Let’s talk Bitcoin

[McLovin]

5 years ago I would have said that’s nuts.
2 years ago the same.
Heck, even last year.
Now . . . I’m not so sure.
Major institutions like JP Morgan, PayPal, etc a year ago said Bitcoin was crazy, but now even they’re jumping into cryptocurrencies.
One of the reasons I’m thinking about it is you can now buy and sell it through PayPal, which makes it easy.
And I do wonder about where the US dollar is going with the unlimited printing. Irrefutable math would seem to indicate that the value of currently existing dollars has to eventually be hurt by the printing of trillions of new ones, a trend that seems unlikely now to ever end.
I was thinking about Bitcoin when it was stagnant at $10k, but with recent events like PayPal it’s jumped to $16k.
Still, who knows where it could go. I wouldn’t be surprised if it hits $100k relatively quickly.
Thoughts?

[Fast Freddy 944]

I would purchase Silver and let it go up in value, I would probably wait until the bit coin actually works and the bugs are out of it ,before even thinking about trying it, im open, but I will wait..

[techweenie]

Blockchain is here to stay. Bitcoin and other examples of cryptocurrency are competing like multiple versions of VHS and Beta.

I ended up putting money in Litecoin. Wish I'd put in a LOT more!

[sugarwood]

Gotta be in it to win it

[KC911]

Bitcoin will always go up, up, up!

$136,147 .... easy

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by techweenie

Blockchain is here to stay. Bitcoin and other examples of cryptocurrency are competing like multiple versions of VHS and Beta.

I ended up putting money in Litecoin. Wish I'd put in a LOT more!

Like most things, can’t the Govt destroy cryptocurrencies?
It seems like there hasn’t been much interest in the govt to meddle in it because it hasn’t achieved mainstream success yet, or become a real threat to the dollar as a widespread means of exchange. It’s relatively under the radar now.
But it seems like even govt talk about heavily regulating crypto could cause a collapse in price.

[speeder]

It's been a very volatile investment, which of course means that people have made boatloads of cash on it. And lost the same.

[dafischer]

Originally Posted by KC911

Bitcoin will always go up, up, up!

Just like the stock market, right?

[speeder]

One serious issue to consider is that you need a way for your heirs to access the bitcoins if you croak. I know of a true story of a guy who died w serious 7-figures in crypto and no one can get it out because of encrypted passwords that no one knows.

[Alan A]

Originally Posted by McLovin

Like most things, can’t the Govt destroy cryptocurrencies?

They’d have to put a helluva lot of computing power to suborn the Bitcoin network at this juncture. Chinas probably the only one that could manage it.

I’m not going to type out a long boring treatise about Merkle trees and distributed trust that no one will read.

Instead I’ll leave you with this.

https://news.bitcoin.com/the-bitcoin-network-now-consumes-7-nuclear-plants-worth-of-power/

[Alan A]

Originally Posted by dafischer

Just like the stock market, right?

Limited - finite - supply builds in scarcity. So it’s slightly different.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Alan A

They’d have to put a helluva lot of computing power to suborn the Bitcoin network at this juncture. Chinas probably the only one that could manage it.

I’m not going to type out a long boring treatise about Merkle trees and distributed trust that no one will read.

Instead I’ll leave you with this.

https://news.bitcoin.com/the-bitcoin-network-now-consumes-7-nuclear-plants-worth-of-power/

Wow.

That is a lot of electricity.

[pavulon]

Originally Posted by speeder

It's been a very volatile investment, which of course means that people have made boatloads of cash on it. And lost the same.

Isn't BTC pretty close to pure speculation vs an investment?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Is the “value”of the Bitcoin supposed to be the energy and computing power put into it? Or something else? If it is, does that represent any real value or isn’t it (as I suspect) just resources consumed that could’ve / would’ve been used for something more meaningful - like running hospitals or something?

Just curious. I’m not in the Bitcoin game but am intrigued by how this is all supposed to work. I know it’s the “go to” currency of people who don’t want to be tracked / traced (which I can agree with, the obvious downside being that it attracts terrorists, drug dealers, human traffickers, ransomware developers, scam artists and other human refuse...)

[biosurfer1]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

?

Just curious. I’m not in the Bitcoin game but am intrigued by how this is all supposed to work. I know it’s the “go to” currency of people who don’t want to be tracked / traced (which I can agree with, the obvious downside being that it attracts terrorists, drug dealers, human traffickers, ransomware developers, scam artists and other human refuse...)

The main value of bitcoin is it is a currency secured by math that isn't subject to any government whims.

I also find it funny that people associate bitcoin with drug dealers when it's been proven 90+% of US currency has traces of cocaine.

[GH85Carrera]

75 Years Ago The U.S. Dollar Became The World's Currency. After WW2 there was no other real superpower but the US. Times they are a changing.

If I had gobs of money from some slightly illicit source bitcoin makes sense. The Feds can't touch it with any source without the password.

I do 100% of my money earning and spending in the standard banking and credit union world. If the US dollar collapses the entire world will suffer, and I suspect bitcoin will have little more to offer if it can only be traded among the bitcoin world. I really bet bullets will become the new currency if the dollar collapses.

It is just to volatile for me to get into bitcoins.

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Is the “value”of the Bitcoin supposed to be the energy and computing power put into it? Or something else? If it is, does that represent any real value or isn’t it (as I suspect) just resources consumed that could’ve / would’ve been used for something more meaningful - like running hospitals or something?

Just curious. I’m not in the Bitcoin game but am intrigued by how this is all supposed to work. I know it’s the “go to” currency of people who don’t want to be tracked / traced (which I can agree with, the obvious downside being that it attracts terrorists, drug dealers, human traffickers, ransomware developers, scam artists and other human refuse...)

The value isn’t the energy put into it.
It’s kind of another form of fiat currency, but unlike the US dollar or other fiat currency, it can’t just be “printed” in unlimited amounts on a whim.
That’s because of the energy and time it takes to create it, and also it ultimately has a cap on how much can be created.
So in that way, it is also like gold.
In the past there was the drug dealer thing and it was an “underground” thing, but it has recently gained major mainstream acceptance with the big banks, PayPal etc.
That’s my understanding at least.

[speeder]

Imagine if you were a drug dealer a few short years ago, accepting Bitcoin as payment when it was worth ~$20 a BC. Now it's worth ~$17k and climbing.

We're in the wrong business.

[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/

[GH85Carrera]

My ultimate bottom line for me is I see no need for bitcoin that I can't do with dollars. Not one thing.

As an investment, it is just too volatile for me. I always wonder when the people that started it decide to bail out and the market collapses or some other unknown influence manipulates it.