Forum menu
Oh, I have been listening to The Missing Cryptoqueen podcast on the BBC – it’s fascinating & hard to believe it actually happened (or is still happening) in this day & age.
Anyone thinking of "investing" in any type of Crypto currency needs to listen to this:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07nkd84/episodes/downloads
If you want to know what the next financial scandal is going to be, this is it.
Chew
Anyone thinking of “investing” in any type of Crypto currency needs to listen to this
I agree, but OneCoin wasn't a cryptocurrency. It was a ponzi scheme scam made to look like a cryptocurrency.
Although, I would still be doing a lot of research on the lesser known crypto-currencies before buying.
At the end of the podcast series, they talk about a new coin being sold in a similar way by some of the same people involved in OneCoin. I think it's called Dagcoin.
“ I read that Bitcoin uses about half the power that Youtube does.
What about the environmental impact of watching cat videos?”
YouTube for better or worse is a big chunk of the media industry and provides entertainment, education and marketing to millions of people. What exactly does Bitcoin contribute to humanity?
If entertainment is doing great favours for humanity by taking their minds off the important problems of life, instead of resolving them, if education means being able to build a bridge between reality and your own selfish world, if marketing means wasting resources on things we neither want or need, then youtube has a value
If crypto breaks the monopolies that banks and govs have, employers, institutions etc can take the power out of the hands of the richest, that seems well worth it.
If crypto breaks the monopolies that banks and govs have, employers, institutions etc can take the power out of the hands of the richest, that seems well worth it.
Ignoring the fact that that makes no sense, I assume you mean that cryptocurrencies may have some overwhelming benefit that outweighs the downside. In which case one has to ask why that isn't apparent yet - all it's done in the dozen or so years since the Nakamoto paper is make money for some already rich people, gamblers and criminals. Given the choice I'd spend my CO2 emissions on Youtube.
Venezuelans have found it really useful as an alternative to their regular currency which is experiencing ridculous levels of inflation.
On a slight tangent - has anybody looked at Non-Fungible Tokens? They seem to be taking off for digital art with some of the artists getting on board claiming to be making more from the token side than they would if they just sold the artwork in the traditional way.
They seem like they could be quite useful as a proof of ownership for just about anything. If a seller has the item but not the token associated with the item then is it stolen?
Venezuelans have found it really useful as an alternative to their regular currency which is experiencing ridiculous levels of inflation.
Why would you swap one volatile currency for another?
I'm sure most people have swapped to the usual default of using the dollar on the black market.
Ignoring the fact that that makes no sense, I assume you mean that cryptocurrencies may have some overwhelming benefit that outweighs the downside. In which case one has to ask why that isn’t apparent yet – all it’s done in the dozen or so years since the Nakamoto paper is make money for some already rich people, gamblers and criminals. Given the choice I’d spend my CO2 emissions on Youtube.
+1. This supposed financial revolution shows no sign of getting off the ground.
Throw into the mix the complete anonymity of who holds what, the fact that a small number of players hold vast numbers of coin & they are able to manipulate the price, that state players are using it to launder money, that large crypto holders are shorting the currency.
Why would anyone get involved in it at all???
Venezuelans have found it really useful as an alternative to their regular currency which is experiencing ridculous levels of inflation.
A vanishingly small number of Venezuelans are using Crypto currency, and I'd imagine if they could use (say) tomato paste as an online currency to buy food and prescriptions and so on, they'd just as happily use that...
I'm trying to buy a crypto that avail on Binance. I opened account but wiring GBP to them can take up to 2 days it says - and its untested. I have a Coinbase account and I know wiring money takes up to a hour.
So - would the easy way to do it be:
Wire to CB
Buy BNB
Transfer BNB to Binance
Trade BNB to the final crypto I want?
1st time you transfer money on Binance it may take a while, I dont know, are you all verifid etc?
The quick transfer (bank transfer) is almost instantaneous
Ignoring the fact that that makes no sense, I assume you mean that cryptocurrencies may have some overwhelming benefit that outweighs the downside
If everyone doesnt have to rely on the financial institutions' regulations, fees,etc,government decisions etc, to do business, and are thus freer to work and live as they choose, that seems positive.
Which is what cryptos aim to do, no?
Since we are conditioned to rely on money. And for most, that comes from doing the same job for 50years, and banks offer what-2%pa interest?
Crypto looks better than mugging grannies, or taking millions off the government for 'PPE contracts'
Since we are conditioned to rely on money. And for most, that comes from doing the same job for 50years, and banks offer what-2%pa interest?
Crypto looks better than mugging grannies, or taking millions off the government for ‘PPE contracts’
I'm not sure I get what you're getting at. If crypto did ever replace fiat currency then it just becomes a normal means of exchange, people would still have to earn it somehow, it's just that they would be given bitcoin or whatever for their time instead of pounds or dollars. If crypto does work it wont make anyone rich, we will still have to work. It only does at present because the amount of pounds it can be exchanged for varies so much,
If everyone doesnt have to rely on the financial institutions’ regulations, fees,etc,government decisions etc, to do business, and are thus freer to work and live as they choose, that seems positive.
Regulations are there to protect the average person in the street.
Northern Rock goes pop, you’re savings are protected.
Bitcoin goes pop, then you’re on your own.
Article here that explains it better than I can:
https://www.fscs.org.uk/news/protection/cryptocurrencies-risk-cover/?gclid=CjwKCAiA1eKBBhBZEiwAX3gql_bP-iLWw65CDvzgQCBnAbY_Z-EbT-182oMEyB6oQkt-4dchqNYO0RoCqncQAvD_BwE
I have some magic beans for sale if you’re interested?
Guaranteed to make you rich....
If you don’t like it don’t invest. Just because it’s not guaranteed doesn’t mean it’s not a valid investment. It’s volatility doesn’t necessarily outweigh its benefits as a hedge against inflation - it’s no different from investing in anything else. Northern rock.. that made a lot of people lose out.
The eco argument isn’t really valid. If you don’t like it’s eco credentials, again don’t invest. But unless you live a green life don’t take foreign holidays etc then why bring that into it - the number of people in bitcoin is huge. I’m not really into bitcoin but the eco bit doesn’t bother me. Saw an article the other day about the amount of money Barclays had invested in fossil fuels - your money can be bad enough for the environment anyway.
Got a nice return on my average buy in on ADA today... something like 0.52avg and we are trading over a quid. Outperforms my stocks and shares by a long way. Hoping for a nice correction so I can sell now and rebuy a nice dip before Monday.
Worth 5 minutes of anyone’s time:
I read that Bitcoin uses about half the power that Youtube does.
What about the environmental impact of watching cat videos?
The difference is that the big cloud service providers are actively trying to reduce CO2 use and report such things regularly etc.
The bitcoin miners don't GAF about their environmental impact and just want the cheapest electricity going which is normally coal powered.
The eco argument isn’t really valid. If you don’t like it’s eco credentials, again don’t invest. But unless you live a green life don’t take foreign holidays etc then why bring that into it – the number of people in bitcoin is huge. I’m not really into bitcoin but the eco bit doesn’t bother me. Saw an article the other day about the amount of money Barclays had invested in fossil fuels – your money can be bad enough for the environment anyway.
I’m not sure that ‘fossil fuels are also bad’ invalidates the environmental argument against Bitcoin.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-56215787
Bitcoin’s energy use is even more hideous than I realised. It uses half as much electricity as the entire internet’s data centres. And as much as the Netherlands. Ten times as much as Google.
It’s complete insanity in a world moving headlong into a climate disaster.
“ The eco argument isn’t really valid. If you don’t like it’s eco credentials, again don’t invest. But unless you live a green life don’t take foreign holidays etc then why bring that into it – the number of people in bitcoin is huge.”
This is a non-argument. Many people, many countries and many governments are trying to make the ecological impact of human life less of a problem. It’s very difficult but the world is slowly trying to dig itself of a very very big hole.
Apparently 100 million people have bitcoins. Whilst about 4000 million people use Google. But Google uses only 10% of the electricity that Bitcoin does. So Bitcoin uses 400x as much energy per user as Google. And I wonder how much active use of each there is? How many Google searches per person per day vs how many Bitcoin transactions?
I have an answer! 400,000 Bitcoin transactions per day. 3,500,000,000 Google searches per day.
So a Bitcoin transaction uses ~100,000 times as much electricity as a Google search.
Interesting article about BC and a surge in Nigerian users..
https://www.ft.com/content/c139596c-92b7-45bd-88b9-175d7881604f
Slightly scary, when it nexts crashes, it's going to hurt a lot of people who have put everything into it.....
With savings of just under $80 and a salary of $50 a month, Promise Nwabueze, a social media manager in south-east Nigeria, decided to invest all he had into cryptocurrency. The gamble paid off. Within months, his savings had increased fivefold. They have continued to rise ever since.
“ A single transaction of bitcoin has the same carbon footprint as 680,000 Visa transactions”
It’s just madness.
And those who argue that Bitcoin is good for the world are about as believable as those that argued Brexit would be good for Britain, with similarly unquantifiable arguments...
As someone who has been involved in crypto for a few years, there are a number of things to bear in mind:
It is not investing, it is gambling
Only put in what you are happy to lose
It is probably a ponzi scheme, unless it somehow discovers utility (I don't buy that it is the future the money or digital gold); I'm not ruling out that it could discover utility through a killer app but I think it would have done so by now
Some people say that BTC has been around a long time so is no longer a gamble, but that just says to me that it has been around 12 years and is still the same thing it was at the start, a highly speculative gamble
If you are still interested, then invest small amounts over time (dollar cost averaging), buy when high, buy when low. Don't chase rallies, and don't cash out after it crashes.
BTC must be up there amongst the most unethical investments currently available surely..
I have decided to switch from coinbase pro to Kracken, based mainly on discussions up there ^.
I'm getting quite a few 'double trades', for instance I want to buy something which I can't trade directly for sterling so I have buy bitcoin and then trade that for what I wanted, so twice the fees, I think kracken have more 'pairs'?. Also difficult to set a buy or sale price in sterling when both it and the bitcoin you buy or sell it in are moving relative to sterling. Also, I can't get the stop-loss thingy working, keeps saying 'insufficient funds' (how? I'm selling, I don't need funds... Common problem apparently)
So anyway, I'm off to Kracken.
.
How should I do this? Can I transfer stuff straight to a wallet there or do I need to withdraw funds and then buy again on the new platform? I presume this involves two lots of fees. I'm only playing with small amounts so not the end of the world.
.
Finally, has anyone got a 'recommend a friend' deal for kracken? If so, post your link below. Coinbase have one, we'd each get $10 worth of BTC, don't know if kracken do likewise.
You’ve probably got other open orders tying up your account balance, or you’re making an error when trying to trade.
You’ll almost definitely be cheaper withdrawing in fiat and funding kraken via bacs, no charges going into kraken.
And there’s not really an affiliate link like that, it’s pretty convoluted and not worth it really. Just sign up.
Plus the powers that be here only allow affiliate links that make them money...
BTC must be up there amongst the most unethical investments currently available surely..
I don't want to come across like a zealot, but really? Yes - it uses lots of electricity - but how about, er, BAE systems? Rio Tinto? British American Tobacco? Fox Corporation? Nestle? Any car company not making EVs? Anyone on this list? https://amazonwatch.org/news/2019/0830-dirty-dozen-companies-driving-deforestation-must-act-now-to-stop-the-burning
Nice piece in The Guardian
I presume this involves two lots of fees
You know how in the gold rush the people who made the real money were those providing the services to the gold diggers? I spot a similarity.
I've chinned it all off - I'd turned the Coinbase and Coincap freebies into about £250 but that was almost entirely due to fortunate timing and the rising market rather than investing genius on my part and now that things have levelled off I've quit whilst I'm ahead.
Obviously if I'd put more in I'd have got more out but I'd rather not lose any actual money - perfectly happy risking freebie money! I've not got the patience to hold for the long term or the interest to day trade to make a couple of quid so I've cashed out and will treat myself to some riding kit for the upcoming good weather...
It did occur to me today though that it'd probably be easier just sticking money on MVDP for the classics and getting better returns because ultimately it is just gambling. Even if you think there's a useful project there's no guarantee it'll take off and some useless meme coin might go nuts for no discernible reason.
Even if you think there’s a useful project there’s no guarantee it’ll take off
Like shares you mean? Useful product, never caught on?
In the meantime, I know a lot of people who are in it long term (like shares) who are doing very nicely.
After cashing out with a profit and thinking I'd done well when things started to plummet a couple of weeks back, I put a couple of hundred back into BTC and BCH when they were *cough* low.
Wishing now I had bigger cajones and put more in! Think I'm just going to chuck a bit more in, never look at it again and hopefully log back in 3 years time to discover enough for a Vantage (I'll settle for a V8).
Say what you want about the underlying value/purpose value of crypto (tbh I'm sceptical too) but I've made a 25% return in 4 months and I've no idea what the hell I'm doing.
Anybody else with a beady eye on Hedera Hashtag?
9p to 29p since I got in.. one of the few gambles that seems to have run a bit. Just debating wether to go all in on it in a massive punt 🤔
So how are well all doing?
I'm currently £100 up since end of Jan this year. I've put £270 in and it's currently worth £372. Mainly by playing the XRP roller-coaster.
As of now I'm at £417 - and it's cost me £247 since Jan. So £170 "up" or nearly 70%. Might all be different in 7 days or 7 weeks or 7 minutes. Volatile wee beauties aren't they? Quite enjoyable logging into Kraken every few days and seeing what the latest is. Mostly Bitcoin (which seems to have the biggest swings & growth) small amount of Ethereum, tiny amounts of EOS & Dogecoin.
I've got a bit more in, about £150 in profit for now. Seems to be creeping up again today after being relatively flat for a while.
I put £1500 in CoinbasePro and spent roughly a third on BTC and a third on ETH.
The plan is so sell/buy chunks of £100 on any swings over 8% or so. Messed up a couple of times but currently £230 or so up.
The plan is that if it tanks completely then I'll chuck another grand or so in to average down. That's fine IF I only catch it once it has fully tanked, but the if I catch it on the way down and spend my additional grand too soon then I am of course stuffed.
Still not sure whether to stick with this approach or just stick and hope it rises.
Anyone else missed the XRP boom! 🙂
I sold all mine at 46p with the intention of buying back on when the price dropped below 40p again (as has been the pattern) - two days later price had shot up to 80p and now at £1.15. Don't feel like I can buy back in now until price drops again!
What's another decent pump and dump crypto? 🙂
Anyone else missed the XRP boom!
Yes, sold my £2k holding when it crashed (and slightly recovered) due to SEC case. I think i said one the other thread, I'm learning the art of crypto patience the hard way.
I'm still holding. I averaged about 30-35p for most of mine so currently quids in.
There's obviously no real way of knowing what's going to happen, but the news from the sec case seems to be consistently positive so that should keep having a positive effect on the price. I'm going to keep holding, maybe I'll get a new bike out of it. It might all crash never to recover, but I'm prepared to risk it. 😬
What’s another decent pump and dump crypto? 🙂
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😁
Seriously?!?!
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
The whole Crypto world is warning against scams like XRP (it’s genuine securities fraud, how it is still going it beyond me!) and you want more like it...? 🤷🏻♂️
It’s the Crypto that gives the rest a bad name. It’s fuelled by shillers on Reddit and other forums executing organised Pump and Dumps, only they always get out 15-20mins before they tell all the gullible believers to get out and they watch the market crash whilst the idiots watch their money disappear!
You know the guy who started XRP owns 50% of all coins right...? And if the value goes up, he just mints more, driving the value of an individual coin down but he keeps half of the new ones for himself anyway... He’s worse than the US federal bank trying to tell people that inflation isn’t a problem, when almost 30% of the US Dollars in existence were printed in 2020!
😂😂😂
Buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, maybe a few promising projects like AAVE and LINK, maybe a couple of key NFT’s possibly, and wait...
What's been going on with Bitcoin? I appear to be significantly up over the last 36 hours!
Edit, actually it's my smaller Dogecoin holding, which I had pretty much given up on, seems to have doubled overnight!
Yeah Doge and XRP are mooning at the moment, not really sure why. XRP will be interesting depending on the outcome of the SEC case vs Ripple Labs, if Ripple wins then XRP will go through the roof. If they lose though it's bound to crash so high risk/high reward.
Anyone into Litecoin?
In more than one place I've heard its a good choice for moving funds between exchanges (fast, low fees, low margins, high liquidity). PayPal US has just added it. If a website takes donations it usually lists BTC,BCH.LTC,XMR.
Its old school, its boring, its has zero news on the usual websites yet its always hanging around the 10-15 spot like a SAS soldier - the grey man in the room. Price wise it has done SFA compared to the BTC/ETH/ADA this year - yet its number 9 at the moment.
What gives? Are its corduroy trousers just too too beige?