Bitcoin

05 March 2014, 17:57

Kensco

The U.S. dollar is still thought of as the strongest currency in he world. That is why foreign countries, even China, recognize its relevance, and either "peg" to it, or don't even make their own paper currency. It is the default currency for most international transactions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I...use_of_the_US_dollar

Here's the litmus test. Reach in your pocket and see who's currency you are carrying. Let me know when it is anything other than a USA Greenback. Then I'll start to worry.

Nearly everywhere I lived around the world in the last twenty years, residents of those countries encouraged me to "hold", or "invest", in their currency. (The correct term was "gamble".) In every case, I would have lost over time, and most times in very short order.

The reason there is usually an official dollar rate and a "black market" rate in many countries is because of the confidence in our dollar. The people want it because their currency is garbage.

I'll stick with the U.S. dollar until something better comes along. Bitcoin ain't it.

If I was outside the U.S., I might feel comfortable holding the Euro or the Pound, but it would be specific to a few countries. The Aussie dollar felt like real money (even though it was funny colored) but do I really want to hold AUDs outside Australia; not really.

06 March 2014, 11:25

lavaca

I've still got a lot of Tanzanian shillings in my wallet along with US dollars. :-)

06 March 2014, 17:39

mete

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...-suicide-age-28.html

Well, that ends that !

06 March 2014, 18:16

Kensco

Over the years we've accumulated a small carry-on full of foreign currency. We kept saying we would go back; give it to friends; exchange it at airports; finally just gave it to my grand-daughter. Probably worth $20 total.

Still remember one of my first trips overseas in 1989; to Brazil. Pulled up at a red light. A man with no legs scoots-up beside us and the driver tells me to open the car pocket and hand him the cash. The glove compartment door nearly blew off when I pushed the button in. It was stuffed with bills (Cruzeros I believe). The driver said to get it all. It was the size of four bricks; of bills. He handed it all to the beggar. Said it was worth about a nickel U.S. equivalent.

In Venezuela, not too bright Gringos told me I should bring my US dollars there. The banks were paying 52% interest annually. The Bolivar was declining 64% annually at the time; what's wrong with that picture?

06 March 2014, 21:00

Idaho Sharpshooter

This was Thomas Edison's "Radical Currency" 80-90 years ago...

07 March 2014, 00:29

Kensco

The guy that "invented" Bitcoin.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/...tcoin-161059595.html

07 March 2014, 03:38

Gatogordo

The basic premise of bitcoin is a great concept. I'm not at all sure bitcoin is the answer, but I believe that having all your "chickens" in one currency makes you a peasant of the regime, whatever it may be. It won't be long before cash will be a historical relic and business/commerce/EVERYTHING will have an electronic trail. A universal means of exchange outside of a government's control is a damn fine idea, making it work is a more difficult concept.

07 March 2014, 18:55

Mikelravy

I just don't see the government ever letting that happen.

09 March 2014, 04:14

Gatogordo

Another opinion:

quote:
Forget Mt. Gox: Bitcoins Will Still Be Your Future Currency
by Brian Lund Mar 8th 2014

It's been a tough couple of weeks for Bitcoin.

Hackers have had their way with three Bitcoin sites that hold customer funds, and one, for all intents and purposes, has gone out of business. Poloniex had $50,000 of Bitcoin stolen; Flexcoin reported $600,000 in theft; and Mt. Gox -- the first and at one time, the largest exchange -- reportedly had $400 million stolen, which caused it to cease business and declare bankruptcy. This turmoil has sent the former golden child of hipster investors plummeting from the nosebleed heights of $1,242 per coin to a low of $419.

The virtual currency gods then poured salt into the wound when the Japanese government announced that it intended to regulate Bitcoin -- a move that foreshadows similar actions by regulators in North America and the European Union. The dark cloud hanging over the currency got a bit darker -- reminding us that though the currency is virtual, the people behind it are real -- when it was announced that Autumn Radtke, CEO of bitcoin exchange First Meta, committed suicide at the age of 28.

So why hasn't Bitcoin failed once and for all? The answer doesn't have to do so much with what is happening now with the currency as it does with who is betting big on its success.

Follow the Leaders: Marc Andreessen and Fred Wilson

Allow me to introduce you to two people who think Bitcoin is just in its infancy, and whose opinions you should pay attention to: Marc Andreessen and Fred Wilson.

You might recognize Andreessen as the co-creator of the first web browser -- Mosaic -- and co-founder of Netscape Communications, which was purchased by AOL (AOL) (publisher of DailyFinance) in 1999 for $4.2 billion. After that, he went on to form Andreessen Horowitz, one of the premier Silicon Valley venture capital firms, which was an early investor in such obscure start-ups as Facebook (FB), Twitter (TWTR), Groupon (GRPN) and Zynga (ZNGA).

You might not recognize Fred Wilson, but his support of bitcoin may be even more prescient. Wilson is an outlier in the VC world, shunning the West Coast and headquartering in New York City. Even odder in the world of angel investors, where secrecy is the name of the game, Wilson writes a popular and widely read blog, AVC.

Wilson, too, has an uncanny knack of getting in on the ground floor of tech companies before they become household names. Through his company, Union Square Ventures, he and his partners have invested in Zynga, Tumblr, Kickstarter, Twitter, Foursquare, Etsy and a little company called Coinbase.

Coinbase provides a virtual wallet for you to carry your Bitcoins and offers a platform where merchants and consumers can transact business in the new digital currency. And if that just made a little bell in your head go off, you might be thinking the same thing I am.

I don't claim to be an expert in Bitcoin. Nor do I know what trajectory will take Bitcoin out of its current troubles and into the hearts, minds and pocketbooks of every citizen of the world. But I do know that when very smart people put their money where their mouths are, we should all pay attention.

Andreessen, whose company has invested millions in Bitcoin-related businesses, equates the recent problems with similar transitory events in futures and commodities. "This is like MF Global, not some huge breakdown of the underlying technology or other exchanges," he told CNBC. "Bitcoin protocol is unchanged, and other exchanges and companies are doing fine."

Wilson went further, announcing on his blog that he personally bought more Bitcoins on the day Mt. Gox went out of business.

Technology moves so fast these days that those of us who don't live, breath and drink it on a daily basis often can't see the virtual forest for the trees. So before you dismiss Bitcoin as a fad or a case of technology run amok, take a minute to see who is championing it and what their track record is in successfully envisioning the future.

09 March 2014, 08:35

jdollar

the day i can walk into Walmart and buy something with it or call Cabelas and order/pay for something with bit coin is the day i will believe in it.....till then- it's just another W.C. Fields experiment. meaning there is a sucker born every minute.

09 March 2014, 15:48

Kensco

I can certainly see why people that bought Bitcoin would want to tout the relevance of Bitcoin.

It probably has some collectable value even if it goes "kablooey". I mean, there is some value still in Billy Beer.

Donerail won the 1913 Kentucky Derby at 91 to 1.

Right off the top of my head I can't think of anything else hopeful to say.

09 March 2014, 17:33

p dog shooter

quote:
Originally posted by jdollar:
the day i can walk into Walmart and buy something with it or call Cabelas and order/pay for something with bit coin is the day i will believe in it.....till then- it's just another W.C. Fields experiment. meaning there is a sucker born every minute.

+1

If one could buy bit coin on the open market anonymously. Then be able to exchange it any where in the world for the local currency one might have something.

Untraceable currency has huge advantages.

09 March 2014, 19:22

Gatogordo

quote:
Originally posted by p dog shooter:
quote:
Originally posted by jdollar:
the day i can walk into Walmart and buy something with it or call Cabelas and order/pay for something with bit coin is the day i will believe in it.....till then- it's just another W.C. Fields experiment. meaning there is a sucker born every minute.

+1

If one could buy bit coin on the open market anonymously. Then be able to exchange it any where in the world for the local currency one might have something.

Untraceable currency has huge advantages.

You can do that now, but the problem is the "anonymous" source of funds to buy bitcoins. Unless you use cash, there will be an electronic trail....... buying bitcoins

31 March 2014, 19:03

Kensco

The IRS says Bitcoin isn't a currency. It's like raising chinchillas, or Nolan Ryan's Rookie Card.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/...txtlnkusaolp00000591

02 April 2014, 08:08

N E 450 No2

I carry over $40,000 dollars in cash in my wallet every where I go.

I have two 20,000 dollar bills from Zimbabwe, and a few US dollars...

23 January 2018, 22:35

bobby7321

Did anyone hold since 2014?

CHA-CHING!

Looks like crypto has hit the mainstream and is here to stay. The tech is undeniable (especially Ethereum & Stellar IMO). Barrier to entry to getting lower and lower. Rumors of a big exchange coming making it much easier to buy alt coins with Fiat currency. Anyone out there getting in the mix?

24 January 2018, 04:18

Beretta682E

quote:
Originally posted by bobby7321:
Did anyone hold since 2014?
CHA-CHING!

Looks like crypto has hit the mainstream and is here to stay. The tech is undeniable (especially Ethereum & Stellar IMO). Barrier to entry to getting lower and lower. Rumors of a big exchange coming making it much easier to buy alt coins with Fiat currency. Anyone out there getting in the mix?

Eth is up 100 fold in 2017. Who cares if the technology is awesome - why buy coins up 10000 percent and massively volatile to use a foundation for any ledger activity.

Yes I owned eth for a whole week or less. Made slightly less than 10k - bought 2 auction hunts at sci last year and had some change left. If I held those coins I could shoot enough game to win a few inner circle awards.

Arpf is the wrong forum for crypto - members are generally too old and not tech savvy hipsters or desperate Asian housewives.

I had a buddy who quit his hedge fund to get into this late 2016 - he talked me into them and i talked myself out of them.

One needs to be a true believer to own stuff up 100x and a true fool to buy stuff up 100z assuming a liner price progression.

The nation states will destroy these currencies by regulation taxation and theft.

Mike

24 January 2018, 13:40

Saeed

I think you can buy small amounts for cash without an ID.

But, once you get to a certain amount, you need to proof of your id.

At least that what a friend has told me.

He could add to his account to about 3000 dollars. After that he could not buy anymore without proving who he is.

24 January 2018, 21:09

bobby7321

almost all exchanges require ID verification. once that goes through the buy/limits can be increased to pretty large amounts.

if anyone is interested in a lesser known coin/token check out the tech behind Stellar and what they plan to do.

https://www.stellar.org/

I was a big believer in Transferwise to get around those damn bank fees and outrageous exchange rates. Stellar plans to knock all that shit off completely with the way they will handle international remittances among other things.

You can also research a new exchange called FairX. Interesting things coming online soon.

Uber (no vehicles), Air Bnb (no property), Alibaba (no inventory) and now Blockchain/Bitcoin (no damn banks!!!!)

24 January 2018, 21:45

bobby7321

quote:
Originally posted by Beretta682E:
quote:
Originally posted by bobby7321:
Did anyone hold since 2014?
CHA-CHING!

Looks like crypto has hit the mainstream and is here to stay. The tech is undeniable (especially Ethereum & Stellar IMO). Barrier to entry to getting lower and lower. Rumors of a big exchange coming making it much easier to buy alt coins with Fiat currency. Anyone out there getting in the mix?

Eth is up 100 fold in 2017. Who cares if the technology is awesome - why buy coins up 10000 percent and massively volatile to use a foundation for any ledger activity.

Yes I owned eth for a whole week or less. Made slightly less than 10k - bought 2 auction hunts at sci last year and had some change left. If I held those coins I could shoot enough game to win a few inner circle awards.

Arpf is the wrong forum for crypto - members are generally too old and not tech savvy hipsters or desperate Asian housewives.

I had a buddy who quit his hedge fund to get into this late 2016 - he talked me into them and i talked myself out of them.

One needs to be a true believer to own stuff up 100x and a true fool to buy stuff up 100z assuming a liner price progression.

The nation states will destroy these currencies by regulation taxation and theft.

Mike

This is the exact reason I love the technology and the movement. It defies all the conventional rules of banking and investing. Making all these old guys that are fat and happy with the old outdated ways, nervous and quick to dismiss it all. Bubble, fraud, tulips, etc...

So I guess I'm a fool for buying ETH at $400 and XLM at .25, but not so much for holding BTC since 2014. So I guess I'm somewhere in the middle. Whether its a bubble or not, doesn't really matter to me. If I lose some cash by holding, I'm OK with that. It's fun to be a part of something that will change the world. The technology will be implemented in almost everything we do within years. That I am sure of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDGq4aeevgY

https://globalnews.ca/news/397...ockchain-canada-nrc/

http://news.abs-cbn.com/busine...chain-payment-system

https://hbr.org/2017/01/the-truth-about-blockchain

24 January 2018, 22:37

bobby7321

AR Coin? A way to tip and send crypto currency to other users instantly and with no fees. Initial offering could offer coins at .0000001 USD per coin.

Pile up enough AR Coins and you can redeem them for prizes. gumball, sticker, t-shirt, 21day full bag Tanzania safari?

Who's in?

25 January 2018, 00:11

CowboyCS

I would never invest real world money in crypto-currencies BUT there are other ways to get them.

A few years ago I did a bunch of research into what it takes to mine for Bitcoin and found out that it requires a huge amount of computing power that cost a lot of money and burns lots of electricity to operate...during my research though I found some crypto-currencies that can be mined with simple laptop or desktop cpu running the mining algorithm. I researched what ones I though were/are the most stable and profitable. I have a couple old laptops in my house that we mostly use for our media server/file/print sharing so they are always on and consuming power anyways and I decided that they might as well be making me some return on their power consumption so I set them up to mine for CPU based coins.

Doing it this way I'm not spending any money that I wasn't already spending before, I didn't have to invest anything but my time to learn how to do it and when I have enough of the CPU based coins I trade some of them on an exchange for Bitcoins.

Doing it this way I have no risk and all reward and the cost is the same as what I was already spending to have those same laptop running anyways. I'll never get rich doing it this way because the exchange rate between cpu based and bitcoin is very low but when bitcoin spikes up like it did recently I sold most of mine and converted it to U.S. dollars that I can spend on real world stuff. If the bubble burst and it all comes crashing down tomorrow I won't feel bad about it because I don't have any real world money invested in crypto-currency.

I wouldn't recommend anyone spend real dollars to buy crypto-currency but for nothing more than learning how to set-up the software on a computer and how to monitor the rates and use a reputable exchange it can be a decent way to make a few thousand a year with little effort and only the cost of running a laptop(that in my case was running anyways).

25 January 2018, 04:11

Gatogordo

quote:
Originally posted by bobby7321:
quote:
Originally posted by Beretta682E:
quote:
Originally posted by bobby7321:
Did anyone hold since 2014?
CHA-CHING!

Looks like crypto has hit the mainstream and is here to stay. The tech is undeniable (especially Ethereum & Stellar IMO). Barrier to entry to getting lower and lower. Rumors of a big exchange coming making it much easier to buy alt coins with Fiat currency. Anyone out there getting in the mix?

Eth is up 100 fold in 2017. Who cares if the technology is awesome - why buy coins up 10000 percent and massively volatile to use a foundation for any ledger activity.

Yes I owned eth for a whole week or less. Made slightly less than 10k - bought 2 auction hunts at sci last year and had some change left. If I held those coins I could shoot enough game to win a few inner circle awards.

Arpf is the wrong forum for crypto - members are generally too old and not tech savvy hipsters or desperate Asian housewives.

I had a buddy who quit his hedge fund to get into this late 2016 - he talked me into them and i talked myself out of them.

One needs to be a true believer to own stuff up 100x and a true fool to buy stuff up 100z assuming a liner price progression.

The nation states will destroy these currencies by regulation taxation and theft.

Mike

This is the exact reason I love the technology and the movement. It defies all the conventional rules of banking and investing. Making all these old guys that are fat and happy with the old outdated ways, nervous and quick to dismiss it all. Bubble, fraud, tulips, etc...

So I guess I'm a fool for buying ETH at $400 and XLM at .25, but not so much for holding BTC since 2014. So I guess I'm somewhere in the middle. Whether its a bubble or not, doesn't really matter to me. If I lose some cash by holding, I'm OK with that. It's fun to be a part of something that will change the world. The technology will be implemented in almost everything we do within years. That I am sure of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDGq4aeevgY

https://globalnews.ca/news/397...ockchain-canada-nrc/

http://news.abs-cbn.com/busine...chain-payment-system

https://hbr.org/2017/01/the-truth-about-blockchain

With all due respect for your opinions, your posts remind me of an old Wall St. saying, which you should consider.....You never go broke taking a profit.

25 January 2018, 05:16

Opus1

Anyone interested in vapor currencies should read this...

https://finance.yahoo.com/m/94...shing-and-could.html

25 January 2018, 05:48

Fjold

I see articles all the time about hackers stealing Bitcoins. I'm not good enough on the computer to feel safe owning them.

25 January 2018, 07:02

TCLouis

Didn't a lot of folks get rich back in the Dot Com days?

25 January 2018, 11:23

Beretta682E

quote:
Originally posted by Gatogordo:
quote:
Originally posted by bobby7321:
quote:
Originally posted by Beretta682E:
quote:
Originally posted by bobby7321:
Did anyone hold since 2014?
CHA-CHING!

Looks like crypto has hit the mainstream and is here to stay. The tech is undeniable (especially Ethereum & Stellar IMO). Barrier to entry to getting lower and lower. Rumors of a big exchange coming making it much easier to buy alt coins with Fiat currency. Anyone out there getting in the mix?

Eth is up 100 fold in 2017. Who cares if the technology is awesome - why buy coins up 10000 percent and massively volatile to use a foundation for any ledger activity.

Yes I owned eth for a whole week or less. Made slightly less than 10k - bought 2 auction hunts at sci last year and had some change left. If I held those coins I could shoot enough game to win a few inner circle awards.

Arpf is the wrong forum for crypto - members are generally too old and not tech savvy hipsters or desperate Asian housewives.

I had a buddy who quit his hedge fund to get into this late 2016 - he talked me into them and i talked myself out of them.

One needs to be a true believer to own stuff up 100x and a true fool to buy stuff up 100z assuming a liner price progression.

The nation states will destroy these currencies by regulation taxation and theft.

Mike

This is the exact reason I love the technology and the movement. It defies all the conventional rules of banking and investing. Making all these old guys that are fat and happy with the old outdated ways, nervous and quick to dismiss it all. Bubble, fraud, tulips, etc...

So I guess I'm a fool for buying ETH at $400 and XLM at .25, but not so much for holding BTC since 2014. So I guess I'm somewhere in the middle. Whether its a bubble or not, doesn't really matter to me. If I lose some cash by holding, I'm OK with that. It's fun to be a part of something that will change the world. The technology will be implemented in almost everything we do within years. That I am sure of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDGq4aeevgY

https://globalnews.ca/news/397...ockchain-canada-nrc/

http://news.abs-cbn.com/busine...chain-payment-system

https://hbr.org/2017/01/the-truth-about-blockchain

With all due respect for your opinions, your posts remind me of an old Wall St. saying, which you should consider.....You never go broke taking a profit.

+1

Hopefully Bobby bought in size. But when something goes up 30x-60x in 3 years it becomes ones whole portfolio even a 2 percent position.

Some blurbs from Goldman

https://www.financemagnates.co...achs%E2%80%8E-warns/

Mike