Just say NO to Crypto
Buyer beware. Many of you may not remember the 1980’s recession. In that instance there were many people investing in high interest rate deposits that were not insured by the Federal Government. Many people lost a lot of money. Then there was the recession of 2007 where home mortgages were invested in mortgage backed securities and derivatives that failed. Many people lost their homes and home values plummeted. In both instances, the Federal Government had to intervene and spend unprecedented amounts along with unleashing unprecedented fiscal, monetary, and regulatory policies to bring the country into a recovery.
If it is too good to be true, it is.
Cryptocurrency is being advertised quite frequently. During the biggest ad fest of the year, the Super Bowl LVI, crypto was advertised at a “cost up to $7 million per 30-second spot.”
Larry David of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm had a long but amusing ad. LeBron James talked to his younger self about crypto. Movie star Matt Damon had a crypto add in the past month or so, very cool until you found out what he was selling.
Luckily there are those like Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler and music artist J. Balvin warning viewers against celebrity crypto endorsements.
“On Feb. 13, you’re going to hear some of the biggest names telling you to get into crypto,” Butler said. “But they don’t know you or your finances. Only you do.”
“The star-studded ads were the latest example of the entertainment industry’s growing interest in everything blockchain.”
“Critics have balked at the spectacle of the rich and famous encouraging viewers to gamble on a risky and speculative market that has been plagued by grifters. Skeptics say the cryptocurrency and NFT craze has primarily benefited wealthy early adopters — the true believers — who could afford to get in early.”
“My problem is, when 98% of these NFTs will go bust in the next couple of years, it will just crush a lot of the small investors,” said Anindya Ghose, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business. “If you’re Matt Damon or Paris Hilton, you can afford to lose 5% of the net worth. But for many small retail investors, five or 10% of your net worth is a nontrivial loss.”
The origin of Bitcoin (the first cryptocurrrency) was to create a payment system that doesn’t involve a bank, a government, or whatever. When you manage your money through a U.S. bank or credit union it is insured by the Federal Government, i.e. FDIC and NCUA. When you invest in cryptocurrency it is like putting you money in the stock market without any history to know how it flows. When cryptocurrency ebbs you lose your money, i.e. you lose your purchase of cryptocurrency.
If it is too good to be true, it is.
Then there is the energy issue. As written in the New York Times, “Bitcoin Uses More Electricity Than Many Countries..” … “The Bitcoin network uses about the same amount of electricity as Washington State does yearly. …
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“The process of creating Bitcoin (one of many cryptocurrencies) to spend or trade consumes around 91 terawatt-hours of electricity annually, more than is used by Finland, a nation of about 5.5 million.” And, all of that energy usage produces basically nothing.
Cryptocurrency mining (creation) is also loud. A family near Jonesborough, TN, “can no longer hear the peaceful sound of the Nolichucky River in the mornings and evenings. It’s drowned out by the incessant hum made by dozens of fans cooling computer equipment at a bitcoin [cryptocurrency] mine more than a mile from their rural home.”
Blockchain is “The technology at the heart of virtual currencies, e.g. cryptocurrency. A Blockchain is a database for transaction data. As each transaction occurs, it is recorded as a “block” of data. Those transactions show the movement of an asset that can be tangible (a product) or intangible (intellectual). The data block can record the information of your choice: who, what, when, where, how much and even the condition — such as the temperature of a food shipment. The data cannot be modified. A new “block” must be added if something needs to be modified
Non-fungible tokens or NFTs are digital representations of assets (e.g. photos, videos, audio, art work, ) stored in a database (blockchain) with unique identification codes and metadata that distinguish them from each other. Unlike cryptocurrencies, they cannot be traded or exchanged at equivalency. This differs from fungible tokens like cryptocurrencies, which are identical to each other and, therefore, can be used as a medium for commercial transactions. There is an issue with counterfeiting NFTs since there is no central authority to certify a certain NFT is the original, unique or able to be moved cross platform. Ownership of an NFT does not inherently grant copyright or intellectual property rights to the digital asset a token represents, thus the original owner is allowed to create more NFTs of the same work..
If it is too good to be true, it is.