Bitcoin investor and is now preaching that others should own some as well, though he cautions against putting more than 10% of your investing portfolio in it.

After first bashing Bitcoin for having no intrinsic value Cuban now has this to say on the topic:

"It is interesting because there are a lot of assets which their value is just based on supply and demand. Most stocks, there is no intrinsic value because you have no true ownership rights and no voting rights. You just have the ability to buy and sell those stocks. Bitcoin is the same thing. Its value is based on supply and demand. I have bought some through an ETN based on a Swedish exchange."

It is interesting that Cuban has done a complete 180 from his views just a couple months ago. 

Not only some stocks, but gold, silver, and most other physical assets have no intrinsic value either. It's funny how Cuban is just noticing that now.

Though, I guess Cuban changing his views is really not that surprising when you really think about it.

This kind of "flip-flopping" is pretty common with Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. 

Check out this comment by Josh Brown written on his blog a few days ago:

"One really important point (from my meeting) was that every one of the four panelists told a story about how when they were first approached with the idea of Bitcoin, they laughed at it. All of them are converts now. In fact, someone at the meeting went on to say that there is not a single person I've ever come across who has done a deep dive in and didn't come away bullish."

That is exactly how I felt as well!

When I first heard about Bitcoin back in 2010, I laughed at it. I thought to myself, why would anyone buy this thing?! It's clearly going to go away. 

Except it didn't. 

It has now died roughly 27 times since that time and risen to new highs afterwards each and every time.

Bitcoin is a religion.

Josh Brown further went on to underscore the conversion factor at play here:

"If you have ever read the book Sapiens, then you recognize that Bitcoin is a religion - a story we all tell each other and agree upon. Religion is the adoption curve we ought to be thinking about here. It's almost perfect - as soon as someone gets in, they tell everyone and go out evangelizing. Then their friends get in and they start evangelizing."

That is so true, but Josh didn't stop there...

"Bitcoin is like crossfit - the moment you get in you can't shut your f***ing mouth about it." 

That is hilarious and couldn't be more true!

I can't tell you how many times I have had friends and family members asking me if I ever talk about anything else besides Bitcoin, Steem, and cryptocurrency. 

By the way, the answer to that is a resounding, "No!" :)

To get back to the bubble rhetoric mentioned at the start of this post, I tend to look at it a lot more like George Soros does when he uttered these words back in 2009:

"When I see a bubble forming, I rush in to buy, adding fuel to the fire. That is not irrational."

If Bitcoin and cryptocurrency are in a bubble, and a bubble is what Amazon has been in for the last two decades, I say bring on the bubble!

Stay informed my friends.

Sources:

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/tech-sector-called-amazon-a-bubble-since-1997-same-is-happening-with-bitcoin/

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/19/josh-brown-goes-down-the-bitcoin-rabbit-hole-commentary.html

Image Sources:

https://pixabay.com/en/soap-bubble-colorful-ball-826018/

https://twitter.com/BrentBeshore

https://pixabay.com/en/cross-middle-ages-rubin-religion-587267/

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Bubble no, monopoly yes

I'm a late entrant into Bitcoin primarily because awaerness about it was very low in our country, but ever since I started reading about it and understood what it stood for - freedom from the traditional bonds of currency and banking, it struck a chord immediately, the rising value of bitcoin over the years has only shown that it's m oving to that phase where the naysayers are slowly moving into believers.

To be honest, bitcoin is far less a bubble than most fiat currencies that can be printed by any govt by the truckloads - the limited supply itself shows gains some level of respect. Secondly you simply can't even paper currency anymore because paper currency after all is only as worthy as the government backs their promise of accepting it as legal tender - look at what happened in India last year - overnight t he country's currency notes were declared invalid on the govt whim and people were left suffering for months after beign left with currency for months. With Bitcoin no govt can pull such an underhand trick.

Bitcoin serves fundamental purposes that fiat currency can't serve - removing need for trust and that makes it more than just a bubble. The ones who call it so, will be doing that while still filling their pockets with bitcoins on the side like Jamie Dimon

What ist the fundamental purposes for Bitcoin and other crypthos?
Many people speak about a bubble. Maybe it is a bubble. But why?

For many people it is still a big step to take, because bitcoin can change many structures which people are used to.

It's hard to explain right, I mean the two forks this late in the year could be driving up the price. Who knows, but my money is on BTC, ETH and DASH to be the survivors when the crypto market adjusts itself in the next several years. Platform wise, ETH is more stable, but BTC was the first.

Call me a purveyor of FUD if you like, but Bitcoin has yet to face the wrath of federal and state taxing agencies of the US. If it survives that, then it's Bitcoin to the moon.

Waiting for the day when Amazon will announce that it will start accepting Bitcoin. Once that happens the adoption of Bitcoin will skyrocket.

Entry and Exit are two pain points in cryptocurrency for me as of now. Amazon accepting the Bitcoin payments will solve the problem of exit for me. Whenever i feel that bitcoin is overpriced and might correct I will purchase something on Amazon.

And whenever I feel that Bitcoin is in a Dip I would buy back Bitcoin. If Amazon also opens an exchange nothing like it :P

I don't expect Amazon to ever accept Bitcoin. Why would they? They are soooo big, they could just create their own coin.

Seriously, could you imagine the ICO for AmazonCoin? It would open at 1000, and pass Bitcoin within a week.

Yep yep. The moment when a large, established, respected platform like amazon starts accepting bitcoin is the moment public consensus about bitcoin switches from "that dark web sketchy internet money" to a genuine form of payment.

Newegg and Zappos (i think it was) taking BTC for payment is a start. But we'll need to be seeing more and more use cases with larger retailers if bitcoin is have a chance of coming close to the market cap of Amazon. I'm defintely hopeful that retailers will start moving in this direction, but before we get there, the SEC and tax accountants of the world need to hash out how to account for taxes on BTC transactions!

You can already buy amazon products with bitcoin. Have a look at purse.io

Whhaat?! I'll defintely look into this!

But I think it'll be important for there to be a big round bitcoin button, blatantly placed on the amazon checkout page for people to begin trusting cryptocurrencies more. :)

Regardless, thanks for the link!

I agree. I'm sure it will happen eventually. Could by Amazon Coin though..

Exactly! As soon as a company as large as Amazon accept bitcoin it'll be amazing. I've only just joined the crypto space but am thinking about the best way to cash out/use crypto on a regualr basis in the future. I'm hoping cards like Tenx will be successful for that.

Also at the moment bitcoin transfer fees are pretty crazy, especially if you're making small purchases. Can you (or anyone else) tell me why bitcoin is around 4x as expensive to trasfer compared to say Litecoin?

Haha, it would be fun to see two bubbles merging together!!

Haha well put!

I think there will either be one of two things in the near future:

A blockchain-powered Amazon competitor with its own cryptocurrency
OR
Amazon entering the crypto-payment space

In option 1) Amazon can still enter the space to crush the new competitor or it could choose to acquire a blockchain-enabled competitor

Or eBay. Honestly, with Bitcoin where it is now, I can't imagine what would happen if there were more places to spend it directly. Of course eBay wouldn't want that to happen with PayPal, but time will tell.

I like your thinking. Hope it steers this direction.

Yes I agree. I tweeted Jeff Bezos just for fun and ask when they would be taking Bitcoin like Overstock.com does.

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I think it's s matter of time before they do ? What do u think ?

Bitcoin or Ethereum

Yeah, but I think they will wait. I mean ETH is better because of stability. But DASH, is king due to being almost untraceable.

I do not only hope, but believe that it will follow the same path as Amazon did. BTC will be big(ger) and even BIGGER.

I think so as well. The potential is staggering.

Down with the ghetto conspiracy trash!! Enjoy the Flag!

@cleverbot I have always had good service from Amazon.

Are you a bot? I think the bot is just other people typing.

I can't imagine how Amazon would accept Bitcoin. Bitcoin price is a moving target. For that matter, why won't they accept a share of AAPL or MSFT as payment.

Well stated as always. Lets see how good you are at predictions. When will market value of BTC surpass market cap of Amazon?

thanks sharing this post.

Bring on the bubble!