Cryptocurrency Discussion

[JediGuy]

Who’s in it?

What exchanges do you use?

Stories, pointers, favorite buys at the moment?

I’m not an expert, but learning. In the grand scheme, it seems like something I would like to see more likeminded people involved in. (Dangling prep intentional, real talk.)

After I starting reading more about it, I ended up with Coinbase, Binance US, TrustWallet, and Pancake. Decided to take a risk on something and force myself to learn a bit.

BTC, ETH, LTC, XLM, ADA, X2P, what are you up to?

[Adrenaline_6]

Who’s in it?

What exchanges do you use?

Stories, pointers, favorite buys at the moment?

I’m not an expert, but learning. In the grand scheme, it seems like something I would like to see more likeminded people involved in. (Dangling prep intentional, real talk.)

After I starting reading more about it, I ended up with Coinbase, Binance US, TrustWallet, and Pancake. Decided to take a risk on something and force myself to learn a bit.

BTC, ETH, LTC, XLM, ADA, X2P, what are you up to?

I totally understand trying to make money in it, but digital currency is the ultimate control end game. Once we are conditioned to accept it, it will be controlled for the sake of "security". Having the government know what you buy, when you buy it, how much you bought, and where you bought it is not good. You won't even be able to buy things from anyone personally without them knowing about it and even taxing it if they want.

It could get to the point where if you are considered "a domestic terrorist" for thinking the way you do, guess what? You can't buy anything. Account locked. What prevents big companies from blacklisting you from their products for your views? Nothing. They can refuse to sell to anyone - now they can control who gets what. Dangerous territory.

[utahjeepr]

I don't understand it. What gives it value and why does it rise and fall so radically? The whole "mining" thing?

I barely understand the largely emotional market of traditional investment. If I can't fathom the "why" of something I ain't putting my money in it. I have certainly missed out on opportunities that way, but I have lost a shitload of money in the past investing above my knowledge level.

[jmoore]

I don't understand it. What gives it value and why does it rise and fall so radically? The whole "mining" thing?

I barely understand the largely emotional market of traditional investment. If I can't fathom the "why" of something I ain't putting my money in it. I have certainly missed out on opportunities that way, but I have lost a shitload of money in the past investing above my knowledge level.

If I can’t hide it under my mattress or bury it in my back yard, I definitely don’t trust it! Obviously, YMMV.

geezerjohn

[WillBrink]

Doing same, trying to get a handle on it, planning to play a bit with low $, see where that goes. If one views it as similar to the stock market in that it is largely driven on speculation and emotions, and value is based on that, it sort of starts to make sense.

There's built in scarcity, by their only being X number of "coins" made for some coins. Bitcoin being the obvious example: The maximum amount of bitcoins that can ever exist is 21 million.

Others have no limits and therefore lower perceived value and they cost less. Some are sorta in the middle and only so many can be produced within a given time frame, and there value seems to fall between those two.

So far, that's my very simple understanding of it. Then, some coins are accepted as payment by some business, and or, can be converted to fiat currency.

Most coins are garbage and a big risk, and like very volatile tech stock, one can make a lot or lose a lot real fast and investing one penny more than you can afford to lose, is a very bad idea.

If any SME need correct the above, please do.

[WillBrink]

I don't understand it. What gives it value and why does it rise and fall so radically? The whole "mining" thing?

I barely understand the largely emotional market of traditional investment. If I can't fathom the "why" of something I ain't putting my money in it. I have certainly missed out on opportunities that way, but I have lost a shitload of money in the past investing above my knowledge level.

See my other post. I think I am finally getting a handle on the "why" part, after much discussion with people who know what is what. Mining seems similar to day trading in that it's very fast moving, you really have to know what you are doing, and not something for us regular types to even consider.

My biggest hangup has been "getting" where the value comes from, and per usual, scarcity creating perceived value, the lure of easy $, and speculation. Hell, even our fiat currency does not exist in the bank and anything but digital, the actual paper has no intrinsic value, is not even backed by gold, and so forth. The entire system is built on the confidence of value and stability and trust X is worth something to someone else.

If you can get your mind around that one, crypto makes sense. It took me a long time to "get" it and that is partly no doubt due to my/our age.

It's as "simple" as people have confidence X coin has value and potential to go up in value, more buy based on that, value goes up. Some then decide to cash out, value goes down, all based essentially nothing.

[Artos]

I can't wrap my head around it either & not gonna try...I have some in safe moon & xrp. My son is into it with both feet & he took care of everything. If one of them went to a million bucks, I wouldn't know where to start other than to hand my phone over to the boy.

[Slater]

I'm skeptical. Currency that was just created digitally with nothing to back it up? Maybe if the US Government assigned it some sort of value.

[okie]

Binance has the lowest fees right now, and Uphold is the only exchange left that will still sell XRP to Americans. HitBTC is to be avoided at all costs!

Never forget the cardinal rule of not investing more than you're willing to lose. When you buy crypto, just consider it gone. Some people describe it as buying an insurance policy. That said, I would say now is as good a time as any to buy. It might go lower, but it might not. If it continues its bull run, it could go well over 100k, and could be years before there's another opportunity. Now that there's institutional money and mass awareness of its four year cycle, it may not follow its previous patterns.

Whatever you do, hold your own keys. For BTC, which should really be the majority of your portfolio, Coldcard is the best. It's a steep learning curve to do it right, but I can guide you through it if you need help.

Ledger is a good overall hardware wallet for storing a variety of coins, but it's nowhere near as secure as Coldcard. But it's extremely convenient. What I do is send my coins from the exchanges to my Ledger, then from the Ledger to the Coldcard. By using a new receive address every time this also kind of launders it so it can't be easily tracked to you. That's another reason to avoid Coinbase, besides the high fees, is because they keep track of who buys what.

In terms of its long term outlook, what you have to understand about crypto right now is that its being used as a source of quick speculative income for publicly traded companies, as well as banks and hedge funds.

The way the economy is supposed to work is that banks make money lending to people, but since the economy is dead and adrift and no lending is happening, banks have turned to derivatives to make a quick buck. And the companies they're trading, like Tesla, are using crypto to make a quick buck, in place of selling products and services.

So it's all highly speculative, and built on nothing. Unless the government just starts printing gobs of money and giving it away, I don't see how it can end well. It's definitely not sustainable without ever increasing rounds of stimulus on a permanent basis, and each round will make the underlying problems worse, and make it harder to stop. So even if the government does increase stimulus payments, which doesn't seem likely based on the scuttlebutt, it's still not a sustainable solution.

That said, I do see long term value in BTC, and maybe intermediate term utility in things like Ripple. BTC is the apex predator in the entire financial system right now. Digital gold doesn't even begin to describe it. Quite frankly, I will be amazed if it doesn't become the top feeding reserve asset.

One thing to keep in mind is that BTC doesn't have to scale. What you need in a reserve level cryptocurrency is simplicity and airtight security. That comes with a proof of work model that, while expensive, is nowhere near as expensive as traditional banking. Especially if you're talking about shipping and storing gold (ask Germany how that's going for them). As far as normal everyday banking, that can all take place off chain. You don't need BTC level security if you're not moving millions. So for example, the various central bank digital currencies are going to provide the needed utility for everyday transactions.

[WillBrink]

Binance has the lowest fees right now, and Uphold is the only exchange left that will still sell XRP to Americans. HitBTC is to be avoided at all costs!

Never forget the cardinal rule of not investing more than you're willing to lose. When you buy crypto, just consider it gone. Some people describe it as buying an insurance policy. That said, I would say now is as good a time as any to buy. It might go lower, but it might not. If it continues its bull run, it could go well over 100k, and could be years before there's another opportunity. Now that there's institutional money and mass awareness of its four year cycle, it may not follow its previous patterns.

Whatever you do, hold your own keys. For BTC, which should really be the majority of your portfolio, Coldcard is the best. It's a steep learning curve to do it right, but I can guide you through it if you need help.

Ledger is a good overall hardware wallet for storing a variety of coins, but it's nowhere near as secure as Coldcard. But it's extremely convenient. What I do is send my coins from the exchanges to my Ledger, then from the Ledger to the Coldcard. By using a new receive address every time this also kind of launders it so it can't be easily tracked to you. That's another reason to avoid Coinbase, besides the high fees, is because they keep track of who buys what.

In terms of its long term outlook, what you have to understand about crypto right now is that its being used as a source of quick speculative income for publicly traded companies, as well as banks and hedge funds.

The way the economy is supposed to work is that banks make money lending to people, but since the economy is dead and adrift and no lending is happening, banks have turned to derivatives to make a quick buck. And the companies they're trading, like Tesla, are using crypto to make a quick buck, in place of selling products and services.

So it's all highly speculative, and built on nothing. Unless the government just starts printing gobs of money and giving it away, I don't see how it can end well. It's definitely not sustainable without ever increasing rounds of stimulus on a permanent basis, and each round will make the underlying problems worse, and make it harder to stop. So even if the government does increase stimulus payments, which doesn't seem likely based on the scuttlebutt, it's still not a sustainable solution.

That said, I do see long term value in BTC, and maybe intermediate term utility in things like Ripple. BTC is the apex predator in the entire financial system right now. Digital gold doesn't even begin to describe it. Quite frankly, I will be amazed if it doesn't become the top feeding reserve asset.

One thing to keep in mind is that BTC doesn't have to scale. What you need in a reserve level cryptocurrency is simplicity and airtight security. That comes with a proof of work model that, while expensive, is nowhere near as expensive as traditional banking. Especially if you're talking about shipping and storing gold (ask Germany how that's going for them). As far as normal everyday banking, that can all take place off chain. You don't need BTC level security if you're not moving millions. So for example, the various central bank digital currencies are going to provide the needed utility for everyday transactions.

Great intel, thanx. Will follow up on the above.