At $10500 per coin right now I’d say it has value...
With the adoption rate currently underway (available through Fidelity, Bitcoin ATM’s around now, currently being purchased by institutions that include state pension funds etc) i would say the mainstream has caught on to the value of blockchain technology.
I will stick with real estate and stocks. I am an investor not a speculator. Good luck.
Not to pick on you Craig but an "investor" should be riding this bull market to some ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS PROFITS. ;)
My ROI so far is 52.5%. It has CRUSHED my dividend portfolio. Started buying at $3700 near the bottom through shear dumb luck. Been taking profits along the way and will do so until the trend ends. I plan to pull my principle investment sometime soon and keep a balance of it. If any of you are traders (day or swing) you have missed a wet dream.
I would highly suggest looking into the technology and at least making an attempt to understand it. This technology is very interesting IMO.
Sorry but investors don’t speculate. I have made real 50% returns from re not interested in speculation. Most speculators crash and burn eventually.
Imagine a global currency that cannot be manipulated by a government. No one can print more of it. It is of a finite quantity. This is not standard. This is not what you have been conditioned for. This could decrease the control over the powerful and open the world up in ways unimaginable. Are you scared? You should be. Are you excited? You should be.
This sounds like a disaster. Government is full of corruption and drama through out history.
But putting the future of currency fully in the hands of corporation and hackers.... welp...... good luck with that after 10 years
Imagine a global currency that cannot be manipulated by a government. No one can print more of it. It is of a finite quantity. This is not standard. This is not what you have been conditioned for. This could decrease the control over the powerful and open the world up in ways unimaginable. Are you scared? You should be. Are you excited? You should be.
Umm but that isn't true. More Bitcoin are printed ever day, they call it mining. There are also many things in this world that are finite and hold zero value, there are also things that are finite and hold value that you should actually put money into like …. real estate!
Understood Craig. Not trying to sell you or anyone else. The tech surrounding the blockchain and its uses are pretty interesting and useful on many levels.
Yes, it is true. There is a maxumum capacity to what can be "mined". The difficulty of mining also increases as the availability decreases.
You can also argue that the USD holds zero value, it is only the fact that we have all agreed to place a value on it.
What if we decided to place a value on a digital currency with advancded transaction abilities and a ledger system that is changing industries across the board? What if no goverment could print more of this currency? There are many countries that have printed a currency so past a point of inflation that thier currency became nearly worthless.
I agree that real estate is a great place for $$, but just rember how the value of that asset is measured and understand that this form of measurment has failed time and time again through out history.
So go to your bank right now and "touch" all of your USD....please let us know how that goes. Only 10% of the USD in circulation is in the form of hard money.
I stay clear of Bitcoin and any other cryptocurrency. Why? Because it's unpredictable. It's gambling on a higher level. Stocks CAN be gambling if you don't value invest. Finding a company that has a great moat, management, and buy it at a margin of safety, makes stock investing, real investing, not speculation.
Cryptocurrency is speculation because, unlike stocks, there is no company you can analyze. But most important, in order for you to make money, there has to be a buyer on the other side.
So go to your bank right now and "touch" all of your USD....please let us know how that goes. Only 10% of the USD in circulation is in the form of hard money.
Well I don’t save money in the bank . Why would I do such things when they just print it everyday ? Savers are losers .It’s called currency for a reason , it’s suppose to move . I put my money into real estate .
Will it perform like digital gold? That is the question. Someone mentioned in a previous post- what will happen to it when the economy pulls back? Will people be rushing into Bitcoin, or will they be selling their Bitcoin to have some cash? Or both. Physical gold is hard to beat when it comes to the level of security people feel when they own it during a crisis, at least for now.
For the record, I have a Coinbase account and have been in and out of crypto over the last couple years. Now is probably not the time to fomo (fear of missing out) into Bitcoin, wait for a pullback. There have been many pullbacks, there will be many more. Buying at year long highs right now is dumb. I like @Dave DeMarco approach of staggering in every few weeks, but right now the space seems more like trading than long term investing, at least with any meaningful amount of money. Right now if you have money in I’d ride it, when the next disaster is announced I’d take money off the table, when it stabilizes near what you think is a bottom get back in, if another disaster is announced sell and take a small loss, rinse and repeat. You have to keep your eye on the total market cap and compare that to news that is being announced in real time, it can be exhausting. It’s a very small asset class right now for any feeling of safety. It may get big or stay small for a long time... I for one can’t wait to see how the next financial crisis (which I think is coming fairly soon) impacts the Bitcoin/crypto market.
@Jay Hinrichs yes, you are supposed to pay taxes on gains, though it’s like the wild Wild West. How hard is it to determine where you are at when you sell one crypto and move into another, then sell that one and move into another and another. Coinbase (the major US crypto exchange) did send some kind of notice to me but I don’t think it was very specific. And I don’t know whether I’m up or down to be able to report properly... lol.
PS it does appear there is a trend that many are turning into what is called a Bitcoin maximalist, meaning Bitcoin is the big dog crypto and all or most of your investment in the space should be in Bitcoin. Though I do also like the platform crypto’s like Etherium, Stellar Lumens, etc. They allow other crypto currencies to build and launch on their platform (like Facebook in that businesses build their businesses on Facebook). You want to learn what you can about what you are buying, just like you would any other investment.
Bitcoin cheerleaders claim it is replacing gold, but it moves in the opposite direction. Gold has value for many reasons, it is useful and (kinda) rare and for ages everyone has decided that it has value. People claiming that it is rare and controlled, therefore it is valuable can go collect Beanie Babies again and tell us how it works out. Things only have value as long as enough people agree it has value and are willing to bid against each other to obtain it.
Glad the conversation is getting more lively. I own gold and silver too. I long for the day I can play in more ponds. For now I have my toe in the Bitcoin water. I think it might be a mistake not to. Like I mentioned though, wait for a nice pullback, blood in the streets is ideal... and play around a bit. Now isn’t the time perhaps but an internet video or two is free. The market has already proved 19k, it can get there again (and I speculate fairly easily, pretty small market cap). I think you trade it for now and play around with small cash you don’t care about long term.
Imagine a global currency that cannot be manipulated by a government. No one can print more of it. It is of a finite quantity. This is not standard. This is not what you have been conditioned for. This could decrease the control over the powerful and open the world up in ways unimaginable. Are you scared? You should be. Are you excited? You should be.
Imagine a high school drop-out hacks into the software and suddenly there's 10 times the quantity ...
Imagine a political operative hacks into the software and installs key-logging and tracking ... suddenly your "anonymous transactions" are trending topics on Facebook ...
Imagine nothing so improbable occurs (but definitely not impossible), but you bought it at $20K but when you need the money it's $2K ...
Am I scared? Excited? No, I don't own any now nor do I have any plans in the future.
Am I breathlessly waiting to see if one of my possible nightmare scenarios comes true? Not really, but it wouldn't surprise me.
Cryptocurrency is speculation because, unlike stocks, there is no company you can analyze. But most important, in order for you to make money, there has to be a buyer on the other side.
What's that they call it? The "Bigger Fool" theory of investment?
As in, you'd be a FOOL to buy into it, but you're hoping later to find an even Bigger Fool to sell it to?
Imagine a global currency that cannot be manipulated by a government. No one can print more of it. It is of a finite quantity. This is not standard. This is not what you have been conditioned for. This could decrease the control over the powerful and open the world up in ways unimaginable. Are you scared? You should be. Are you excited? You should be.
Imagine a high school drop-out hacks into the software and suddenly there's 10 times the quantity ...
Imagine a political operative hacks into the software and installs key-logging and tracking ... suddenly your "anonymous transactions" are trending topics on Facebook ...
Imagine nothing so improbable occurs (but definitely not impossible), but you bought it at $20K but when you need the money it's $2K ...
Am I scared? Excited? No, I don't own any now nor do I have any plans in the future.
Am I breathlessly waiting to see if one of my possible nightmare scenarios comes true? Not really, but it wouldn't surprise me.
I would argue that money in a bank is just as vulnerable to hacking, if not even more so than cryprocurruncies. In some countries the government may claim to back up your $$ to a certain amount, but if the system was "hacked" do we know what would really happen?
One must also consider the fact that the buying power of the USD also fluctuates, it has just been fairly stable over time. The discussion for what has maintained this stability is interesting, complex, controversial, and for another forum.
So if the argument against crypocurrancy can still be applied to our current montery system, maybe we should be looking to improve it? I have alway been a fan of taking a progressive approach rather than reacting when it is too late.
It is also worth mentioning that if you did have the paranio of the "system being hacked", that you can store large quantities if Bitcoin offline.
@Matt R. Blockchain tech will forever change payment processing on a global scale. As far as bit coin, I could only speculate. My angle is to watch companies that are investing in Real Time payments v. Bit coin. RTP is supported by The Clearing House. Hold on and get ready for light speed payments!
Well said Cory! Just look at how "money" has changed over the last 30 years and THINK how it's going to evolve??? I was buying ETH heavy when there was blood in the streets last December. Some say "Gambling" all I know is that I'm having fun. As far as crypto rent payments? Depends, do you want to "Gamble" your rent payments? I personally like to see the rent direct deposited into my USA BANK account : )
I would argue that money in a bank is just as vulnerable to hacking, if not even more so than cryprocurruncies. In some countries the government may claim to back up your $$ to a certain amount, but if the system was "hacked" do we know what would really happen?
One must also consider the fact that the buying power of the USD also fluctuates, it has just been fairly stable over time. The discussion for what has maintained this stability is interesting, complex, controversial, and for another forum.
So if the argument against crypocurrancy can still be applied to our current montery system, maybe we should be looking to improve it? I have alway been a fan of taking a progressive approach rather than reacting when it is too late.
It is also worth mentioning that if you did have the paranio of the "system being hacked", that you can store large quantities if Bitcoin offline.
1. money in bank is vulnerable to hacking.
Yes, but is any cryptocurrency guaranteed by the FDIC?
2. the USD fluctuates
Yes, but not as much as cryptocurrency, and, so far at least, it remains the currency of choice of most of the world when dealing in international relations.
Now, when 2/3rd of companies in the EU measure their profit and loss in Bitcoin, maybe I'll take notice. Today, a considerably larger fraction world-wide, even in the EU, measure it in USD.
3. paranoia over hacking
Yes. I get a weekly newsletter about the latest hacking exploits. I know what I'm talking about. A little paranoia goes a long way. If a man can make a lock, another man can break it. And how are you going to prove that you used to own $50K worth of Bitcoin?
And even notice how we talk about it -- we don't say "I was robbed, I used to have 5 Bitcoin!" What we say is, "I used to have 50 thousand dollars worth of Bitcoin."
Maybe when we start looking at USD as a commodity we can buy with Bitcoin, versus the reverse, maybe I'll take notice.
Just sold ALL my rentals to a wholesaler and put all my equity into bitcoin and ripple! I can hear my lambo already!!!
Naaahh jk haha but I do own some crypto. I Did great in 2017, tripled my money. Should’ve sold when it was up though! But maybe there’ll be another craze at some point and I’ll cash out my original investment, maybe take some profits and leave a little in just to see what happens.
I have no education qualifying me to even pretend like I understand the true value of each coin. So I figured just throw a little in there at the top coins and a couple wildcards and who cares if it goes to zero.