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.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/feb/27/bitcoin-mining-electricity-use-environmental-impact

“ 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

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/mar/03/bitcoin-and-robinhood-will-end-badly-for-those-who-can-least-afford-it

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?

The answer to the original question is – “If you see people asking about crypto on a MTB forum, it’s time to sell, not buy”. I just wish I’d put more than $1 into that bitcoin cashpoint a few years ago, as 200x return isn’t bad. Thanks, recent investors!

I bought £35 of Doge on Tuesday – just sold for £105 – I’m just having a bit of fun with this! 🙂

Free money for everyone!

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!

Well currently inflation isn’t a problem and a big percentage of the extra $ printed has just been saved by households. This means you won’t see inflation as most of the extra money isn’t chasing limited supply, which is what pushes prices up.

Excess savings are the accounting counterpart of “extra” government debt. According to the principles of national income accounting, the flow of private saving (by households and businesses) must be channeled to one of three uses. It can finance investment, be lent abroad, or lent to the government. In 2020, the U.S. government spent roughly $2 trillion to fight the COVID-19 recession, most of it financed with debt. The $1.6 trillion in “excess savings” is the accounting counterpart of this increase in government borrowing.

https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2021/04/excess-savings-are-not-excessive.html

ive got some Doge too, wondering if this trajectory will continue, or to sell now.

Depends if you are you happy with your profit! 🙂

£130 in feb is nudging £1000 today. no, not happy. moar needed!

Hodl and wait for smart contracts to come to Doge !

ive got some Doge too, wondering if this trajectory will continue, or to sell now.

Doge has gone utterly insane today, I put a tenner on it a while back and I think I’ve made £50 in the past couple of days alone.

It shouldn’t be where it is never mind climb any higher. It’s a virtually useless crypto with no real value on any rational level, but you wouldn’t bet against anything in 2021 so my tenner’s staying in. I’m a risk taker.

To all those out there on STW with any crypto, I must apologise.

A few days ago Boredom got the better of me so I thought why not buy £100 worth, spread amongst Bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin…

All seemed so easy, fees covered and into ‘profit’ within hours, but then it seems I personally have caused a day or two of drop in value!

And thinking Bitcoin should bounce back, I #%*@ed up trying to place a buy order, mixing euro and gbp prices on Kraken (to save the fees 🤦‍♂️). Wondered why the order was filled immediately and realised I had offered to pay £46 for £40 worth of Bitcoin…

I’ll need to hold it for a while just to break even, so I can now predict further falls and then flatlining for a while.

Sorry 😞

Oh that explains a few things! 🤣

I bought doge when it was low and although it’d dipped again after the initial trip to the moon…. it’s been slowly climbing back up again!

Absolutely Bonkers how the markets can be so easily swayed these days!

I’m spread over Bitcoin, Ether and Tron and the Doge is just for fun…
did find the memes quite comical at the time!

Basically the world is hanging on what Musk says next 😑

Absolutely Bonkers how the markets can be so easily swayed these days!

Only really applies to the Crypto market which has no intrinisic value, so purely down to sentiment on the day.

So, do we ‘buy the dip’ or sell everything now before the bubble collapses completely…?

Buy