Friend found some bitcoins he'd forgotten about lol

[Lake-Effect]

Bitcoins are this century's tulip bulb frenzy. Except that with tulip bulbs, you at least get a nice flower every year.

Folks who bought early, and held on... congrats. Folks who are now piling in... thanks, you're funding the payout to the early adopters. (-cough- Ponzi! -cough-)

Google "lost or stolen bitcoins" and you'll find that many who had bitcoins lost them, or had them stolen, or they disappeared due to a technical glitch.

It's estimated that all bitcoin activity (mining etc) consumes as much energy annually as Denmark. At least tulip bulbs don't so that.

So I am jealous of those who bought early and held bitcoins (as I am of those who bought Apple or Google at the right times). And I am fearful for those bitcoin n00bs who are going to get burned at some future point.

I see the point to blockchain, and how useful it will eventually be to transactions based on a 'proper' currency, but I think that the current flock of crypto-currencies are the riskiest of speculative vehicles. Some gonna win, a lot are gonna lose.

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

Bitcoins are this century's tulip bulb frenzy. Except that with tulip bulbs, you at least get a nice flower every year.

Folks who bought early, and held on... congrats. Folks who are now piling in... thanks, you're funding the payout to the early adopters. (-cough- Ponzi! -cough-)

Google "lost or stolen bitcoins" and you'll find that many who had bitcoins lost them, or had them stolen, or they disappeared due to a technical glitch.

It's estimated that all bitcoin activity (mining etc) consumes as much energy annually as Denmark. At least tulip bulbs don't so that.

So I am jealous of those who bought early and held bitcoins (as I am of those who bought Apple or Google at the right times). And I am fearful for those bitcoin n00bs who are going to get burned at some future point.

I see the point to blockchain, and how useful it will eventually be to transactions based on a 'proper' currency, but I think that the current flock of crypto-currencies are the riskiest of speculative vehicles. Some gonna win, a lot are gonna lose.

I'm confident Elon will solve this issue[emoji2]

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

Bitcoins are this century's tulip bulb frenzy. Except that with tulip bulbs, you at least get a nice flower every year.

Folks who bought early, and held on... congrats. Folks who are now piling in... thanks, you're funding the payout to the early adopters. (-cough- Ponzi! -cough-)

Google "lost or stolen bitcoins" and you'll find that many who had bitcoins lost them, or had them stolen, or they disappeared due to a technical glitch.

It's estimated that all bitcoin activity (mining etc) consumes as much energy annually as Denmark. At least tulip bulbs don't so that.

So I am jealous of those who bought early and held bitcoins (as I am of those who bought Apple or Google at the right times). And I am fearful for those bitcoin n00bs who are going to get burned at some future point.

I see the point to blockchain, and how useful it will eventually be to transactions based on a 'proper' currency, but I think that the current flock of crypto-currencies are the riskiest of speculative vehicles. Some gonna win, a lot are gonna lose.

On a more serious note yes it is a bubble but that dosent mean it can't go on for along time. There are many asset classes that I currently consider being in a bubble that are still chugging along.

The whole tech mania around 2000 was a bubble, but as you said Google and Amazon have come out just fine, will Bitcoin be like these two? I don't know, if I had to guess I'd say no BUT that's just it I'd be guessing! There lies the whole problem, everyone's guessing, this isn't investing its speculating, totally different game.
What I do know is rarely do you make money for nothing, it just dosent work that way... Long term.

[Blue Stocking]

If I own, and you need, a 15" St.Steel cleat, and you own, and I need a 3" single block, and we swap, we have each gained possession of our goal. No exchange of currency, except for the value of success of acquisition, has taken place.
But happy a family member disregarded my skepticism.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Suijin

No it’s more like 5-6 million, still a healthy haul for what was essentially an accidental investment.

As for when to bank your returns on a runaway market, the answer is “sooner than you think”. It’s like deciding when to reef. Because in a bubble-like market, if it collapses it goes quick and deciding when to get out is like catching a falling knife.

A sensible strategy is to bank half now and let the rest ride, then continue to bank increments depending on how the market evolves. You get a healthy profit locked in but are still in the game with reduced exposure.

There is absolutely no way of knowing where the bitcoin market is going, ergo it’s almost comical volatility. If you stay all in you need to be prepared to lose it all.

I based my statement on this article
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.9fc7e29e9792
The problem is what the accepted value would be for them. Sounds like the Alaska gold rush all over when the price of eggs was up to 3 bucks each.
A guy just spent 10,000 bitcoin to buy 2 papa John's pizzas.

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by newhaul

I based my statement on this article
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.9fc7e29e9792

The price has fluctuated wildly even going back to shortly after it's introduction. In 2010 it looks like it went from a low of $.02 to a high of $.35 or so:

https://charts.bitcoin.com/chart/price

My friend said that at the time of purchase the price seemed grossly inflated and he assumed it would plummet, but it was a project expense and not coming out of his pocket. I wonder if his client will get back to him with "About those bitcoins that you bought for testing...do you still have those?" lol

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by newhaul

I based my statement on this article
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.9fc7e29e9792
The problem is what the accepted value would be for them. Sounds like the Alaska gold rush all over when the price of eggs was up to 3 bucks each.
A guy just spent 10,000 bitcoin to buy 2 papa John's pizzas.

The volatility amongst other factors makes it absurd to call it a currency. Imagine if the Usd went up or down by 30% in 24hrs, how would it be possible to do business?

The other thing that amuses me is how the crypto mob carry on about Fiat currencies, I understand and agree with what they say but they still think of Bitcoin in terms of USD! They don't say my house is worth x Bitcoins.

If it was to start to collapse bitcoiners will be rushing to trade their coins back into that so called useless paper.. Lol.

I also find it fascinating that a Bitcoin is represented in the form of a gold coin with B dollar sign on it!! Everyone knows there is no coin right? In fact there is no Bitcoin!!!!!!! There's a digital record of you owning a Bitcoin that doesn't exist therefore the record itself is the Bitcoin!!!!

Why is Bitcoin the biggest Crypto? Branding, nothing more, it was the first and has the strongest Brand.

We are a strange lot.

[newhaul]

One good run on the " bank" and it would be all over but the crying.

[Peregrine1983]

Originally Posted by daletournier

There lies the whole problem, everyone's guessing, this isn't investing its speculating, totally different game.
What I do know is rarely do you make money for nothing, it just dosent work that way... Long term.

You can say that again.

A good friend of mine texted me the other day (he is an electrician). He's a very smart guy, but not a money man. He told me he's going to buy bitcoin. I said, "Dude... no offense, but if you're buying bitcoin, this is the top."

If you think bitcoin is volatile now, think about what will happen when this bubble pops and there isn't enough bandwidth in the exchanges to support orders to sell (or buy). That will cause wild fluctuations in value over short periods of time... In short, it will get very, very messy.

And then if the price really gets crushed, maybe... just maybe... I'm a buyer... Just not at 16k US.

[Suijin]

And add this to the mix of contributing factors to volatility; massive bitcoin farms in Russia and China:

https://www.slavorum.org/largest-bit...cret-location/



When entities like these can effectively "print" money, what does that do to the stability of the currency? I have no idea, but I'm not certain that anyone else knows either.

And imagine how many more of these mining farms are right now being frantically assembled or expanded given the current valuation.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by daletournier

Yes when to get off the train, there lies the whole problem for me. ..

And HOW do you get off the train?

If you've got BitCoin with a theoretical value of $5-6M then, other than transactions that can be completed directly with BitCoin (not most boat purchase txns), how do you convert that to a tangible asset (boat, real estate....) or other negotiable security/currency?

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

And HOW do you get off the train?

If you've got BitCoin with a theoretical value of $5-6M then, other than transactions that can be completed directly with BitCoin (not most boat purchase txns), how do you convert that to a tangible asset (boat, real estate....) or other negotiable security/currency?

Use an exchange like Coinbase and sell for USD. Although evidently the exchanges are crashing and suffering hacking attacks right now, which is in turn adding more volatility to the price as buyers and sellers scramble to get orders filled. What a circus.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Suijin

Use an exchange like Coinbase and sell for USD. Although evidently the exchanges are crashing and suffering hacking attacks right now, which is in turn adding more volatility to the price as buyers and sellers scramble to get orders filled. What a circus.

Oh boy...off the train and into the circus...and hope that $5-6M doesnt turn into cyber-smoke!

[rbk]

"The volatility amongst other factors makes it absurd to call it a currency. Imagine if the Usd went up or down by 30% in 24hrs, how would it be possible to do business?"

As compared to what currency? Cause it does.

As a holder of four of the top crypto's today I cant agree more about bitcoin flopping one day but who knows really. It is energy intensive, slow transactions time, expensive (cheaper than current bank systems), non regulated (soon to be in most countries), hard to exchange for goods and services; BUT it is ideal for criminal enterprises.

Crypto anarchists (i.e. down with the banks, paying taxes and the government! blah blah blah) who think the big banks and government are just going to go away and the world will figure itself out and we'll all use BTC are just straight up delusional. The tip of the crypto iceberg has just touched mainstream media and this technology is here to stay. Some will flourish and most will fail. Very few publicly available crypto's are regulation compliant, and only one is currently being used live by major banks to send payments. In fact if you bank in Asia, North/Central America, India or Europe chances are your bank is currently in trial tests, or preparing for them in the upcoming months and a few are using it commercially as we speak including two major credit card companies. Using a digital asset can reduce wire transfer costs by 60% and reduce the transaction time to seconds versus a week (for all of you who have wired money via SWIFT transaction know this already with hidden fees and 12 day wait times).

There is a so called 'legend' in the crypto world about the great flippening, where bitcoin will be dethroned and another will take its place and with the fast transaction times of the digital assets that can happen in hours. Here's to hoping I've picked one of the right ones lol

[rbk]

Also just a note with Bitcoin that there is no value associated with it or any other block chain crypto (again not a supporter of BTC or most others) but the real value lies in the network and the ability to verify chain of title. Smart contracts and the ability to track chain of title for anything from shipping containers, insurance, raw materials to manufactured goods etc is the actual value it provides and can do it without error or hacking (bitcoins and many others have not actually been hacked, its the exchanges and wallets that are hacked (the infallible nature of blockchain is one of the main reasons for forking the asset)