<story><title>High-end art is one of the most manipulated markets (2013)</title><url>https://qz.com/103091/high-end-art-is-one-of-the-most-manipulated-markets-in-the-world/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>vinceguidry</author><text>My whole attitude towards cryptocurrencies changed when I realized that intrinsic value literally didn&amp;#x27;t matter to the global rich, they&amp;#x27;re not interested in growth or value at all, only in security, and they&amp;#x27;d be willing to pay a premium to store their wealth if it only means that they can control the risk.&lt;p&gt;Crypto can provide them with precisely that. The volatility of crypto is immaterial, what matters is that it&amp;#x27;s still around. The &lt;i&gt;resilience&lt;/i&gt; of Bitcoin means that rich people can park wealth there. They can trust the protocol more than they can trust their nation&amp;#x27;s banks, their political institutions, and their social order.&lt;p&gt;Techies can make a nice side income arbitraging the scrambling of the global elite for a safe haven. It&amp;#x27;s the new Cayman Islands bank account, only now it&amp;#x27;s math keeping the filthy government&amp;#x27;s hands off your money, not the flimsy sham of sovereignty.</text></item><item><author>ThomPete</author><text>My wife works in the high-end art and auction world.&lt;p&gt;I always joke that artists are the most extreme capitalist you will ever find. This is a world where a dinner table can easily be sold for 1$mio because it&amp;#x27;s owned by some famous person. Pretty fascinating world.&lt;p&gt;On a slightly different note. This is also the reason why I think cryptocurrencies&amp;#x2F;tokens are going to be doing just fine. Humans very rarely exchange and value based on utilitarianism alone.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>boffinism</author><text>&amp;gt; They&amp;#x27;re...interested...in security, and... [c]rypto can provide them with precisely that.&lt;p&gt;20% of all bitcoins have been irretrievably lost [0] and 7% have been stolen [1]. If I was the global rich, I&amp;#x27;d rather hide gold bars in my mattress rather than put it in Bitcoin if my goal was just security.&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;fortune.com&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;25&amp;#x2F;lost-bitcoins&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;fortune.com&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;25&amp;#x2F;lost-bitcoins&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;
[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.businessinsider.com&amp;#x2F;how-many-bitcoins-have-been-stolen-2014-3?IR=T&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.businessinsider.com&amp;#x2F;how-many-bitcoins-have-been-s...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>High-end art is one of the most manipulated markets (2013)</title><url>https://qz.com/103091/high-end-art-is-one-of-the-most-manipulated-markets-in-the-world/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>vinceguidry</author><text>My whole attitude towards cryptocurrencies changed when I realized that intrinsic value literally didn&amp;#x27;t matter to the global rich, they&amp;#x27;re not interested in growth or value at all, only in security, and they&amp;#x27;d be willing to pay a premium to store their wealth if it only means that they can control the risk.&lt;p&gt;Crypto can provide them with precisely that. The volatility of crypto is immaterial, what matters is that it&amp;#x27;s still around. The &lt;i&gt;resilience&lt;/i&gt; of Bitcoin means that rich people can park wealth there. They can trust the protocol more than they can trust their nation&amp;#x27;s banks, their political institutions, and their social order.&lt;p&gt;Techies can make a nice side income arbitraging the scrambling of the global elite for a safe haven. It&amp;#x27;s the new Cayman Islands bank account, only now it&amp;#x27;s math keeping the filthy government&amp;#x27;s hands off your money, not the flimsy sham of sovereignty.</text></item><item><author>ThomPete</author><text>My wife works in the high-end art and auction world.&lt;p&gt;I always joke that artists are the most extreme capitalist you will ever find. This is a world where a dinner table can easily be sold for 1$mio because it&amp;#x27;s owned by some famous person. Pretty fascinating world.&lt;p&gt;On a slightly different note. This is also the reason why I think cryptocurrencies&amp;#x2F;tokens are going to be doing just fine. Humans very rarely exchange and value based on utilitarianism alone.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>reverend_gonzo</author><text>&amp;gt; Crypto can provide them with precisely that. The volatility of crypto is immaterial, what matters is that it&amp;#x27;s still around. The resilience of Bitcoin means that rich people can park wealth there. They can trust the protocol more than they can trust their nation&amp;#x27;s banks, their political institutions, and their social order.&lt;p&gt;What? Nobody sane is putting their long-term savings in crypto. The resilience of bitcoin has absolutely not been proven.&lt;p&gt;For long term assets, you want your money in some stable, solid, not volatile, and preferably backed by a global superpower, hence US Government bonds and Euro bonds are pretty much the safest assets you can buy. They won&amp;#x27;t go up much in value, but they won&amp;#x27;t go down much either.</text></comment>