Bitcoin anyone?

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Funny....I was just looking at Bitcoin again. Almost invested 2.5 years ago, but held back because I didn't have the mining setup. Now looking at Ethereum investment. Anyone have experience?
 
When it all surged a few years ago, I got all excited and threw in $100. (Almost did $1000, thank goodness for my wife telling me I'm an idiot and not allowing it!) Bought it when it was about $800/BC. Immediately after that the price dropped precipitously. Only last week since the value was back up around $1000, I sold my Bitcoin and made a slight profit. I say slight because I had bought some stuff with my Bitcoin over the past couple years while it was worth less.

All of this was before I discovered the whitecoat investor and learned some sense when it comes to money.

I think if you want to use it as a currency, great, do that. I don't think it's wise as an investment vehicle, at all.
 
ProwlerturnGas said:
Funny....I was just looking at Bitcoin again. Almost invested 2.5 years ago, but held back because I didn't have the mining setup. Now looking at Ethereum investment. Anyone have experience?
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I am invested in bitcoin and a little ETH. I buy a little each weak of btc. Most of my investments are long term index funds in my IRA and 401k. When I finish up training my goals will be to pay off debt and maximize retirement accounts but I don't see why not speculate a little. Could go to the moon? Or to 0. Won't make or break me either way although the bitcoin rally the past few months has made me some nice unrealized gains.
 
abolt18 said:
When it all surged a few years ago, I got all excited and threw in $100. (Almost did $1000, thank goodness for my wife telling me I'm an idiot and not allowing it!) Bought it when it was about $800/BC. Immediately after that the price dropped precipitously. Only last week since the value was back up around $1000, I sold my Bitcoin and made a slight profit. I say slight because I had bought some stuff with my Bitcoin over the past couple years while it was worth less.

All of this was before I discovered the whitecoat investor and learned some sense when it comes to money.

I think if you want to use it as a currency, great, do that. I don't think it's wise as an investment vehicle, at all.
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If it's 800/bc how did you throw in 100?
 
Psai said:
If it's 800/bc how did you throw in 100?
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You can buy basically any fractional amount of bitcoin. Since there's a finite amount of them, I imagine they will get sold in smaller and smaller pieces.
 
So how do I buy Ethereum? Would you recommend this cryptocurrency? I don't really get it because anyone smart enough can make a new cryptocurrency.
 
you believe that the chart below is amazing, just wait, because it could become the most amazing chart ever in history of markets. An even more incredible surge could happen in 2017 or 2018, as regulators weigh approval of the first-ever bitcoin ETF.

 
I'll just say that the big boys are in on this now. If you think you can successfully trade these, you are wrong (unless you are already successfully trading highly leveraged instruments in the regulated market).

If you understand technical and quant trading, you will see that these currencies are being setup to seriously rape the individual investor.

The only way I would consider getting involved is with a small, binary trade on a dip. Be prepared to lose it all. Be prepared to take out your full initial investment as soon as you hit 100% so that your only playing with house money.
 
BLADEMDA said:
So how do I buy Ethereum? Would you recommend this cryptocurrency? I don't really get it because anyone smart enough can make a new cryptocurrency.
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Anyone can make a new cryptocurrency, just as any country (or even any town) can print a new currency. The trick is convincing other people that the currency has value. While I believe that the current bitcoin prices are a bubble that will likely pop back down to about $1600, bitcoin has a good deal of value to a lot of people. It's better than Western Union for sending money to family in another country. It's better than a suitcase full of hundred dollar bills for anonymous or criminal transactions. It's better than a Swiss bank account for hiding money from the IRS. It's more portable than gold bricks for hedging against inflation. Buying bitcoin in the hope that it will appreciate is speculation, but there are at least good reasons why it has intrinsic value.
 
Chip N Sawbones said:
Buying bitcoin in the hope that it will appreciate is speculation, but there are at least good reasons why it has intrinsic value.
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What reason does it have intrinsic value? Maybe you and I disagree on what the term even means. I understand why something like gold has intrinsic value, because people can barter it for something else. I understand why a $1 bill has value, because the US government with their power to tax and go to war says it does. What I don't get is why a string of meaningless computer code has intrinsic value. I understand the uses of it if people assume it to have value, but what gives it that value initially?
 
Chip N Sawbones said:
Anyone can make a new cryptocurrency, just as any country (or even any town) can print a new currency. The trick is convincing other people that the currency has value. While I believe that the current bitcoin prices are a bubble that will likely pop back down to about $1600, bitcoin has a good deal of value to a lot of people. It's better than Western Union for sending money to family in another country. It's better than a suitcase full of hundred dollar bills for anonymous or criminal transactions. It's better than a Swiss bank account for hiding money from the IRS. It's more portable than gold bricks for hedging against inflation. Buying bitcoin in the hope that it will appreciate is speculation, but there are at least good reasons why it has intrinsic value.
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Intrinsic value? What? It's 1s and 0s. It's a perfect example of a fiat currency that has ZERO intrinsic value and 100% relies on faith! If a flaw was found in the underlying crypto algorithm on a Monday, by Tuesday every bitcoin held by every person on the planet would be absolutely worthless.

And now wild and unpredictable volatility of an asset is somehow a desirable trait as a hedge against inflation?

Criminals who think bitcoin is anonymous are setting themselves up to get caught. And probably buying a extra federal money laundering charge too. I don't know why this anonymity myth persists. I mean, it's right there on bitcoin.org's FAQ page, bitcoin is not anonymous, in a bold headline.

If you don't even know these most basic facts about what bitcoin is and how it works, why should I lend any credence to your opinion that it somehow has a floor value of $1600?

This is like someone saying that Home Depot's stock price can't go below $100, right after telling me that what Home Depot does is store prefab homes in a "depot" somewhere and that their "stock" is just a count of the houses in the lot. There's just too much basic factual stuff wrong that there's not even any point in debating the specific prediction of $100 and the pitfalls of predicting which way the stock market or an individual stock will go.
 
Bitcoin=

Unknown.jpeg
 
pgg said:
Nope.

In roulette you know what the odds are. There aren't any unknowns. It's just math that heavily favors loss in the long term.
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Fair point. The image was meant to portray gambling. Not roulette specifically.
 
I'm not smart enough to understand how Bitcoin works. However, one of the problems that I see with its use as a currency is the volatility of its value. One day a Bitcoin can buy me a certain amount of heroin and the next day it can buy me a completely different amount of heroin. Say what you will about the U.S. dollar, but it's purchasing power stays relatively stable. Any changes, such as with inflation, happen over a much slower, and thus more adaptable, period of time. Using Bitcoin as an investment seems largely speculative to me.

The little that I do know about Bitcoin does make the technology seem promising given its resistance to hacking and cyber attacks.
 
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GravelRider said:
I'm not smart enough to understand how Bitcoin works. However, one of the problems that I see with its use as a currency is the volatility of its value. One day a Bitcoin can buy me a certain amount of heroin and the next day it can buy me a completely different amount of heroin. Say what you will about the U.S. dollar, but it's purchasing power stays relatively stable. Any changes, such as with inflation, happen over a much slower, and thus more adaptable, period of time. Using Bitcoin as an investment seems largely speculative to me.

The little that I do know about Bitcoin does make the technology seem promising given its resistance to hacking and cyber attacks.
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How much heroin do you buy on a daily base?
 
I've always wondered what a 10cc vial of fent or sufent is worth on the street... (asking for a friend 😉😀)
 
dhb said:
I've always wondered what a 10cc vial of fent or sufent is worth on the street... (asking for a friend 😉😀)
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In residency we had the 50cc vials of Fent in the heart room. There was always a good 7-9cc of overfill in those things. It's like they were trying to get people to divert.
 
Talking to a detective the other week, he told my about a recent drug bust in which they seized 23Kg of fentanyl. He said it was probably with $33K a kilo.

I didn't inquire if this was in solid form or dissolved, but I assume it was solid state.
 
abolt18 said:
Talking to a detective the other week, he told my about a recent drug bust in which they seized 23Kg of fentanyl. He said it was probably with $33K a kilo.

I didn't inquire if this was in solid form or dissolved, but I assume it was solid state.
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First off - Ho Lee Fuk - that's a lot of fentanyl.

The 33k/kg can't be right though. That's not nearly enough. $33k/kg = $33/g = 3.3cents/mg which is still a BIG dose.
 
abolt18 said:
Talking to a detective the other week, he told my about a recent drug bust in which they seized 23Kg of fentanyl. He said it was probably with $33K a kilo.
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That's totally inconsistent with my understanding of "cop math" ...

I would have expected him to say that 23 kg of fentanyl was worth somewhere between 11 and 15 trillion dollars, and that the department softball team was going to have an epic end-of-season party.
 
pgg said:
That's totally inconsistent with my understanding of "cop math" ...

I would have expected him to say that 23 kg of fentanyl was worth somewhere between 11 and 15 trillion dollars, and that the department softball team was going to have an epic end-of-season party.
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I literally have no idea what the actual value is. Just passing along what he said. Apparently it was a big bust associated with the cartels. Maybe he was just making crap up.

All I know is they were busting down my neighbor's door, he said they were called by the DEA and FBI to raid the house while other units simultaneously raided 6 other homes. End of the night, he tells us they seized 23Kg of fentanyl - at a different location. (Nothing going on at the home by my house other than the criminals sleeping there)

We were quite surprised by it all. Never would have suspected.
 
I do not understand cryptocurrencies. Buffett has said if you don't understand a business then never invest in it. That's why Buffet never went heavily into technology.
At my age I understand stocks, bonds and precious metals. While I would like to purchase Ethereum(?) I don't understand it enough. FYI, I'm reading coinbase wants to go public with a 1 billion dollar valuation!

Like Buffett I too have missed out on some great stocks because I didn't grasp their business model (e.g., FACEBOOK).
 
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Googling "street value of fentanyl" seems to indicate that fentanyl is about $1/mcg, at least in patch form. Probably better to stick with moonlighting and paid surveys.
 
BLADEMDA said:
quote-never-invest-in-a-business-you-don-t-understand-warren-buffett-134-0-074.jpg
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No offense, but this is silly logic especially coming from an almost 90 year old man. Buffet is undoubtedly brilliant at reading a company balance sheet, but you can't expect someone his age to grasp the nuances of millenial technology (Facebook, Snapchat (worthless imo), cryptocurrencies etc..) Hell, he even said he missed the boat on Amazon cause he didn't see their long term usefulness.
 
btbam said:
No offense, but this is silly logic especially coming from an almost 90 year old man. Buffet is undoubtedly brilliant at reading a company balance sheet, but you can't expect someone his age to grasp the nuances of millenial technology (Facebook, Snapchat (worthless imo), cryptocurrencies etc..) Hell, he even said he missed the boat on Amazon cause he didn't see their long term usefulness.
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LMAO. Not investing in things you don't understand isn't "silly logic", it's one of the best pieces of investment advice you will ever receive in your entire life. Sure Buffett doesn't get the "nuances of millenial technology". The point is, you don't have to in order to be a successful longterm investor. It's OK to skip investments that you can't understand just because everyone else loves them. Sometimes you will miss the boat on a winner, more likely you will sit out a stupid bubble and miss big losses along the way.

Knowing the limits of your knowledge base is as important as the size of your knowledge base. Don't stray out too far and stick to what you know. And if you don't know what you don't know, don't play the game. Stick to low cost index funds at an appropriate mix of equities and bonds and call it a day.

A related but different Buffett analogy is that investing is like being a baseball hitter where the pitcher continually throws pitches to you, but there are no called strikes. You can let as many go past you as you want until you get one you like to take a swing at. None of us has to make a determination of the value of Amazon or Snapchat or Apple or Deere or Caterpillar or Ford if we don't feel qualified, but we have the option of doing so if we feel comfortable with it.
 
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abolt18 said:
Lol yes. Should have done the $1,000 right? Would have been a bumpy ride, but that $100 would now be worth $5,300.

Had I put in $1,000? It would be worth 53,000!!!
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Problem is you never know when you should get out. Who knows if it'll be at 300,000 or 3 next year.
 
Chip N Sawbones said:
Googling "street value of fentanyl" seems to indicate that fentanyl is about $1/mcg, at least in patch form. Probably better to stick with moonlighting and paid surveys.
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I’m assuming you mean a 50mcg/hr patch goes for $50. 50mcg/hour x 72 hours = 3600mcg

i can’t imagine anyone’s paying $3600 for a patch.
 
GassYous said:
Problem is you never know when you should get out. Who knows if it'll be at 300,000 or 3 next year.
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And the reason you are entering with the thought of when to exit is that it is a purely technical trade. It lacks the second and far more important foundational principal of trading... fundamentals (such as earnings). This is the same reason Buffet won't touch it. If you aren't prepared to buy and hold.... forever..you should ask yourself why.
Now to go tin foil hat, who's to say this most recent cyberhack hasn't been played up to set the stage for central banks to hack and crash bitcoin? Think they can't? The moment it becomes more than a pesky mosquito to the combined superpowers of the world (all of whom use QE), you better be ready:and it would have been those Russians I'm sure.
 
1609679729952.png

  • The price of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency traded as high as $33,099 on Saturday, with almost all other markets closed over the first weekend in 2021.
  • Bitcoin advanced more than 300% in 2020, and with the latest leg higher has added more than 50% since crossing $20,000 just two weeks ago.
  • The blockchain currency has only been around for a decade or so, and in 2020 it has seen demand grow from larger U.S. investors.
 
dipriMAN said:
I’m in, holding for life … I think a lot of people questioning fundamentals of crypto are wrong, I think it’s here to stay.
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probably here to stay but depends on at what price. could be vastly lower than now. the 2 biggest markets on the planet banned crypto... thats 1/3 of the world already
 
dipriMAN said:
I’m in, holding for life … I think a lot of people questioning fundamentals of crypto are wrong, I think it’s here to stay.
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I think cryptocurrency is here to stay, but the current cryptos may be worthless in a year or so.

Maybe government-backed crypto currencies rise (which would be much less volatile) and change the banking world, and push out these others? I agree feels like gambling in Vegas right now.
 
doctalaughs said:
I think cryptocurrency is here to stay, but the current cryptos may be worthless in a year or so.

Maybe government-backed crypto currencies rise (which would be much less volatile) and change the banking world, and push out these others? I agree feels like gambling in Vegas right now.
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Agree with this. Crypto tech is here to stay, not sure if the current currencies are going to be the same in 10 years. China bans crypto and is creating their own digital currency. I bet other major currencies do something similar.
 
JoelJoel84 said:
Five figures, Ethereum only. You can build on it, and 2.0 later this year will be huge.
Looking to open a position in Chainlink as well this month if the dip continues.
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IMHO, I think ADA is where it's at. Closed my position last Sunday morning @ 2.07 from 0.33, Going to look for re-entry once the dust settles, likely at previous support in 0.30s or 0.10s
 
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