Hi guys, so was doing some reading on wired today... saw this http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/05/lets-cut-through-the-bitcoin-hype/ This is the wikipedia page that tells you about Bitcoin (if you were as clueless as I was about it two years ago) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin What do you guys think about a new currency like this? Would it help or hurt online sales, both Legal and otherwise. Do you think it would help lego investors as being an easier way to transfer funds..? Just thought it could be fun to talk about..

I use a Ledger Nano S for XBT, ETH and LTC. I just leave my REP and ICN on the Kraken exchange for quick trading.

DO NOT leave ANYTHING of value on an exchange unless your trading under any circumstances as hacking is rife and exchanges are unregulated so you'll lose everything with no comeback.

Kraken are good, but you need to upload your ID and proof of address along with an embarrassing photo of you holding them and I've been tier 4 since last November. If you upload funds, use SEPA if in the EU as it's often cheaper. I bought my first Bitcoins on Bitbargain, but Kraken are now cheaper. Bear in mind that a multi-Bitcoin transaction can now take several hours instead of mere seconds as in a year ago due to blockchain bottlenecks. I was crapping myself when I had 15x BTC in limbo after the ETH crash last week! All is good now and I had a cracking payday yesterday ;-)

ALWAYS tell your bank before sending funds to an exchange or withdrawing as they can freeze your account if they suspect you of money laundering or dealing in illegal assets. Also, if you pay by credit card, you are NOT covered if it all goes boobs-up!

That aside, my current strategy is:

When 1x XBT = 8 ETH, I sell 2 ETH for XBT

When 1x XBT = 12 ETH, I buy 2 ETH with XBT

The success I've had this year from the above has been mindblowing.

Even though the Ledger Nano S is RRP £60, I suggest you buy one asap even at an inflated price on Amazon for peace of mind. MAKE SURE THE BOX IS SEALED. The most important thing of all... WRITE DOWN YOUR PRIVATE KEY AND KEEP IT SAFE. Don't print it as it'll leave a trail on your PC for hackers and keyloggers.

Do I pay tax? Of course I don't as I have a USD account in the Bahamas! Not a penny of profit has touched UK shores... yet.

I think the ship has sailed on XRP and I won't touch it. Same with XLM.

This gravy train won't last for ever as it's all basically a cross between ponzi and quantitative easing. I don't think there's much future in it apart from the current speculation and the possibility of blockchain technology smoothing out bank transfers. XRP may well help banking, but don't expect it to rise much further in value.

Be VERY careful with Initial Coin Offerings as most appear very professional, but will scam you and take your money. I'd not risk it now and wait for a reputable exchange to list it instead. However, if you have good insticts, you can get in early and make 100x in a year! (I made 40x on ETH!). This is PROPER QFLLing ;-)

I accepted that the LEGO investing ship sailed in 2016 (stop kidding yourselves!) and I think this one sales in 2019/20- milk it while you can. Once governments regulate it, that's game over for quick profits.

LOL... ETH dropped 10% while I typed out this message!

Edited June 30, 20178 yr by TabbyBoy

I was at a Marathon gas station tonight in Sarasota when I noticed a sticker on the door. "We sell bitcoin here"
Is that possible?
How would they be able to do that?
Just curious.

3 hours ago, donbee said:

I was at a Marathon gas station tonight in Sarasota when I noticed a sticker on the door. "We sell bitcoin here"
Is that possible?
How would they be able to do that?
Just curious.

Yeah, I´ve seen some shops with a glorified cash machine that do the same. Apparently you need to have some sort of Bitcoin compatible card to use them and that way you can also make payments. That´s as far as my knowledge on the subject goes.

All those abbreviations that make no sense take me back to my first day on BP. Nostalgia.

WARNING !!!

I'm not sure if any if you have seen the news, but the arse has just fallen out if the cryptocurrency World with the likes of Ethereum nearly dropping by half within the last day or so. In fact over 95% of altcoins have been in freefall since last week and are still tumbling. Scam ICOs are also at their peak with Polybius (PLBT) being the latest culprit. Luckily, I saw the warning signs and dodged a bullet on this one.

I sold EVERYTHING yesterday as soon as my portfolio triggered a 10% loss. I've now converted it all to USDT and taken it offline from all exchanges and online wallets. I'm now waiting in the wings to go 75% all in on BTC around 01AUG assuming this sees the bottom due to the possible hard fork.

This storm was just too big to ride out, I just had to cash out and take a break. I already skimmed off my profits last month so this is just playing money now.

Sorry, I can't suggest anything worth buying right now as they are all in freefall. Just like LEGO, this bubble can also burst ;-)

I didn't post this last night as I'd have looked a right spastic if it was just a mere glitch.

 

And well over $3k for btc now. Slightly better gains than my ToO's.

Alt play : PPT

I hope those that were given Bitcoin Cash (BCH) after the Bitcoin hard fork on 01AUG sold immediately as BCH has crashed from around £550 to £170 in the last 4 days. However, Bitcoin (BTC) is on a roll to a new high, but could drop sharply soon if the whales decide to cash in. I've moved from BTC and now hold only ETH and ICN that I bought during the last crash. I'll then rinse and repeat... again ;-)

Anyone playing the ICO game?

On 23/08/2017 at 2:47 PM, blue leader said:

Anyone playing the ICO game?

No, it's a VERY dangerous game as most of them are scams or failures. However, I was nearly tempted with Polybius as they had a great white paper and made good sense. However, I'm glad I didn't as their $10 tokens crashed to less than $3 soon after the ICO finished and are only around $6 now. I believe it's a failed project more than a scam.

A lot of them crash once it hits exchanges, whales dumping and whatnot. DD is a must to play. I saw one back in June who's disclaimer literally said the token is expected to have zero value or use case. Sold out in days.

WARNING... If you think LEGO sales have a high scam %  on eBay, how about cryptocurrency? I put a small amount of Ethereum on eBay a few days ago and they were all bought within the hour from 6 different buyers with different wallet addresses. LOL - 6 of those buyers used hacked aBay/PayPal accounts! Therefore it's a 100% scam rate.

Don't sell cryptocurrency on eBay as you can't prove to PayPal that you posted anything so they'll side with the buyer meaning both revenue AND coins are lost! I did speak to PayPal and I couldn't reach anydoy who would accept blockchain/etherchain transactions as proof. Let's hope that digital currency eventually drives PayPal in to ground where it belongs!

Edited August 25, 20178 yr by TabbyBoy

That said, if you choose carefully, and can stomach volatility, you can do very well. One is up 1100% for me...

Just now, blue leader said:

That said, if you choose carefully, and can stomach volatility, you can do very well. One is up 1100% for me...

I agree as I bought Ethereum last November for £7 and look at it now ;-)

It's NOT a get rich quick scheme as you have to spend many hours reading white papers from closed ICOs, researching the market and also keeping an eye on fiat exchange rates. As soon as an exchange (eg. Kraken) announces a new token that's not on another exchange, read up on it immediately and you may just make it big by getting in early. I did that when Ethereum arrived on Kraken. They've also listed EOS recently, but I've got cold feet with that one.

I'm open to any suggestions that you guys have and I'll take a look.

Already ico'd, but look at PPT. Invoice factoring. Alpha out now. A company / token with actual real world use case. Blackmoon is another I like.

Do you ever just sit back and reflect on the craziness you type in this thread?

2 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

Do you ever just sit back and reflect on the craziness you type in this thread?

That´s a bit harsh. They are making bucketloads of virtual profit without moving a finger, sweetening up TRU employees, spending on petrol, arguments with spouse or with the need for storage space outside their virtual wallets. What could possibly go wrong?

15 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

Do you ever just sit back and reflect on the craziness you type in this thread?

Yes, I do reflect back on it quite often as I still find some of the growth unbelievable - and yes, crazy!

It's real and lots of people are making (and losing) huge amounts of money.

Try to do a trial run by pretending to "buy" some tokens (say $1000 worth) that you like and see what you'd have made in 6 months time. You could lose it all or make 10x ;-)

4 minutes ago, TabbyBoy said:

Yes, I do reflect back on it quite often as I still find some of the growth unbelievable - and yes, crazy!

It's real and lots of people are making (and losing) huge amounts of money.

Try to do a trial run by pretending to "buy" some tokens (say $1000 worth) that you like and see what you'd have made in 6 months time. You could lose it all or make 10x ;-)

Did your Daddy ever teach you?

2 hours ago, exciter1 said:

Did your Daddy ever teach you?

I'll never forget that phase that a wise (and rich) friend would always say, "if you never try, you'll never know".

Here's a test: Iconomi (ICN) is still fairly new and "only" $2.61 per token, let's see what it is on 25 FEB 2018?

Well it's very interesting to revisit this thread in light of the recent insanity!

16 minutes ago, sauromosis said:

Well it's very interesting to revisit this thread in light of the recent insanity!

Crazy, I thought Exobro and his girlfriend had it all figured out?

Chinise NEO...

Sent from my SM-N900T using Brickpicker Forum mobile app

At the end of the day, what will be the difference between USD and Bitcoin?  you don't need to point out the obvious, but USD pays most of our paychecks and we don't necessarily see the cash in hand, however, it can be converted that way.  So in seems to me that USD and many currencies are already "digital" and can be converted to other currencies digitally.  What makes Bitcoin so much better, other than the appearance that some country (I know it isn't a country) has created something like points that you can buy with real money that fluctuates like a penny stock during it's IPO release other than that maybe someday you can use it anywhere, but isn't regulated by anything and might not ever be stable enough to actually depend on it???  Maybe some countries start using it because their currency is so out of whack and worthless but then the nightmare of "hacking" or dis-trust occurs. I would think it would only take 1 major event to devalue it.  Friends have told me it is "hack-proof" but come on now, everything will be hacked eventually.  

Also, with multiple "digital currencies" won't the market just get flooded with too many of them, causing some to simply collapsed within itself?  Interested to hear other perspectives and I should probably just read articles on them but I feel many of those have agenda's attached to it so am not sure what to actually read and believe, thus looking for non-journalists perspectives from folks in or out of the "market".  

Waiting for account to he verified so I can buy Ripple. It's gone up 250% since I opened account and have been waiting

anyone who says they understand crypto is  lying.  no one knows what is going on here and no one knows how this will be 5-10 years from now.

every advisor who told a client to not invest in btc has cost their clients the fortune of a lifetime up until now.

my take after watching my wife make thousands without taping a box  and getting drawn in, as time goes on and I have dabbled in crypto and thought about how it is being used around the world, i think the term cryptocurrency really is confusing the lay public as to what bitcoin,eth lite coin are.  i have come to the conclusion that these assets are like harddrives of wealth that can be very easily transported without anyone knowing or having to pay a fee and then the wealth can be converted to either a currency or another form of blockchain basically anywhere in the world.   this type of system is something the ultra rich people want in countries with corrupt governments/banks, unstable currency, high inflation.   the fact is that the number of people who are buying and selling btc, eth etc is still extremely small.  in fact, less than 4% of people who own bitcoin actually own more than 1.  most people have fractions.  the supply is limited.  the majority of people holding are very disciplined throwing out HODL (holding on for dear life) like its a gang greeting.  this strategy has worked well and with such a limited supply of bitcoin, as long as owners don't want to sell, the price will continue to rise  because there will ALWAYS be rich people looking to move money around without prying eyes noticing.  many of these owners have ridden out multiple booms and busts and are not giving bitcoin up because they see it as their path to riches which so far is working.  the system is not something that can easily be clamped down on by governments and some governments are embracing and profiting from  bitcoin.  

i do not believe there is any real risk from bitcoin futures for shorting the market because the margin requirements and intrinsic volatility of bitcoin will call you out sooner or later and the actual holders of bitcoin are not willing to sell.  the futures have reduced the intraday price swings dampening trading opportunities at least for btc though ltc has been a great trade lately. these little bumps will do nothing to the high conviction nutjob long term holders who own the vast vast majority of bitcoin.   i think there will be a sideways trade until recent low conviction sellers get shaken out by 20-40% price drop or some other event drives bitcoin price up.  the next really big leg up in bitcoin will be when the stock market (which is certainly also in a bubble) has its inevitable correction and all low conviction stock holders/financial advisers  flashing back to Feb-March 2009 (if they weren't in 5th grade )  go looking for a non-correlated asset.    gdax.com is an easy way to get started without having to put a ton of money in.  bitcoin "crypto" investing is somewhere between gambling in vegas and investing in the stock market.  as long as you can tolerate volatility, don't need the money you put in, and are patient, there is still potential for great reward.

probably one of the smartest guys on wall street - Tom Lee - who has been calling S&P price targets accurately going back to 2013 - has been dead right on this and  many other things.  ignore his advice at your own cost.

last week one of the biggest bank bears of bitcoin and crypto in genearal, UBS, along with barclays and credit suisse revealed its plan to use ETHERIUM as a means of interbank transfers. https://www.coindesk.com/ubs-launch-live-ethereum-platform-barclays-credit-suisse/

eventually the banks will have to buy eth and btc from regular folk who had the foresight to invest in it.

i haven't really dabbled in the other coins or ICOs.  btc, eth and ltc have been doing fine for my family..

Edited December 14, 20178 yr by cladner