Bitcoin

Hermione_Granger

chamelion said:

My visa debit card, tied to a cryptocurrency, is also legal tender, backed by a financial institution that is regulated.

You might want to read up on what "legal tender" actually is because a debit card and any form of cryptocurrency most certainly doesn't qualify as legal tender in the UK.
People may be willing to accept them as payment just as some people may be willing to accept a sack of potatoes from my allotment but this doesn't mean that potatoes are legal tender. 

MarkCarnage

You're comparing Bitcoin to a company stock, it isn't.

Correct.

More like a commodity, Gold, Corn, Hog Belly's don't have a CEO either! 
Gold, Metals, Currencies, The Internet have no "value" until people put value to them. Bitcoin is no different.

Wrong. All of these, except fiat currency have an intrinsic value in terms of what their utility is and what people are willing to pay for them. Bitcoin is very different. Were Bitcoin the only 'cryptocurrency' ever available, and guaranteed to remain scarce, it might just about be comparable to gold. Fact is, it's not, there are all sorts of alternative tulips, sorry 'cryptocurrencies' appearing. Gold has been a store of value over a long period of time as it's in relatively scarce new supply, has alternative uses, is reasonably portable in small quantities, and is a trusted store of value. That still didn't stop the US Government putting very major restrictions on holding it and freezing the price in the 30s. Bitcoin and others are likely to go exactly the same way. 

All investing is a Gamble it's always a 50:50 probability.

Jeez, you really don't have a clue. You are describing a coin spin there, or perhaps at a push the next single price move in a stock. Investing is participation in the long term evolution of the economy via risk assets. Totally different. If I hold a diversified portfolio of assets over a significant period of time, I expect these to participate in that economic evolution. If they all fell to zero, like a gamble, you would have a lot more to worry about than Bitcoin! 

Username999

MarkCarnage said: 

All investing is a Gamble it's always a 50:50 probability.

Jeez, you really don't have a clue. You are describing a coin spin there, or perhaps at a push the next single price move in a stock. Investing is participation in the long term evolution of the economy via risk assets. Totally different. If I hold a diversified portfolio of assets over a significant period of time, I expect these to participate in that economic evolution. If they all fell to zero, like a gamble, you would have a lot more to worry about than Bitcoin! 

To quote from the Forums most popular...

"Please remember, the value of your investments can go down as well as up, so you may get back less than you invest."
https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/

Investment meaning... "the action or process of investing money for profit."
You either make a profit or a loss, ergo 50:50.
If you know of an investment that is zero risk, I'm all ears. (over any time frame)

As for your tone, grow up.

eskbanker

Username999 said:
All investing is a Gamble it's always a 50:50 probability.

Username999 said:

You either make a profit or a loss, ergo 50:50.

Surely you're not saying that you don't understand the difference between binary outcomes and binary outcomes with equal probabilities?!

Tossing a coin is 50/50, but whether the sun comes up tomorrow morning or not (the only two possible outcomes) certainly isn't....

msallen

chamelion said:

which means you're not looking hard enough. 
I have a double digit rate of return from the past 3 years, have a metal visa card which provides me 8% interest on GBP deposits and 3% cashback as well as pays for my spotify and netflix, and has just launched EU wide after being in the US for the past few years, as well as Singapore and Australia. It's crypto backed, and they have their own token, their own CEO, their own roadmap, their own industry drivers. 
You may call it a gamble. But your casino analogy is something that would be laughed at by anyone who has done some more due diligence. 

A metal card! Wow, in that case it must be a good investment. I'll sign up on my way to the next 5g mast bonfire.

bowlhead99

Username999 said:

MarkCarnage said: 

All investing is a Gamble it's always a 50:50 probability.

Jeez, you really don't have a clue. You are describing a coin spin there, or perhaps at a push the next single price move in a stock. Investing is participation in the long term evolution of the economy via risk assets. Totally different. If I hold a diversified portfolio of assets over a significant period of time, I expect these to participate in that economic evolution. If they all fell to zero, like a gamble, you would have a lot more to worry about than Bitcoin! 

To quote from the Forums most popular...

"Please remember, the value of your investments can go down as well as up, so you may get back less than you invest."
https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/

Investment meaning... "the action or process of investing money for profit."
You either make a profit or a loss, ergo 50:50.
If you know of an investment that is zero risk, I'm all ears. (over any time frame)

As for your tone, grow up.

You are surely just trolling there.

It is analagous to saying, "Should I cross the road today? Well if I do, I might get hit by traffic and die, or I might not get hit by traffic at all (or get hit but live) and it'll be fine. I'll either live or die, ergo 50:50."

Except there have only been about 2000 annual deaths on UK roads in the last few years with about 500 of them being pedestrians. Out of billions of journeys which involve crossing a street. So 'live or die' when crossing a street is not really 50:50, it is better than 99.99999:0.00001 

So, there might be a 'risk warning', "Please remember, crossing the road might be a useful thing for you to do but I cannot guarantee you won't die doing it" ; this doesn't mean "All travel is a Gamble it's always a 50:50 probability".

Most people thinking of travelling somewhere (whether to the shops or to work or a holiday) will consider the benefits of doing it and what risks there might be by doing it in different ways or at different times. Investing is probably a bit like that too; as it involves giving up something you have (cash) for some other type of asset for some length of time it can never be 'risk free', and it is worth considering the different options that exist ; though due to inflation if you just keep the cash it may be worth less in real terms the next time you look at it, which does not sound 'risk free' either.

The_Earl_of_Streatham

Friday's Euromillions is at £24 million and I'm in with a 50% chance. I either win it or I don't.

DiggerUK

You wait a lifetime for a cryptocurrency to come along, and then over five thousand turn up..._

Ronder33

for those who can see a role for cyrptocurrencys especially in parts of the world with central banks are even worse than the Fed and Bank of England, what is the best way to purchase bitcoin?
Do you have a preferred broker with low fees or do you use the bitcoin site itself?
What is the best way to take any coins you purchase of the exchange to make them more secure (a big issue seems to be hacker and scam theft from exchanges)?

MarkCarnage

Please remember, the value of your investments can go down as well as up, so you may get back less than you invest."
https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/
Investment meaning... "the action or process of investing money for profit."
You either make a profit or a loss, ergo 50:50.
If you know of an investment that is zero risk, I'm all ears. (over any time frame)

As several posters have said, either you are trolling or you don't understand the basics of probability. Either way, it's worrying that you are posting this as if it's a certainty. The comment about zero risk is just a non sequitur. Every investment, every saving, every aspect of life has some risk somewhere at sometime. 

As for your tone, grow up.

Designed to make my incredulity clear, and also that your post is dangerously wrong.