Bitcoin 'dies' for 413th time as forum users pivot to industrial metals

Bitcoin: 413 deaths and nobody turns off the lights

Imagine the scene painted by a forum investor: buying a six-centimeter knife for one hundred euros, sharpening a machete, and putting money into iron and industrial metals because, he argues, they will be the only things selling. On the table sits an iPhone 10 inherited from his grandfather. This post-apocalyptic picture appeared when the bitcoin price plummeted, reflecting the humor of many domestic investors: anger, irony, and little faith in the crypto narrative. The underlying thesis is that speculation has inflated the price of basic goods and burned up irrecoverable energy resources.

The diagnosis: burned energy and skyrocketing grocery bills

The central argument is economic before it is sarracena. It is claimed that capital entering crypto assets drove electricity demand, that this expenditure cannot be recovered, and that pressure on energy ultimately translates into higher prices for everyday goods. Hence the warning that the middle class will pay the bill while a minority consolidates positions.

Some go further, speaking of a hypothetical global technocratic government established around 2030, with financing already guaranteed. This part mixes analysis with conspiratorial suspicion and should be treated as what it is: an assertion dropped without a single supporting data point. What is verifiable is the other side: the energy bill and its impact on the shopping cart.

How many times has bitcoin died? The answer is 413

Facing the obituary, half the conversation responds with a counter: 413 times. That is the number of occasions the asset would have died and resurrected according to the circulating count. The most repeated reply has crushing simplicity: if it has fallen twenty times, why won't it fall the twenty-first and rise again?

At the other extreme, some recall that inflation existed before bitcoin and that abandoning the gold standard explains much of fiat money's loss of purchasing power. It is emphasized that there are 21 million bitcoins as a ceiling, versus unlimited printing of euros and dollars. This is the classic defense: programmed scarcity against discretionary issuance.

Three wallets hold 3% of all bitcoin

The defense hits an uncomfortable photo: concentration. One message states that 3 wallets own 3% of total bitcoins and that 84 wallets, excluding those three, add another 14%. 17% of the supply would be in the hands of just 87 wallets. With that map, the argument that the first entrants get rich and thousands must lose everything holds up alone. Elementary economics.

The problem isn't the price, it's finding a buyer

Here lies the knot almost nobody discusses: liquidity. The strongest objection notes that bitcoin hardly serves to pay for anything directly and exchanging it requires someone willing to buy. As the price rises, fewer buyers remain willing. The comparison with gold is recurrent: a bullion bar is also hard to place, which is why it is fractionated.

Fractionating isn't free. A buyer doesn't find it attractive to exchange 57 euros for 0.001 bitcoin, and the paradox is that the more expensive the asset becomes, the harder it is to sell a portion. Those exchanging currency in countries where euros aren't accepted pay commissions hovering around 6% in services like Moneygram, and some see fertile ground for cryptocurrencies there. Whether the remedy works is another matter.

From forecasts to settling scores

Over time, the dispute has shifted from theory to predictions. An opposing voice boasts of being right: when bitcoin traded at 60,000 and many predicted 100,000, he said it would drop, and indeed it fell to 40,000. He later admits he was wrong to predict an immediate decline after the rebound but keeps the big hit.

The discussion peine acknowledges feeding off others' displeasure and says so bluntly: reading the news is enough to make him ecstatic. When told that rejoicing in others' misfortune is opportunistic, he replies that he only enjoys the fall of those seeking escape via bitcoin. The conversation, like almost all of this type, is more about settling scores than analysis.

Optimism, tulips, and a bowl of rice

The conversation has its carnival. There is who bought at 68 euros, now has 73, and boasts of trading well. There is who wants bitcoin to crash to $10 to see everyone sell. There is who compares the fever to tulips. And there is the most cited defense: if bitcoin dies, "you'll have one less chance to be free."

In the end, the only certainty isn't on the chart. A hardened investor summarizes his bet thus: if bitcoin, gold, and fiat money will fall someday, nobody knows when or in what order. The other closes with a phrase that is already a statement of principles: "In the end, always... the bowl of rice prevails."