The bitcoin is backed by the work to find it.
This limits the rate of new bit coins.

In contrast, the rate of new dollars in recent years that are getting printed out and sent to the connected has been staggering.

What a dollar can buy is dropping as a result, and those farther from the connection are hardest hit.

This makes a demand for a currency that bypasses the taxation of printing.

I have yet to invest the time to get into crypto, but I can see a value to it.

I’m thinking there may be no such thing as a Bitcoin. And since something that doesn’t exist can never be found, the mysterious Bitcoin is infinitely valuable, right?

OTOH, the value of the dollar is dropping like a Kardashian’s knickers so people will naturally grab on to something whose value is rising with something whose value is falling and the sooner the better.

I think Bitcoin is interesting to watch. It is pure currency speculation similar to gold, tulips, baseball trading cards, Beanie Babies or anything else whose value is only in what the next person is willing to pay. A fast buck can clearly be made with it but risk of loss is real. A fast buck can also be made at the roulette wheel, Blackjack table, or playing the Lotto. Is it a genuine tangible asset? I don't know. The key difference between Bitcoin and gold is that gold has been widely accepted as a store of value for 5000 years. Bitcoin has been recognized as a store of value for 10 years.

Not really my style of investing. I prefer to get rich slow by investing in RE and the entire US economy which actually produce income streams and are not likely to simply disappear into the ether overnight. YMMV

That’s the biggest issue that will keep the average Joe away IMO. If you get scammed, lose your code or even just make a mistake transacting, you can lose your coins forever. No customer service to call, no password reset, just gone forever.

Buy into a bitcoin etf. Low expense rates. Buy and sell like a stock or mutual fund at your broker.

I used Charles Schwab and bought IBIT.

The risk is still there, you are just transferring it to Blackrock. Granted, I’m sure they have more risk controls than the average person, but still…From the prospectus:


“Digital assets, including bitcoin, are controllable only by the possessor of both the unique public key and private key or keys relating to the
Bitcoin network address, or “wallet”, at which the digital asset is held. Private keys must be safeguarded and kept private in order to prevent a
third party from accessing the digital asset held in such wallet. The loss, theft, compromise or destruction of a private key required to access a
digital asset may be irreversible. If a private key is lost, stolen, destroyed or otherwise compromised and no backup of the private key is
accessible, the owner would be unable to access the digital asset corresponding to that private key and the private key will not be capable of
being restored by the digital asset network resulting in the total loss of the value of the digital asset linked to the private key.

I have eliminated half of your concerns. No personal wallet needed. No additional pass code to lose. Simple purchasing. And a customer service to call if needed.

I sold off half of my account yesterday. I have my initial investment back. I still have a similar amount invested. I was up more than 104% last year.

The Bankman-Fried scandal two years ago was a prime example of how easily crypto can be gamed and defrauded. He and his crew got caught but I wonder how many lost their stake forever due to the creative accounting these cats employed.

The lure of a big win is there but so is the significant element of risk.

https://www.npr.org/2022/12/12/1142361088/bankman-fried-ceo-ftx-crypto-exchange-arrested-bahamas-charges-sdny

https://apnews.com/article/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-cryptocurrency-sentencing-sbf-d7bb1a5e94b4c22039d74dfeab1a2ff1

If you had 8-12K you were willing to "gamble" on crypto and you were to pick a couple of places to put yoir money - what would you buy?

I dont understand crypto, dont think there is anything behind it and certainly undrestand I could be throwing this money away, but as stated , interested in the gamble

Trump launched his own cryptocurrency today. Govern yourself accordingly.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9vmym2jvy9o.amp

Trump launched his own cryptocurrency today. Govern yourself accordingly.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9vmym2jvy9o.amp

Right now it's $69.77 USD per coin. It will be interesting to see what happens over time.

https://www.binance.com/en-AU/price/official-trump

classic pump and dump…this will keep happening as long as there is zero regulation. Be careful out there….

That's my take on it, too.

There are thousands (10,000's?) of crypto coins now. All worthless in my opinion. Yes, I know people are making serious bank, and I wish I was stupid enough to "invest" in one that is popping. But take for instance the trump coin, or whatever its called. As a currency, what can anyone buy with it? Great for hiding and laundering cash. But other than that, I dont see the utility. Its pure Monopoly money.

The only exception in my mind is Bitcoin. Its had staying power and there are a few things you can actualy do with it. But its still all tulips in my opinion.

The new administration is going to be pro crypto.

"$MELANIA" - :cool:

of course they will be. its the scam to end all scams.

i literally cannot think of a better scam than making nothing, selling it to rubes, while keeping the "majority" to yourself. majority in quotes because its literally digital nothing, so you can make more whenever you want to.

like why bother with anything else if you have the power of the US government to make yourself wealthy? why bother with pork spending, or any spending, when you can literally make wealth up out of nowhere and use the power of the government to do it for you.

its so dumb that any human would fall for this crap.

Agreed on all point except no one is falling for anything.
Everyone participating is knowingly playing a ponzi game of greater fool.

I don’t agree, there are a LOT of folks who truly think BTC is a game changing thing that will destroy traditional currency. Lots of true believers out there (I am not one of them).