Crypto Currency ??

Middle_of_the_Road

If any hint of this fad gets near your bank account(s) don't be surprised if they end up being closed.

RichTips

There are "fee-generating" cryptocurrency protocols/applications that incorporate a native cryptocurrency into their fee emmision structure. Many use the "money printing" done when they generate their native token to incentivize usage while simultaneously creating the ability to buy them with other tokens. These native tokens generally get their value from their purchase by speculators who believe the emmision of fees generated by the protocol and (in theory) distributed to token holders, as well as the native token's price appreciation, may provide them ongoing revenue (taxed as income by HMRC) or profit through capital gains.

I'm pretty sure the majority of the protocols that consistently generate fees are providing services related to the transaction in yet more cryptocurrencies. This, unfortunately, demonstrates something of a degrading cyclical effect, though there is still a concentration and appreciation of value in certain assets continuing over the course of mutliple bull and bear markets. I'm pretty positive towards cryptocurrency but the lack of provision of long term use cases outside of store of value is not ideal. This leads me to place most of my conviction in the Bitcoin camp, where that use  is most well-established, rather than the wider ecosystem of altcoins.

As you'll probably gather from the replies within this thread, this forum is sceptical about even BTC and so is probably not ideal for learning about cryptocurrency in general. Discourse gets gummed up by petty squabbling and poorly constructed arguments. I recommend getting a grounding in cryptocurrency by reading from a variety of sources for a good amount of time before participating in the dialogue one might find here.

Hoenir

ColdIron said:

Albermarle said:

It is a bit like gold

But gold still exists when the electricity goes off

Gold also has practical uses. 

Hoenir

RichTips said:

There are "fee-generating" cryptocurrency protocols/applications that incorporate a native cryptocurrency into their fee emmision structure. Many use the "money printing" done when they generate their native token to incentivize usage while simultaneously creating the ability to buy them with other tokens. These native tokens generally get their value from their purchase by speculators who believe the emmision of fees generated by the protocol and (in theory) distributed to token holders, as well as the native token's price appreciation, may provide them ongoing revenue (taxed as income by HMRC) or profit through capital gains.

I'm pretty sure the majority of the protocols that consistently generate fees are providing services related to the transaction in yet more cryptocurrencies. This, unfortunately, demonstrates something of a degrading cyclical effect, though there is still a concentration and appreciation of value in certain assets continuing over the course of mutliple bull and bear markets. I'm pretty positive towards cryptocurrency but the lack of provision of long term use cases outside of store of value is not ideal. This leads me to place most of my conviction in the Bitcoin camp, where that use  is most well-established, rather than the wider ecosystem of altcoins.

As you'll probably gather from the replies within this thread, this forum is sceptical about even BTC and so is probably not ideal for learning about cryptocurrency in general. Discourse gets gummed up by petty squabbling and poorly constructed arguments. I recommend getting a grounding in cryptocurrency by reading from a variety of sources for a good amount of time before participating in the dialogue one might find here.

Takes two parties to conduct a trade. Ultimately someone is a winner and someone a loser.  Gravity rules. 

Scottex99

Agreed with a couple of posters here, OP.

Plenty of information online as to where Bitcoin came from, what is Proof of Work, what is mining, what is blockchain etc.

Plus what the Halving is and why it’s historically been important.

There’s likely not much value here between the 2 camps just arguing with each other.

Also already been answered but the making (or losing) of “fortunes” is just the same as any other investment or trade, in other markets. 

I opened a 300x long on BTC last Friday and closed it at 2000% ROI this week, small stakes only as that’s basically gambling. Ignore all the influencers online telling you that’s easy or normal behavior 

flaneurs_lobster

Scottex99 said:

Plus what the Halving is and why it’s historically been important.

I believe it's like The Rapture only with more believers and a bigger party.

Malthusian

flaneurs_lobster said:

I believe it's like The Rapture only with more believers and a bigger party.

Doubtful. The Left Behind books sold 65 million copies. We can reasonably assume that most readers believed in the Rapture on some level, as there is no other reason to purchase them (leaving aside a few fedora-wearing atheists looking for cheap laughs). Although it is not a canonical Christian belief, it is popular across a wide range of fundamentalist US churches.

Belief in the crypto rapture is confined to dwindling and obscure online communities. As for the party... I think I'd take even a dry Baptist potluck over getting your retinas burned out at a crypto sausagefest.

slinger2

Mining is a prize given for keeping the ledger of transactions up to date. However unlike the real world, the prize is given to the person who not only updates the ledger but also solves a difficult puzzle first. For bitcoin, the prize is given in bitcoins.

abash

Before getting into crypto, I think it's better to understand what is a blockchain and why it's the future. Crypto is more of a distraction at present (a few of them have utility as well).

Blockchain is a public ledger which is distributed across computers around the globle. So it's difficult to tamper with. 

It holds data of all the transactions made. A transaction is sharing of data (not necessarily money or crypto). The data could be your medical records, insurance records, farming records or anything. 

Blockchain enables the owner of the record to display / share whatever they want to with whomever they want to. More importantly, you own your data. 

Imagine how closed the banking system is today (no one know what's going on in their books) or how controlling the big tech companies are (they hold all your info and can do anything with it). 

With blockchain, the control will be back in the hands of individuals. That's because it's encrypted and you've the keys. The word 'crypto' comes from 'encryption'.

Cryptocurrencies are a financial mechanism (read fees) for projects that are building on the blockchain. There are say about 50 companies who are building real-world use-case products and those cryptocurrencies would be valuable in the long run. The remaining 9,950 cryptos are just for speculation and gambling.

Blockchain is still very nascent. Think of the internet in early 1990s. That's where blockchain and crypto is today. Today, 30 yrs later, the world runs on the internet. That's the potential of blockchain and crypto

Section62

abash said:

Blockchain is a public ledger which is distributed across computers around the globle. So it's difficult to tamper with. 

It holds data of all the transactions made. A transaction is sharing of data (not necessarily money or crypto). The data could be your medical records, insurance records, farming records or anything.

I don't understand the advantage of having your medical (or insurance) records on "public ledger which is distributed across computers around the globle".  Who do you think might tamper with your medical records?

Likewise, what benefits would there be in having "farming records" in a public register, and what does "farming records" even mean?

abash said:

Imagine how closed the banking system is today (no one know what's going on in their books)...

The banks know, and their auditors and regulators know or can find out.  The 'closed' part of the banking system is closed because the information is commercially sensitive and people don't want to share it.  Why would the data owners want to use blockchain instead?  And if blockchain data is encrypted, then won't the banking system still be "closed"?

abash said:

Blockchain is still very nascent. Think of the internet in early 1990s. That's where blockchain and crypto is today. Today, 30 yrs later, the world runs on the internet. That's the potential of blockchain and crypto

You can't make the assumption that because one thing took off and became very popular that a different thing will take off and become popular.  That kind of flawed thinking is partly what led to the dotcom bust.

That isn't to say blockchain won't be very useful in some applications, but people should be wary of falling into the trap of buying crypto as some kind of investment into something which will be as big (or bigger) than the internet.