Is anyone here ‘investing’ in bitcoin or the likes? A pal is trying to get me interested but it seems like a bit of a matrix world and I’m peering in.

Bitlate, innit?

IGMC

GenCoin is where it’s at. 😉

STW, last month:
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/bitcoin-3

Investing in bitcoin is so last decade. I’m still very upset I sold my 2BTC for 50 quid, which at the time was a pretty good return on the tenner I put in!

Yes.

What do you want to know?

Currently it’s one massive bubble waiting to burst. No intrinsic value, people are just buying hoping that a bigger fool will buy them out somewhere down the line. At some point, it will run out of fools and come crashing down. The clever maths can’t save it from human behaviour.

Footflaps has a point.

But… It could end in ruin, it could be amazing.

It’s like any other volatile investment.

I’m having a dabble with bitconnect.

Seems a question of having the money to lose. Worth a punt for me.

Best way to learn is the hard way.

Also last month.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/cryptocurrency-mining

It’s the future

whether you will like the future or not is a different issue

If you treat it as a very high risk investment (i.e. don’t put your pension into it) then go for it, as has been said though it’s got to be due for a major correction ‘soon’ but you could still make a decent return now until ‘soon’ happens, as long as you get out in time…

What’s everyone done with their Bitcoin Cash? Blockchain wallet now lets you have your BCH if you had a wallet with them before the fork in August. Shame they didn’t sort it out earlier given the price is just over $300 compared to a height of over $700.

Shame they didn’t sort it out earlier given the price is just over $300 compared to a height of over $700.

Isn’t it over $4k?

Shame they didn’t sort it out earlier given the price is just over $300 compared to a height of over $700.

Isn’t it over $4k?

Yes, proper Bitcoin (BTC) is, but back in August the Blockchain forked and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) was created after disagreements by some Chinese miners and Bitcoin Core (?), So if you had og Bitcoins in August you also have the same amount of a new Cryptocurrency called Bitcoin Cash. This has fallen from a height of ~$700 to ~$300.

But it still means “free” money to anyone lucky enough to have a BTC balance in August.

It’s the future

whether you will like the future or not is a different issue

Not in its current form.

Isn’t it over $4k?

Wow, just hit $5k

Ah! BCH is another one. 😕

Yup inredible isn’t it, I never bothered looking into when it first started. Well I did but looked like an impossible task to find any. Even if I had I reckon I’d sold out long ago anyway.

I have some BTC – significantly risky investment and the volitility is staggering. I think it is a bubble and purchasers of Bitcoin rarely use it as a currency, just wild speculation. If you do buy any, be prepared to lose the lot…

However, cryptocurrency and the blockchain on which it sits, is here to stay. I suspect the technology will become more and more mainstream in the next 10 years or so.

I suspect the technology will become more and more mainstream in the next 10 years or so.

This is my gut feeling but I’m scratching the surface. And having looked in it seems there are so many options and…

What do you want to know?

…how to understand it, where to read up, how I might invest. Jeez, everything and anything. I guess I’m suffering a severe case of FOMO.

where to read up, how I might invest.

Start here…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania

the one difference is at least you owned a Tulip at the end of it all, rather than nothing.

Also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_fool_theory

Bitcoin hype worse than ‘tulip mania’, says Dutch central banker
Nout Wellink describes bitcoin as a bubble, and says ‘at least then you got a tulip at the end’

Date of article Wednesday 4 December 2013

Price of Bitcoin ~$1140 which tbf wasn’t reached again until February this year

…how to understand it, where to read up, how I might invest. Jeez, everything and anything. I guess I’m suffering a severe case of FOMO.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Faq

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/

Block Chain (the ‘technology’ behind BitCoin) is already becoming mainstream and heavily used by banks. The company I work for offers payment services apps based on Block Chain and is looking to expand its use to other areas.

http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/pages/blockchain/index.html?cid=sch-pd-google-blockchain-searchad-201706–&mkwid=SvgCqExm gives a pretty good overview of it (although it’s a slightly odd web-site design IMO).

If you are going to do it then you might as well commit:

A man upped sticks, sold everything he had for Bitcoin and moved his family to a campsite after claiming that he is waiting for the next “boom” in cryptocurrencies.

If you are going to do it then you might as well commit:

Reminds me of that guy who hid in a croft in Scotland over the year 2000 bug, convinced the world was about to end…..

The Bitcoin bubble reminds me very much of the Tech bubble in early 2000s. I was working for a small company with sales of a few $100k per year (all loss making), burning through over $100m a year and we were valued at over $4b! A very good example of the Better fool theory in practice.

CEO, CFO and CTO walked away with over $70m in cash, all the investors were completely wiped out…

Had a punt today.

Got to be a bit more exciting than other gambles.

I’ve gone in, too. Big gamble, don’t fully understand it but the best analogy I’ve heard is that bitcoin (others available) are like gold- but better. There’s a finite amount, it’s traceable, can’t be lost, all transactions are logged etc. Maybe it’ll come off. Still very much scratching the surface.

If you lose your private key then it’s as good as lost. I think some of the first blocks mined by Satoshi are such a thing. A million coins if memory serves right?

I’ve got some left over from some er online shopping, they went down a bit today.

I’ve heard is that bitcoin (others available) are like gold- but better.

WTF?

With Gold you have a physical asset you own, with Bitcoin you own absolutely nothing, it’s just confidence that a bigger fool will come along and pay more for your share of nothing than you did.

WTF?

With Gold you have a physical asset you own, with Bitcoin you own absolutely nothing, it’s just confidence that a bigger fool will come along and pay more for your share of nothing than you did.

Sounds like you’ve just described any typical financial market to me.

what I want to know is;

what the hell do they use the processing power for? To mine a coin takes a certain time in cpu cycles. Please tell me this is not just to update a blockchain or something like that. It could be used for something far more worthwhile/sinister…

Mining for BTC is pretty much all ASICs now no? The rigs usually run a fairly low performance CPU.

Ultimately, you’re wasting power calculating numbers for imaginary currency, but arguably, it takes a lot of effort to design, print, distribute and administer fiat currency too. So the point you’re making is not as valid as you might think it is 😉

Sounds like you’ve just described any typical financial market to me

Shhh don’t let on it’s all based on bollocks, look what happened the last time people figured it out 🙂

I’ve heard is that bitcoin (others available) are like gold- but better.

WTF?

With Gold you have a physical asset you own, with Bitcoin you own absolutely nothing, it’s just confidence that a bigger fool will come along and pay more for your share of nothing than you did.

Maybe not, Gold Bar Certified By Royal Canadian Mint Exposed As Fake

Last paragraph is the real winner.

My friend was about to buy £60k of bit coins a few years ago – had everything lined up to press the buy button.

Put the money down on a house instead. He’s worked out he’d be worth c. $4bn had he done it.

Has an app on his smart watch to remind him how much he’d be worth…

According to bitcoin news over 2bn dollars worth of bitcoin traded over the last 24hrs.

Sounds like you’ve just described any typical financial market to me.

Big difference.

Shares in a company that actually produce something have a tangible worth. The stock market may rise and fall, but if you own shares in, say Hovis, they still sell bread and make a profit doing so, with which they can pay a dividend to share holders etc. People will always buy bread and there is a tangible value add to baking.

If you buy Bitcoins, you own nothing. There is no inherent value, no work done, no value add, no profit produced.

The only reason people buy Bitcoin is they think they can sell it to someone else for more money in the future. The only reason that might occur is if the buyer also thinks it will be worth more in the future. A huge house of cards based on nothing but confidence.

People will always buy bread.