Comparing Bitcoin to the tulip bubble is comparing apples to oranges. Yes they are both fruit, but other than that there is absolutely nothing in common. People like Jamie Dimon drawing comparisons to this just want to raise FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt). Why? Because people like Dimon are so much vested into today's broken system, which by the way is teetering on the brink of total catastrophe, and they do not want change nor disruption because then they will no longer be king.
Here is the latest article with comments from Dimon.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-12/jpmorgan-s-ceo-says-he-d-fire-traders-who-bet-on-fraud-bitcoin
Bitcoin is not a tulip, it is not a flower. There is no comparison.
Two immediate things jump out:
- Tulips are basically infinite in supply, there is no fixed amount, unlike limited quantity of Bitcoin.
- The Tulip bubble ended because of the plague. Tulip trading was conducted by traders meeting together at pubs and trading houses. The end of the tulip bubble also coincided closely with the breakout of the plague. People stopped meeting because they did not want to die.
The reasons driving Bitcoin have only exacerbated and accelerated in recent years. Just ask anyone from the likes of Venezuela, Brazil, Russia, Cyprus, and Argentina who have seen government policies result in various crises - bank bail-ins, hyperinflation, massive loss of value and more. Bitcoin is not just speculation driven. It is "loss of faith" driven. Loss of faith in fiat currencies, governments, central banks is also driving Bitcoin. Bitcoin is filling a need and that need has a value. This has absolutely NOTHING do with the need tulips were driving back in Holland in 1637.
Here is a great anonymous quote from one of the operators of one of the first forays into anonymous digital payment systems, eCache, which was a gold backed digital currency that was launched in 2007 and is now defunct.
"... you can buy your porn, drugs, guns, whatever for dollars at almost any dark corner in every city and every country. Money laundering is happening throughout the government licensed banking networks. And if you want to do global cash transfers you simply put a few dollars in an envelope and have it delivered by the US Postal service.
Bad things happen because of bad people, not because of anonymous money. But somehow people think that control, licenses and ID cards can battle crime. That is why credit cards and bank accounts are so big today. Guess what, all those methods didn’t solve the situation. Instead they made it worse. Now we have phishing, credit card abuse and identity theft. The problem with all those solutions – which are repeated endlessly in the media - is that they don’t solve anything but create additional problems.
You cannot build the society of the Twenty First century global digital society with Nineteenth century mindsets. As bad as this sounds to socialists and control freaks all over the world: Money does not stink, only some people do..."