I am afraid you are all wrong as usual.
No one has yet pointed out the main reason to buy Bitcoin - it's good fun and quite exciting!
It will be interesting to revisit this thread in a year's time. That is if I can still afford an internet connection. On my yacht.
The tangible product is the technology it sits on.
Interesting as it is (I’m not feigning that, I am actually interested in it), you can’t touch it, feel it, hold it in your hands... So by its very nature it is not tangible!
We are investing in a load of 1’s and 0’s held on hard drives across the world, when it comes down to it it is no more sexy than that sadly!
It's not a Ponzi. There isn't one person at the top doling out to folk below.
Is really the single biggest difference that indeed means it is not one.
No one has yet pointed out the main reason to buy Bitcoin - it's good fun and quite exciting!
I quite agree! It is exciting. Revolutionary even! It’s the people taking power back from the banks and some of them getting rich whilst doing so too... Modern day Robin Hoods if you will. There’s just far too many caveats to see it as a safe investment like so many people are trying to sell it as. When was the last time a “safe” investment increased in share value by 10 fold inside 12 months, and gave you a 1% daily ROI whilst it was working for you...?
Fingers crossed that we can all make a bit of money out of this, and that it gives the banking system the much needed kick up the arse it needs. However, greed (as per usual) will be its undoing, and when it crashes it will do so very spectactularly taking a lot of people’s fortunes with it... Have a game plan, stick to it, don’t get greedy and you’ll be fine.
However, greed (as per usual) will be its undoing
Greed is the only thing keeping it going!
It's nothing more than a massive speculative bubble.
Modern day Robin Hoods if you will.
Please explain how you rationalise this, I'd love to hear your explanation!
Interesting as it is (I’m not feigning that, I am actually interested in it), you can’t touch it, feel it, hold it in your hands... So by its very nature it is not tangible!
go to one of the huge mining server farms in China and tell me that's not tangible.
They are the point of it - they are the things that make the network secure - the amount of programming grunt you would need to corrupt the chain is comlpetely impractical - and creating bitcoin for the miners was part of the incentivisation that caused people to create this huge amount of mining power.
When the creation of bitcoin ceases then miners will get less revenue but they will still get revenue based on the transaction fees, which may go up.
Fiat currency isn't backed by any tangible assets nowadays anyway - and governments also create money on the fly with QE for example, so there's not a lot of difference. It's all about having confidence.
Governments don't like these crypto currencies because of the anonymous nature of it, difficult to regulate and monitor. Massive problem for laundering and KYC.
It's nothing more than a massive speculative bubble.
yep, it is like a gold rush - the underlying technologies have some real promise.
When the creation of bitcoin ceases then miners will get less revenue but they will still get revenue based on the transaction fees, which may go up.
They will go up and so transaction costs will be high and time to execute a sell will at times be far too long given the dramatic price movements. The processing power needed to perform a transaction is just ridiculous - sort of the point but what a waste in a world that's supposed to be becoming more energy efficient.
Fiat currency isn't backed by any tangible assets nowadays anyway - and governments also create money on the fly with QE for example, so there's not a lot of difference. It's all about having confidence.
Spot on. Fiat currency is the flimsiest of things.
Hence UK Government debt is a charade.
Scenario - Trump marches into North Korea with his catapult and fringe. At the same time it all kicks off big time between Israel and Palestine. Massive earthquake in San Fran. My other half finds a packet of cigarettes in my jacket. Financial markets tumble.
Do you think bitcoin value would go up or down if such worldwide panic were to take hold?
It's all about having confidence.
Spot on. Fiat currency is the flimsiest of things.
How do you have confidence in a cryptocurrency?
Spot on. Fiat currency is the flimsiest of things.
It's entirely based on confidence in the institutions that stand behind it.
So in the UK that's effectively the whole state and the power to take in taxes of over £700 billion per year that comes with that.
In the case of a cryptocurrency that would be the nebulous organisation that sets the rules. When things start to go properly wrong this organisation will evaporate like a dawn mist.
The people buying bitcoin are generally no longer doing this so that they can use it as a means of payment, they are buying it as a speculative investment. In my view this calls into question whether it is a currency at all.
It's up 30% since it hit $10,000!
How do you have confidence in a cryptocurrency?
if it is fungible ?
Is it just a coincidence as soon as STW gets interested in cryptocurrencies this happens...? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42237162
nearly £10,000 a coin!?
interesting article about the possible result of being able to buy futures on bitcoin...
https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-futures-make-way-new-kind-whale/
Almost £11,000 now! I bought £100 of BTC, now worth £280 and I’m considering selling as it’s just a bit of fun for me. I haven’t set up a GBP wire from Coinbase so it’d be sitting in my wallet, unable to do anything with it. We shall see...
Edit: I’ve chickened out and sold, so sitting with £280 in my GBP wallet for now. I may get back in once it drops below £9k
Well, after reading the thread and a couple of the links I have decided I still haven't got a clue and will be going to rob the local TSB branch tomorrow instead.
That will probably go badly but at least I understand why. 😀
(Even had to Google FOMO for Gods sake!)
Almost £11,000 now! I bought £100 of BTC, now worth £280 and I’m considering selling as it’s just a bit of fun for me. I haven’t set up a GBP wire from Coinbase so it’d be sitting in my wallet, unable to do anything with it. We shall see
If you move to blockchain.info for your wallet you can get the money out.
I've put into 500 now worth over 1060 , I'm leaving it as the potential upside and long-term craziness is worth the risk for me.
I do take some profit occasionally though.
$64 million worth of bitcoin stolen from wallet in hack. Not so safe after all
If you wallet is on NiceHash, might be worth checking it.
A tough day for the cryptos! Bitcoin is looking bad but Ripple has really slumped
Mines only worth around three times what I paid for it now, DISASTER!
Still sliding, think it will drop to Autumn 2017 price before recovering.
When the Tether scam propping up the price unwinds it's going to be a bloodbath.Still sliding, think it will drop to Autumn 2017 price before recovering
sweepy - Member
Mines only worth around three times what I paid for it now, DISASTER!
It's worth nothing until you get it out, until then it's just a risk
I hope those who remortgaged to invest around a month ago are feeling as confident as those who got in earlier. Ripple's down about 2/3rds.
No doubt it will all recover...or not.
remember - only invest what you can afford to lose.
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Let's see if this year does the same
Oh right, it's the Chinese selling off ($250 billion) to buy train tickets and presents for the Lunar New Year.
In other news: http://fortune.com/2017/12/05/bitcoin-btc-price-usd-tether-limited-bitfinex/
The $ price of bitcoin is an artifice. There are now billions of USDT in circulation, allegedly backed 1-to-1 by actual dollars:
https://wallet.tether.to/transparency
Quite. A relative tried to cash out of Kraken around Christmas. I'm still not sure if he has got his money. Kraken also recently went off air for 48 hours after 'routine' maintenance. Coinbase regularly suspends trading. Bitconnect pyramid scheme has just disappeared off the face of the planet etc. etc. etc.It's worth nothing until you get it out
Someone has just opened a Cryptocurrent exchange shop close to my London place. The guy working in it wears the shiniest suit I've ever seen so I suspect there will be a fraud case involved at some point...!
How does everyone feel about crypto currency backed by gold ?
What does that even mean? If you mean whoever is behind the currency holds a gold reserve equal to the market capitalisation of the currency then that's not going to happen.
ripple seems to have turned into more of a waterfall today.
It's bouncing now - time to buy...?!
Yeah, looks like it's starting to recover a bit (I'm watching & hoping as I bought some yesterday :p ).
The royal mint just announced a gold backed cryptocurrency , so presumably means something...
Not really a bitcoin then, sounds like just buying and selling cold using a blockchain to keep track of who owns what. In which case as there is a real asset being traded, with a known and relatively stable market value it is nothing like bitcoin etc where you just trade nothing.
so should just follow gold prices with very small changes in price over time? Unless people get caught up in the hype of crypto and drive the price of gold up?
Still long here and topping up.
>I dumped 25% of my ETH because I felt it was overvalued.
How do you decide the correct value of a crypto?!
And I've just got my BitStamp verification through. As part of my 'proof of id/address' I sent them a photo of a bill with a red 'overdue' to see what would happen 🙂 Nothing 🙂
It's a brave person who buys against the trend right now. Maybe we are beyond Fear and now into<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;"> Capitulation?</span>
The whole market has always been a bit crazy, none of the coins are worth anything in any meaningful sense.
I'm out, for now anyway 🙂
John McAfee has vowed to eat his penis if BTC isn't 1mil by 2020, so there's contrary opinions out there!
"How<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 16px;"> do you decide the correct value of a crypto?!"</span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 16px;">Number go up = good</span>
Number go down = bad
Well that's just it, you can't get a value other than a speculative one. Sure, there are a few uses for bitcoin and its ilk but no real acceptance out there. They are not really a currency.
Crypto is hugely speculative. In 2017 it formed a classic bubble, which is now bursting. Many people who got in late are going to take a big hit.
But in the longer run, ETH and maybe another ALT, which resolves Bitcoin's fundamental problems, will form major asset classes and change the internet, especially in terms of contracts and E-Commerce payments.
This crash is probably the best thing that could have happened as too many people were getting involved in Crypto via gambling/speculation.