Cryptocurrencies inc. Bitcoin

HobgoblinBT

One factor in the recent highs of Bitcoin in my opinion is that it is being used to fund the drugs trade so demand has increased substantially as trading is unregulated.  

I don’t understand it enough to invest and shy away from unregulated investments, even though my daughter has seen her modest investment rise by 4000%.

Ergates

HobgoblinBT said:

One factor in the recent highs of Bitcoin in my opinion is that it is being used to fund the drugs trade so demand has increased substantially as trading is unregulated.  

I don’t understand it enough to invest and shy away from unregulated investments, even though my daughter has seen her modest investment rise by 4000%.

Even the use of Bitcoin for illegal trading in no way accounts for it's increase in value.   it's 99.999% currency speculation.

flaneurs_lobster

Couple of years ago I wanted to play with having my own crypto wallet and generally fiddling around with the (new to me) tech. Needed some crypto to play with so chose DOGE because I liked the logo and the fact that the creators did so "as a joke". Bought £20-worth. 

Played around, got bored, forgot about it.

Swapping my Revolut account to another phone last week I noticed that my crypto holding is now worth £80 (has been worth >£100 at some point in the last 2 weeks).

This is apparently because Elon Musk is the new US President.

Do I hold until Musk has conquered Mars and my DOGE is worth squillions?

Or flog it off and buy canned goods?

Eyeful

Nardge:

1. If you invest in gold you have a physical asset which is used in different ways & has been around for a very, very, long time. 
It is used in , Jewellery, medicine, electronics, finance. So there is a real need for it.

2. When you have crypto like Bit Coin, all you really have is a very, very, long number that is stored on a computer some where.
If no one wants to pay you any money for this very very  long number, its has zero value. This could occur at any time.

3.  Crypto may be considered the modern version of the Hans Christian's  Anderson's fable "The Emperor's New Clothes".

4. Why do crooks want it so much?
(a) To convert it into $'s & £'s (b) anonymity it might bring.

5. Profits are generated from finding a "bigger fool" to buy this very, very long number from you. 

6. What will happen to all these crypto's, if government's introduce their own versions of them? 

onomatopoeia99

See we've got the usual "ponzi/scam" types in here already.  Apparently major investment firms haven't noticed what our resident experts on MSE are pointing out and haven't divested themselves of their billions in BTC, cancelled the funds they've set up etc. because they don't understand it as well as MSE members.

We'll get to south sea bonds and tulilp futures next .  See there's also been mention of the greater fool theory. Is Blackrock Investment Management and Financial Services (with around $10 trillion of assets managed) the greatest fool?

We were told it was a scam and would soon be worthless at $1,000, then again at $10,000 and again now by erudite members of MSE with it at $100,000.  It was definitely going to crash, but it seems to just keep crashing upwards.

 

Disclaimer : I have nothing invested in crypto, no holding of any coin etc.

Ergates

It'll keep going up in value until one day it doesn't.   There's a lot of fools out there.

If you're convinced it's not a bubble based on nothing but currency speculation, perhaps you could explain *why* a single bitcoin is worth $100,000.

Or perhaps you can explain why so many other crypto currencies which were, to all intents and purposes, identical to bitcoin shot up in value then collapsed in value equally quickly ?

GingerTim

onomatopoeia99 said:

We were told it was a scam and would soon be worthless at $1,000, then again at $10,000 and again now by erudite members of MSE with it at $100,000.  It was definitely going to crash, but it seems to just keep crashing upwards.

 

Something continually increasing in alleged value for no good reason sounds like a classic bubble.

Eyeful

onomatopoeia99 said:

See we've got the usual "ponzi/scam" types in here already.  Apparently major investment firms haven't noticed what our resident experts on MSE are pointing out and haven't divested themselves of their billions in BTC, cancelled the funds they've set up etc. because they don't understand it as well as MSE members.

We'll get to south sea bonds and tulilp futures next .  See there's also been mention of the greater fool theory. Is Blackrock Investment Management and Financial Services (with around $10 trillion of assets managed) the greatest fool?

We were told it was a scam and would soon be worthless at $1,000, then again at $10,000 and again now by erudite members of MSE with it at $100,000.  It was definitely going to crash, but it seems to just keep crashing upwards.

 

Disclaimer : I have nothing invested in crypto, no holding of any coin etc.

1. I notice that you have not denied that crypto like Bit Coin, is just a very, very, long number that is stored on some computer. 
2. These major investment firms you mention do not own billions in BTC. Its their customers that own the BTC.
3. The firms make there money from the fees and costs they apply to their funds.
4. If people want to gamble on BTC or do not understand what they are buying, fund managers are only to happy to offer them the means. 
5. History has shown that crowds do get carried away as you pointed out with the south sea bonds and tulip mania. 
6. Is it not strange that after all this time, we still do not know who invented BTC, what their motivation was or who provided the initial funding.
Was it (a) Government testing the idea (b) Organized Crime (c) University Department testing "madness of crowds" (d) Lone wolf.