http://http://www.pacoahlgren.com/blog/cynics-are-missing-the-bitcoin-boat/ Very interesting! BTC has been the hot topic around the lunch room this year. While more and more people are becoming interested, there is definitely some fear circulating about this thing. Personally, I think this new currency is a good idea. It's a major advancement, so why not jump on?
cause i don't understand it, have no interest in learning it, and don't trust anything that i can't put my hands upon and which is too new and nebulous. Gold, everyone trusts, therefore it will retain SOME amount of value. how much, is anyone's guess. I would not bother to own more than $1000 worth of silver coins, nor more than say, 25 lbs of 1 oz gold coins (ie, 1/2 million$) or more than about 20% of my net worth in said gold coins. You definitely want as many small, engagement ring type diamonds as you can afford, but don't pay much more than pawn shops would (ie, 10% of retail price). Diamonds are very easy to smuggle, even if you are stripped naked. You can put 1/4 million $ worth of diamonds in the callouses on your heels.
Bitcoin loses 20% of its value... Bitcoin plunges 20 percent Tue, Jan 10, 2017 - Bitcoins value went through the roof on Wednesday last week as investors piled into the digital currency, which is often used as a hedge during times of uncertainty in the global economy. However, several hours later Bitcoin crashed by nearly 20 percent, with analysts attributing the fall to a sudden rise in the value of Chinas yuan.
The price of Bitcoin fluctuates wildly because too few have too much of it and because the most popular exchanges where they trade are easily manipulated by pump and dumps. The more people own bitcoin the more dispersed it will be and, the more exchanges there are, the more stable the price will be.
The big problem is that it's a currency that's beyond the means of the average person to get their hands on. When it first came out, you needed a $600 device hooked to your network to do bitcoin mining, and now...you can just do an exchange. But why bother with changing your money to bitcoin when you can just pay for your items with whatever currency you already have with your debit cards?
There's a couple of problems with Bitcoin as an investment. Its main problem is that its residual value is zero. Worse than even gold. So unless the market continues to prop it up it will eventually move towards its natural value. It's a pyramid scheme that seems to be in the process of collapsing. The other obvious issue with Bitcoin is that there is no cash flow. It won't earn you a single penny as a dividend. You'd be better putting your money in the hands of greedy mutual fund brokers who'll at least give you a few cents after they take their fees.
The issue is, anyone else could create a new similar currency. So what is this actually worth? I see a big parallel here with rare trading cards and collectible fads.
As an investment Bitcoin might still have some life to it. If you were on the ground floor even after all the crashes Bitcoin is still worth more today than when it launched. As an actual form of currency only an idiot actually thinks its viable. They couldn't even use Bitcoin that their own ****ing convention. It is 100% of scam no different than Madoff's scam. The current investors are funding the piggy banks of the first investors but now that the Bitcoin craze has died down the current investors especially and knob slobberers that bought equipment to farm in the last several months are going to lose out big time. On top of that there have been several well publicized incidences of large scale theft and flat out fraud and unlike traditional fiat currency there is no way to recover your bitcoins once they are stolen. Who the hell thinks that is a good idea?
It has no intrinsic value and no cash flow. It's an investment supported by the upward pressure of buying alone. It is worth 1/5 its peak value. It's almost like someone went out and asked "what if we could find an investment even worse than gold?" They've found it.
Perhaps ya missed the reports of Sun Mining disappearing like a fart in the wind....taking investors money with them?