Bitcoin

barnstar2077

I think we just reached the point where we are all going to have to agree to disagree and move on.

RichTips

Malkytheheed said:

People who back bitcoin on forums think they are so edgy, and educated and superior. Like we all missed the truth. 

Much the same as those who go around saying the earth is flat or that vaccines cause autism. 

There must be a bitcoin echo chamber on Reddit you can go back to? 

Yes, yes, I think sooo highly of myself. My explanation of my position and how its contrary to yours is designed purely to patronise. Did you have any contribution that addresses the merits or demerits of Bitcoin or would you rather just keep attacking me personally?

P.S. Do you not see any irony in asking somebody to go back to their echo chamber because their opinion differs from your own?

Username999

bowlhead99 said

How many separate forum accounts have you gone through in the decade or so that crypto investments have been discussed here?  I'm still on my first, but I do see people come and make a lot of noise about the next big thing, start insulting others who don't buy their particular brand of kool-aid ,and eventually get banned and have to set up a new account to keep 'educating' the prejudiced masses on why Crypto is a credible alternative to mainstream investing / saving / cash depositing. 

Why did you buy Bitcoin?

RichTips

barnstar2077 said:

I think we just reached the point where we are all going to have to agree to disagree and move on.

Sure.

To address the OP's question of "can you make money from bitcoin or is it a scam?" directly and incontrovertibly:
Yes, you may find a buyer for bitcoin in the future willing to pay more than you bought it for. The Bitcoin network may also be an elaborate scam and its users certainly have less recourse if they are scammed out of their holdings than they would were that value held as currency in British banks.

jonesMUFCforever

Doesn't everybody know everyone makes money when buying Bitcoin! They show you how much you have made with online statements.
The problem starts when you say to them that you want to withdraw some funds - you find them suddenly unresponsive, they don't answer your e-mails and eventually your account is unreachable and the money has long gone.

EdGasketTheSecond

An example of a good scam:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-50435014

Username999

EdGasketTheSecond said:

An example of a good scam:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-50435014

Here's another...
https://www.investmentnews.com/time-to-warn-clients-about-gold-scams-38562
One of probably millions in the history of Gold.

BananaRepublic

chamelion said:

BananaRepublic said:

Malkytheheed said:

chamelion said:

 Treat it like an investment,

No, don't treat bitcoin like an investment. Bitcoin is gambling. No more, no less. 

An investment carries some form on knowledge about future likely trends. Bitcoin has no product roadmap, no CEO, no industry drivers. No inherent value behind it. Nothing. No lighthouses of what may happen. It is just a gamble. 

Exactly. Realistically noone has a clue where it is going.

ah excellent - so you know exactly where the stock market is going, right? Any stock tips given you know where companies are going?

Evidently you know nothing about investing in stocks and shares.

Bitcoin does not represent anything tangible, hence the value is pure sentiment. We can see how horrendously volatile it is.

As for stock markets, I’ve done pretty well over the last 20+ years. A share represents part ownership of a company and as such that company has accounts, and public announcements that indicate its direction and goals. It is part of something tangible. Stock markets have existed for hundreds of years, hence there is a substantial body of knowledge around investing in them. One thing we can say with certainty is that if the markets do collapse in a catastrophic manner, civilisation as we know it will be in serious trouble. Stock markets mirror our economies. Investing in shares incurs a degree of risk, which can be managed. Bitcoin? High risk, high volatility. It could collapse and die tomorrow, and civilisation would carry on regardless. 

EdGasketTheSecond

Username999 said:

EdGasketTheSecond said:

An example of a good scam:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-50435014

Here's another...
https://www.investmentnews.com/time-to-warn-clients-about-gold-scams-38562
One of probably millions in the history of Gold.

What has this to do with BitCoin?

bowlhead99

Username999 said:

bowlhead99 said

How many separate forum accounts have you gone through in the decade or so that crypto investments have been discussed here?  I'm still on my first, but I do see people come and make a lot of noise about the next big thing, start insulting others who don't buy their particular brand of kool-aid ,and eventually get banned and have to set up a new account to keep 'educating' the prejudiced masses on why Crypto is a credible alternative to mainstream investing / saving / cash depositing. 

Why did you buy Bitcoin?

I've always had a general interest in technological developments being something of a nerd, and was curious about its potential. As I mentioned in a longrunning thread some years ago (when buying in the low $300s range some time after the price had been to over $1000 and back), "sometimes it can be fun to dabble in fledgling markets for things where the trading marketplace is not so developed as for 'proper' financial instruments, and try to read the dynamics". https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/66661110#Comment_66661110 and a few followup posts around then explaining the practicalities of some of the trading venues. 

Most of the coins I bought in the $300-$400 range were sold in the $380- $600 range over 2014 to 2016, though I kept a small holding which fortutiously spiked to $10k just before Christmas 2017 giving a quite outrageous return on capital. Not so rich as if I had held a few more weeks to the $15-20k range, but it had seemed very sensible to mostly sell out at a high multiple of cost, just in time for Christmas party season and being out of CGT exemption by that point I decided to simply hold onto the fraction of a coin that remained and see what happened.  More recently I added to it again at $5657 in mid March following the massive covid-induced market falls, anticipating that some would start talking it up as a big opportunity as a diversifier from stocks and gold, especially with the (at the time) reward halving on the near horizon which would inevitably prompt further articles and talking points from rampers. Now it is back up at $9000.

Next, who knows, but I am not going round pretending it is definitely the next big thing and will have a lucrative future. The blockchain technology behind it is more interesting than BTC as a product, and various other crypto coins ought to be more practical to trade and use (for technical reasons), but it does hold the public interest more than other coins (because people have heard of it).

I have some money set aside for 'playing' with more esoteric investments, 'bit of fun' stocks, and gambling or holidays, so any occasional purchases in Crypto would come out of that rather than my 'real' portfolio or retirement fund. I haven't tried to invest in crypto vehicles within my pension or dabbled in new possibly-scam ICOs or the like.