Personal computing discussed
Moderators: askfranklin, renee, emkubed, Captain Ned
Hawkwing74 wrote:A coworker made a ton on Ethereum when it jumped from $30 to over $200.
I can't say I get why it is a valid investment.
Hawkwing74 wrote:A coworker made a ton on Ethereum when it jumped from $30 to over $200.
I can't say I get why it is a valid investment.
Hawkwing74 wrote:A coworker made a ton on Ethereum when it jumped from $30 to over $200.
JBI wrote:What's a "valid" investment anyway?
Glorious wrote:Agreed, and he is trying to figure out if he should cash out. If it tanks before he sells, yes, he won't be able to make anything.Hawkwing74 wrote:A coworker made a ton on Ethereum when it jumped from $30 to over $200.
Did he cash out?
If just has a balance (or "re-invested") on poloniex or GDAX or Kraken, he arguably hasn't made anything yet.
Hawkwing74 wrote:I think he is in Bitcoin for the "long haul."
Captain Ned wrote:You might want to let him know that, despite what proponents believe, tracing Bitcoin transactions to individuals is trivially easy these days.
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Captain Ned wrote:You might want to let him know that, despite what proponents believe, tracing Bitcoin transactions to individuals is trivially easy these days.
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Hawkwing74 wrote:Agreed, and he is trying to figure out if he should cash out.
Vhalidictes wrote:Captain Ned wrote:You might want to let him know that, despite what proponents believe, tracing Bitcoin transactions to individuals is trivially easy these days.
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Nice! So, let's talk about Ransom-ware payable in Bitcoin, and how it's still a thing...
Vhalidictes wrote:Nice! So, let's talk about Ransom-ware payable in Bitcoin, and how it's still a thing...
Glorious wrote:Bonds are promises by (hopefully!) reputable people to repay a loan.
Stocks are pieces of ownership in an ongoing business concern.
Crypto-currencies are tokens whose issuance is constrained by a protocol whose decision mechanism is completely dominated by a handful of private parties in China.
Glorious wrote:They do not represent a promise by anyone to repay.
Glorious wrote:They do not represent qualified entitlement to a profit-making endeavor.
Glorious wrote:Vhalidictes wrote:Nice! So, let's talk about Ransom-ware payable in Bitcoin, and how it's still a thing...
On the one side, you have random victims distributed across immense geography for individually trivial amounts of money. Many of whom are just happy they got their pictures back and not tremendously interested in pursuing justice against the ineffable.
On the other side, you have some guy in Bulgaria. Or maybe you don't, because they stashed the coins in a new address and are just sitting on them completely anonymously until the heat cools off.
Traceable doesn't mean realistically prosecutable, especially not when you have to explain transaction mixing. Sure, your spread-sheet "proves" it, but come on, that's not the kind of thing a prosecutor wants to go in front of a jury with.
just brew it! wrote:I've heard (perhaps Ned can confirm/refute) that even credit card companies tend not to pursue prosecution of fraudsters until the amount gets above $1000. It's just too much trouble.
JBI wrote:But at the end of the day, all rely fundamentally on the interested parties agreeing that they have value. Just to be clear, I'm not claiming that crypto-currencies are as "real" as stocks, bonds, or fiat currency (provided it is issued by a stable government); but at the end of the day, they're all just tokens.
JBI wrote:The fact that you're not implicitly relying on a promise from anyone is in fact touted as an advantage by crypto-currency proponents!
JBI wrote:Profit-making endeavors can quickly turn into unprofitable ones, or can turn out to be vaporware/shams/scams (see: Theranos).
JBI wrote:IMO, in terms of investment risk/reward crypto-currency lies somewhere on the line between the traditional investment vehicles already mentioned, and playing the lottery.
Bensam123 wrote:Bad place to ask about cryptocurrencies, pretty much anyone here will offer a 'anti-monopoly money' point of view with almost no idea of what they're talking about.
Bensam123 wrote:As far as altcoins being a good investment, there are a lot of possible 'good' investments, but that can sometimes be extremely random as even very promising coins can crash and burn.
Bensam123 wrote:Yes, Ethereum is one of the biggest altcoins, there are a few other major ones. And yes they have very high impact markets. Ethereum had 482m in volume yesterday for instance. Here is the best place to locate rising and or big coins. Sort by volume: http://coinmarketcap.com/
Bensam123 wrote:Also if you want to learn about cryptos visit Bitcointalk, that is where the majority of any sort of meaningful discussion happens.
Bensam123 wrote:You'll have to read up on each coin to figure out whether or not they're worth your money. They'll eat your money if you aren't careful.
Redocbew wrote:The thing I've never understood about crpyto-currency is how it's any different than distributing computing projects like Folding@Home or BOINC. If the people behind those promised payment per completed work unit, then wouldn't we have the same system?
Redocbew wrote:The thing I've never understood about crpyto-currency is how it's any different than distributing computing projects like Folding@Home or BOINC. If the people behind those promised payment per completed work unit, then wouldn't we have the same system?
w76 wrote:Also, I find it hard to believe regulators will look the other way forever. They're generally older folks, so they lag behind on this sort of thing, but eventually a currency whose primary usage is black markets, ransom payments and aiding money laundering for wealthy Chinese to bypass their currency controls and funnel money in to places like Vancouvers real estate market will attract regulatory attention. And, owing to being 100% digital, there's easy ways to squash it if desired, like barring financial entities from transacting with cryptocurrency exchanges, requiring the money to be laundered at a foreign bank first. Tricky business.
w76 wrote:I hadn't heard of any US regulators doing much with Bitcoin though, other than the SEC looking at allowing ETFs that attempt to track it.