The Power of HODL
ANALOGY:
You give me $100 for a gold coin. I keep the $100 cash AND hold the gold coin for you.
That $100 gold coin increases in value to $4000 in one month.
But I promised to give you back $1000 cash over the course of 3 months.
Now you are up $900 profit with your original investment back. And I will keep giving you cash slowly.
You are happy right?
If so, you might be a:
You have made $900 cash profit. That's 10 times your money. #1000% yo.
But you COULD HAVE MADE the entire $4000 if you just kept it yourself and did nothing.
So really you got ripped off $3000 because of the increase in value you didn't account for.
And then said 'thank you' because you got $900 more than you put in. Of your own money.
Technically, you are making profit.
But you are getting ripped off at the same time.
It's like a new class of Ponzi scam based upon the increased value of an additional medium of trade in the mix.
All you are concentrating on is the US dollars that you are getting back.
And you think you are making profit. You are making profit. IN USD!!
But you are loosing most of what you WOULD have made IN BITS if you hadn't "loaned" it out or given it away.
Portfolio up in USD.... DOWN in Satoshis.
You should not be happy.
HODL > than any platform guaranteeing a return at a constant rate in USD for lending out BTC.
That platform WILL be able to sustain itself as long as BTC keeps rising in value. People WILL make profits.
But unless I'm mistaken, they are loosing much more than what they Would Have gained by just HODLing right?
The name of the game in crypto is GAINING SATOSHIS. Those Satoshis will increase in value relative to all world currencies.
BitGrow and BitCoinsBrain and other HYIP Scams fail sooner than later because they paid you back in BTC.
So it can't be sustainable. Which is why they actually collapsed and are nowhere to be found now:
But if a platform pays you back in USD and you gave them BTC.... and they keep the majority of the rise in value.... then you just suckered yourself into a "scam".
But can you call it a "scam" if you're making profit while telling you up front they are giving you a constant return IN USD?!
Or are you just willingly giving the majority of your own profits away in exchange for them to dole out your own BTC profits in the form of USD?
Have to create a new word/ class of "ponzi" for this because there is another medium of exchange in the mix.
If BitConnect paid you back in BTC, it would qualify as a classic ponzi and HYIP, but applied to crypto. Which would fail sooner than later.
But there is a combination with the rise in value of BTC and return of investment in USD.
Which confuses people to the ILLUSION of profits. Or rather, a service is being claimed while taking the majority of the "interest"/ value earned from the BTC rising itself.
The agreement to dole you out a percentage of your own profits is not being violated. You literally agreed to get ripped off and give up what you WOULD have made if you had just HODLed.
It's like doing shady business with someone who doesn't know math that well. So they see profits and are happy. But really they are only getting a percentage of their own profits.
Guaranteeing a return IN THE SAME MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE at a constant rate = unsustainable ponzi scheme.
You give USD and they guarantee more USD back. = FAIL
You give BTC and they guarantee more BTC back . = FAIL
Literally will stop like a closed system engine with an empty tank of gasoline.
But BitConnect is like an Open System engine that relies on the entire financial structure to sustain.
You give BTC and they guarantee USD back. = YOU Win a little and Fail A LOT and THEY Win A LOT.
As long as BTC is growing in value... BitConnect has a sustainable structure to take the majority of percentage of SATOSHIS you put in.
And if you knowingly agree to that up front and don't care because you're only concentrating on USD.... then you might be a member of the Lollipop Guild!
ALL platforms that promise a constant rate of return are scams. HYIP schemes, ponzis, etc.
You CANNOT promise a constant rate of return and make that guarantee in a volatile and unpredictable market.
Unless you have more income coming in than going out.
And if it's a lending platform, there should be equal in and out. But if value increases of the medium being lended.... then you CANNOT guarantee a return at a constant rate.
Unless you are ripping someone off in the process.
But if you do it in a good enough way, the sleight of hand will fool you into thinking you are benefiting more with them than without them.
Power of HODL in BTC is > than the ILLUSION of TOTAL profits earned in USD
The only way you would win in this deal is if BTC TANKED LOWER than it was when you put it into BitConnect.
Then you are guaranteed the return in USD regardless. But then BitConnect would have to keep paying people at the same rate even though BTC was loosing value. Then they would shut down sooner rather than later.
But because BTC is rising, they can just keep taking the majority of percentage of rise in value.
Is this assessment of BitConneeeeeeeeect's model accurate?
HODLING Without BitConeeeeeect = a greater return than Lending with Bitconeeeeeect.
There's also another dynamic to mention.
The MLM structure of referral bonuses.
In the gold coin analogy at the start of this article, you see that you would have made more money keeping the coin than lending it out.
But if you have enough referral bonuses, it will be AS IF you are getting the true value of your BTC investment. Because you've convinced so many other suckers to join, you are benefitting off the majority of their percentages being ripped off.
So it literally takes tainting your own soul to bring more people in... just to get back to the point you WOULD have been if you just HODLed in the first place.
Lame.
(For people wondering the Origin of HODL)
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=375643.0