Bitcoin

[Sparkymart]

A mate told me to buy bitcoin about 5 year's ago so I looked into them and thought it sounded like some sort of scam... They were about $10 each and he told me to buy £100 worth but I didn't bother I wasn't going to be scammed 

How wrong I was they hit $17000 for a while the other day 

Did anyone here get on the band wagon back then ? 

[John Williams (Panda) - Joint Manchester AO]

just cashed in £20 for £1700 and i'm out!

[Sparkymart]

Nice how long did you have them?

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Moved to the right section at Martin’s request! And duplicate thread removed.

[Quinten]

I've worked all my life as a software engineer and am kicking myself that I always dismissed crypto currencies as a scam.  Last month I succumbed and bought £50 worth of Bitcoin, which according to my wallet is now worth just shy of £100.  Also got £50 worth of Ether two weeks later but that still hasn't recovered enough to cover the transaction fees involved.  Am now looking at adding IOTA to the portfolio whilst it is still affordable.

The plan is to hold on to these and see in a years time how they've done and then decide if it is worth cashing in, or HODL-ing (as the in-crowd calls it).

[John Williams (Panda) - Joint Manchester AO]

2 hours ago, Martin Rice (Sparkymart) - Cornwall AO said:

Nice how long did you have them?

3 years, we had it left of from a crypto ransom

[jonjh1964]

For my fiftieth Tricia allowed me to buy myself a Rolex - wanted one since my mid 20s when I was working in Saudi Arabia and I’d just received a healthy bonus.. My 18 year only has just cashed in half his Bitcoin investment and ordered himself the same watch and spent £5k on parts for a gaming PC. A year ago I cautioned him not to invest as it was a bubble going to crash - fortune obviously favours the brave and I know nothing about investment as I ordered my Eleven shortly after giving him my sage advice!

[Nick Algar - Competition Secretary]

I think if you treat it as a bet and are happy to lose whatever you have put in then that's the best way to look at it. 

But as someone whose always been involved in making things in order to earn money the whole concept just feels "wrong" to me.

[jeff oakley]

I find this whole subject bewildering, so if anyone can give a dumbed down version of what the hell crypto currency is I would appreciate it.

As I understand it Bit coin is somehow electronically mined, from an amount that is available which is not finite. As they get less and less they get harder to mine. But how do you make something out of nothing and convince people that it is the next big thing?

As I see it the big attraction at the moment is smart people are making big sums which is untraceable by governments and hence no tax is paid as well as being loved by criminals who can take money and shove it into a bitcoin machine and exchange for untraceable bitcoins.

These can then be turned back into cash using a bitcoin credit card as can those who are selling at the moment.

It still looks like a bandwagon that the ones who jumped on early are making a fortune at the moment and it will be those now getting on board who will lose out once governments and financial controls are put in place. 

So can someone explain in details?

 

[Stuart]

Two of my golden investment rules. Never invest in something you don't understand + if you're jumping on a bandwagon you're too late. I don't understand it but it still looks like a bubble to me

[John Williams (Panda) - Joint Manchester AO]

mine wasn't investment and wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.... it was a ways to a means 

mine was like finding the tenner is an old jack pocket...

[Quinten]

52 minutes ago, Nick - Joint North East AO said:

I think if you treat it as a bet and are happy to lose whatever you have put in then that's the best way to look at it.

Yes, that's how I see it too 

[stephenh]

Nearly 400 years ago there was a fashion for breeding (if that is the correct term) new colourful fancy tulips. People started to "invest" ever increasing amounts in buying them, until the point was reached where one bulb could change hands for literally a fortune. 

It made some dutch bulb breeders very very rich. Unfortunately, when the "investors" wanted to sell their bulbs, and said how much they wanted for them, other people just laughed at them.

There's nothing new in this word. 

[Sparkymart]

34 minutes ago, stephenh said:

Nearly 400 years ago there was a fashion for breeding (if that is the correct term) new colourful fancy tulips. People started to "invest" ever increasing amounts in buying them, until the point was reached where one bulb could change hands for literally a fortune. 

It made some dutch bulb breeders very very rich. Unfortunately, when the "investors" wanted to sell their bulbs, and said how much they wanted for them, other people just laughed at them.

There's nothing new in this word. 

I'm sure I watched a film about that think it was called tulip fever 

I better write a book called bitcoin fever and hope that's made into a film

[XTR2Turbo]

Apparently Inland Revenue are also getting in on the act and demanding capital gains tax on the transactions.  They are classed as investments