Panorama did an interesting program on Bitcoin this evening which I am sure will have a few people searching for Bitcoin and the like on this forum.
I have been in cryptocurrency since May and would just offer the following advice if you are considering investing:
1. Only invest what you are happy losing - Bitcoin is highly volatile and although the market may look like it goes upwards, when it goes down it can go down dramatically. In Dec/Jan the market fell by about 60%. You have to be comfortable that you are not investing your mortgage payments or rent money.
2. Research - Scams like OneCoin occur because people do not carry out proper research and due diligence in new coins. Recently Bitconnect, which had about a $2bn market cap, decided to close and a lot of people lost a lot of money. If you are more risk averse, then you should look at the 'blue chip' coins like Litecoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin, etc (not financial advice, as I said, do your own research).
3. Be careful & vigilant - there is no central party that can recover a lost password or lost wallet key for you, you are in sole control of these. I had messages today from someone that lost their key to their wallet with £12k's worth of crypto contained within. They eventually managed to recover it as their parents PC had a copy of the key, but you need to be ULTRA careful to keep your keys safe. There are also numerous scammers that will try and get you to either a) disclose your key information or b) get you to send them currency by impersonating others. Make sure you doube/triple/quadruple any facts before sending crypto somewhere.
Having said all that - cryptocurrency is a very exciting industry. The US Senate recently had a hearing how it could save their financial industry tends of billions a year in admin/transaction fees. There is a lot of potential use cases and it will disrupt whole industries once it is less volatile and more established. I have made some money in crypto but during that time have done a LOT of research and can see where the industry is going generally and it will be impacting all our lives in the future, even if it is 'under the hood' and not immediately visible.
Its like investing in the internet when it was still in its early stages. Or any new tech or start up. Yes the value is mostly speculative value on anticipated future use. Over time it will be valued more on utility. You need to research into what youre buying and think, will this platform endure and have a chance of mainstream use?
Its like investing in the internet when it was still in its early stages. Or any new tech or start up.
Sorry, but it's nothing at all like investing in the internet or a startup. That's like saying you can invest in the water industry by buying water!
When you buy Bitcoin (or whatever similar cryptocurrency) what you are doing is paying another person who holds Bitcoins for their Bitcoins. You are not investing in any meaningful way in the underlying technology.
IMO the very thing that makes cryptocurrencies great for speculators - the wild swings in exchange rates - makes them lose any practical value as a currency. I certainly won't be changing my Sterling into Bitcoins to buy something when I have no idea what the value of those Bitcoins will be in 10 minutes time.
Sorry, but it's nothing at all like investing in the internet or a startup. That's like saying you can invest in the water industry by buying water!
When you buy Bitcoin (or whatever similar cryptocurrency) what you are doing is paying another person who holds Bitcoins for their Bitcoins. You are not investing in any meaningful way in the underlying technology.
IMO the very thing that makes cryptocurrencies great for speculators - the wild swings in exchange rates - makes them lose any practical value as a currency. I certainly won't be changing my Sterling into Bitcoins to buy something when I have no idea what the value of those Bitcoins will be in 10 minutes time.
When you buy any share in a company you are not investing in the company (unless it is an initial public offering/share floating), you are investing in something you feel will be a good investment for now in dividends, and in the future (share price rises). If you invest in an ICO (a non scam ICO, unlike OneCoin which was covered in the program) you are investing directly into the technology. If you buy something on an exchange which is already listed, then you are generally speculating on future price rises if the platform establishes itself. However, the teams also hold tokens, and sell them for further fundraising, so you may be funding the platform if you are purchasing those tokens.
Many of these projects are launching whilst blockchain is in its infancy. Many of these platforms will fail and be worthless, but some will establish and be as transformational as those early internet start ups that prevailed. The Googles or Amazons. My post was to advise those investing to ensure they research what they are buying, and ensure they are solid platforms. Blockchain and the various crypto assets will potentially be lucrative if you choose the right horse. They are obviously higher risk as it is an industry in its infancy, so investors use higher discount values than may be used for other shares, so you shouldnt put all your funds into cryptocurrencies, but some of these will be massive mass adopted platforms in the future so they are worth looking at as part of an investment portfolio if you fancy including a high risk/high reward asset.
Replies
An unregulated, computer based currency with no physical backing and no central control... Yeah perfectly safe
Back up in price today!!
I have been in cryptocurrency since May and would just offer the following advice if you are considering investing:
1. Only invest what you are happy losing - Bitcoin is highly volatile and although the market may look like it goes upwards, when it goes down it can go down dramatically. In Dec/Jan the market fell by about 60%. You have to be comfortable that you are not investing your mortgage payments or rent money.
2. Research - Scams like OneCoin occur because people do not carry out proper research and due diligence in new coins. Recently Bitconnect, which had about a $2bn market cap, decided to close and a lot of people lost a lot of money. If you are more risk averse, then you should look at the 'blue chip' coins like Litecoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin, etc (not financial advice, as I said, do your own research).
3. Be careful & vigilant - there is no central party that can recover a lost password or lost wallet key for you, you are in sole control of these. I had messages today from someone that lost their key to their wallet with £12k's worth of crypto contained within. They eventually managed to recover it as their parents PC had a copy of the key, but you need to be ULTRA careful to keep your keys safe. There are also numerous scammers that will try and get you to either a) disclose your key information or b) get you to send them currency by impersonating others. Make sure you doube/triple/quadruple any facts before sending crypto somewhere.
Having said all that - cryptocurrency is a very exciting industry. The US Senate recently had a hearing how it could save their financial industry tends of billions a year in admin/transaction fees. There is a lot of potential use cases and it will disrupt whole industries once it is less volatile and more established. I have made some money in crypto but during that time have done a LOT of research and can see where the industry is going generally and it will be impacting all our lives in the future, even if it is 'under the hood' and not immediately visible.
Surely the only advice is DON'T.
I've been messing with bitcoin for a few years now, and have made (and spent) quite a bit, but never have I considered it an investment.
Speculation, pure and simple.
Sorry, but it's nothing at all like investing in the internet or a startup. That's like saying you can invest in the water industry by buying water!
When you buy Bitcoin (or whatever similar cryptocurrency) what you are doing is paying another person who holds Bitcoins for their Bitcoins. You are not investing in any meaningful way in the underlying technology.
IMO the very thing that makes cryptocurrencies great for speculators - the wild swings in exchange rates - makes them lose any practical value as a currency. I certainly won't be changing my Sterling into Bitcoins to buy something when I have no idea what the value of those Bitcoins will be in 10 minutes time.
When you buy any share in a company you are not investing in the company (unless it is an initial public offering/share floating), you are investing in something you feel will be a good investment for now in dividends, and in the future (share price rises). If you invest in an ICO (a non scam ICO, unlike OneCoin which was covered in the program) you are investing directly into the technology. If you buy something on an exchange which is already listed, then you are generally speculating on future price rises if the platform establishes itself. However, the teams also hold tokens, and sell them for further fundraising, so you may be funding the platform if you are purchasing those tokens.
Many of these projects are launching whilst blockchain is in its infancy. Many of these platforms will fail and be worthless, but some will establish and be as transformational as those early internet start ups that prevailed. The Googles or Amazons. My post was to advise those investing to ensure they research what they are buying, and ensure they are solid platforms. Blockchain and the various crypto assets will potentially be lucrative if you choose the right horse. They are obviously higher risk as it is an industry in its infancy, so investors use higher discount values than may be used for other shares, so you shouldnt put all your funds into cryptocurrencies, but some of these will be massive mass adopted platforms in the future so they are worth looking at as part of an investment portfolio if you fancy including a high risk/high reward asset.