Bitcoin no more worth buying and one Twitter thread explains it so well

Bitcoin is cool nowadays. Owing Bitcoin is even cooler. People who until a month ago hadn't heard of Bitcoin now hoping to buy it. It's surging in value, with each Bitcoin supposedly worth Rs 11 lakh nowadays. Many are saying its value will only go up, while others are calling the Bitcoin bull run the biggest bubble in the history of mankind. Chances are that people deeming it bubble are right. A simple Twitter thread explained it so well on Thursday, highlighting how silly it is to invest in Bitcoins.

Although all currencies have imagined values, the legal tender still holds some worth. You can't eat a Rs 100 note but you can buy food with it, and your ability to buy food with Rs 100 is guaranteed by the Indian government laws. No shopkeeper can refuse it. On the other hand, Bitcoin that is a virtual currency, has no legal force behind it. Most governments across the world neither deem it illegal nor legal. It is like Monopoly money.

So what is this thread that explains the ridiculousness of Bitcoins.  The thread was started by Ted, an engineer at Google. He apparently has some Bitcoins that he thought he should cash-out given the great value for Bitcoins right now. But when he tried to exchange his Bitcoins for actual money, he ended up running into a system that was frustrating. In other words, it is very very difficult to liquidate Bitcoins. You should check out the whole thread. But here is a summary: "I'm trying to sell some of my Bitcoin, and the whole process is so terrible, it's almost hilarious," Ted tweeted and then went on to explain the horrendous way in which one has to sell his Bitcoins for liquidity. The process apparently takes several days.

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The impression, from Ted's experience, seems to be that the whole Bitcoin system has been designed to keep Bitcoins from leaving the system. In other words, it is all fine until you are buying or exchanging Bitcoins. But as soon as you try to get some real value from it by trying to liquidate it into actual legal money, you run into hurdles.

I'm trying to sell some of my Bitcoin, and the whole process is so terrible, it's almost hilarious.

- Ted (@TedOnPrivacy) December 12, 2017

-- Bitcoin, virtual or real, is not a legal tender.

-- Unlike gold, which is tangible and allows for liquidity, the Bitcoin doesn't exist in a way.

-- There are security issues with Bitcoins. It's exists in virtual world and can vanish due to something as trivial as a bug, particularly because it has no legal sanctioning.

-- An handful of people own Bitcoin overwhelmingly. There is a report that around 1000 people own 40 per cent of all Bitcoins. And these people are artificially keeping bull run of Bitcoins going by not selling them.

-- And finally, the value of Bitcoin is probably going to crash as soon as someone with sizable number of coins decides to liquidate. Although, when this may happen and under what circumstances, it is not clear.