Because of the returns, volatility and the liquidity obviously. This is a stupid question. I'm not even talking about "investing", it's a trading vehicle. Short term. Those other things you mentioned are less correlated directly to changes in global liquidity and overall risk assets, so in a sense even more risky and obscure. The fact that you even suggested "holding" onion futures means you're missing the point.

Looking at the chart of Nepalese rupee I don't see any bull market going back to 2005 so what are you talking about?

"Everything is the same" is a bad thesis. Just look at the charts.

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wat10000 2 days ago | parent [-]

Sure, not everything is the same. My question is, why crypto over all millions of other things you could invest in? Are you suggesting it's a better choice because of the volatility?

(The onion futures thing was a joke. Onion futures trading is specifically illegal in the US.)

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PKop 2 days ago | parent [-]

Yes since you can extract a gain within some small portion of its bull market that's compressed into a shorter period of time relative to some other assets like gold. It means you aren't holding for as long.

Crypto rises harder and falls harder. For traders, this is very useful.

Of course I know you were just riffing, but the particular terrible nature of the assets you compared it to was worth pointing out. Since you did ask how they were any different.

Different asset classes have different uses. A thing that doesn't move around much for a long time is not so great to trade, maybe to invest. Crypto is a great sponge for liquidity.

	▲	wat10000 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Volatility might be useful but it also means you'll lose your shirt unless you have some secret technique others don't. If one can reliably ride the periodic bulls, take profits, and repeat, then they ought to be one of the wealthiest people on the planet by now.