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Bitcoin

H

Hyfi

Addicted Member
Anyone dabbling with Bitcoin or similar E-Money yet?

I just started reading a book called The Bitcoin Standard at the prompting of a friend who bought in because his son convinced him it is the future. He raved on and on but really could not answer any of my questions and concerns, so I am hoping the book answers them. When I talked to his son about it, he also drove a good argument but the bottom line is that he bought into Bitcoin because it was what was needed to buy Pot via the Dark Web.

I personally do not trust anything done electronically and over the internet. This seems to be different than anything else tho and may or may not be a lasting banking option. It is a bit volatile and hard to predict and they warn you not to use it for investment right now. It started out at 1006 Bitcoins cost $1, then it somehow got to $10,000.00 per 1 Bitcoin. On July 4th the NAV was 6,550.87. Today it is worth 7,415.40 so you can see how crazy a ride it is right now. As far as using it for purchases, you could buy a Bitcoin today and think you can purchase X with it, but in 2 weeks you may not have enough money there, or you may have more so it is far from a stable way to use money right now.

Any comments are appreciated as we navigate this new possibility in Non Government regulated and controlled banking.

Oh by the way, if you do buy in, make sure your family knows your account and password or all the money is lost if you pass. Someone recently forfeited millions upon death.
 
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Not anything I want to do!

To many unknowns for me.

If I want to take a chance, red 18!
 
Google tulip mania. You'll find there everything you need to know about bitcoin. I've been an investment banker for 35 years. Risk is my business. If you're a short term speculator and used to the roller coaster ride -- it's fine. If you're a normal person and want to sleep at night -- move on.

Ray
 
SoCal Sam said:
The amount of energy used to power computers that validate transactions is monumental. And, it will only grow as the the blockchain solutions ramp up in difficulty. Aside from the economics, this is a waste of our planet's resources.
Click to expand...
Not talking bitcoin but general, I have trusted source hearsay (probably it is just on the internet too but I can not find the figures just now) that the popular solar panel growth use in my country can NOT keep up with energy use growth by data centers.

Where I live, half an hour driving away there is Google having bought a 70 hectare (170 acres) plot of land to put up 24 hectares of data center buildings.
They will be literally opposite side of the road of Microsoft already having a datacenter over there.
On the other side of this small country, they put an additional 500 million Euros into extending another Google datacenter already there....some 100 miles away.
A lot of houses in my country already have the fiberglass high speed internet right into the house but everything comes at an environmental price....

I do not know about USA but highest rates for a normal house subscription is less than US$100 a month, around 85 Euros, for a max 500Mb/s down/upload speed. (now remember the times of the 33k modem bleeping...).

In the end, it seems things like Netflix or whatever service comes by itself but impact on environment is not that evident to the common man.
 
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gslikker said:
Not talking bitcoin but general, I have trusted source hearsay (probably it is just on the internet too but I can not find the figures just now) that the popular solar panel growth use in my country can NOT keep up with energy use growth by data centers.

Where I live, half an hour driving away there is Google having bought a 70 hectare (170 acres) plot of land to put up 24 hectares of data center buildings.
They will be literally opposite side of the road of Microsoft already having a datacenter over there.
On the other side of this small country, they put an additional 500 million Euros into extending another Google datacenter already there....some 100 miles away.
A lot of houses in my country already have the fiberglass high speed internet right into the house but everything comes at an environmental price....

I do not know about USA but highest rates for a normal house subscription is less than US$100 a month, around 85 Euros, for a max 500Mb/s down/upload speed. (now remember the times of the 33k modem bleeping...).

In the end, it seems things like Netflix or whatever service comes by itself but impact on environment is not that evident to the common man.
Click to expand...

Google and Bitcoin differ in one key aspect. The activity of one generates jobs and tax revenue while the other does not. If there is a carbon cost associated with the energy consumed, then one is justifiable.
 
I put in only what I can afford to lose. I believe it will become mainstream currency to millennials or the generation behind them. Tech changes are almost a daily occurrence lessening processing times for mining and retail purchases at a cost of 1/1,000,000 of a cent per transaction. Visa and Mastercard are two of five cards poised to use crypto currency. 100,000,000 people in world-wide use Gifto (a crypto token) to pay bloggers and/or streaming performers. Institutional investors are either poised to, or actively are, putting money into the space. In August there will be a ruling as to whether ETFs, consisting of cryptos can be traded.

That's all I got.

Who knows?
 
I understand the concept of crypto currency and I also understand the concept of a Ponzi scheme. I think from a economic perspective both work until the last person in line realizes that they are getting ripped off to help everyone ahead of them..... :D
 
I was reading some sites tonight as I have a small position in crypto. This is what I wrote FWIW -

I, personally, don't think many are taking the long view. This phenomenon is not about today. Within 10 to 15 years, not only will blockchain and AI dramatically change the face of the internet even as we see it today, but the 10 year olds of today will conduct ALL their commerce across the globe pinned to SOME form of crypto/altcoin. Alas, the U.S is ranked terribly low in terms of internet coverage and speed. This movement is driving that forward too. Large investors see this volatility as an opportunity to day trade (that's fine), but there is a growing bevy of institutional investors, quietly, ramping up their positions. I believe in this, and as a small investor I will hodl because, barring anything as seismic as this, we're looking at the beginning of what turned out to be FAANG.
 
There is a lot of shady goings on in the world of crypto. The trading isn't regulated. There was a bit of a pump and dump in play with the bitcoin run. The smaller ones can be easily manipulated by a few investors on a daily basis.
 
^You are correct. By the same token (see what I did there?), the tech behind it all fascinates me in addition to the growing acceptance world-wide.
 
The difficulty of validating a transaction ramps up over time so there is a never ending need for greater processing power.
 
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