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Bitcoin, Lightcoin, Ethereum and the rest. Any of you guys get in on it early days? Been pretty interesting this past year and with the Aug. 1 fork coming I think it's about to get even more so.

I don't really own much of any one type but I think it's kinda fun to follow it. Typical story, tried to buy in when BTC was sub $200, didn't follow through, got frustrated trying to get approved through one of the exchanges, watched it climb to crazy heights over the years, always feeling like I was too late. Finally put down a little money in BTC and ETH earlier this year. Been up, been down.

Can't be any worse of an investment than all these custom surfboards, right?

Anyways, some of you guys must know about this stuff? Any closet millionaires?

I think some of the San Francisco posters got in it early. I think they even posted about it a few years ago, or that could have been you. I can't remember. I'm pretty sure I first learned about it here though or at the same time some articles about it in the journal came out.

I had two friends who lost their total investment in Mt. Gox. They of course are pissed but still pump ETH on Facebook with all our friends. I havent touched it, but like following it. I think its a big ponzi, but people are making bank, the question is who. The latest ICO offering made some people of people I know wealthy as all hell, for a bullshit dream they sold during this euphoria. They have no products, just some software they made up less than a year ago and pitched it to the right people.

There's what..over two hundred different "coins" out there now.

What I find interesting is following from a technical trader perspective, well of course there's no fundamentals so you have to. Elliot Wave Theory could be the ultimate tracker here of the price action. Elliot wave theory was concieved to follow euphorias, it never really works with stock beacause of a ton of other factors. Bitcoin could be the perfect thing for it. I think bitcoin os possibly in a 4th wave down which will follow the last 5th wave up before it finally crashes down. The 5th wave according to Elliot wave is the biggest move and sorta like the blow off top.

Or it could go down in flames? Or the moon. I don' t think I'll ever buy it.

Best of luck trading.

I did like to give my buddies grief when they claimed it to be the next "currency" and the dollar was done.....Really, you want your money to go up and down 20% depending on what the Asian traders feel like that day...

Sliced you sound like you probably know more about any of it than I do.

I'm not really trading. Just buying a few and holding, watching. I don't have the time or desire to day trade. I also don't have enough money to do anything substantial anyways.

I just put a little money into a few coins to make the watching more interesting.

I don't think I've ever seen bitcoin or anything discussed on here but I'm more of a design forum guy.

I'm not smart and/or educated enough to fully understand all of it in detail but I think the core idea of digital currencies that aren't tied to a government make a lot of sense. In hind sight it seems a bit obvious that it would happen. Whether they will overtake/replace or coexist with traditional currencies remains to be seen.

what i don't understand is how bitcoin is supposed to function as a currency and yet its value can fluctuate 10-20% in a week. that's not something anyone would want to use for currency,

tulips i say.

and "elliot wave theory"? shit. now i've seen it all. never thought i'd see that referenced on erBB.

Been doing some useful study on this.

Cannot make an accurate distinction of value however will strongly submit that alternative currency is in its infancy much like Microsoft was in the late 80's

you might want to check out Vinny's crypto stuff: https://vinnylingham.com/@vinnylingham

he's been pretty accurate at forecasting prices and just did a successful ICO for Civic that was pretty well done (ie not a pump n dump)

The parallel to tulip mania is interesting but I think not very accurate, at least in Bitcoin's case.

You can plant more acres of tulips, increasing supply.

Bitcoin's are becoming harder and harder to mine and if I recall there is to be a finite amount (21 million).

I'm not trying to claim anything. Definitely not suggesting anyone invest in these volatile currencies.

But, read up. It's fascinating stuff.

It's been making me think about all money in a different way. Just like any currency it relies on everyone participating in the collective illusion of value. At least no one can just print more bitcoin at will. Some of these other coins, who knows.

The people who really believed in bitcoin from the early days are fckin stocked.

If you bought 100 dollars in bitcoin in 2010 it would be worth many millions of dollars now. That is, if you'd had the balls to sit on it for 7 years.

I see gold as a currency not tied to any gov. There's also a finite amount of it. Probably doesn't have the potential as digital currency, but not the potential to vaporize, either.

until people actually adopt the currency they are buying on hype and emotions. Nobody I know actually uses this currency and most business don't accept it.

value of the currency is relative to the base currency. The price of the currency is affected by the value of USD and its fundamentals BUT this would only be if it was actually used so far its all smoke and mirrors and could make you filthy rich!

there's a good reason that countries in central/south America want to use USD and countries peg their currencies to avoid volatility

made a lot of money on bitcoin and still own a good amount.

Almost built a mining rig for ethereum but its too late now.(mining difficulty increased too fast)

interested to see what happens with litecoin

what's your take on the hot wallet vs cold storage deal

Yep. I've been buying physical gold and silver aside from investing in my IRAs. Also, Gold/silver pandas and AUS kangaroo/nugget coins look super cool.

I'm geeking out on solidity right now to help someone I know do an ICO.

Still waiting for mine....





Other links about bitcoins are here, here, and here.

The best way to think of Bitcoins, et all, is as a means of exchange, which is all fiat money really is anyway, but with no middleman taking a portion (just like cash). As a more pure expression as a means of exchange, it is largely subject to the value people place on it, and value increases as demands outstrips supply...and in this case, supply is constrained.

Investing in currencies is a thing, but traditionally, the cost to exchange it made it prohibitive to yee average gambler. With Bitcoin that barrier is somewhat lessened, and it used to be without barrier in the early days if you had a decent rig.

I wonder how many old hard-drives have bitcoin wallets on them that have been 'lost' because a mouse doesn't work, or the OS got funky.

Could you even "buy" a small amount back then? I am not sure that was possible, people were mining for them with serious computers or using them to trade in illicit fringe transactions. Or was that a few years prior?
Anyway The surge in valuations has happened along with the vehicles for acquiring and/or trading them right? And that there is more infrastructure to allow regular people to consider and use them as a currency or an investment vehicle. Is this right too? I am spitballin this.

Q. What would the signs be that governments are going to crack down on these?
A. When they become a threat to the established currencies.

Q. How will we know when they have become a threat to the established currencies?
A. _____________?