Somebody just paid $450 million for a painting. A currency or anything else is worth what people are willing to pay for it regardless of whether it is backed by government or other assets.
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Somebody just paid $450 million for a painting. A currency or anything else is worth what people are willing to pay for it regardless of whether it is backed by government or other assets.
I find the whole Bitcoin thing interesting but would personally not bother investing at these levels, under the assumption that if they're talking about it on Yahoo the easy money has been made.
No doubt a huge multiplier has been missed by anyone on the sidelines, but not expecting it to gain on USD going forward, so you expect US deficits and monetary creation to really stop? I’m expecting more of the opposite, that is to say, more of the same.
As the pile of USD grows the pile of bitcoin is fixed. It can only grow from the present 16 million coins to 21 million. It’s inflationary pace is down, and will eventually end, and then ultimately the real pool will shrink as people lose coins, like this guy.
Pool of USD ain’t ever going down, as it would make the debt even more expensive. I suggest folks take stock of economic law and political realities.
I am curious what will happen closer and closer to the 21 million mark. If people will just sit, or if people will feel like its maxing so no gain, so sell to cash out and the price plummets with the last people holding are holding empty "bags".
That poor guy. Thats the kind of regret people kill themselves over.
I think bitcoin is growing in value relative to dollars because even though the pool of bitcoin is increasing, the pools of fiat currencies are growing too. When bitcoin stops growing I don’t expect the government’s are going to suddenly end their deficits and stop inflating, so even if the demand for bitcoin remained the same (and I happen to think it’s still tiny - who do you know that actually claims some?) the fiat currency price of bitcoin should keep rising.
In other words, a bet on bitcoin appreciating in dollar terms is a bet on continued deficits financed in printed fiat.
Seems like a safe bet.
They don’t mention the current status of the girlfriend...
May all be completely accurate. But the whole Bitcoin process still seems really sketchy to me and while I may have been willing to lose a few thousand I'm not going to dump anything significant into it.No doubt a huge multiplier has been missed by anyone on the sidelines, but not expecting it to gain on USD going forward, so you expect US deficits and monetary creation to really stop? I’m expecting more of the opposite, that is to say, more of the same.
As the pile of USD grows the pile of bitcoin is fixed. It can only grow from the present 16 million coins to 21 million. It’s inflationary pace is down, and will eventually end, and then ultimately the real pool will shrink as people lose coins, like this guy.
Pool of USD ain’t ever going down, as it would make the debt even more expensive. I suggest folks take stock of economic law and political realities.
This definitely hasme curious.
Would it be worth putting $5k into something like this or not?
I am curious what will happen closer and closer to the 21 million mark. If people will just sit, or if people will feel like its maxing so no gain, so sell to cash out and the price plummets with the last people holding are holding empty "bags".
Well, I do the normal 15% in traditional investing,so this would be more like gambling to see if I could turn that $5k into $35k you know?Say Bitcoin goes up to $100,000 in a few years. By my math you'd make about $30k. I guess the question is whether you're ok with the risk of having that $5k in a new and untested investment.
The energy consumption issue is one I'm just learning about. Bitcoin "miners" in Mongolia? Bitcoin miners using more electricity than 159 countries?Seems like a bubble to me.
It can’t be useful as a currency (energy cost) in any large scale. It’s speculation driven by greed. It will die spectachlarly.
The energy consumption issue is one I'm just learning about. Bitcoin "miners" in Mongolia? Bitcoin miners using more electricity than 159 countries?
"In the bitcoin economy, time really is money. Every 10 minutes or so, mining machines compete with each other to solve a math problem to win 12.5 bitcoins, a reward set by the bitcoin software. The work is akin to trying out billions of combinations of numbers on a safe. The miner who gets the right combination the fastest unlocks the safe. The more machines you have, the greater your chances of earning coins."
The whole thing is just bizarre to me. I can't shake the idea that it's like earning rupees in The Legend of Zelda but here people are investing real money.
The energy consumption issue is one I'm just learning about. Bitcoin "miners" in Mongolia? Bitcoin miners using more electricity than 159 countries?
"In the bitcoin economy, time really is money. Every 10 minutes or so, mining machines compete with each other to solve a math problem to win 12.5 bitcoins, a reward set by the bitcoin software. The work is akin to trying out billions of combinations of numbers on a safe. The miner who gets the right combination the fastest unlocks the safe. The more machines you have, the greater your chances of earning coins."
The whole thing is just bizarre to me. I can't shake the idea that it's like earning rupees in The Legend of Zelda but here people are investing real money.
As to the latter, the original bitcoin exchange was mt gox. Mt gox was a Magic the gathering card exchange before that.
Was programmed by the guy that made edonkey (media stealing exchange). It’s shady people doing shady things.
No one knows who made bitcoin. That should be troubling.
Another thread touched on the subject, so I will repost in this one. Today, my plumber told me he was making "an investment" in digital currency because it has such good profits. He is hoping to quadruple his money in less than a year. The time to sell is soon.
As to the latter, the original bitcoin exchange was mt gox. Mt gox was a Magic the gathering card exchange before that.
Was programmed by the guy that made edonkey (media stealing exchange). It’s shady people doing shady things.
No one knows who made bitcoin. That should be troubling.
It’s important to realize there is a distinction between an exchange and the bitcoin protocol itself.
Why? The protocol is open source. Any coder can read what it does.
What would the identity of the original coder reveal that is useful?
So, question. Where does all that bitcoin value reside?
It's not like there is a dollar printed and put aside.
People buy bitcoin with dollars right?
There’s nothing particularly innovative about blockchain. This is gold pieces in Everquest.
Given that the edonkey guy using a similar concept built mt gox and the latter was a heist, I wonder if he created bitcoin specifically to do that.
Again, it’s important to understand the distinction between an exchange like MtGox and bitcoin itself.
If I have money in a bitcoin wallet, it’s not subject to ‘heist’. If I transfer money from my wallet to a wallet that Mt Gox holds the keys to, I have introduced a counterparty risk that bitcoin itself doesn’t have. I’ve decided to trust the owner of MtGox to treat me right. If he goes rogue like Jon Corzine at MFGlobal and starts dipping into ‘my’ wallet to fund his own trades, do I blame the monetary unit itself, or the thief?
I have not followed the MtGox story very closely (with regard to whether it was hacked, or an inside job), but the proprietary code of exchange sites is not to be confused with the open source bitcoin protocol.
Here's the part I don't get - we spend countless billions of dollars each year trying to guard against security breaches and identity theft, most of which is aimed at stealing money from us.
Yet, with Bitcoin, we're lining up and fighting to throw tons of hard-earned money to faceless entities in cyberspace to own something that most can't even begin to explain.
I get that one could make the exact argument about stocks, but it's the cyberspace angle that makes it different to me.
Again, it’s important to understand the distinction between an exchange like MtGox and bitcoin itself.
If I have money in a bitcoin wallet, it’s not subject to ‘heist’. If I transfer money from my wallet to a wallet that Mt Gox holds the keys to, I have introduced a counterparty risk that bitcoin itself doesn’t have. I’ve decided to trust the owner of MtGox to treat me right. If he goes rogue like Jon Corzine at MFGlobal and starts dipping into ‘my’ wallet to fund his own trades, do I blame the monetary unit itself, or the thief?
I have not followed the MtGox story very closely (with regard to whether it was hacked, or an inside job), but the proprietary code of exchange sites is not to be confused with the open source bitcoin protocol.
Exchanges are necessary for crypto to be accessible.
You also need secure storage that can be recovered in the event someone dies or loses keys.
I’ve heard about bitcoin and lite coin from people I know in Poland and I’ve seen articles about Venezuelans grabbing on to this. The world wide nature of it makes me wonder how high the bubble can go. Definitely regret not investing in this years ago to benefit from the hysteria.
Depends on your financial position, how much is due, and your appetite for risk. It would also be prudent to get a better understanding of the "crypto currency" before investing or exchanging in place of USDs imo.Some money is due to me and I have the opportunity to collect in Bitcoin.
Does anyone use this? How difficult is it to set up an account? Does it work well?
Depends on your financial position, how much is due, and your appetite for risk. It would also be prudent to get a better understanding of the "crypto currency" before investing or exchanging in place of USDs imo.
Yes, this would fall under appetite for risk. Sounds like you have a healthy one. Personally, I wouldn't risk anymore than 1-3% of my funds used for trading. I believe it's great opportunity for people who aren't in the know to get taken advantage of by those that are. Which is generally the case with trading financial markets.This is a lucid, intelligent, well-thought-out post. Yet the value of Bitcoin has septupled in the time since the original post. Sometimes you gotta say WTF, make your move.
Bitcoin is pointless. It is an intangible "asset" and has no tangible value. It isn't needed by anyone. It's an illusion, it has no intrinsic value. I don't even need it to buy anything and there are many different ways to make a profit. What's the point?