"Should I buy bitcoin?"
A simple Google search on the not so simple issue generates over 271,000 results. The English counterpart gives over 21 million.
The answers are many and different:
There are three things to know before doing so.
Countless guides on how to do it.
A warning not to do so.
But should I? Or shouldn't I?
We have constantly asked several experts about this in our bitcoin theme.
Here you get the answers.
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No, no and no
Of course, a good answer depends on the bitcoin course, and it has tended to slightly wild mood swings.
Therefore, the answers must to a greater extent also be of a more basic nature.
According to Professor and head of the IT University's Department of Computer Science, Peter Sestoft, the race has been running.
"You can say that there is a rule of thumb that states that when your taxi driver starts talking about something as an investment, you know that the race is running. So no, I wouldn't recommend people. ”
Of course, there is always an opportunity to win money if you buy and sell at the right time, but Peter Sestoft believes that it is uncertain whether bitcoin survives on the long run.
"In five years, I think most of you will remember bitcoins for the technology behind (blockchain, ed.), And that it was the first of many cryptocurrencies, but I don't know if it will be worth it," Peter Sestoft, who predicts that bitcoin's gigantic energy consumption will be a "show stopper" for the cryptocurrency.
Be aware of the chance
Peter Sestoft's scepticism is shared by a senior advisor at the Department of Economics and Management at Aalborg University Lars Krull and two professors in economics at Aarhus University Bo Sandemann Rasmussen and Philipp Schröder.
Bitcoins are by nature too risky, they say.
"The bitcoin course will always be a kind of speculative bubble," believes Bo Sandemann Rasmussen, adding that "there is hardly a riskier financial asset than bitcoins."
"There are no fundamental conditions that can determine its long-term value," says Bo Sandemann Rasmussen.
"Today's course is in fact solely determined by the expectations for future courses," he adds.
That is to say, expectations for bitcoins value tomorrow, in a month or in a year, are the only things that govern the course, and therefore it is speculative.
This again does not mean that you cannot make money on bitcoin, but you just have to be aware that you run a great risk, so it is about being lucky and knowing the market dynamics.
Buy if you can afford it
Only professor of economics and IT and head of the European Blockchain Center at the IT University, Roman Beck, do not reject categorically that one should invest in bitcoins.
"Personally, I would invest in bitcoins if I had the money, but then I would also invest in other things," he says, adding:
"As with all other assets, you should not put all your eggs in one basket, and you should not buy when you think the market is overheated."
He adds, like Peter Sestoft, that there is a problem with bitcoin and its energy consumption, but, contrary to his colleague, he will not judge bitcoin for that reason:
"I still think that bitcoin will be used for major global transactions, while I would probably use another cryptocurrency that is not based on proof of work (the system that is responsible for the bitcoins large energy consumption, ed.) If I were to buy a coffee down the corner.
That is why Roman Beck also believes that you can just as well take the chance and throw some money after bitcoin - if you have enough.
"If you are young and can afford to spend some money, then I would buy some and wait ten years. Then we have to look at the time if you have done great business. "