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

in bitcoin •  7 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/

Follow me: @jrcornel

Authors get paid when people like you upvote their post.
If you enjoyed what you read here, create your account today and start earning FREE STEEM!
Sort Order:  

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.

Your profile picture is not uploaded. If you want to upload profile picture then see my post https://steemit.com/steemit/@tusharvasave/how-to-set-and-upload-profile-picture-and-cover-image-on-steemit

resteem this post and follow, upvote me to reach more people to this post. This post is helpful for new steemit member. Thanks.

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.

@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!

They said the same thing about Apple for years, even after Steve came back. I think alot of this is just spreading FUD, as now the big boys finally see the value in Cryptocurrency and want to talk it down so they can get in cheap.

Remember when Facebook was at $32? and they talked it down to $17? Don't fall for it friends!

What did The Who say? "Won't get fooled again!"


source

nice post i agree 100 percent. bitcoin is here to stay my friend

To the moon baby!

Great report. It's very interesting to note that so often what is a bubble is ignored or not presented as a bubble (fiat money, real estate, student loans, subprime car loans), but what is NOT a bubble is presented as a bubble (cryptocurrencies).

I tend to believe that cryptos are currently far undervalued, and that their prices will continue to increase as this value is "discovered."

For the first few years of bitcoin's existence, it was a long slow climb to a semi-respectable price. Since then, it has continued to "grow" for the sole reason that there is room for growth – in terms of adoption and in terms of establishment of infrastructure.

Since the price is now high, relative to where it was a year ago, people jump to the conclusion that it's a bubble. By that measure, there are definitely worse bubbles than cryptos. Stocks, bonds, and more are the real bubbles.

Also, when bubbles burst, they crash and create havoc, at least for that particular asset. Bitcoin and other cryptos have corrected numerous times, but they have never crashed.

The reason? They have never been in a bubble. Same holds true now.

Built-in power of Bitcoin (BTC) is that it is deflationary in the long term. There will never be enough BTC for the whole population. Though the current mode is inflationary (small increase with mining), the demand due to network effect and publicity outpaces any selling pressure. Moreover, HODLers are are not selling either due to FEAR-of-seling-out (FOSO). Though most of innovations are taking place in start-ups (ICOs), altcoins (steem) and blockchain tech, BTC is taking the credit being the flagship and leader.

People afraid of what they don't know. Especially things that challenge their common beliefs, jobs and their stable lives. Nice article. Thanks for sharing.

Upvoted and resteemed!

@jrcornel I like reading your optimism. But I don't think you can compare Amazon with Bitcoin. Although, I do think it has potential huge growth and that's why our post this week talks about Bitcoin hitting $25,000 dollars. You might like to have a read.

How can Macy's CEO think Amazon's threat be overrated 😂 Large companies that had many years of history are being wiped out be the e-commerce giant. Bitcoin is going to continue to climb the more media attention it receives. The only issue I see in the future is possible regulation by government agencies. But of course, other currencies will come to fix issues. ICOs are another issue though. I believe they're a bubble

promo_banner.png

Hello & Cheers!! I'm a content detection and information bot. You are receiving this reply because a short link or links have been detected in your post/comment. The purpose of this message is to inform your readers and yourself about the use of and dangers of short links.

To the readers of the post: Short links are provided by url shortening services. The short links they provide can be useful in some cases. Generally their use is benign. But as with all useful tools there are dangers. Short links can be used to hide all sorts of things. Quite frequently they are used to hide referral links for instance. While not dangerous this can be deceptive. They can also be used to hide dangerous links such as links to phishing sites, sites loaded with malware, scam sites, etc. You should always be extremely cautious before clicking on one. If you don't know and trust the poster don't click. Even if you do you should still be cautious and wary of any site you are sent to. It's always better to visit the site directly and not through a short link.

To the author of the post: While short links may be useful on some sites they are not needed on steemit. You can use markdown to format your links such as this link to steemit. It's as simple as [steemit](https://steemit.com) Unlike short links this allows the reader to see where they are going by simply hovering over the link before they click on it.

This message was created by a bot. It is part of the ongoing fight against spam and phishing attacks on steemit. If you did not use short links in your post and feel you have received this message in error you can contact @fubar-bdhr on discord or @fubar.bdhr on steemit chat to report the issue.
  ·  7 years ago Reveal Comment

I like your illustration and examples @jrcornel. Well, I must say bitcoin business is a very good business and it will keep going higher. I like your perspective though.

Bitcoin all the way. Even the internet had harsh skeptics, some even saying that there would be no use for it and that nobody would let a computer do the job of a person. Oh how the world has changed.

As an aside, I foresee a funny situation of where Bitcoin becomes so mainstream that Amazon sees it used as commonly as fiat, making the whole bubble analogy into one of the dual bubbles that overlap.

Overlap but don't pop on collision. Instead, forming a larger, more resilient bubble?! 🤔😂

Well, I guess the naysayers have a merit at the limit (what happens when the last Bitcoin will be mined?), but as consensus has it - it is way to premature to call it a bubble

@jrcornel Hello again . I've been following you for a long time and I'm excited about everything. I take care to write upvote, resteem and comments on their subjects. The other day he took down the power and even got down. Now I'll read it, comment, comment, and upvote every time you get a comment from me. Thank you my dear friend @jrcornel

How do you see my take on Steemit as a truly innovative platform compared to Amazon as a bubble?

valuable post Thanks @jrcornel

hello friend, I hope you're well I would like to join a group where you can help me, give me some advice or if your friends can help me by supporting me! greetings and God willing you can help me!

  ·  7 years ago Reveal Comment

Banks cannot supress Bitcoin and cryptos. Block chain is superior technology.

Hilarious! My husband and I have definitely been asked the same thing, if there' s anything else we talk about. For him it's crypto in general, bitcoin and steem of course, but also whatever coins are hot at the moment, for me it's steemit and steem- it's so bad that I've learned to ask what the other person is up to or into at the moment first :)

Bubble fear is to strong for some reason, yet BTC dont care ? BTC keep rising.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general are still in their infancy. The market cap is at 173 billion. This is a technological innovation that I believe will change currency and take over fiat for good. It comes at a very interesting time, where companies are racing to bring the internet to the half of the world that does not have it. As this happens, it opens the entire worlds currency to the potential to move to digital.

That opens the question of what is the currencies potential. Well in my opinion, it would be that of the world market cap, which would put it at 70 trillion dollars. That means that we are currently still in the innovator phase of the technology adaptation. This is the term assigned to technologies below a 2.58% adoption rate.

As we move forward along the technology adoption curve, we will pass through several additional phases, the early adopters phase, the early majority phase and the late majority phase. During these phases, the rate of growth increases drastically as we move into the early adoption phase and then goes almost exponentially into the early majority phase, and then tails off a little as we progress into the middle of the late majority phase. What this means is that the biggest growth for the cryptocurrency market is still well ahead of us. We should see the prices of cryptocurrency continue upward for a long long time as the market cap continues to increase and the growth rate continues to increase.

I have written several articles on this, check them out if you are interested: CryptoAmbassador Steemit Posts

Totally true!
I think bitcoin is a religion because for the first time in history you actually OWN your wealth and you are completely free to spend it as you like with no limitations and third party control, this is exciting and as soon as you get involved you can’t stop thinking about how genious and revolutionary this invention is and want everyone to benefit from it.

Sky is the limit for bitcoin but step by step.

Superb article JR...touches on so many crucial points and arguments..thanks for posting this

La foto de portada esta genial

A pretty amazing bubble that never pops & only grows stronger with time. Indestructibubble! They'll see!

The amazing thing to me is how many naysayers not only no longer become naysayers, but they become full fledged believers. I don't think there is any kind of religion out there with that kind of conversion rate...

Yep & now they can't shut their fuc#%ing mouth about it lol.

This is gonna be bigger than Amazon. This is revolutionary.

That's completely true, and I didn't buy any AMZN exactly because of that. G'damnit naysayers!

Pleasurable read. Those old Amazon headlines were dope! What a time to be alive. lol.

Well said! Love the enthusiasm. People will always say bitcoin is a bubble. However the more the general public takes it seriously the less bubble articles come out and I think that that is the most telling sign. I don't think Bitcoin is going anywhere for a long time. Bitcoin or bust (well, within reason lol)!

Amazon isn't/wasn't a bubble, but it got big during the dotcom bubble and people(idiots) assumed it would go the same way as the rest of the companies did.

1 bitcoin will be worth millions in some years. But I don't think at that point anyone will want to trade it back for fiat money.

That is a very interesting point...

No, people would be spending santhoshi's or bits.

Nice post ,thanks for the enlighteness

This post is giving me amazon fomo.

lovely info...

for me that does not have btc it does not become a big oersoalan. only if I have a few bc. I have been able to give life to people around me @jrcornel

Wow ... love the research about Amazon !!! Great stuff sir ..

Congratulations @jrcornel! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You published a post every day of the week

Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here

If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

By upvoting this notification, you can help all Steemit users. Learn how here!

A new SMT has been created in your name: BubbleCoin care of SteemIt Inc. (STINC)

good and informative post thank you for sharing

Yep, let the bubble grow bigger and bigger, till it encompasses everything else!

Now imagine Amazon and Bitcoin coming together. That's that's the real explosion right there. And its's just a matter of time.

Great read! Thanks.

Love the analogy with religion. This basically describes me down to a tee. Well done, really enjoyed reading your work!

Bitcoin is indeed a religion, as you point out. Nobody can deny its presence and the way it shall rule in the near future

Bitcoin is indeed a religion, as you point out. Nobody can deny its presence and the way it shall rule in the near future

I don't know about it b being a religion per say but it is indeed habitable and will survive.

Thanks for posting... I didn't know Cuban changed his mind on bitcoin but I tend to agree with his new line of thinking on supply and demand. However, he is also not factoring the blockchain technology behind it, which is the game changer.

Great post! Follow me

@jrcornel hello again my familiar. I am delighted and excited to make you share. I have not control it yet, but I know it is a excellent and accomplished subject. I have already sent it (upvote, resteem). Now I'm going to control it. good day my dear friend.

Amazon Doesn't just sell books anymore, They adapted. Sears could have been what amazon is today, if they had adapted their catalog business to the internet. Can Bitcoin?.

thanks @jrcornel, sharing informations about cryptocurrency, bitcoin go high and high no one can stop it.hope for the best.
steem on++

they're just bashing bitcoin for a chance to lower the price because they're desperate to buy some.

Here is so much truth! When I first heeard of Bitcoin, I said that it was pointless and that it has no potential. But now, I blame myself for that ignorant way of thinking. Bitcoin and crypto itself is far away from a bubble!

On top of all the negativity around bitcoin and you knowing the potential; it is hard to convince family and friends that this is the future of purchasing things off the internet.

Calling Bitcoin a bubble is their only weapon in a war they cannot hope to win, just like retailers, and Amazon.

I know a guy who has publicly been calling Amazon a bubble since $400....he freely admits it but says "why should I change my view now"?

Um because you are wrong.

As for BTC, I see a trillion dollar market cap in 3-4 years. There is going to be trillions in Wall Street money rolling in and BTC is going to receive most of it. When Wall Street gets onto something, it funds it in a huge way.

There will be a bubble in bitcoin one day, just not any day soon.

nice Bitcoin with bubble

This is so true and I've heard people who say they know nothing of Crypto, yet have nothing but bad things to say about it, lol! I am excited about it and am happy to be apart of the few who do as well. :-)

Yeah, I also think the bubble is overrated as many do not understand what they are up against. The only reason for bitcoin to fail is that the whole world would stop using cryptocurrency and that would be somewhat near impossible given that how many businesses has involved in it.

Since I know bitcoin since 2012 have always said that it is a bubble, but I think it is not, this coin wins the price thanks to the demand for the currency that grows more as the days go by, more and more people want to enter the world of the cryptocurrency in particular bitcoin. it is not known how much the value of this currency may be in the future but everything seems to indicate that it will continue to rise.

Lol bring on that bubble. You are so right about the fact that once you get hung up on crypto all you can talk about is crypto and bitcoin. My husband recently got into it and has gotten everyone, including me, hung up on it lol. I dont think its a bubble i think its the future and everyone will realize it soon enough just like M.Cuban.

As the world changes we find times its hard to adopt. This is exactly that time, BTC and block chain is still new and the world needs time to adopt. As far as people, everything is a bubble that they can’t touch.

The reason why people continues being skeptical is that bitcoin in reality is challenging many things in the current world.

The reason why people continues being skeptical is that bitcoin in reality is challenging many things in the current world.

The reason why people continues being skeptical is that bitcoin in reality is challenging many things in the current world. It is still a big step for many.

There will always be negative people. But what they fail to realize is just how undervalued Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market as a whole is right now.

Some very useful insight for a lot of people in this post.

A lot of 'green' investors/traders will be finding it hard to cope with all the media storm about crypto being a bubble.

Sometimes it is best to stand back, not come to any quick conclusions based on what others are saying and have a look at the big picture.

Exiting things are still coming in the crypto space!

Amazon is a bubble, and Bitcoin is a bubble, and soon will work together, then it will be a super bubble.

If ya'll want a strong investment plan visit https://bitpetite.com/?aff=kipparinga (bitpetite) Its a bittumbler that privatizes btc transactions using other currencies. You as an investor get paid dividends from fees they charge people to use their service.

You can invest your BTC, ETH, LTC and or XMR into bitpetite for either;
6 weeks - 4.5% daily and 1 % on weekends. Total return - 147% (47%, 100% being your original investment)
9 weeks - 3.6% daily 1% on weekends. Total return - 180% (80%, 100% being your original investment)

They recently updated their server to allow almost instantaneous withdrawals - you get paid hourly through dividends and can withdraw on demand. (within the minimum amount which is less than 5 dollars)

I would deem it low - medium risk as of now -

Good luck and happy investing :)

I'm not convinced that cryptocurrency bubbles are the same as traditional stock market bubbles.

Traditional stocks are linked to financial performance. Amazon stock is based on what people want to under/over pay for owning shares. Amazon doesn't sink because it's growth has always kept in-line with wall street expectations.

I see cryptocurrencies as individual economies. They are simply as large or small as how much volume goes in and out. The price is not tied to financial statements.

There is no such thing as a bad quarter for bitcoin. If the price drops it simply means that people don't value owning it at that time.

One of the worse things that can happen to a coin is that people don't think it's useful and no one wants to mine it.

I'm probably not explaining my thoughts very well but a cryptocurrency's price won't drop because all of the sudden everyone sees that it is overvalued (unless some critical news drops). In other words no one can tell me if a cryptocurrency is overvalued or undervalued.

The current price is exactly what it is supposed to be at the current time. For this reason, I don't think people should compare the cryptocurrency market with traditional stock market. In fact I think it is very dangerous to compare them as people will think that the two should perform very much in the same way/direction.

Loading...