Somebody explain Bitcoin to me

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#427 6 years ago

LEE

cdnpinballer

Pinside member

Ottawa, ON

12y 50,850 662

I just watched the value move +/- $1K within 15 mins LOL. This is insanity and super fun to watch from the sidelines.

My opinion only: I don't want to say the dirty bubble word but seriously when the price moves so much in such a short amount of time and when it's all over the media where you have guys pumping up the hype you have the think at what point does the price reflect mostly greedy speculation? As history has shown doesn't end well for all but who knows because as I read somewhere "this time is different" LOL again. I love it.

Another gut feeling is that terrorist and or hacker groups who trade in bitcoin will cash in at some point and stash the cash to fund future wars (maybe they already have?). Maybe I am totally out to lunch? Who knows, things are out of control (or are they?) and there is absolutely nothing the world governments can do so it's truly the digital wild west being played out by using thousands or millions of supercomputers! Sounds like a hollywood movie doesn't it? Kinda scary actually thinking about what could happen.

Anyways it will be interesting to see how things play out. If I were an early adopter I would have cashed out long ago and retired comfortably while paying my tax so I could get a full night sleep.

I'm sure more sophisticated people/companies/organizations would probably move the cash to offshore tax havens.

When I was a kid growing up in the 80/90's I would often think of what the world would be like when i was 35 (2017) and here we are.

It's totally mind blowing to think that there is now a currency which was created by a guy who for all intents and purposes does not exist and where the currency only exists on the internet.

Some people are going to get silly rich off this and who knows how long it will last. My fear is that those who are/will be silly rich don't try to ruin the world past where we already are in total world obliteration.

I was thinking about what would be the best hedge and I came up with weapons manufacturers, healthcare, AI, weed, booze and water.

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#511 6 years ago

LEE

cdnpinballer

Pinside member

Ottawa, ON

12y 50,850 662

@ extreme what pot stock?

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6

#899 6 years ago

LEE

cdnpinballer

Pinside member

Ottawa, ON

12y 50,850 662

Quoted from ExtremePinball:
Obviously a tongue in cheek video.
However, the vast majority of people in the world have never even heard of Bitcoin, much less crypto currencies. I personally ask every business that I enter if I can pay with Bitcoin. I tried to pay my dentist last week, and my oral surgeon just this morning. 100% of the time, I'm met with "What's Bitcoin?" Then I smile, very happily.
Since this, and every internet forum is made up of "the vast majority of people", I expect there to be far more people against Bitcoin, and crypto currencies in general, based on the consensus that.... It's a scam, it's a bubble, and it's a tulip.
Since I've been searching for a tulip bubble scam, I'm currently happier than a pig in shit. Hence the number of red arrows I receive on a regular basis.
And I'm good with that because all those down votes are primarily from those who simply don't understand math, or the concepts of calculated risk and exponential ROI. So down vote away. If it makes YOU feel good, it makes ME feel good.
If you want to be the guy who clung to $200 (or any number) in 2017, carry on. I absolutely GUARANTEE that the $200 you saved, will be worth less than $200 in a year from now. That falls under the concept of inflation. Sure you can put $200 into savings, and it will be worth $200.50 in a year. But you still lost money due to 3% inflation. No risk, no return. You could put $200 into stocks for your 10% annual return (involves some risk of loss). You're not guaranteed any return, and could still lose money.
But, if you're the type of person who understands that a $200 speculation into crypto currencies (not necessarily Bitcoin) could net hundreds of thousands of dollars in just a few short years, then you understand the concept of risk/reward. Your risk of loss can never exceed $200, but the upside potential (reward) is unlimited. Think about that. No, seriously think about that.
I obviously have a different mindset than most. That's partly because I neither worship money, nor do I fear money. I see money as nothing more than a tool to be used to make more money. I understand that this differs from the average American, because I'm self employed.
Now allow me to toss some actual numerical facts into this ridiculous diatribe.
On my current $89,137 investment, er, speculation into crypto currencies, I'm sitting on a $148,610 portfolio. That's down from the peak of $194,000 due to the recent crypto correction. This return took 6 months to accomplish, all the while I lost an additional $50k or so on some REALLY bad trades.
There are some 7 Billion people on the planet. Bitcoin's market cap is in the TRILLIONS $$$$$. So in all reality, whether buying or selling, the 1,000 people that frequent Pinside, will not affect the overall crypto currency market in any way. Hell, I do instantaneous $50,000 trades on a regular basis, and I can't even affect the LTC market @ $275 per coin.
Bottom line: The guys on the Bitcoin forum tell me I'm a moron for investing $250,000+ into pinball machines, while the guys on the Pinball forum are telling me that I'm an idiot for investing (currently) $89,137 into magical coins.
P.S. I didn't save $200 this year.
P.P.S. Fremont Arcade is down to 1 pinball machine.
P.P.S A lot of really nice pins are about to be sent to auction.
Risk/reward.

Serious question:

Are you a) Drunk b) High c) Both? LoL

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#1074 6 years ago

LEE

cdnpinballer

Pinside member

Ottawa, ON

12y 50,850 662

Quoted from iceman44:
Symbol BTL. Blockchain
For the extreme risk takers

Wow no kidding, as of filings Sept 30, 2017 the company made no revenue in the last three months, only $372K in the last 9 months and operated at net losses of $1.7M and $3.5M in the same time periods. The company is presently valued at a market cap of $302M. Extreme risk is putting it lightly... lol

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#1305 6 years ago

LEE

cdnpinballer

Pinside member

Ottawa, ON

12y 50,850 662

It's interesting. Today I sat at a bar for lunch and glanced over at the local newspaper. Some app took out a full front and back cover page ad to sell a bitcoin trading app that showed the cost of a bitcoin at $19k CAD with a green arrow and positive percentage gain beside it. When I checked on my phone moments later to see the actual price it was $5K less.

Then I check my Facebook machine and I follow a few playboy bunnies on there. I see one of these babes is now a crypto expert with her own blog and all that jazz. again.

Look up Miss Kennedy Summers for some fine viewing. From what I gather she is a lesbian too. Not that that makes any difference.

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#1308 6 years ago

LEE

cdnpinballer

Pinside member

Ottawa, ON

12y 50,850 662

When I think of a playboy bunny I don't automatically default to 'crypto currency expert'.

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#1309 6 years ago

LEE

cdnpinballer

Pinside member

Ottawa, ON

12y 50,850 662

She was also Miss. December 2013. Listed as her ambitions at the time she says "To have my own plastic surgery clinic and, most important, to be happy!

So yeah from plastic surgeon to crypto expert...

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