Let’s talk Bitcoin

[biosurfer1]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I always wonder when the people that started it decide to bail out and the market collapses or some other unknown influence manipulates it.

You think bitcoin is being run by the people that started it? and that they can bail out of it?

[biosurfer1]

Originally Posted by MBAtarga

Didn't some guy spend bitcoin to purchase a pizza years ago - and that bitcoin quantity is worth something in the multi-millions now?

Edit - here we go - $80M for 2 pizzas!

https://www.investopedia.com/news/bitcoin-pizza-day-celebrating-20-million-pizza-order/

That was a couple years ago... $160,000,000 today

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I always wonder when the people that started it decide to bail out and the market collapses or some other unknown influence manipulates it.

You may be describing the US dollar right there!

The value of a dollar is being highly manipulated by zero percent interest rates and the endless printing of money. Clearly, every dollar is being reduced in value every day, month and year, and it’s accelerating at a fairly alarming rate.

I agree with you, if that weren’t the case, I’d have zero interest in Bitcoin. If he dollar were backed by something, like gold in the past, instead of merely the promise of an increasingly irresponsible government, I’d have no interest in Bitcoin. But sitting on a lot of dollars, one starts to worry about it a little.

[GH85Carrera]

From what little I know about bitcoin, (and I admit it is limited) no one really knows who or what really founded it and started the bitcoin program. At some point someone had the idea for a new form of money, and either wrote the first program or had it written. Could it be like the movies and have some secret backdoor access that only he or his cronies have? Who knows. It is all just numbers in the internet cloud somewhere.

And we all know the treasury is printing dollars as silly amounts. It has to stop, but neither party is willing to stop it, or even talk about that. Just print more seems to be the politicians way to do it.

So is bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency company safer? Who knows. Can some state run super hacker find the secret backdoor or the code to spoof bitcoin? Who knows.

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by McLovin

So in that way, it is also like gold.

Physical gold doesn't require electricity and a computer to make a transaction.
Worst case scenario, the dollar collapses, and someone who does not like us sets off an EMP blast that wipes out electronics.
Bitcoin gone.

Now we're back to a barter system, using whatever you have in your home for trading.

[biosurfer1]

Originally Posted by Dantilla

Physical gold doesn't require electricity and a computer to make a transaction.
Worst case scenario, the dollar collapses, and someone who does not like us sets off an EMP blast that wipes out electronics.
Bitcoin gone.

Now we're back to a barter system, using whatever you have in your home for trading.

So in this scorched world with no electricity, what good is gold?

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by biosurfer1

So in this scorched world with no electricity, what good is gold?

On one hand, not as good as a loaf of bread.

On the other hand, for thousands of years, gold has been the "gold standard" for currency, recognized by all countries, all cultures, all people everywhere, of intrinsic value.

[McLovin]

Also I’ve never delivered a physical dollar to my brokerage account, it’s all electronic transfers done by electricity and computers. So that would be gone too I suppose.

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by Dantilla

On one hand, not as good as a loaf of bread.

On the other hand, for thousands of years, gold has been the "gold standard" for currency, recognized by all countries, all cultures, all people everywhere, of intrinsic value.

That is historically true. But those thousands of years were almost all before the advent of fiat currency. And until relatively recently even paper currency was backed by physical gold. So gold as a currency or currency backer has had real relevance for over 99% of human monetary history.
But that is no longer and never will be again.
So I think gold is different now. I’m not a fan of gold as an investment, I think it’s unpredictable, as it’s price history since 1980 has shown.

[Alan A]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

From what little I know about bitcoin, (and I admit it is limited) no one really knows who or what really founded it and started the bitcoin program. At some point someone had the idea for a new form of money, and either wrote the first program or had it written. Could it be like the movies and have some secret backdoor access that only he or his cronies have? Who knows. It is all just numbers in the internet cloud somewhere.

And we all know the treasury is printing dollars as silly amounts. It has to stop, but neither party is willing to stop it, or even talk about that. Just print more seems to be the politicians way to do it.

So is bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency company safer? Who knows. Can some state run super hacker find the secret backdoor or the code to spoof bitcoin? Who knows.

There’s no back door per se. The security comes from the large number of copies of the transaction log - the ledger - and the fact that consensus is required to write a transaction and have it become permanent.

The code is open for examination. You can run it on your own computer if you so desire.

Now the actual value in the actual accounts on that ledger is secured by long strings of numbers. Those are ripe for suborning. If someone gets hold of your security codes you can lose it all with no recourse - the feds just pulled 1B or so from the Silk Road account for instance.

This is for Bitcoin.
Other cryptocurrencies use different consensus and mining algos.
Some are better than others, but BTC and ETH are well established as stores of value by now.

[KFC911]

BIT - Binary digIT

My '0's are worth more than yer '1's .... until I flip some bits around.... oops the "cloud" is unavailable.... who ya gonna call?

Uncle FrED, Uncle $am, or Uncle Guido .

[TimBer]

A couple years old now, but I found this podcast really interesting. A woman purchased some bitcoin to buy drugs back in the early days of bitcoin. Now she's wondering how much is left in her bitcoin wallet and what is it worth?

https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/z3hl9r/115-the-bitcoin-hunter

[widebody911]

https://fortune.com/2021/01/07/bitcoin-price-today-soars-ether-cryptocurrency-marketcap/

[dewolf]

It's here to stay. I dropped AU$10K in back in July. Think I've more than tripled my dough now.

[McLovin]

Haha, I’m glad I didn’t listen to the doubters!

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by McLovin

Haha, I’m glad I didn’t listen to the doubters!

LOL

signed...

Thomas

[McLovin]

And still holding every single AAPL that motion and I started buying in 2012.

AAPL: How high will it go?

[tabs]

Bitcoin has no legs.

If the Grid goes down..

People wana see it and touch it..gold and silver. Thats human.nature..

I can hear it now..but but but..and that is all bs..you can not escape from who you are nor your history.

[dan79brooklyn]

I bought $1000 of Bitcoin stock through Vanguard last month. It’s doubled already.

[Alan A]

Originally Posted by dan79brooklyn

I bought $1000 of Bitcoin stock through Vanguard last month. It’s doubled already.

Read the prospectus for GBTC and what it’s actually worth.
I used to have a *lot* of it last go around, so I’m passing familiar with the stuff.

IMO unless you need to use your broker you are better off holding the actual crypto.