Survey: Bitcoin familiarity and use

Patriot12 said:

Except for physical precious metals like gold, silver, platinum. They have intrinsic value and always will.

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Let me know how that works out once asteroid mining is in full swing.

I think that's always going to be one of the draw backs. You really need to keep the key safe as it's like leaving a stack of money out in the open. But then you may hide it so well you can't remember where you left it! LOL

I once hide my rent money ($350 many years ago) and completely forgot about it. I later found it (I wasn't looking for it because I forgot I had it) and was so happy because it felt like a Christmas present to myself. lol

dhbarr said:

Let me know how that works out once asteroid mining is in full swing.

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LOL, I'm sure I'll be dead by then.

Winston said:

On the second point, that's always possible. See the chart below. However, I would personally never risk BUYING Bitcoins. My facepalm is from not generating them from nothing when I first read of them at a very early point in their history.

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I have a friend (actually two) that tried to get me to buy Bitcoin. Knowing what I know now about the sky high value I wish had done it, but I can say the same for buying any number of stocks like Microsoft, Amazon and so on. What I need is a Delorean time machine! The number of places now accepting Bitcoin has risen considerably as well. Even precious metal sites often accept them as payment. I was reading a page about that just yesterday which listed a number of such sites. One I remember was SchiffGold which seems surprising considering Peter Schiff's views on Bitcoin. They even have a nice page on how to buy gold and silver with Bitcoin here https://schiffgold.com/buy/buying-gold-silver-bitcoin/ which also does a good job mentioning The Fed and its effects on fiat currency. I wish I could remember the other sites. Well, one definitely was JMBulion, the rest, not sure, but precious metal dealers that accept it are definitely growing in numbers.

There's actually a wide range of cryptocurrencies that are available nowadays. I personally find BCN mining to be inefficient except with specialized hardware, in which case you're almost spending more in power than you are gaining.

There's several other currencies that are semi-profitable to mine. A friend of mine and I are currently mining monero and ethereum, and have made about $60-70 so far.

Patriot12 said:

I have a friend (actually two) that tried to get me to buy Bitcoin. Knowing what I know now about the sky high value I wish had done it, but I can say the same for buying any number of stocks like Microsoft, Amazon and so on. What I need is a Delorean time machine! The number of places now accepting Bitcoin has risen considerably as well. Even precious metal sites often accept them as payment. I was reading a page about that just yesterday which listed a number of such sites. One I remember was SchiffGold which seems surprising considering Peter Schiff's views on Bitcoin. They even have a nice page on how to buy gold and silver with Bitcoin here https://schiffgold.com/buy/buying-gold-silver-bitcoin/ which also does a good job mentioning The Fed and its effects on fiat currency. I wish I could remember the other sites. Well, one definitely was JMBulion, the rest, not sure, but precious metal dealers that accept it are definitely growing in numbers.

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So you trade a well performing digital currency for metals that have been fairly flat for years? Hmmm...

Ironically after I replied "no way stay away" to this thread I got reading on the subject of crypto-currencies, and have since invested in bitcoin. Although I paid a dear price, compared to what some paid, they have done very well, certainly better than any currency or investment.

Bitcoin update: Tonight the price is at $5,681, up $855 in the past 24 hours. Some have been talking about the "Bitcoin Bubble".

It will be interesting to see what happens...

I'll honestly be curious to see what happens with this. More interesting will be the impact a crash of Bitcoin will have on other cryptocurrencies.

blackbrandt said:

I'll honestly be curious to see what happens with this. More interesting will be the impact a crash of Bitcoin will have on other cryptocurrencies.

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J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. boss Jamie Dimon already took a big shot at it a month ago and it dumped from 6000 CDN to 4000 CDN the next day. However I am happy to see that Jamie Dimon's credibility does not hold what it used to and it has bounced back to over 7K CDN today.

It is an extremely volatile currency however that was a good test of it's endurance. There have been several other world events, such as the instability of North Korea that have affected it's value so it's not as immune as some predicted but it appears to be growing in strength.

Time will tell, but generally the traditional financial sources frown upon it and anyone who invests in it to the point where they have openly, and arrogantly, said that they would fire anyone of their employees who invested in it or advised a client to. Regardless it is an interesting experiment and I hope it endures the shots as there will very likely be many more to come.

Very, very interesting read...
As always, and a hundred times before it makes me want to do something / invest...
And as always the better things are the more you want to invest,,
and the better things are the worse time it is to invest..........
No matter what you're interested in investing in,, not just bitcoin...

How do you stop this cycle ???

Teddy

Only invest in things you understand reasonably well, otherwise low-fee mutual funds ( which are boring but steady ).

Onebadhawk said:

Very, very interesting read...
As always, and a hundred times before it makes me want to do something / invest...
And as always the better things are the more you want to invest,,
and the better things are the worse time it is to invest..........
No matter what you're interested in investing in,, not just bitcoin...

How do you stop this cycle ???

Teddy

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"Investing" in something like this is more akin to gambling, and I've heard that you should never gamble more than you can afford to lose.

Similarly, know when to get out. If you get greedy you will eventually lose.

As mentioned in earlier posts, there are other forms of digital currency that are not yet as inflated, not yet as volatile as BitCoin. A person could put $100 into something like Ethereum or Litecoin, and just leave it alone for a few years to see what happens.

Every time I see a post about how bitcoin prices are going crazy, I think of this:



picture found on the "buttcoinfoundation.com" website.

dhbarr said:

Only invest in things you understand reasonably well, otherwise low-fee mutual funds ( which are boring but steady ).

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If you don't know how to play, stay out of the game. With the exception of Vanguard, this includes leaving your money under the control of hedge funds, mutual funds, financial advisors, brokers, et al.

CORZERO said:

If you don't know how to play, stay out of the game. With the exception of Vanguard, this includes leaving your money under the control of hedge funds, mutual funds, financial advisors, brokers, et al.

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Yes,, I agree,, and I like the thought of these already pre diversified products..
But with the market where it is now and the really old time experienced guy's at Wall St wearing hard hats
I still don't think now is the time to get in..
Even if you buy into a pre diversified product like those your telling someone else to buy things at a bad time...

Worsaer said:

"Investing" in something like this is more akin to gambling, and I've heard that you should never gamble more than you can afford to lose.

Similarly, know when to get out. If you get greedy you will eventually lose.

As mentioned in earlier posts, there are other forms of digital currency that are not yet as inflated, not yet as volatile as BitCoin. A person could put $100 into something like Ethereum or Litecoin, and just leave it alone for a few years to see what happens.

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Yeah Bill,, for sure,, but I'm not THAT much of a gambling man,, lol..
Anything even remotely like Bitcoin isn't really my cup of tea...
I just meant stocks and such...

djs said:

Every time I see a post about how bitcoin prices are going crazy, I think of this:

picture found on the "buttcoinfoundation.com" website.

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Now that's funny,,
I don't care who ya are,, lol...

Teddy

Bitcoin hit $6,000US per coin over the last week.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Rocketry Forum mobile app

How many Tulip Bulbs can one buy with a Bitcoin?

WHAT !!!!!!!!!
Not you too Pit ??????
Say it ain't so man..........lol...

Teddy

jderimig said:

How many Tulip Bulbs can one buy with a Bitcoin?

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You should look into what can be purchased and how you can spend or convert bitcoins into traditional currency. At best you will be a bit more positive and surprised, at worst you will realize that your perception is completely incorrect.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Rocketry Forum mobile app

mpitfield said:

You should look into what can be purchased and how you can spend or convert bitcoins into traditional currency. At best you will be a bit more positive and surprised, at worst you will realize that your perception is completely incorrect.

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Hmmm. I thought the tulip comment was a pretty insightful. If you cash out before the bubble bursts you can do well. However, like other speculative bubbles, you can lose everything. In of itself, Bitcoin has no intrinsic value - like many other things in life it's only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.

Worsaer said:

Hmmm. I thought the tulip comment was a pretty insightful. If you cash out before the bubble bursts you can do well. However, like other speculative bubbles, you can lose everything. In of itself, Bitcoin has no intrinsic value - like many other things in life it's only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.

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While I agree with your philosophy about "worth", I would suggest that it applies right across the board, with anything and everything.

Look I am not trying to change anyone's mind, however I keep reading comments that are either based on not many facts or simply fear mongering. Of the people that have commented on how easy it is or isn't to cash-out or spend Bitcoins, how many of them have actually tried to do this.

I have no issue with opinions however the value of an opinion that is neither based on facts nor experience has very little value to me personally. From what I have observed not many of the "professional" investors have anything good to say about it, however I believe they are just serving their masters, themselves, or just regurgitating what they have been fed. Having said that you are seeing more and more "professional" investors, loosening their grip on their anti crypto-currency position.

I will agree that crypto-currency in general has a long way to go, and it's future is questionable, which makes it extremely volatile. However the general premise is very appealing to me and I am optimistic that there is the potential for a future where crypto-currencies work along with traditional currencies. At the end of the day you can find opinions to support bubbles popping in just about any investment at any point in time.

mpitfield said:

While I agree with your philosophy about "worth", I would suggest that it applies right across the board, with anything and everything.

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I fully agree.

Look I am not trying to change anyone's mind, however I keep reading comments that are either based on not many facts or simply fear mongering. Of the people that have commented on how easy it is or isn't to cash-out or spend Bitcoins, how many of them have actually tried to do this.

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I have some experience with Bitcoin - even purchasing things like coffee at Starbucks and rocketry toys from our friend Teddy with Bitcoin. (Yes, Teddy, you have actually profited from Bitcoin and likely didn't even know it!)

I dove in to gain experience with non-traditional payment systems, understanding that it was volatile, but I figured it was the cost of an education. Of course, like many things, YMMV.

There are some sovereign nations toying with crypto-currencies, and even well established firms that have done very well with banknote printing equipment are looking at how to stay relevant if crypto-currencies take hold. Time will tell which, and how many forms of crypto-currencies will establish themselves, and how many people may suffer a few financial bumps and bruises along the way.

Wish I could afford to try it out. Mark Cuban was quoted saying only invest what you care to loose. This stuff has been gaining approx. $1000 in value every month lately. My biggest concern is the crypto part. If the internet ever goes down (North Korea) it's all lost. I hear they have like "penny stock", as in you can buy in cheaper than buying one $6000 coin. I read it could hit $10,000 by next summer.

mpitfield said:

You should look into what can be purchased and how you can spend or convert bitcoins into traditional currency. At best you will be a bit more positive and surprised, at worst you will realize that your perception is completely incorrect.

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Michael,

Blockchain is something I know a little something about. It happens to be in the domain of my day job. I am neither positive or negative. If you knew what I know you might be surprised also...... :wink:

Worsaer said:

There are some sovereign nations toying with crypto-currencies, and even well established firms that have done very well with banknote printing equipment are looking at how to stay relevant if crypto-currencies take hold. Time will tell which, and how many forms of crypto-currencies will establish themselves, and how many people may suffer a few financial bumps and bruises along the way.

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I think we agree that like it or not, believe in it or not, at the very least it is both interesting and a compelling socioeconomic experiment.

Truthfully I only hold a small number of Bitcoins that were purchased at a relatively low value. My mindset from the onset was simply to be an interested participant by holding some coins and go along for the ride. So I am in it for the long run and if the currency crashes I would certainly be disappointed but the loss will not have any depreciable affect on my life.

I have been disappointed before. I was initially into Nortel @ $74.74, then tried to average down when it hit $24. something, which was just a dead cat bounce and I finally bailed at $14 something. Then there was Kinross gold that I purchased in 2004 @ .70 and when it hit .90, 4 months later, I bailed thinking I made off like a bandit with my 23% return. Then I watched it climb to somewhere around $26.00 over the next 4 years and the whole time I was saying to myself it's too late to get back in.

jderimig said:

Michael,

Blockchain is something I know a little something about. It happens to be in the domain of my day job. I am neither positive or negative. If you knew what I know you might be surprised also...... :wink:

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John I have been following the interest of block-chain technology and it's applications which seem to be growing daily. Ironically by the traditional financial sources that are the biggest nay-Sayers, not to say that the technology is tied to the currency. Interestingly I believe that the salary range now for anyone with a high degree of competency with block-chain can command somewhere into 6 figures US. It is too bad whomever developed the technology didn't see the wider implications. I am also actively trying to stay aware of the reported limitations and changes that are being tabled to address some of the inherent issues and limitations with the technology, and I would be lying if I didn't say that some of the discussions concern me.

None the less, it is an interesting time.

Michael, yes it is.

Be careful and remember no one ever went broke by taking a profit.

Seriously, any form of payment is only really a 'promise to pay' in exchange for goods or services. Few of us use checks much any more. That form was really a promise that my bank and your bank would exchange debits and credits. Nothing 'real' ever changed hands. Same thing happens now with debit and credit cards, just faster. Bank wires are even faster - but still just digital debits and credits. Eventually people buy in to the premise that something of supposed value ('fiat currency') can be traded for something else of value. It's not perfect, but it works.

Unfortunately BITCOIN reminds me too much of a Ponzi scheme. Lots of people investing today assuming they will make a profit on something that does not exist. In actuality, the next generation of 'investors' are paying the last generation with their monies only to eventually discover that nothing exists. Does the name Bernard L. Madoff ring a bell ?

To my knowledge, every Ponzi scheme ultimately ends in loss of value for many people. There are those individuals who dance in the street for the profits they got before the crash. But there are many more who cry the blues for their losses which seem so clear when looked at in hindsight.

If and when BITCOIN collapses, the government in its normal knee jerk reaction will announce new rules and regulations to prevent those gullible types from investing in vapor currency again.

BITCOIN seems to be the embodiment of the quintessential violation of all the basic rules of economics.

Rollercoasters can be a lot of fun, but this is not typically where you want to get on the ride...