Yorkiechef

Some loon must have a positive view on this disaster waiting to happen? Today US$16500ish......will it be $50000 or $500 at year end?

Aviator

Could well be!

Yorkiechef

Would you care to guess the price at year end, perhaps even buy some?

Siouxie

https://charts.bitcoin.com/chart/price (US$ - interesting to see when it picked up) and https://www.worldcoinindex.com/coin/bitcoin for C$, current values

I know someone who has a stash of them (digitally) - I wonder if they realise they are sitting on about $500,000's worth at the current rate!

(wish it was me!)

Shakyuk

When I see an investment all over the media getting rammed down my throat it makes me suspicious. I think some city boys are pushing bitcoin and crypto currencies in general to get the inexperienced investors to pump up the value so the city boys can take the money and run.

Shard

I don't understand how so many can have such blind faith in these crypto currencies. Admittedly, I was saying the same thing when the Bitcoin was selling for $500 about a year ago. I think it will crash down to the hundreds of dollars (or lower) within the year.

There seems to be something unsustainable in the concept that the currency is created out of 'complex algorithms' which take time to 'mine'. I don't get what is actually happening there or whether it is simply an enormous blatant scam.

Yorkiechef

My view is that it was thought to be a dark web form of payment (for illegal activities) and now it is being legitimized by some, with restricted access due to the limited supply, the price leaps. It should never have been legitimized and those using it should have been arrested. It is a massively speculative invtment for some that will end in tears.

dave_j

The last time I flew into YVR I mused on the physics that kept the aircraft in the air. The engines provided the thrust that forced the wings through the air and the physics of air movement over the airfoil generated the lift that kept me aloft.

But it was burning kerosine that provided the energy that allowed everything to work as it should, no flow of kerosine- no movement- no lift and large hole in the ground.

Bitcoin is a little like me sat in my seat in the aircraft, it's reliant on a steady supply of cash to keep the bitcoin engine ticking over, as the flow fluctuates then the altitude on the bitcoin value scale fluctuates.

There will come a time when investor fear will cause the flow of cash to dry up and when that happens the earth will open up and we'll be discussing the Bitcoin question 'How far can it fall?' and as most investors know, the bottom is the ground.

Paul_Shepherd

Great analogy, thats exactly how I see it.

Investor fear has took down credible well run companies before, let alone some crypto currency who's value has risen at an unrealistic rate....as shakyuk says...there is something suspicious about that, the city boys are ready to sell and run.

dave_j

I suspect, no I know, that bitcoin is a temptation too far. Imagine you have a few pounds, dollars, dinars or whatever, just a little money that you wish would buy more of what you want. You might have read in the papers, have seen on TV or chanced to scan the internet and noted that this thing called a bitcoin apparently makes people rich. What do you do?

Your neighbour, your student flatmate or the man in the pub, he stands there buying the drinks because he's just doubled his investment. It might not have been much but somehow the madness invokes the red mist.

It's easy, they've made it so. machines in the supermarkets, apps on line, buy and sell on demand, the machinery of the 'steal' has been mobilised in the certainty of removing wealth from the weak minded.

There will be some who will make their fortunes, but it takes many losers to fund a fortune and those that lose will far outnumber those that win and like poker there are those few out there more practiced in the art of taking from the unwary than most are and they're already playing the game.

It's true that many will think that they've made money while the price continues to rise but when the crash comes those profits will be as ephemeral as the bitcoin concept itself. As investors you know you should take your profits and go elsewhere but.. greed won't let you. It's a madness really, it's insanity for many and completely logical for the few.. but then they wrote the code.

JamesM

The founder of Coinbase, who in my opinion is the biggest winner, recently came out and said that in the event of a crash and run on digital currencies that his platform may not hold up to the volume and you may not be able to sell.

That was enough to frighten me from trying anything.

Shakyuk

Very true, rumours and capital drying up have taken down some very successful real companies.


There's a limited number of companies allowing cryto-currencies as forms of payment but due to these currencies volatilities many of these companies are stopping cryto-currency support.


The volatility shows how fragile and unregulated they are. No central bank would willingly allow such volatility and central banks would take big steps to stabilise but volatility allows city traders to make money off those less experienced and so it is positively encouraged.

Shard

I don't think Bitcoin / cryptocurrency trading has reached the regulated markets yet, so it's not the beleaguered "city traders" that are behind this ponzi scheme, but the bitcoin companies themselves, and the unregulated electronic exchanges that allow punters to buy/sell the vapour.

BristolUK

Oink

So what are national currencies then?