Crypto Currency (Bitcoin, Etc.)

[iacas]

 

[klineka]

@JetFan1983 do you have any experience or insight on IOTA? I just bought a little bit of that, seems to be off to a solid start so far and has the backing of Microsoft and a few other companies. Will be interesting to see if anything comes of it.

[JetFan1983]

15 minutes ago, klineka said:

@JetFan1983 do you have any experience or insight on IOTA? I just bought a little bit of that, seems to be off to a solid start so far and has the backing of Microsoft and a few other companies. Will be interesting to see if anything comes of it.

Yea, IOTA is blowing up, but I don't know much about it. I agree it's really interesting Microsoft is involved. My initial concern would be potential future network standstills causing a panic of some kind. Still, it has some interesting aspects and raises questions about how quantum computing would affect bitcoin in five or more years. But again, I'm not an expert on IOTA.

I do know that these altcoins can experience periods of insane volatility, and IOTA seems no different. The hype can get out of hand with any of these coins and then crash away soon after. Now, that doesn't mean all coins that experience a crash necessarily die off for good because things can dramatically change over a period of years. Like right now. 

So hopefully a person has a plan for any coin they buy: know how it works, why it was made, know what the potential problems could be. And don't get in over your head.

I've had fun with altcoins over the years, stressful as they are. I can't give any long term projections, but with the current boom, I now have a window  to unload a bunch of coins that I once thought were worthless... and at like 1000+% profit too. So you could fail with this, but find an unexpected bubble that appears in a few years where you could turn a failure into a success.

Or maybe not. I really have no idea. Let me be very clear on that. This is all a very weird form of gambling IMO. Four years ago, I felt there was a strong future floor for whatever I did, and it turns out I was right. Will that floor be there again in a few years for the new crop of investors post whatever crash may occur over the next twelve months? No idea. 

 

[klineka]

Litecoin has exploded recently! Touched $400 for a moment earlier and now is sitting in the mid $300s. Crazy stuff.

[MacDutch]

There are hundreds of those different crypto’s. I like to play around a bit just to get to know more of it. Sold my 0.222 bitcoin and invested only the profit in Neo. 

Neo is from Chinese offspring and Chinese government has started a thinktank how to use and benifit from blockchain. I really believe in blockchain and you need some kind of crypto currency to fuel blockchain apps.

https://hackernoon.com/neo-versus-ethereum-why-neo-might-be-2018s-strongest-cryptocurrency-79956138bea3

[MacDutch]

Wow, what is this? Neo up 100% in less then a week. Where is al that money comming from, all the crypto’s go up and up and up.

[Braivo]

2 hours ago, MacDutch said:

Wow, what is this? Neo up 100% in less then a week. Where is al that money comming from, all the crypto’s go up and up and up.

This is what concerns me. Is there really billions and billions being poured into crypto? Or is it all a shell game? Like some new kind of pyramid / ponzi scheme that we will find out later was a giant coordinated scam? Something doesn't feel right about the whole thing. 

[DeadMan]

9 minutes ago, Braivo said:

This is what concerns me. Is there really billions and billions being poured into crypto? Or is it all a shell game? Like some new kind of pyramid / ponzi scheme that we will find out later was a giant coordinated scam? Something doesn't feel right about the whole thing. 

No, I think it's simpler than that. It's a bubble, driven by speculation in these currencies.

[klineka]

Ripple has been on a tear recently, up over $1.60 when a few weeks ago it was around $.50. I'm definitely happy with the return I've made on that investment so far.

Edited December 29, 2017 by klineka

[Jeremie Boop]

I just recently set up my home PC to mine, originally just when I wasn't using it to play games and whatnot. I'm just using a simple program called winminer that let's me get paid out in cash via paypal when I hit a minimum of $20 earned. Pulling it out costs me $1.57 per $20 *that's the fee from the website and paypal together* and now that I've got it running pretty solidly it's averaging ~$8 a day. I don't really care to buy into any of the coins and hold on to them, I just like that my PC can make me some extra money for nothing besides the less than $1 a day in electricity costs. I'm not even running anywhere close to the ideal set up with the "best" graphics cards and my PC is only a 4th gen i7. I'm actually planning on setting up a dedicated mining rig, because I don't even like to use my PC now because it means it's not earning money rofl.

[mcanadiens]

Remember to report that stuff on your tax returns.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-14-21.pdf

[ghalfaire]

I suppose I could be missing out but I just don't see what supports Bitcoin other than there are people willing to pay money to get purchase it.  With conventional currencies there are governments who has a vested interest in maintaining the value of its currency.  Governments own things of value so in some ways having cash is like owning stock.  But there is nothing of value supporting Bitcoin that I know other than investors perceiving value.  But there is no physical assets or special services that I know of that support Bitcoin.  I am not a financial expert but I don't see how that works long term.

[saevel25]

37 minutes ago, ghalfaire said:

IGovernments own things of value so in some ways having cash is like owning stock.  But there is nothing of value supporting Bitcoin that I know other than investors perceiving value.  But there is no physical assets or special services that I know of that support Bitcoin.  I am not a financial expert but I don't see how that works long term.

I look at it as a commodity. Gold had the same thing, given technology has made gold more stable in value. Before computers and electronics, gold was valued because people hold value in rare metals. 

If people didn’t consider gold of any value outside its use in electronics. It would be magnitudes cheaper. 

[Lihu]

https://apple.news/Apz7fZZz0TMqRlcOzwY6JTg

[klineka]

10 minutes ago, Lihu said:

https://apple.news/Apz7fZZz0TMqRlcOzwY6JTg

I'm not too worried. Ripple just announced a partnership with Moneygram which has sent the price of XRP from $1.6-1.7 back up to mid $2 within the first hour of this news breaking.

[jkelley9]

I read yesterday that the higher level graphics cards are completely out of stock, and nearly ALL retail outlets have jacked the prices WAY up. People buying the same graphics cards today are paying 2-3x what they were worth 1 year ago... the exact same card. Not a new year's card, or a revision. The 2015 or 2016 cards. Used for mining. And they're sold out everywhere!

Some OEMs are the only ones sticking to MSRP but they go out of stock insanely quickly.

Same thing for RAM. Ridiculous prices.

So people that are wanting to build new desktop PCs are getting HOSED on graphics cards and RAM. Most people are just delaying their builds because it's so ridiculous.

[paperclip]

I think it's a shell game/ponzi scheme; it's a short

 

[klineka]

2 hours ago, paperclip said:

I think it's a shell game/ponzi scheme; it's a short

 

What makes you think that?