Making sense of the economic value of crypt I currencies - I think I get it now

[saturnz]

I say make as much money as you can from Bitcoin (if the market has not crashed already), and then cash out.

fair enough, but don't be under any false illusion that that activity is investment, it is pure speculation

 

[Azg]

fair enough, but don't be under any false illusion that that activity is investment, it is pure speculation

Agree with you. That's what I meant. You can make money from the speculation as long as you don't get too comfortable and begin to think this is a long term investment. Always cash out your profits.

 

[bchip]

https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/tech/bitcoin-tumbles-most-in-more-than-two-years-after-record-run/

Bitcoin sank as much as 19%, putting the digital currency on pace for its worst week since January 2015, as volatility climbs following a record-setting surge in the price.

After flirting with $3,000 on Monday, the cryptocurrency has retreated to as low as $2,076.16 in intraday trading. Other digital coins are also falling. The decline coincides with a slide in technology stocks that began after a report from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. warned that low volatility in the biggest tech stocks may be blinding investors to risks like cyclicality and regulation.

...


Another exchange, Bitfinex, tweeted Tuesday that it was under DDoS attack, raising questions about the safety of using cryptocurrencies. Last year, Bitfinex had $65 million stolen by hackers.

 

[bchip]

Movements of 30% loss in a week always creates strong feelings of "trust" in a currency...

 

[NarrowBandFtw]

Movements of 30% loss in a week always creates strong feelings of "trust" in a currency...

not to mention the whole "store of value" argument goes down the toilet rather rapidly ...

 

[cerebus]

For most there's really just no other options
unless your telling me that at least 50 million people earning $10 per hour minimum wage in the US
are suddenly going to start buying BITCOIN @ $3000 a bitcoin, when they dont have savings and only debt?

Most people don't buy them @$3000 a Bitcoin, they buy divisions of a single BTC. People normally buy and sell transactionally in mBTC denominations of .00xxxx, which can be as low as needed. It doesn't matter if there is a limited quantity of BTC in the world because it is divisible enough that it could account for every financial transaction.

Thing is, BTC doesn't NEED to have any intrinsic value, and it doesn't need to be widely accepted. It just has to be a permanent, alternative form of currency with its own qualities that make it more attractive for certain people and forms of transaction - which is exactly what it is. I wouldn't dare to speculate on the potential upside of Bitcoin because who knows anything, but I will guarantee that it isn't going anywhere because it's a real thing.

That said, I do believe that the current BTC movement is a bubble, and there are LOTS of people getting into it speculatively who will be hurt when it crashes.

 

[bchip]

You have a valid point, it doesnt need intrinsic value...but thats not how people think.
A lot of cultures still store money under mattresses or buy gold because they believe in intrinsic value.
They also do this because they have core believes of "I understand what I own".
And they also believe that when things go wrong, there is a process and an institution that backs it (like the police and lawyers).

Considering that it took people a few hundred years to believe that the earth is round,
your saying that millions of uneducated people are going to rush all their hard working money
into something that they have no clue how it works, and have only heard that its been hacked so many times without policing or retribution.

All these people are so progressive that they will change their minds within the next 5 years and accept a currency that
is not backed by financial institutions....A "currency" that is owned by 0.00000001%
And these people who own it dont want to give it up because "holding on" means greater returns.
So where are these people going to get their share of it as its limited (hence the current bubble)?

Further then if it becomes somewhat accepted that no government will step in to regulate it,
as they are just "happy" with the fact that the only power they have over people, they are ready to give this up...

Nobody else has pointed out either that there are over 750 crypto currencies and only maybe 5 that have panned out.
That's not to mention, to make your own cryptocurrency is pretty easy as well as you just copy/paste the code.
(Just like myspace was popular in early 2000s and now its ...gone)

So for any cryptocurrency to become great, it first needs to be commonly accepted, then we need to figure out
how government is going to approach it, and then we need a track record of at least 20 years to become
integrated into the system.


Nobody really sees there are some major concerns with this...

If it becomes something then I dont need to be the first person in, hard lesson I've learned from the stock markets.