Digital Tulips

[Grieve]

So does anyone dabble in cryptocurrency? I'm very late to the game (didn't get in until end of May), but I've been investing more and more over the last few weeks (to my wife's horror). I started in Bitcoin and Etheruem, and today I started a position in Litecoin. I'm well aware that I could lose it all in a blink, but I could never resist a good gamble.

Some fun stats:

If you invested $1000 in Bitcoin a year ago, it would be worth $4,213 today
If you invested $1000 in Bitcoin in 2013, it would be worth $193,000 today
If you invested $1000 in Bitcoin in 2010, it would be worth $262,000,000 today hock:
If you invested $1000 in Ethereum just 3 months ago, it would be worth $19,225 today
If you invested $1000 in Ethereum in 2015, it would be worth $748,960 today

So yeah, I'm late. But hey, you can't get returns like that in the stock market (without some crazy options plays).

Then again, this is scary stuff. I bought in on Bitcoin at $2225.88, and ETH at $231.05, and within two weeks Bitcoin hit $3000 and ETH hit $400. Then there was a huge crash, before both started going back up again. Then just today ETH had a flash crash, falling to 10c (yes 10 cents) before jumping back up to $300 in the space of seconds (some lucky bastard got the deal of a lifetime). http://www.businessinsider.com/ethereum-...ash-2017-6

I also starting cloud mining Bitcoin and ETH. That seems to have less risk, but it can take 6 months or longer to make a profit. Unless of course the value sky rockets again...

Anyone else dabbling/investing? Or even have a mining rig setup at home?

[Grieve]

I bought in on Bitcoin at $2225.88, and ETH at $231.05

Bitcoin just passed $11,000... I sold half my stake on Monday at about $9800, should have waited. Ethereum at $513, Litecoin at $103. Only wish my wife had let me put more in...

[strife]

Only wish my wife had let me put more in...

Pretty much the story of my life

[Grieve]

Bitcoin hit $19,000 a few minutes ago...despite all my years investing, I’ve never seen anything like this. hock: I’ve sold a good chunk over the last few days, but holding onto some in case it pushes higher. Not doing much work, just hitting refresh on Coinbase.

[strife]

Why is it going up? Almost doubling in less than 2 weeks... there has to be a reason.

[Zouji]

As the post said.. It is digital Tulips.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/tulipmania.asp">https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/tulipmania.asp</a><!-- m -->

[Grieve]

Most of it is a mad rush of people desperate to get in the action. And most of them are from China, South Korea and Japan.

But...right now it’s shooting up because futures trading starts this weekend, and that will in some ways “legitimize” it. Plus at a basic level it’s a simple fact that there can only ever be a certain number of bitcoin (21 million), most of which are already in circulation, so more demand for a finite supply drives up demand. Unlike fiat currency where they just print more.

It will probably come back down to earth next week (if not sooner) when traders can actually short it. But plenty of people (including me) think it will get to $100,000 or even $1 million a coin eventually. It may just crash down to $1000 (or less) a few times first.

You don’t actually have to buy a whole coin for $16k. You can spend $1000 or $100 on a fraction of a coin, and hope it goes up 10X.

[Slamz]

Bitcoin hit $19,000 a few minutes ago

Aaaaand it crashed.

So either it's looking like a good time to buy some bitcoins or it's still just overpriced tulips.

[Grieve]

It has 40-50% corrections all the time - 5 or 6 just in the last year, I believe. So far they have all been great buying opportunities, but we’ll see if this is any different. I’m HODLing - playing with the banks money either way. I have about 15 different cyber currencies now, from Ripple to Stella to Power Ledger.

[Breand]

I bought ethereum at $226 I think last June and sold it when it hit $1k. Unfortunately I turned that profit around into Litecoin where it's been languishing. I have some Ripple too but I know it's going to be worthless at some point.

I think Crypto has a future but there is going to be a long process of people deciding which ones are worth it and 95% of the ones out there will die.

[Slamz]

Should look up articled on "FedCoin" -- basically the notion that the Federal Reserve will eventually issue their own cryptocurrency, with lessons learned from watching BitCoin.

Which is another reason I'm too chicken to invest in BitCoin. Imagine if an FDIC-backed cryptocurrency came out that all banks accepted. BitCoin would be the new MySpace -- might still be out there and have some use but its value seems likely to crash.

[Zouji]

Yeah the only time a cryptocurrency will work mainstream is if it has a set monetary value and is backed by a government bank. It might be us, the euros, or the Chinese that first sets that up.

I know electronic currency has a big future in Africa and other places where the local currency is volatile. Paper currency has big problem with counterfeiting in those places. That and local graft. Companies have resorted to paying people directly in digital money so that way there workers actually get all there money.

[Breand]

Yeah the only time a cryptocurrency will work mainstream is if it has a set monetary value and is backed by a government bank. It might be us, the euros, or the Chinese that first sets that up.

I know electronic currency has a big future in Africa and other places where the local currency is volatile. Paper currency has big problem with counterfeiting in those places. That and local graft. Companies have resorted to paying people directly in digital money so that way there workers actually get all there money.

There is a place for crypto that exists outside of government influence as a safe haven. Just not 1000 different kinds of them. I think there are a few that will hang around but not the vast majority of them.