<story><title>Robinhood Crypto – Invest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies</title><url>https://crypto.robinhood.com/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Retric</author><text>What separates investing from gambling is the expected return for everyone is greater than zero.&lt;p&gt;AKA buy stock at 100$ and sell it at 100$ does not mean you broke even.  You could have gotten 10$ in dividends.  Now that positive may be small and some people may lose money, but that&amp;#x27;s allowed as long as the expected returns end up positive.&lt;p&gt;Bitcoin&amp;#x27;s can&amp;#x27;t have a net positive return because they only way to add money into the system is via coin buyers.  Further because of transaction costs it&amp;#x27;s inherently negative sum.</text></item><item><author>darawk</author><text>A better question might be: How is anything an investment? If the stock market is priced efficiently, it is as much a gamble as Bitcoin. The stock market is of course not perfectly efficient, but it is likely extremely efficient relative to the knowledge of your average retail investor. Which means that buying Bitcoin or other cryptos is no more a gamble than any stock market investment with a similar volatility.</text></item><item><author>tptacek</author><text>I put money down on a blackjack table, play a hand, win, and cash out with more money than I put in. How is that not an investment?</text></item><item><author>DerfNet</author><text>I buy bitcoin, it changes in value, I cash out, I now have a different amount of money than I put in. How is that not an investment?</text></item><item><author>xya3453</author><text>&amp;gt; Invest in Bitcoin &amp;amp; other cryptocurrencies&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Cryptocurrencies, stocks, ETFs, and options are now available side by side — all easily accessible in one app. Managing your investments just got even easier.&lt;p&gt;There is a dangerous theme of companies aimed at millennials that misappropriate Bitcoin (etc) as an investment, when it is just glorified currency exchange speculation. Blurring these lines obscures the real-world value created through actual investments.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>m-i-l</author><text>Some cryptocurrencies generate the equivalent of &amp;quot;dividends&amp;quot;, especially those based on Proof of Stake systems. For example, holding Neo generates Gas equivalent to a 3-6% annual return[0], and Stellar (given free to HN readers a few years back[1]) has &amp;quot;inflation&amp;quot; equivalent to around 1% annual return[2], to name two that Robinhood will be listing.&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.neotogas.com&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.neotogas.com&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=16109292&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=16109292&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;lumenaut.net&amp;#x2F;#faq&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;lumenaut.net&amp;#x2F;#faq&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Robinhood Crypto – Invest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies</title><url>https://crypto.robinhood.com/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Retric</author><text>What separates investing from gambling is the expected return for everyone is greater than zero.&lt;p&gt;AKA buy stock at 100$ and sell it at 100$ does not mean you broke even.  You could have gotten 10$ in dividends.  Now that positive may be small and some people may lose money, but that&amp;#x27;s allowed as long as the expected returns end up positive.&lt;p&gt;Bitcoin&amp;#x27;s can&amp;#x27;t have a net positive return because they only way to add money into the system is via coin buyers.  Further because of transaction costs it&amp;#x27;s inherently negative sum.</text></item><item><author>darawk</author><text>A better question might be: How is anything an investment? If the stock market is priced efficiently, it is as much a gamble as Bitcoin. The stock market is of course not perfectly efficient, but it is likely extremely efficient relative to the knowledge of your average retail investor. Which means that buying Bitcoin or other cryptos is no more a gamble than any stock market investment with a similar volatility.</text></item><item><author>tptacek</author><text>I put money down on a blackjack table, play a hand, win, and cash out with more money than I put in. How is that not an investment?</text></item><item><author>DerfNet</author><text>I buy bitcoin, it changes in value, I cash out, I now have a different amount of money than I put in. How is that not an investment?</text></item><item><author>xya3453</author><text>&amp;gt; Invest in Bitcoin &amp;amp; other cryptocurrencies&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Cryptocurrencies, stocks, ETFs, and options are now available side by side — all easily accessible in one app. Managing your investments just got even easier.&lt;p&gt;There is a dangerous theme of companies aimed at millennials that misappropriate Bitcoin (etc) as an investment, when it is just glorified currency exchange speculation. Blurring these lines obscures the real-world value created through actual investments.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>darawk</author><text>Bitcoin can absolutely have a net positive return. People can simply keep buying it and holding it. Do you think gold cannot be an investment?</text></comment>