Cryptos

bobmunro said:

Basic question - I've never dabbled in crypto but is it a good time to start?

Personally I’d say yes, as long as you’re happy to wait a little while to realise any decent profits. 

bobmunro said:

kentaddick said:

bobmunro said:

Basic question - I've never dabbled in crypto but is it a good time to start?

be prepared for your investment to go down 50% from now before it goes up 100%. "Invest" in big caps, like bitcoin and ethereum. Other alt coins may and will die. The time to buy alt coins is when bitcoin is on a bull run.

Surely then I should wait until it loses 50% before jumping in? 

Tongue in cheek response - apologies, but at my age long-term investments don't make a great deal of sense - steady if unspectacular growth at relatively low risk is the order of the day. Probably why I haven't dipped my toe in before now.

I'll stick to art and watches I think for the higher returns and at relatively low risk. 

Mate, I know you don't like Hirsts Art as such, but The Currency and Empress projects are great buys atm. Empress is basically a print deed and Currency is a NFT that you can swap for an original.

 I'd be shocked if Empress ($2000) doesn't x3 your money within 2 years and Currency ( approx $6500) is profitable already if you trade for the original. 

bobmunro said:

shine166 said:

bobmunro said:

kentaddick said:

bobmunro said:

Basic question - I've never dabbled in crypto but is it a good time to start?

be prepared for your investment to go down 50% from now before it goes up 100%. "Invest" in big caps, like bitcoin and ethereum. Other alt coins may and will die. The time to buy alt coins is when bitcoin is on a bull run.

Surely then I should wait until it loses 50% before jumping in? 

Tongue in cheek response - apologies, but at my age long-term investments don't make a great deal of sense - steady if unspectacular growth at relatively low risk is the order of the day. Probably why I haven't dipped my toe in before now.

I'll stick to art and watches I think for the higher returns and at relatively low risk. 

Mate, I know you don't like Hirsts Art as such, but The Currency and Empress projects are great buys atm. Empress is basically a print deed and Currency is a NFT that you can swap for an original.

 I'd be shocked if Empress ($2000) doesn't x3 your money within 2 years and Currency ( approx $6500) is profitable already if you trade for the original. 

I'll have another look - I need to move from investing in art primarily because I like the artist to investing in art as a pure financial transaction. 

Edit: Sorry - I'll jump out of the thread now and leave it to you crypto kids!

Worth it while ETH is on its arse 

bobmunro said:

Basic question - I've never dabbled in crypto but is it a good time to start?

@bobmunro ... investment in such a volatile commodity makes sense if you are prepared to track on a daily (or better) basis.  You can make huge profits (compared to more conventional investment rates) if you are prepared to put the hours in.  Tracking in real time allows you to cream off the profits that can occur over a few hours or days, then you quit and come back to try it all again at a later date, not worrying or dwelling on the fact that you could have made even more if only you had waited a bit longer.

But investing in these things and holding?  I don't think so.

Note that the often-quoted mantra that "no-one who has ever held on to Bitcoin for at least 200 days has ever lost money" remains true as the share price didn't really take off until Oct/Nov 2020, but the current fall in value may see this situation change in the fairly near future.

If you fancy playing the high-risk market, then have a go.  Ignore the pseudoscientific prediction methods.  A quick look back on this thread will demonstrate that, although I'm sure that all the prediction failures can be easily explained in retrospect.

But, if you do have a go, track it like a hawk by the hour, plunder your profit, then get out.

No charge for the advice.

bobmunro said:

kentaddick said:

bobmunro said:

Basic question - I've never dabbled in crypto but is it a good time to start?

be prepared for your investment to go down 50% from now before it goes up 100%. "Invest" in big caps, like bitcoin and ethereum. Other alt coins may and will die. The time to buy alt coins is when bitcoin is on a bull run.

Surely then I should wait until it loses 50% before jumping in? 

Tongue in cheek response - apologies, but at my age long-term investments don't make a great deal of sense - steady if unspectacular growth at relatively low risk is the order of the day. Probably why I haven't dipped my toe in before now.

I'll stick to art and watches I think for the higher returns and at relatively low risk. 

Don't forget the Single Malt's Bob, the returns might not be as good as art but bloody good fun. And if it crashes and burns you can drink the bugger. 

kentaddick said:

seth plum said:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/05/13/cryptocurrencies-collapsing-happens-next/

This is an article from a newspaper.

Amongst other things it says:

Cryptocurrency has been compared to digital gold, a way to avoid inflation, and a criminal’s best friend. Day to day, however, it runs on confidence. The values of Bitcoin and other coins is as much a factor of investors’ belief as any technical consideration.

'Running on confidence' sounds similar to a belief in a deity. Religion is a powerful force that grips avid believers, even to the outer fringes of Jonestown or Waco. People have so much confidence in some religions that are prepared to give up their lives for it.
Some others say that confidence that a god exists is like believing in fairies.

Another thing the article says is:

UST is a so-called algorithmic stablecoin. A stablecoin, unlike a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin that fluctuates wildly, is supposed to have a set value, in this case $1.

The algorithmic part is where it gets more complicated. While most stablecoins are backed by currency reserves, similar to the way that money in a bank account is backed by savings, algorithmic stablecoins are supposedly propped up by complicated trading protocols.

The Saudi Riyal is backed by oil reserves.

I mean, this is literally how every government backed currency works. We only give it value because we have faith that it has value. The value of bitcoin is based upon scarcity and code, only 21 million bitcoin will ever be mined. After that, there will never be more. More use of bitcoin/more people keeping bitcoin as a store of value like gold, the more scarce it gets, so value goes up. It's also far from being a "criminals best friend" - its an open ledger, you can see who's sent how much bitcoin to who. It's literally the worst thing to use for criminal activities. Physical Cash is much, much better for that.

Algorithmic stables don't work - for the exact reason that UST showed. It simply doesn't work. Basically all stablecoins are *not* backed 1:1 with a real dollar. This is something that the industry needs to change.

This is only partially true. For example, the Bank of England holds other investments to the exact value of all the notes it issues, currently 87,326 (£mns). So the backing will be a selection of Govt. stocks and commercial bonds, etc. So, it's not just "faith". There is some tangible backing for the currency issue.  The bonus is that the BoE makes a profit from its note issue by harvesting the interest on BGS and commercial paper.  So, the BoE hands around £500mn a year to HM Treasury.

Of course, if we get nuked by Russia...

AddicksAddict said:

cafcfan said:

kentaddick said:

seth plum said:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/05/13/cryptocurrencies-collapsing-happens-next/

This is an article from a newspaper.

Amongst other things it says:

Cryptocurrency has been compared to digital gold, a way to avoid inflation, and a criminal’s best friend. Day to day, however, it runs on confidence. The values of Bitcoin and other coins is as much a factor of investors’ belief as any technical consideration.

'Running on confidence' sounds similar to a belief in a deity. Religion is a powerful force that grips avid believers, even to the outer fringes of Jonestown or Waco. People have so much confidence in some religions that are prepared to give up their lives for it.
Some others say that confidence that a god exists is like believing in fairies.

Another thing the article says is:

UST is a so-called algorithmic stablecoin. A stablecoin, unlike a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin that fluctuates wildly, is supposed to have a set value, in this case $1.

The algorithmic part is where it gets more complicated. While most stablecoins are backed by currency reserves, similar to the way that money in a bank account is backed by savings, algorithmic stablecoins are supposedly propped up by complicated trading protocols.

The Saudi Riyal is backed by oil reserves.

I mean, this is literally how every government backed currency works. We only give it value because we have faith that it has value. The value of bitcoin is based upon scarcity and code, only 21 million bitcoin will ever be mined. After that, there will never be more. More use of bitcoin/more people keeping bitcoin as a store of value like gold, the more scarce it gets, so value goes up. It's also far from being a "criminals best friend" - its an open ledger, you can see who's sent how much bitcoin to who. It's literally the worst thing to use for criminal activities. Physical Cash is much, much better for that.

Algorithmic stables don't work - for the exact reason that UST showed. It simply doesn't work. Basically all stablecoins are *not* backed 1:1 with a real dollar. This is something that the industry needs to change.

This is only partially true. For example, the Bank of England holds other investments to the exact value of all the notes it issues, currently 87,326 (£mns). So the backing will be a selection of Govt. stocks and commercial bonds, etc. So, it's not just "faith". There is some tangible backing for the currency issue.  The bonus is that the BoE makes a profit from its note issue by harvesting the interest on BGS and commercial paper.  So, the BoE hands around £500mn a year to HM Treasury.

Of course, if we get nuked by Russia...

Are you suggesting we should be investing in nuclear shelters?

I bought one a few years ago ... money back guarantee.

I'm no mug.

bobmunro said:

shine166 said:

bobmunro said:

kentaddick said:

bobmunro said:

Basic question - I've never dabbled in crypto but is it a good time to start?

be prepared for your investment to go down 50% from now before it goes up 100%. "Invest" in big caps, like bitcoin and ethereum. Other alt coins may and will die. The time to buy alt coins is when bitcoin is on a bull run.

Surely then I should wait until it loses 50% before jumping in? 

Tongue in cheek response - apologies, but at my age long-term investments don't make a great deal of sense - steady if unspectacular growth at relatively low risk is the order of the day. Probably why I haven't dipped my toe in before now.

I'll stick to art and watches I think for the higher returns and at relatively low risk. 

Mate, I know you don't like Hirsts Art as such, but The Currency and Empress projects are great buys atm. Empress is basically a print deed and Currency is a NFT that you can swap for an original.

 I'd be shocked if Empress ($2000) doesn't x3 your money within 2 years and Currency ( approx $6500) is profitable already if you trade for the original. 

I'll have another look - I need to move from investing in art primarily because I like the artist to investing in art as a pure financial transaction. 

Edit: Sorry - I'll jump out of the thread now and leave it to you crypto kids!

Currency now $8900