139 replies to this topic

[McCann1]

I'm just curious how many of y'all have experience using bitcoin, your thoughts on it, etc. I have a little bit of money I transferred to bitcoin just to play around with it and see how it works. I think it could be very useful but it's still so new that the volatility throws me off as well as others I'd assume.

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[MtlJeff]

Is bitcoin still a thing? A couple of years ago my company worked with guys making the harvesters as those guys needed extremely high end rack/servers. The market was extremely volatile and like the wild west. Some of these customers were sued and accused of fraud, i had dinner with a guy who ended up getting arrested. Man that takes me back

I really would be weary of bitcoin, there's been a lot of shady stuff, theft, there's no regulation....etc....

From what i understand the great innovation was the blockchain system of authentication. Bitcoin was just a by-product of that

[McCann1]

From what I've read it's come a long way and is way more accepted than the time you're talking about. The anonymity is a problem though. Some have used it to ask for ransom after hacking companies and there's no way to track them, and apparently many drug cartels use it for transactions. It looks like something that in theory is great, but reality is a different thing. I know a guy that for the record was already a multi millionaire but he invested 50k in it when it was at about 20-30 per bitcoin back in '10 or '11 and then it skyrocketed to 960 this year...that's 2.4 mil if he sold it. I don't know if he has or not

[MtlJeff]

If you got in and out at the right time you could make a fortune. That's why some of the guys doing the harvesters got investigated, they were being accused of making machines that were ordered by clients, using them to get bitcoin for themselves, and then giving up the machines after they'd used them for their own gain.

I have a friend who told me one of his best friends from college made several hundred thousand bucks on it.

Of course there are also many who had their bitcoin stolen when that chinese bitcoin bank (Btmain i think?) went bust and they couldn't do anything about it

[McCann1]

Yeah bitcoins value is heavily dependent on China's economy and their faith in their currency. Chinese currency value goes down=bitcoin goes up. China actually opened up an investigation into bitcoin trading in their country a couple weeks back and bitcoin went from a record high of about 1,140 to mid 800's overnight. I can only imagine the horror to those that woke up that morning...

I'm just so fascinated to see how it turns out. Part of me wants to put a little bit of money in my account at a time that I don't mine losing and just see what happens in the long run. It's definitely interesting

[chickenpotpie]

I've had a similar curiosity with bitcoin.  Personally, I could see governments worldwide pulling the plug as they'd have no way to tax you if it became big enough and widely accepted.

Where did you open your account?

[bscinstnct]

Its validation of *blockchain*.

A tech that will change a host of processes in many key areas from banking to medicine.

[McCann1]

chickenpotpie, on 01 February 2017 - 07:13 PM, said:

I've had a similar curiosity with bitcoin.  Personally, I could see governments worldwide pulling the plug as they'd have no way to tax you if it became big enough and widely accepted.

Where did you open your account?

I downloaded the Coinbase app on my phone and setup an account with them

bscinstnct, on 01 February 2017 - 07:45 PM, said:

Its validation of *blockchain*.

A tech that will change a host of processes in many key areas from banking to medicine.

I agree. It sounds like a home run the more I read about it

[bscinstnct]

McCann1, on 01 February 2017 - 07:52 PM, said:

chickenpotpie, on 01 February 2017 - 07:13 PM, said:

I've had a similar curiosity with bitcoin.  Personally, I could see governments worldwide pulling the plug as they'd have no way to tax you if it became big enough and widely accepted.

Where did you open your account?

I downloaded the Coinbase app on my phone and setup an account with them

bscinstnct, on 01 February 2017 - 07:45 PM, said:

Its validation of *blockchain*.

A tech that will change a host of processes in many key areas from banking to medicine.

I agree. It sounds like a home run the more I read about it

Well, Im not commenting on bitcoin value itself. Just on the blockchain tech. Blockchain (not, just bitcoin itself) is getting large investments across many industries.

Edited by bscinstnct, 01 February 2017 - 08:18 PM.

[knock it close]

I know it works well for sports gambling but that's about all I know about it

Edited by knock it close, 01 February 2017 - 08:22 PM.

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[Hawkeye77]

A local business ended up learning about bitcoins the hard way when they were hit with the computer infiltration that required them to pay ransom. Bizarre story that ended ok for them.

[Rob G 89]

I love Bitcoin I get same day cash out from ignition and Bovada then transfer the Bitcoin to my bitpay card and go to the ATM and cash out.
Prior to getting the bitpay card I was able to go to Bitcoin ATM on the south side of Chicago, the downside to this was I had to wait 45 minutes for it to be confirmed before I got my cash.
Prior to Bitcoin we were waiting 2-4 weeks for s chrck cash out.
I wish I knew how to buy Bitcoin for gambling as I went on a bender 2 weeks ago and charged 150 bucks in fees using my debit and credit card on Bovada.

[surfanimal]

MtlJeff, on 31 January 2017 - 08:46 PM, said:

The market was extremely volatile

Pretty much this. The exchange rate from USD to BTC fluctuates quite a bit from week to week.  That being said, a few sites I use prefer or only take bitcoin so I still hold an account.  I only buy bitcoin when I need to use it, otherwise that account hangs out with zero balance.

[socied]

I work in IT industry with a lot of people that are REALLY interested and invest in BTC, myself included. A few years ago we were trading BTC, mining BTC, hoarding BTC, etc and making decent money at it. We were lucky, we stashed a good amount away when it was only a couple of bucks per coin. We were even mining about a coin per 3 days. Thennnnn it crashed It is slowly on the rise again and a little less volatile but I doubt it will ever be anything more than what it is. Its fun and something to mess with, but I would not invest more than 5-10% of your portfolio in it. Ha, some of my developers (in house surprisingly) actually like to get a little bit of their paycheck in BTC. I think it will fade away in 10 years personally.


Edit - when I say crash, I mean it went from about $1,100 to about $400 per coin. Keep in mind, a few months prior to that, we were mining a coin every 3 days. That was fun. It allowed me to buy a lot of golf clubs and firearms. (with cash, legally.)

Edited by socied, 02 February 2017 - 03:41 PM.

[FiveSixAce]

So, Bitcoin is currently +$2,400.  

[knock it close]

All I know is I shoulda bought Ethereum when my buddy told me to a month ago

[Rob G 89]

FiveSixAce, on 24 May 2017 - 12:56 PM, said:

So, Bitcoin is currently +$2,400.  

Yeah it's crazy I was looking last year when I got 2700 from Bovada today it's worth 7000

[McCann1]

It's been crazy lately. I bought some ethereum as well as litecoin and it has been super volitile

[TheCityGame]

I bought 21 bitcoins a few years ago when they were like $12. It was just a little experiment to learn about them, see how they worked. I liked doing stuff like that. Like I did some lending on Prosper, and I tried to do that athlete exchange (fantex) when you could buy shares of Arian Foster (Maryland didn't actually let me do that).

The bitcoins went up and down and I think I sold them around $10.

You probably think I'm kicking myself over it, but nah. Like I said, it was more about figuring out how they worked. Also, I guarantee I would have sold them well before they got anywhere near $2500. I probably would have sold them at $25 and thought, "holy crap, I just doubled my money".

[Imp]

My brother and I have discussed BTC on and off over the years. He knew I was into the whole "finite" supply and mining.

We were having dinner last week and conversation turned to the currency. The wives are a bit clueless on them, but I jokingly mentioned that I had "a couple thousand or so" of them when I bought them for pennies on the dollar back early 2011. "Why do you ask?" (Knowing full well the news recently, just to gain a reaction).

Wait.. what?!?! I had to pick his jaw up off the dinner table, thinking I still had them.

"Key word: 'Had'. Yeah, I doubled my initial buy and then sold." They'd be worth about $2.x million. today. C'est la vie.

--kC

Edited by Imp, 30 May 2017 - 01:13 PM.

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[David30]

The economic theory behind block-chain currency is sound.  Even Ludwig Von Mises' book, The Theory of Money and Credit, readily admits it is far more efficient to work under one currency.  But the fundamentals to support the value of such a currency aren't there.

If I were to ask what is the underlying value of bitcoin, no one can answer that.  However, if I ask what is the underlying value of the U.S. Dollar, it's about 1,600 nukes pointed at you.

Edited by David30, 30 May 2017 - 02:37 PM.

[McCann1]

There's some talk of another cryptocurrency called Ethereum that's had a meteoric rise. Anybody have some?

[knock it close]

McCann1, on 31 May 2017 - 12:35 AM, said:

There's some talk of another cryptocurrency called Ethereum that's had a meteoric rise. Anybody have some?

No my buddy told me about it a month ago and then I saw one of the Barstool guys tweeting about it at the start of may when it was at 50 bucks or whatever. I tried to read into it but I have no clue, I can talk about oil and gas till the cows come home but I'm still lost on Crypto

[McCann1]

I'm kicking myself for getting rid of most of my Ethereum. I had about 15 and could've bought more since it was at about $50 but needed the money. It's now at $346 and climbing

[FiveSixAce]

I have 10 ETH, got in at around 150.  Holding forever ha

[bscinstnct]

https://www.bloomber...th-end-j7lblmdg


   Bitcoin Crashes Again After China Moves to Halt Exchange

Edited by bscinstnct, 15 September 2017 - 09:31 AM.

[Imp]

And it's back up over $4k. That didn't last long.

I have a handful of various other coins. Like putting in $50 and getting thousands of each to hodl. I figure, if they go up? Great. If not? I'm out ~$50/per. (I'm up on almost all of them, some marginally, but still up).

I do have "quite a few" ETH and LTC I bought end of last year with my (somewhat smallish) bonus. So, really happy that are doing well (ETH up about 290%, LTC up about 350%, so I ain't complaining) Then there's the many buckets of Ripple, Pink, VTC, LSK, bought on the cheap just to hodl.

If it pays out? Sure, I'm happy. If not, I figure I haven't lost much. I'll cash out before/if they get to what I put into them, so I'd break even at the most.

--kC

Edited by Imp, 19 September 2017 - 01:47 PM.

[FiveSixAce]

To the moon!!

[straightshot7]

bscinstnct, on 15 September 2017 - 09:30 AM, said:

https://www.bloomber...th-end-j7lblmdg


   Bitcoin Crashes Again After China Moves to Halt Exchange

I can't remember if reading this post led me to buy but it may have...I know I bought Bitcoin on the dip from this bad China news...at $3,700.

So thank you for posting!

[bscinstnct]

straightshot7, on 27 November 2017 - 03:33 PM, said:

bscinstnct, on 15 September 2017 - 09:30 AM, said:

https://www.bloomber...th-end-j7lblmdg


   Bitcoin Crashes Again After China Moves to Halt Exchange

I can't remember if reading this post led me to buy but it may have...I know I bought Bitcoin on the dip from this bad China news...at $3,700.

So thank you for posting!

Nice, glad to have helped you make a few shekels ; )

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