Bitcoin. Any experts/owners?

[Hawkeye0202]

In five sentences or less, can someone explain this whole Bitcoin concept and how it works.


http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/11/investing/bitcoin-rally-futures/index.html

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Well, I can tell you this, don't be the last one holding them when the music stops.

 

[Doc50]

Enormous bubble, fad-like, backed by no tangible asset............will likely burst.

 

[YosemiteSam]

In five sentences or less, can someone explain this whole Bitcoin concept and how it works.


http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/11/investing/bitcoin-rally-futures/index.html

I will say it in one.

CAUTION

 

[BigStar]

A Ponzi scheme that is used as electronic currency in place of standard cash and credit cards. It works now only because the bitcoin users align with the given values. At any time for whatever reason, bitcoin values could be deemed worthless bc there is no legally agreed upon value to their currency acknowledged in any country/bank/reserve; far as I know anyway. Most use it to flip the coins into real money (short and quick exchange; poker site to this app, this app to bit coin, bit coin to this app, app to your real bank account, etc.)

 

[TheBigEasy]

I thought the article 'I bought $250 in Bitcoin. Here's what I learned' noted a few good points when describing what it is.

• Bitcoin serves as a new kind of currency for the digital era. It works across international borders and doesn't need to be backed by banks or governments.

• Right now, I can use my bitcoin holdings to pay for purchases at Overstock (OSTBP), or book a hotel on Expedia (EXPE). But if I use bitcoin to buy $25 worth of socks on Overstock today, and the price of bitcoin quadruples next week, I'll feel like those socks actually cost me $100. Then again, if bitcoin crashes, at least I'll always have the socks.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Value / Steam have stopped accepting bitcoin due to it's volatility. I expect more to do so. There likely we become a point where no one will accept it as currency making it useless and therefore of no value.

Also, one of the big boons offer by bitcoin was that it's doesn't have the overhead that credit cards do for processing. Except, that's starting to change with the overhead of tracking the transactions and bitcoin exchanges.

As I say with everyone. If it involves your money and you don't understand it. Stay the hell away from it.

 

[Them]

...I bit a coin when I was younger...I won't do it again!...just saying!...

 

[Shinaoi]

I wish I had gotten in back when I first learned of them a few years back.

 

[Nightman]

They say there will be a limited outlay and that they can be digitally tracked but several million have been reportedly lost forever and another 70m were just 'stolen' or hacked.....they are like bearer bonds and whoever possesses the decryption key owns them outright

Once the first big government steps and starts taxing the transactions the bubble will burst in my opinion

One story had an initial investor trade 10,000 bitcoins for 2 pizza several years ago.....that makes it a 160m dollar dinner

 

[Nightman]

I wish I had gotten in back when I first learned of them a few years back.

I read that you need super processors to mine the coins by solving complex equations

Now that so many are mining the strain on the electric is becoming serious....enough for me to wonder if the whole thing was set up by the utilities to spur growth and profits

 

[Longboysfan]

I read that you need super processors to mine the coins by solving complex equations

Now that so many are mining the strain on the electric is becoming serious....enough for me to wonder if the whole thing was set up by the utilities to spur growth and profits

Sheldon, Lenord, Raj and Howard did it.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Once the first big government steps and starts taxing the transactions the bubble will burst in my opinion

Transactions by companies selling things on their website can tax via sales tax. You could tax bitcoin exchange transactions, (because you know who the exchange is and a log of their transactions exist) but all other transactions are anonymous and you can't tax someone if you don't know who they are. You can just see the log of the transaction that occurred.

I know the government is talking about taking steps to look into possibly regulating cryptocurrency as they do with other financial platforms, but currently they are at a complete loss on how to do it. If monies do not interact with a bank, how are they going to track who / what / why that currency changed hands. (unless specified in the bitcoin's transaction details which won't happen if someone wants to hide the transaction details!)

Not to mention, people lose bitcoins all the time. One guy lost 7,500 bitcoins when he threw out an old hard drive. That was over $110 million dollars today!

Bitcoin.

 

[kapolani]

Could be a bubble. Could be something that can sustain.

I do know that if you have some trading savvy you can make a bunch of money. I bought some when they were $180 a piece.

I have been actively trading BTC, ETH, and LTC with seed money from my initial BTC buy.

It's hard not to make money in crypto currencies right now.

 

[DFWJC]

Some the comments I'm reading here are the same ones I saw years ago.
Except for a couple of hiccups, it's been going up fairly steadily for 7-8 years now.
10,000% lol

 

[BigStar]

Some the comments I'm reading here are the same ones I saw years ago.
Except for a couple of hiccups, it's been going up fairly steadily for 7-8 years now.
10,000% lol

US players couldn't continue playing online poker legally as of 2011; aka Poker Black Friday. They then went the bitcoin route to bypass this clamp down. Not sure of the % (the whole point of bitcoins is anonymity) but am sure it's somewhat related(?) I hear your point though; why is the rug not snatched yet? Why not pull a Rothschild play, crash the market to buy it up cheap later.

 

[JoeKing]

Like any commodity... buy low, sell high. I will no longer tough the stuff because it is too unstable.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

Nearly bought them in 2012. Now I'm kicking myself. However, I suspect we're nearing the end of the bubble. Won't buy them now. That ship has passed. IMO, I could be wrong.

 

[kapolani]

You can buy in fractions. You don't have to pay $17000.

You can start with $100. Dollar cost average your way to a small position.

If you can read charts and look for a few things you can recognize the exact same pattern happens all the time.

 

[EGTuna]

Now that institutions are trading futures on BTC, it'll be interesting to see if they try short big positions for quick gains. I have no idea. I bought GBTC (an OTC investment trust that is based on BTC holdings) at 450, held on for dear life when it dipped to 275, then cashed out when it hit 800. Not it's at 2270, but I don't regret selling, as it's been as volatile as BTC itself. I couldn't handle the anxiety the volatility brought on. I hope it's not a bubble even though I don't own any, as popped bubbles aren't good for anyone (except those who short it, which are almost always a small few who are already rich).