Bit Coin

jonnygee2

I remember looking at them when they were £800 each and thinking that was mental.

I used to reguarly buy, errrrrm, things with bitcoin back when they were about $50 a coin.

I never kept any unfortunately. Obviously I wish I'd just kept a couple in the account, but then back then I also wish I had picked last weeks lottery numbers.

Malthusian

malkie76 wrote: »

I remember looking at them when they were £800 each and thinking that was mental. Could have made a fortune selling them at £20k peak or even now at £3k.

Not really. To make even a mere million from those prices you would have to invest £40,000 in Bitcoin. What would we say about someone who invested £40,000 in Bitcoin today, unless they were already a millionaire? That they were a complete idiot.

And virtually nobody did make a fortune when Bitcoin went to £20k. Hardly anyone cashes out at the peak, that's why prices are at a peak. This is a zero sum game and as with all zero-sum games, for one person to make mega-bucks, lots of people have to make massive losses. If one person is going to multiply their stake by 25x (like buying at £800 and selling at £20,000), 24 people have to lose all their money. Or 48 people have to lose half their money. And so on.

Regretting not buying Bitcoin at £800 makes as much sense as regretting not winning the lottery or regretting not being born into the Royal Family.

parking_question_chap

HPC_Ghuol_Hunter wrote: »

For me the price of bit coin to crash 85% is a good entry point now on a long term risk.

The reason its fallen so much is that the smart money has already left, all thats left now is PIs and they are realising their "investment" is only going one way in the long run.

Something so volatile and unregulated is never going to succeed as a currency in the long term.

HPC_Ghuol_Hunter

Looking at the charts Bitcoin has already had 4 bubbles pop and each time it recovered to 10x the previous ATH. I’m happy to take the risk for a bit of fun.

gevans35

jonnygee2 wrote: »

I bought some too a few days ago. Partly because in my mind I was buying it off a weeping teenager who bought it for four times the price with all their savings, and this thought filled me with glee.

But I suspect its money down the drain.

I look in on this forum for the first time in weeks and this is the first thing I see. What a nasty little place this is.

Here's hoping this gloating band of buy to let landlords get their comeuppance sooner rather than later.

System

I wouldn't be investing in Bitcoin. There is a maximum number of coins that can be mined - 21 million. Currently there are 17,455,000 mined with 12.5 new ones being added every 10 minutes. At 1800 coins per day being mined that is only 1970 days worth left although it'll be less than that as the speed blocks are processed is increasing. Many are predicting that the value of Bitcoin is going to drop as more people move away from the currency due to ever diminishing returns meaning it is going to cost more to mine coins than the money they generate. Ultimately when it gets to the point that next to no miners are left then the currency will be worthless.

HPC_Ghuol_Hunter

You clearly do not understand the difficulty adjustment so it is wise that you stay away from investing in it.

chucknorris

Tarambor wrote: »

I wouldn't be investing in Bitcoin.

Not many traditional investors would consider Bitcoin to be a genuine investment, I think the OP accepts that it is just a gamble/speculation. If you look at his attitude and compare it to some of the other Bitcoin 'investors' on other threads, there is a stark difference, he doesn't say things like fiat currency is doomed, and bitcoin will make him rich etc etc.

phillw

HPC_Ghuol_Hunter wrote: »

You clearly do not understand the difficulty adjustment so it is wise that you stay away from investing in it.

The biggest problem once all the coins are mined is going to be the increased transaction fees.

I don't think we'll see a drop in hash rate, but I think it will probably end up being centralised.

However nobody knows how it will pan out, because predicting the future is hard.

System

I recently watched an excellent programme about it on Netflix, episode 3 series 2 of Dark Net. One guy explained it all very clearly, how the diminishing amount of coins being mined affected new money reaching commercial miner operations like his business . The "commercial" level miners all stated that as soon as miners started leaving in any meaningful number that the currency would become worthless. Well worth a watch if you want to see the future for Bitcoin.