|
Forums >
Off-Topic Discussion >
So what do you think of Bitcoin?
I haven't seen any threads on this and I know there is a lotta good advice here, so here goes: Do you think Bitcoin - and other crypto-currencies - are worth buying? As you probably know, if you bought bitcoin in January of this year, it would have cost you about $900. Now, at the end of 2017, you could have sold it for $11,000. Some say it's a craze, like tulip-mania in the 1630s, when tulips became very sought-out in Holland and skyrocketed in value, only to plummet back to where it started within 6 months. Still others say it's like the Internet: it's not going away. And others say that since there are a limited amount of Bitcoin (21 million), they are only valuable for their scarcity. Sometimes I kick myself for not buying up domain names in the early 1990s. Some of them could have later sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Are we on the cusp of the Next Big Thing? Or are we on the verge of the bursting of the Next Big Bubble? Dec 03 17 04:32 pm Link I think if you look at a gold chart for the last 20 years, it will be something like that, flying high, becoming uncertain, then backing off and leveling off. Only the pattern will happen faster. Dec 03 17 04:53 pm Link Out of all the fiat currencies out there, Bitcoin has to be the most insane. It exists only in cyber space and is backed up by not even a promise of something. Dec 03 17 06:16 pm Link Bitcoin is too expensive to be useful for paying models, but does anyone have any experience with paying models with other cryptocurrencies? For example, Tether is currently trading at $0.9965 so it would be a more practical size of currency for use, but I don't know much about this one in particular. Does anyone accept payment for their photography in one or more cryptocurrency? Dec 03 17 07:07 pm Link Can't claim that I fully understand Bitcoin, but I don't trust it. There's nothing there but some kind of an agreement that it's worth something, but what exactly. If I buy a share of Amazon, for example, I own a teeny piece of everything Amazon owns. Companies can pay dividends, be protected by bankruptcy laws -- heck, if push comes to shove, they can sell the office furniture and give me a slice. But what is Bitcoin? Does it have a native worth? Or is it just some piece of electronic paper that has a worth only because the people buying & selling it think it's worth? Who is the CEO of Bitcoin? Who are on its Board of Directors? What is their last quarterly report? Can I buy or sell options? Where are they located? What do they own other than a sales pitch that have convinced folks that a Bitcoin is worth something? No, for my investments, I'll stick to real companies & funds & such. And I'm not ready to accept payment in Bitcoin. Dec 03 17 07:29 pm Link I think I should have "invested" all of my money in Bitcoin a couple of years ago. Dec 04 17 12:36 am Link I understand the concept of it...its just that I just see no reason why this particular online currency would be chosen over that online currency and be given governments stamp of approval. having said that I have always thought it ridiculous in the modern day we carry wads of paper and coins in our pocket and plastic. everything should be non physical accounts and money moved via electronic means. and go go further if possible, have our accounts biologically somehow. Dec 04 17 07:43 pm Link Looknsee Photography wrote: It seems you are treating Bitcoin like it's a stock. It's not; it's a currency. Or at least it's trying to be. Dec 04 17 08:09 pm Link I don't understand it, you're not buying an empty box, you're buying an imaginary empty box. All I know is that the graphics card I was looking to buy soared up in price from people cryptomining with it. Is it like a trophy room for the Pokemon hunted? Dec 04 17 08:15 pm Link Bitcoin is rapidly becoming the currency of choice for the neo nazi movement. https://mic.com/articles/186438/neo-naz … .k4y9BF64t Dec 04 17 08:52 pm Link Guss W wrote: I've heard this too and tend to agree with it. I think the idea of bitcoin is exciting, but I just don't trust it to keep going up and up over time. But then, I'm very cautious and practical with my money. It definitely seems like a gamble to me...a possibility of making some good money, or just losing it in a major way. Dec 04 17 09:16 pm Link Springfield Fotografiya wrote: I tried to get payments in bitcoin. it's not popular enough here. In China it is more popular. Dec 04 17 10:32 pm Link Springfield Fotografiya wrote: You can buy and sell bitcoin in much smaller increments than ONE BITCOIN. A single bitcoin can actually be broken down into one hundred million parts. Dec 05 17 01:35 am Link Tulip Mania... Dec 05 17 02:37 am Link It has been good to me. Dec 05 17 02:44 am Link LeboGraphics wrote: That helps. Dec 05 17 02:35 pm Link LeboGraphics wrote: The difference is that a dollar's value is partially based on faith in the US and its economy, and partially based on the actual facts of the economy; no matter how much other countries love or hate the US, it will always have value if we're not bankrupt and inflation isn't spiraling out of control. That's why the British Pound fell like crazy after the Brexit vote, but still has a strong value relative to other currencies: because we can all look at the UK, and see it's still there and doing all right. Dec 05 17 03:46 pm Link I love it. I love that it completely bypasses the inflation machine known as The Federal Reserve. A centrally-controlled monetary system backed up by involuntary taxation (theft) was the death knell for freedom in the US when they were put in place. Essentially we're tax slaves. I'm hoping bitcoin and other similar technologies can help decentralize power in the world. Dec 05 17 04:20 pm Link ClaytonCDavis wrote: Huh? It's the epitome of inflation. Where would you be if you had borrowed bitcoins promising to pay back in bitcoins? You'd be bankrupt. A big part of the world's economy depends on debt spending, but bitcoin is not suited to that. This is why bitcoin will never be a general currency. A general currency has to have stability to handle borrowing. Dec 05 17 06:00 pm Link The amount of money made on Bitcoin as it rises will be eclipsed exponentially by the amount of money lost on Bitcoin when it crashes. Dec 06 17 10:42 am Link ernst tischler wrote: WORD UP! When this silly pyramid comes crashing down... it's gonna leave millions of investors wondering where their billions of dollars went. Kinda like storing all your images in a cloud... then just watching the cloud evaporate... Dec 06 17 10:47 am Link Bitcoin is highly volatile. It's like trading your money for an I.O.U. which can be stored on a USB stick or printed onto a piece of ordinary paper in the form of a series of numbers and letters. As an added benefit the value of a "coin" fluctuates wildly so you can instantly double your money or loose your shirt overnight. Quite exciting. There are advantages such as privacy. It's significantly difficult to associate someone's name, email, or other personally identifying information to a transaction. I only make charitable contributions to organizations which accept bitcoin so I don't get put on phone call and email lists. I donated to "Free the nipple." It's planet-wide rather than country-wide so you can pay someone in another country quickly without going through banks and unreliable credit card processors. Of course, it's like cash so there is no buyer protection for your transactions. It resides outside of the traditional banking system. For example, when Mastercard and Visa pulled their merchant accounts from a popular classifieds ad site, bitcoin replaced them as a payment, without the corporate censorship. It's so much easier to transfer money from person to person - no checks to bounce, no Western Union fees (although there are bitcoin network fees), and payment is made within seconds rather than hours or days. Then there's mining for coin. What you do is trade your computer resources into the cloud for transaction fees, I believe, as the whole thing is network cloud based. I made about $20 bucks profit last year in bitcoin - could have just as easily lost that much. Been chilln' waiting for the whole segwit fork thing to settle down. Dec 06 17 11:18 am Link Complicated. Can make good case to invest and also to avoid speculation. Depends on what you can afford! And also how much you know. Example: some people can ride a bike, some can't, Some know how to fly planes, some choopers, some balloons, Some people can swim, some can't, Some can use SLR, some can't, Some can sew, some can't. Some should invest if they know what they're doing and can afford to lose it! Others should not. Not sure if this addresses OP! Dec 06 17 12:13 pm Link Dupe 😢 Dec 06 17 12:13 pm Link Great series of articles from Reuters illustrates why Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies remain a super-risky gamble. 1. Chaos and hackers stalk investors on cryptocurrency exchanges 2. Backroom battle imperils $230 million cryptocurrency venture 3. Twice burned - How Mt. Gox’s bitcoin customers could lose again Dec 06 17 12:37 pm Link I don't hold any, but I find it interesting that I think around 70% of the trading of it, is from Asia/China and that part of the world. Dec 06 17 12:48 pm Link I might just dump 1000 on it and forget about it. I mean,thats not so much money to lose sleep over if lost, and enough that if it explodes to at least see something from it. so why not. I'm going to look into it. Dec 06 17 01:59 pm Link Right on cue, here's this article on Slate, posted a few minutes ago. Dec 06 17 02:34 pm Link PhillipM wrote: I think a lot of the trading is from China because there are restrictions on importing dollars into the country. Dec 06 17 03:57 pm Link what is it? Dec 06 17 04:13 pm Link kickfight wrote: Also, Steam ends support for Bitcoin due to high fees, volatility. I'd want more stability in my investments. But hey, it ain't my money. Dec 06 17 04:33 pm Link FIFTYONE PHOTOGRAPHY wrote: funny money Dec 06 17 05:11 pm Link kickfight wrote: haha! Dec 06 17 05:19 pm Link Here is a pretty good explanation and warning of the crytocurrency  https://www.theonion.com/bitcoin-plunge … 1821134169 Dec 08 17 05:30 pm Link so, do you just buy a bunch of bitcoins such say in my case 1000 dollars worth and just let it sit there in the virtual wallet and if it keeps climbing in value, the 1000 dollars will be worth alot more some how? the fact I am asking this question probably is proof positive why I should not invest lol. I tried to buy 1000 dollars worth of bitcoins on a website called coinbase but its literally refusing to take my money because the system in so overloaded apparently and telling me it cant verify my account when I try to link it to my checking account. must be a mad dash to buy right now. Dec 09 17 09:44 am Link While under normal use, Bitcoin has some advantages and disadvantages, those rules don't really apply at the moment. That's because there are all the hallmarks of some large scale price manipulators at work. They're using the old playbook from the old penny stocks "pump and dump" routines. That involves buying lots when it's dirt cheap, creating a hype, plus artificially bidding up the price (to get a lot more people in to really push the price up way higher) and then suddenly dumping large amounts that they previously bought, selling them for a terrific profit. By definition, those great profits come from other's losses. Then repeat the cycle for the next batch you want to sell off, etc, as long as you still have large holdings (the names of some of the big players with massive bitcoin speculative holdings are well publicized). Thus the incredibly wild price swings, both up and down. Think of it more like playing in a casino, although it's far less predictable / safe. Unless you have large enough holdings to actually have some level of control, significantly impacting / manipulating the market price with the size of your plays. Dec 09 17 10:19 am Link I read recently something about bitcoin that made me laugh. It said, if you dont understand bitcoin, you dont realize money is not real. I am going to state some facts and not get into the foray but the truth is that bitcoin is like a designer drug. Legal until its use is seen enough that governments are trying to control anonymity. HOWEVER I discovered that for 10k usd you can go to a cruise in international waters and get an unlimited privately unlinked card. I think that would be a GREAT place to take photos of naked chicks. Imagine slipping into the cruise and brining some great models. On the other hand....bitcoin is going down the dumpster. Just like the darkweb, after its been mentioned in five mainstream tv shows its not exactly a secret anymore. Its a new paradise for poseurs and idiots. So expect bitcoin to crash bigtime. There are a few new cryptocurrencies to look into. IF that is your thing of course. Dec 09 17 10:24 am Link Tony From Syracuse wrote: nope. Everyone is selling now. Ever gone on the site? the coins are all tracked in the cards you buy in the us. bitcoin is not going anywhere but down. Buy a Visa prepaid card. It will keep its value. Dec 09 17 10:25 am Link Probably the most valuable property of Bitcoin and other crypto-whatevers is the computer science advance in their accounting. Right now, it's brand new and uncontrolled, but I'm thinking that over many years we will see all accounting move to this style. It probably will have to evolve a lot, and regulators will have to learn how to deal with it. Dec 09 17 10:49 am Link I found this interesting. I assumed bitcoin was green. No paper or metal needed, etc. The amount of energy needed to create each additional bitcoin is getting ridiculously unsustainable. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/12 … rgy-future Also, the way so many people work on a single chain but only one miner gets the credit is very distasteful to me. Call me an old communist but there ought to be a way for shared contribution to get shared credit. It's digital right? How hard would it be to divide up? Anyway, I will steer clear of it. Dec 10 17 09:53 am Link |
