The New Polity guys have some good points, but I think they miss the mark when it comes to investing.
Been a while since I listened to that episode; but if I remember correctly, their arguments were grotesquely misunderstanding dividend payments. The shipping industry as an example regularly pays out dividends based on the profitability of the company in a given quarter.
Regarding Bitcoin and speculation in general,
If the entire action consists of buying low with the hope that the price will be higher later, sure, that would be purely speculative for monetary gain.
Yet in many industries futures contracts and thus speculation provide an important function.
A cattle rancher could have a large fluctuation in the sale price of the finished cattle and this fluctuation could make it nearly impossible to plan future production numbers.
Herein lies the value of speculation and futures markets. An “investor” can agree to lock in a price for the rancher, taking on the price volatility and risk, with the hope of being rewarded with a higher price in the future. The same can be said for the grocery store or meat market buying at a set price before the actual market price becomes known.
None of these individual steps are immoral, and each provides a valuable market driver which facilitates commerce at large.
For Bitcoin specifically, certain hodlers could similarly be said to be taking on the risk and price volatility in hope of future gains.
In that light, the New Polity guys’ argument that risk must be taken on to justify gains is still relevant and would thus make Bitcoin speculation itself moral.
I would push beyond that argument and harken to the earlier comments about the soundness of money and the value that brings to society.
By hodling in parallel with fostering a Bitcoin circular enonomy, one can easily see the advantages of promoting sound money and having the commerce needed to support Bitcoin as this sound money and currency.
PentaSophia / Penta Sophia
npub18s…4svu2
2024-05-15 18:17:10
in reply to nevent1q…0ua4
Author Public Key
npub18sxgm6fg7ejgvz9pmvqn5eqhhcrcssl6pu6d6zzgl9460gutn3wqy4svu2Published at
2024-05-15 18:17:10Event JSON
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"content": "The New Polity guys have some good points, but I think they miss the mark when it comes to investing.\nBeen a while since I listened to that episode; but if I remember correctly, their arguments were grotesquely misunderstanding dividend payments. The shipping industry as an example regularly pays out dividends based on the profitability of the company in a given quarter.\n\nRegarding Bitcoin and speculation in general,\nIf the entire action consists of buying low with the hope that the price will be higher later, sure, that would be purely speculative for monetary gain.\nYet in many industries futures contracts and thus speculation provide an important function.\nA cattle rancher could have a large fluctuation in the sale price of the finished cattle and this fluctuation could make it nearly impossible to plan future production numbers.\nHerein lies the value of speculation and futures markets. An “investor” can agree to lock in a price for the rancher, taking on the price volatility and risk, with the hope of being rewarded with a higher price in the future. The same can be said for the grocery store or meat market buying at a set price before the actual market price becomes known.\nNone of these individual steps are immoral, and each provides a valuable market driver which facilitates commerce at large.\n\nFor Bitcoin specifically, certain hodlers could similarly be said to be taking on the risk and price volatility in hope of future gains.\nIn that light, the New Polity guys’ argument that risk must be taken on to justify gains is still relevant and would thus make Bitcoin speculation itself moral.\n\nI would push beyond that argument and harken to the earlier comments about the soundness of money and the value that brings to society.\nBy hodling in parallel with fostering a Bitcoin circular enonomy, one can easily see the advantages of promoting sound money and having the commerce needed to support Bitcoin as this sound money and currency.",
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