I'm now in the crypto craze

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I know my brother had a little bit of bitcoin from years ago when he had a tip jar on his blog and had arrangements for bitcoin tips. I hope if he still has it, he takes his profit while it is real.

[Spiffster]

Tulips, er Bitcoin is up to 17k. Probably going to cash out more very soon. Got cars I want to pay off, saving the rest until... I dont know, perhaps pay off mortgage balance. 401k and Roth maxed out so not really all that motivated to invest in other areas.

Update: Pulled out $15k to pay off remaining balance on cars. Feeling sketched out with relentless upswing. Still have much more than that in the game. All of it has been house money since about June.

[Sam1000]

Anything you invest your money into is gambling. You either gain or lose money. So technically, it is gambling. Although, it's essential that you know what project you're investing into. Similar to stocks , where you invest into the companies to ultimately get nice returns. Same concept , although, the crypto market is much more volatile and has made tons of millionaires.

[Tabs]

Eh, no, I disagree. Not literally everything you put your money into is speculating. I mean, what about bonds (backed by some government or corporate entity) or even gold coins (backed by the government down to your local pawn shop)?

Even if it's stocks, you have all kinds, like for example, Waste Management (WM) which should be around short of a nuclear holocaust. WM even pays a dividend (almost 2% at the time of this writing) if that will make you happy. A lot of stocks also have a real track record (WM has risen from $35 in 2013 to $85 in 2017).

Also, this has already been mentioned but what about intrinsic value? Even gold at least has some commercial use.

And finally, many stocks have a lot of fundamentals behind it. You can check their books and cashflow, you can check their track record, you can check their management team. Cryptocurrency has none of that.

Look, if you want to buy some cryto, go ahead. I'm not going to judge. But saying everything out there is the same as spinning a roulette wheel, then no, that is just incorrect.

[frugal saver]

The U.S. government isn't putting its foot down on Bitcoin (that I've heard) but the IRS is.

The IRS has ruled any cryptocurrency to be property and must follow the same rules and taxation as buying and selling stocks or bonds. I recently heard that they're starting a court case against one company that is refusing to turn over records regarding sales--and more will probably follow.

Given one of the benefits of Bitcoin (to some) is the ability to launder money and evade taxes, this is going to be an interesting war between the companies and the IRS.

Might need extra popcorn before it's all done.

[Tabs]

I'm betting Uncle Sam will win the taxation case.

The dark net is already moving on from bitcoin due to blockchain.

Speculations come and go. Currently, it's cryptocurrency. Before that was precious metals due to the housing bubble burst and recession. Before that was the housing bubble (remember all those people flipping houses because they have claimed that housing prices have never gone down before). (Edit: Around post-9/11, there was also a bubble of sorts for anything related to the military, security, and firearms, etc.) Before that was the tech stocks. I mean it just keeps going.

What I find interesting isn't so much as what the latest fad is, because history has shown that there is always going to be something. Rather, I'm more interested in why people follow them and even insist on them.

[jim cooper]

Definitely a bubble that will soon burst. I believe its too late to enter now, and won't do until there is some regulation safety otherwise its just like gambling.

[EvanKing]

Haha yeah we all kind of been there. I have to say that I am still kind of in the middle of it even though I have switched from Bitcoin and Ethereum to smaller lesser known cryptocurrencies. I have been actually on the look out for a decent channel about crypto trading signals telegram being my main area of search since there are less blocked information and it is not being followed by all the US services.
I am still looking so if you guys know any good channel that will give me reliable signals I would love and greatly appreciate it.
And as for my interest in less known cryptocurrencies I feel like the cryptocurrency market will be the main income of the economy in the next 20-30 years so I encourage you all to invest in it. It will work out in the long run

[disneysteve]

Bitcoin is now at $5500 today. I remember when it was around $700 and people were going nuts...then it dropped to $400ish.

Im not touching it with a 10 foot pole and never considered...but those who did hopefully you all made out nicely!

It's funny when threads like this get bumped up.

So now bitcoin is at $37,000. I'm not sorry I didn't buy in 2017 because I didn't understand it then and I don't understand it now, but anybody who did buy and held on has done quite well.

[corn18]

I’m rooting for them too. As long as it’s money they don’t need. I have a friend that made enough in the past 2 years to retire. But he hasn’t sold yet so who knows how it all turns out.

[Like2Plan]

It's funny when threads like this get bumped up.

So now bitcoin is at $37,000. I'm not sorry I didn't buy in 2017 because I didn't understand it then and I don't understand it now, but anybody who did buy and held on has done quite well.

+1. I wonder what the "shelf life" will be for bitcoin when quantum computers come online? Of course, it is supposed that quantum computers will change quite a bit of computer technology/encryption etc so....
we'll see.

[disneysteve]

I’m rooting for them too. As long as it’s money they don’t need. I have a friend that made enough in the past 2 years to retire. But he hasn’t sold yet so who knows how it all turns out.

If I actually wanted to retire on the money, I'd likely be selling and retreating to something more stable/traditional, but I'm not the type who would have gotten into that situation in the first place.

[cypher1]

Has one look at it or discussed Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC)? I only started reading up on it recently, sounds like fees are in the 2% to manage. Personally I'd still rather lean into precious metals than crypto, but I don't see it going away. If I did invest, I'd probably only consider 1-3% max of my portfolio.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

OMG me too! I have a client whose been mining bitcoin for years to retire. And at $37k I would think he's definitely got enough to retire. He didn't sell at $19k.

[James4]

I think it's about to collapse once again. I don't think it can sustain these heights for long.