Bitcoin
- Thread starter TarHeelNation11
- Start date
If there are willing buyers at this price (which I'm sure there are people dumb enough to buy)
If he didn't sell of the majority of his holdings long before this recent spike then he's a moron anyways.
Though some people expect the value to jump by several more orders of magnitude. I believe it has increased by somewhere between five and seven orders of magnitude in the past few years. Many experts have predicted a ceiling somewhere between 50 and 100k per unit before it crashes back down. Some say even higher.
There are a finite number of bitcoins released every year. I think half of the remaining total are released per year, so it drops considerably each year. If the market doesn't crash then it could go a lot higher than 20k in a few years.
The real game IMO is setting up some high end graphics cards to mine it.
I think some of you may know I've been in crypto currencies for some time now. I got in on btc back in early 2015 when it was barely over $200 USD. My brother and I started it as just a hobby to see where it would go and as you know, it went. We were snapping it up every chance we got.
Both my brother and I are tech sector guys so obviously we were very interested in dissecting blockchain tech and understanding how it worked. I have a background in IS Security and Enterprise networking and he is a developer so we got pretty good at figuring out how the blockchain works, it's flaws and strengths.
Last year we decided to open our own consulting firm dealing strictly in development and security of blockchain networks as well as web application for startups. No one out there was really picking up the gauntlet when it came to a security first approach with the Exchanges. We started doing work with a company that was interested in launching their own blockchain solutions, Exchange as well as hosting startup ICO's. They were very interested in building their brand using the security first approach and we have essentially implemented the same tenants of PCI compliance in their networks, blockchain nodes, and applications.
I feel pretty good about the future of bitcoin specifically. It's gotten a bad rap by a lot of people who haven't even begun to understand the landscape of it. It's not as volatile as some try and make it out to be. Twitter stock, for example, is more volatile than btc.
Also, asserting that it funds terrorism is silly. You know what funds terrorism? Terrorists and terrorist sympathizers. If you want to blame a currency though, try the U.S. dollar which has been used to fund more wars, proxy wars, bombings, hijackings, and insurgencies than any other. It’s telling however that the only people linking bitcoin with terrorism are governments seeking to crackdown on digital currencies. If a major terrorist attack funded by bitcoin were to occur, we’d never hear the end of it. So at this point it's unfounded (interpol actually did a report in 2016 and found no evidence of this happening) and nothing but a lot of noise. Besides, virtual currencies are harder to acquire and spend than, say, prepaid cards, or the most anonymous way to fund terrorism, with straight cash homie. And most terrorists operate in a world where fiat, or government-backed, currency is needed for their expenditures, so a virtual currency where one has to figure out how to cash out without tipping off authorities only complicates a funding scheme.
Anyway, sorry for being long winded on this but I love the crypto and the tech behind it. I could blab all night on this stuff.
Actually, it may be a smart move to hang on and see what happens with the launch of bitcoin futures CBOE and CME will be doing this week and next. However, there is going to be some correction with the recent spikes so I'm all about moving bitcoin into other crypto's and wait that part out.
By the way, have you seen the cost some of these companies are slapping on their graphic cards? It's ridiculous. Even the mid-range ones are expensive now.
Speak of the devil.....
http://www.newsbtc.com/2017/12/10/bitcoin-price-weekly-analysis-btc-usd-correction-underway/
http://www.newsbtc.com/2017/12/10/bitcoin-price-weekly-analysis-btc-usd-correction-underway/
I almost forgot, some good advice for folks buying, trading selling crypto. Don't try to skirt tax and fail to treat the profits as long/short term capital gains depending on how long you keep the profit in crypto currency.
And don't use Coinbase to trade, buy or sell. As a wallet it's fine but use their GDAX (https://www.gdax.com/) product for your transactions. It's metric shit ton less expensive per transaction and affords you more control over your sells and trades as it has limits and stop options whereas when done in Coinbase they decide what price to sell/buy your btc for. Personally I use Kraken (https://www.kraken.com/) and find it to be the best one cost-wise for my volume.
Finally, if two-factor authentication is not default for your logins and transactions, then make it default. We all know how easy it is for hackers to lift cash out of just about anywhere, so don't make yourself an easy mark.
And don't use Coinbase to trade, buy or sell. As a wallet it's fine but use their GDAX (https://www.gdax.com/) product for your transactions. It's metric shit ton less expensive per transaction and affords you more control over your sells and trades as it has limits and stop options whereas when done in Coinbase they decide what price to sell/buy your btc for. Personally I use Kraken (https://www.kraken.com/) and find it to be the best one cost-wise for my volume.
Finally, if two-factor authentication is not default for your logins and transactions, then make it default. We all know how easy it is for hackers to lift cash out of just about anywhere, so don't make yourself an easy mark.
Thanks for the tip. I have been using Coinbase but my friend suggested GDAX. I hadn't looked into it yet.
Yeah definitely use that and stop throwing your money away with those fees. It's easy and will use all your coinbase payment and deposit sources when you go to buy/sell since it's a coinbase product and integrates.
Agreed. But I would have sold most of my holdings and just held on to enough to make another fortune if it spikes again.
And yes it gotten ridiculous. I've considered picking up some used GPU's off of eBay because there are always pc gamer types looking to buy the latest and greatest model every year. So I figured the used market would be flooded, but even prices on the used market seem to have gone up. I'll need to do some more research on blockchains before I fork out any cash on a setup anyways.
On another note I have a friend who just started a company where you can download an app and use any phone or computer to mine crypto. Obviously the returns are tiny but it's meant to introduce people to crypto and get them started. And if he gets enough people into his pool then he will make a killing.
Thoughts on Litecoin? Supposedly, it's going to be the next "next thing" and will really soar by a year from now.
Most definitely it would have been smart to cash some of that and I did do that with about a third of my coins, but I am going to play the long game with the rest of it.
It's already starting to soar and isn't a secret anymore. Today alone it jumped 65% and was trading at $160 before leveling out to $135. That's up from $100 where it had been for the last couple of weeks. I wouldn't wait much longer to get in on that.
Keep an eye on what South Korea does with regulation around crypto in the next few months. The Koreans are in love with litecoin and it is one of the more dominant assets on their market. If they are favorable with regulation, and I expect them to be, it could take the hell off real soon. They can drive the hell out of litecoin volume.
I already got in on it a couple days ago (at $117.90). And yeah, I've been tracking it. Good stuff.
This is a funny story about Laszlo Hanyecz, an early btc contributor who bought 2 pizzas in 2010 for 10,000 btc's valued at about $41 at that time. I'm sure some of you have heard about it. I wonder how many times he's contemplated suicide.
http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-pizza-10000-100-million-2017-11
http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-pizza-10000-100-million-2017-11
You should revisit this thread if/when said regulation does happen *thumbs up emoji*
Yeah this is already my all-time favorite thread.
I've only heard of it because of bitcoin's wikipedia page. Sucks for that guy :/ lol.
I wonder if the guy who accepted the bitcoins kept them and is really worth $100 million+
Looks like Ethtraders got psyched out over bitcoin futures and thought other traders might get nervous and sell off their Ethereum. Even Litecoin took a dump, but like btc they recovered and are now trending up again. BTC is over $15.5K again and trending up. This has to be due to the pending release of btc futures later today. Ethereum never really had a discernible pattern in relation to btc movement one way or the other. Just psychological I guess.
I've steered away from ether so far. Gonna track litecoin today. I really wanna buy more, but I'm waiting to see if it will dip closer to $120.
I don't think that's going to happen in the near future without some kind of catastrophic news or event related to litecoin. It's at 146 and order books show buyers willing to pay a little more, recent trades mostly slightly above value and volume steady gaining. Everything points to stability at a minimum and possibly more modest gain.
Still stubbornly wanting it to dip a bit before I grab more.
I'm only working part-time for now because of grad school, so I have to be selective of how much (and when) I invest.
I'm only working part-time for now because of grad school, so I have to be selective of how much (and when) I invest.
You may be able to grab high 130's with a little luck and only if you stay on top of Coinbase and do it quick since the dips are only lasting a couple of minutes before they shoot back up. And you are making a case to use a better trading application to buy coin. You could just set a limit order for the max price you're willing to pay and it will only fill the order when a seller agrees to sell it at that price. This way you don't have to sit on Coinbase with your trigger finger.
And another thing, go into Coinbase and go through the motions of a buy order and watch what happens to the unit cost of the litecoin. Coinbase raises the price on it. And if you sell, they do the exact opposite and lower your coin value from whatever market is at that time. They do this to guarantee your sale and ensure it's done quickly. Sellers and buyers are going to jump all over that in no time and Coinbase gets the transaction done quickly. But that sucks at your expense. And when you are trading a large amount, you really feel it. I've seen a 10k sell on Coinbase cost the seller $275 in value loss before fees. Not good. But they do show you a summary of what they are going to do to you so it's your fault if you let them.
@TarHeelNation11 there is about an hour before the release of btc future contracts. This may be a prime spot for you because everybody is a little anxious. You may get your wish if LTC holders get emotional.
So what's the work around on your second paragraph?
And I'm finally done with grad school work for the day, so I'm gonna watch Litecoin like a hawk for the next hour or so and buy when it's somewhat dipping.
F*** it, I'm just gonna buy more LTC. This bish ain't dropping, and I'm buying such a small amount relatively it won't matter.
Oh, and see what I mean about coinbase? You get this great action on ltc and they stick it to all their customers and shut down trading on it. Their network can't handle the volume. It seems like maybe they should have been a little more prepared given they have the most customers and have been reaping profit.
Just wait until South Korea reverses the ICO ban soon. Man, ltc will go nuts.
To quote Texas Ranger in Talladega Nights, "I don't know what that means but I love it!!"
Well, I guess you can't really define a bubble until after it pops, but it definitely has all the optics of it. People that have no idea what it is or what it does taking out second mortgages on their houses and others maxing out credit cards buying it up...
@TarHeelNation11 what is driving your decision to buy? Are you planning on actually buying things using bitcoin/litecoin, are you hedging against inflation of USD, or what? Or is it the "Greater Fool Theory" i.e. that you just expect someone down the road to be willing to pay an even higher price than you were?
That describes half the people that run head first into the stock market. It's not going back to zero. That would be my definition of a bubble. We've long past the point of no return on that.
I can tell you one thing, some of the companies I have recently consulted for prefer to be paid in bitcoin when dealing with foreign companies. The transaction requires much less to deal with in the way of regulation and smaller companies don't have to worry about conversion so much due to the simplicity of btc exchanges.
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