It’s still speculation, not investing.

Tread carefully.

With that said, I have friends from all in to dabbling. Many have lost a lot and turned away. It’s the Wild West. I’m simply watching at this point.

One percent likely isn't enough to save you if the dollar tanks and you need the money. It is a novelty diversion for you I guess.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Exactly this, because there's so much randomness injected into the system occasionally. A Redditor thinks that dogecoin is poised to breakout so it quadruples. It's crazy.

If you're going to invest and forget about it, be careful how you store it. A hardware wallet like a Trezor, for example, isn't too expensive and it's peace of mind.

Im up more money than I ever thought I'd have in my life..... but I bought at the absolute bottom on sheer dumb luck

Edit to say that these are unrealized gains and I will probably never take profit, as I never sell anything in life........so essentially I have nothing.

I bought some just for fun. I have $450 of bitcoin. $650 of etherium and $750 of cardano. I bought it all this year so I've made a few bucks maybe some lunch money. In the future I am looking to invest it as a hedge against the dollar so I am considering a larger purchase which would probably be around $20K. Pretty soon we will all be wiping our butts with dollar bills haha.

I think you should invest a % of your cash and not your stock portfolio. Stocks should rise with inflation? I think most will. I don't know I'm open to others opinions on this.

Most have misspoke. I did invest cash ($4k), but I invested about what is the value of 1% of my portfolio in cash at the time of investment.

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/coinbase-ipo-direct-listing/


Louis :-)

I prefer currency backed up by nuclear powered aircraft carriers.

I put a couple hundred in a few years back for fun... pulled that same amount out as soon as it doubled and proceeded to forget about it until a month or two back. I pulled some more out and am now letting the rest ride just for fun. My thinking is that I got the original investment back so anything else is just profit. With that said, I am normally not a fan of investing in things I don't understand and crypto is way up on the list of things that leave me clueless so it will never be a large portion of my portfolio. It's just play money, and like others have said, speculation.

The comparison to currency is false. Currency is merely a medium of exchange. Its value cannot fluctuate and it cannot be perceived to have a positive value. Why would you spend your dollars if you thought they would be worth twice as much tomorrow? For this reason the appeal of bitcoin ensures its failure as a currency.

That said, bitcoin is a good way to pull assets out of the banking system. This absolutely has value. It is a better version of art or jewelry in this regard. Nevertheless unless you have enough bet worth that 2% is meaningful it is purely a speculative asset for you.

The biggest issue I have with blockchain is that it yet to live up to any of its promises other than being a great way to launder money and manipulate a market. Neither of which have desirable outcomes for the general public.

I think you are confusing blockchain and cryptocurrencies. They are not the same thing. Your statement about blockchain is demonstrably false.

I would argue the same applies to your sentiment regarding crypto. "Laundering money" can have great societal value. In many instances the alternative is government confiscation of privately owned assets. Ask Cubans, Venezuelans, Argentinian, most citizens of African countries, hell most of the global population about this.

Fluctuate how? Currencies all fluctuate in value relative to other currencies because they're traded on exchange markets and are subject to the market forces of supply and demand.

I have a fair amount invested (or speculated if you want) into the space for about 4 years now.


In equity news relating to this:

Coinbase, one of the largest crypto exchanges and definitely the largest US exchange and has by far the largest share of the US fiat onboarding to crypto will have their IPO tomorrow, April 14th.

Expect it to be exciting. I believe it is a 100% public offering...no banks/VCs getting any allocations pre-IPO, its all open to public.

If you're looking to get exposed to the industry, but not directly into crypto, might be something for you. I'm already exposed enough directly, so not bothering with it, but I know a lot of people that will be chain-mashing the Buy button tomorrow on release tomorrow.

Sorry for the Fox news link: https://www.foxbusiness.com/...s-first-what-to-know

Expect other Crypto exchanges to follow their lead. Kraken, the second largest US based exchange already announced it's intent to pursue an IPO.

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That is correct, but within reason. The volatility on currencies is not that great and the more stable the currency the lower the vol. Indeed the most critical element of a currency is its stability. That is another way of saying that it has low price volatility. And this makes sense because as I mentioned before you cannot enter into a transaction if you cannot have complete confidence in the value of the currency for the duration of the transaction. This is why USD is the global reserve currency and not thai bahts or mex peso or hungarian forints. It has stability, which is another way of saying that you know, within reason, what the value will be from one moment to the next. Which is another way of saying it has limited price volatility. True currencies have very little price volatility. In fact there is an entire apparatus dedicated to ensuring this known as central banking a/k/a the federal reserve in the US.

Bitcoin will never be a currency because its value fluctuates tremendously from one moment to the next. Say you can buy a car Jan 1 2021 with either 1 bitcoin or $47k USD. You have a perfect crystal ball that will tell you what each is worth as of April 13 2021. Which "currency" would you use? USD of course. Why? Because as of today that 1 bitcoin is worth $63k whereas $47k USD is actually worth the same (actually slightly less because of inflation). Bitcoin will never be a "currency" for as long as it is perceived as a speculative risk asset. It cannot be both.

This is true, but not for the reason you give.

Think of Bitcoin as digital gold...it's use case is a store of value. Not a micro transactional unit of account. Bitcoin protocol cannot scale for it to be a transactional currency and never ever will. That is the true reason. You have and will see people move from gold into bitcoin or something similar.

Yes bitcoin price is currently still volatile, but as the ownership of the asset becomes more and more dispersed and distributed out of the hands of large holders and into the hands of the many, the price will stabilize over time. It is still early on this new asset class.

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It's not primarily a store of value. It's primarily a speculative instrument.

Brand new to crypto here. My cousin owed me about $200 for a hotel room so I thought what the hell, let's throw it in ETH and play it out. He got me set up on Argent but if I wanted to, how would I get ETH converted over to USD and then transfer to my bank account, if that's what I wanted to do. It's not exactly clear but it sounds like I may have to go through another app to do this?

It is exactly like gold in that it as much a religion as it is an asset. It is a currency! It is a deflationary asset! It is an inflationary asset! LOL

I'm not familiar with Argent, if you are in the US, you'll have to move the ETH to an App like Circle or Coinbase (you'll have to link and set up your bank account), I think PayPal also is now set up to use Crypto..so can just spend it via paypal app. I have not used any of these apps though so only suggesting you look at them, I only have experience using big on-line exchanges (below):

Or just set up directly on an online exchange like Coinbase (again you'll have to link a bank account). Works same way as an Equity exchange like Ameritrade or Fidelity, etc... you'll have to transfer your Eth to the exchange then sell it for USD, then withdraw it to your bank.

I should say the generic/easy apps typically charge more fees or have a larger spread penalty. you'll always get better pricing and less fees with an actual on-line exchange. But for only $200, you may not care and just looking for the quickest and easiest.

its too inefficient to be a currency. The fees are too high to move in and out of it on a regular basis. The only reason people pay the fees right now is they expect it to appreciate a lot more than the fees. I used it to put some money in an offshore gambling account to bet on the super bowl. I spent $300 and it was only worth about $282 after the purchase. I held onto it two days before moving it into the account and it was up to about 295. I should have just left it in bitcoin as I lost most of my wagers lol

The paypal was cheaper fees than coinbase only about 2% but you can't move it to a wallet. You have to leave it in your paypal account. I use Exodus app as my wallet. I had read somewhere that you should have a separate wallet and move it off the exchanges after purchase. I don't know why though.

In regards to volatility and fluctuation, I read an article recently about Tesla accepting Bitcoin as payment for cars and what that means regarding lemon laws and refunds.
The fluctuation of Bitcoin value makes a straight up refund virtually impossible on Tesla's end.
If you paid $60k in Bitcoin for your Tesla and it turns out it's a lemon or you need a refund for any reason, Tesla has written in it's contracts that they will refund you in cash or Bitcoin, whichever they see fit.
In other words, if you buy your car for 1 Bitcoin and 30 days later it's a lemon, but the value of Bitcoin has risen $10k, Tesla won't refund you 1 bitcoin, they'll just cut you a check for the dollar amount paid. On the flip side, if Bitcoin drops $10k in that 30 days, they will almost certainly refund you your 1 Bitcoin leaving you less $10k and no car.

It'll be interesting to see how companies work through this if Bitcoin, or any other alt currency, wants to be a valid form of payment.

Thx I'll check out Paypal and Coinbase.