# Cryptocurrency - thoughts?



## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

There are a lot of smart people on this forum so I have to imagine some have dabbled in this space. It seems to be the talk of the town recently on CNBC and other similar programs. Just wondering what people's opinions are on this new "emerging asset class".


----------



## dfw_pilot (Jan 28, 2017)

When an investment goes up 1000% in a short time frame (month-ish), it ceases to be an investment to me and becomes more of a gamble. I'm reminded of the quote from a Robber Barron saying, _"When I get a tip from my shoe-shine boy, I know it's time to get out."_

I believe that in the end, with one-world styled government, crypto/digital currency is where fiat money is headed. Will Bitcoin be it though? Who knows. For those who like to gamble or trade stock for the rush of it, I'd stick to 5% or less of my portfolio incase the bottom drops out. As for me, I'm staying on the sidelines with my steady index funds.

If people make a lot off of Bitcoin, I'll congratulate, and be happy for them. But I also wouldn't be surprised if the bottom drops out when we all least expect it.

Warren Buffett has said, _"There are no called strikes in investing. You don't have to swing at every opportunity."_ I like that quote when it comes to getting into the mania if Bitcoin.


----------



## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

SGrabs33 said:


> There are a lot of smart people on this forum so I have to imagine some have dabbled in this space. It seems to be the talk of the town recently on CNBC and other similar programs. Just wondering what people's opinions are on this new "emerging asset class".


Bubble. Bitcoin has been around for awhile now. It's being talked about more and more now because it's at all time highs. If you got in years ago whe it was at pennies or a few dollars you would be good. You'd be better off now buying a mining machine and getting it that way.

But, I'm a stocks and bonds kind of guy so what do I know  I definitely don't think it's going anywhere but it does appear over priced currently.


----------



## dfw_pilot (Jan 28, 2017)

Another tidbit: _The mainstream investment media is actually the last place one should go for investment advice._ It's counter intuitive, but makes sense when you explore it further.

I can't take credit for this idea, as Bill Bernstein has preached it in his books for years. But essentially, the way to invest profitability is slow and steady, taking market returns, ignoring the hype. That's boring advice that won't fill hours of TV time, or pages and pages of print media. So, to fill the time, media hypes all things exciting: from this years hottest stocks (hint: it's too late to get in if a stock has risen sharply) to get-rich-quick alternative investment ideas (Bitcoin). The safest course is to setup a monthly or quarterly auto-investment plan and leave the TV/Website/Magazine news off.

Want the rush and thrills? Like I said above, stick to 5% of your money. Then, like being at the blackjack table, went it's gone, it's gone.


----------



## FRD135i (Oct 15, 2017)

I have some "play" money in it but I got in a bit ago and not just bitcoin. I am looking to hold on to it for a while and ride the rollercoaster. I would in no way base my nest egg on it. Like a previous post said, if you have money for the blackjack table then good to go. There is a lot of info out there to really dig in deep, if you want to. Best thing to do is educate yourself. Lots of the info I get are from people who actually mine the stuff but that's a whole different ball game. Crypto currency might be the way of the future but bitcoin may not. Someone will take the crown, the only question is who. There can be some big money made on it but with a big reward there is big risk especially in the digital, unregulated domain.

Just to adress it, as far as mining goes, it takes ungodly ammouts of power and processing power to mine. There are "farms" dedicated to solving the algorithms to mine. If you mined bitcoin at home it would take you a couple of years to pay off your mining rig. Etherium and some of the lesser known coins are much easier at this point in time. Still, at home it will be a while to see "profit" if you can even find good mining setups. Most places are sold out for a bit and eBay has marked up prices. If you are interested there is a mining cost calculator on the internet, I don't remember the site off the top of my head, but just google cryptocurrentcy mining calculator and it should point you in the right direction.


----------



## cclaeys (Dec 2, 2017)

Stuff is always best before it isn't.

There is technology and there are implementations, Bitcoin is an implementation, as is litecoin, ethereum, etc. - blockchain is legit, at least conceptually. Every major company around, is looking how this applies to their business model and sourcing is through trusted vendors that already power the enterprise. None of those vendors are bitcoin, et al. If they can do things cheaper, faster and easier (or can deliver that quantifiably) than they do now with relational databases or cloud based solution (don't get me started, ugh) then it is feasible - security is really a non factor, but the migration from a legacy system isn't cheap and they will never forfeit proprietary data to a non trusted source, especially a distributed framework of whoever wants to plug in, companies are paranoid for a reason.


----------



## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

I have a Bitcoin machine mining in my office, and I buy $20/week of Bitcoin. We were mining a few coins a day a few years ago but got bored with it. Stupid mistake lol

That being said it is very high risk. The network is capped at processing 4 transactions per second. There are over 100,000 transactions backlogged and after a week they just get dropped. On top of that to buy a $10 item you have to pay a $50 transaction fee.

Personally I see Bitcoin Cash overtaking Bitcoin but we will see..


----------

