Cryptocurrencies--too late to invest?

[Sour Masher]

I wanted to get thoughts on the wisdom of investing in any cryptocurrencies at that moment. I believe strongly that the whole market is in a bubble right now, but as Bitcoin continues to rise to insane values, and other cryptocurrencies are also bringing in a ton of speculative cash, I am getting increasingly edgy sitting on the sidelines, as all that potential profit shoots on by (I was tempted to buy a bitcoin when it was under $500, and I'm obviously sorry I did not--I only gave up because it was a hassle to use paypal funds to do it). So, what do others think? Is it too late to put a little money in cryptocurrencies, and which one would you invest in, or have invested in? Or will this bubble keep growing for awhile before it bursts? Or maybe it isn't a bubble at all? Interested in thoughts and stories from anyone who has invested.

Some background--I've never had the financial ability to casually invest in anything. All of my current investments are in the form of 401ks. I don't have much in the way of disposal funds to gamble with now, but I do have $1,000 left from winning both my baseball leagues last year. That is the level of investment I'm talking about, as that is all I have that I can lose and not be put out by. That doesn't buy me even 1/10 of a bitcoin at current prices, but I could buy 10 litecoins, or some etherium, or some other cryptocurrency. Should I, and if so, which one?

[gcstomp]

bitcoin is a sore point with me, as i kick myself about 10 times a day. I went thru the hassle of opening an account on coinbase, jumping thru all their hoops. Basically you start with tiny deposit/withdrawal limits, then as your account grows you get higher limits but they put more verification processes for you to go thru. In any case, in just a couple years I had a small position in bitcoin, and later some ethereum, make roughly 1000% profit. I closed account, the profit allowed me to buy into a nice house in Boca Raton. I thought I was fricken brilliant as I sold at what everyone was saying was an overblown top at 1k per coin. It is now at 11k+ and I weep internally every few hours about it.

as to is it too late? blockchain tech is in its infancy, crypto currency in some form will imo replace fiat currency as stores of value in our lifetimes. I do not think it will be the current incarnation that will be the winner, as bitcoin does not allow transaction velocity that ethereum can handle. but what do i know, i blew my big chance, and I now mumble to myself like a madman over my 2nd big home run I let get away. (I also invested in AMZN early on, took what I thought was great profit, and have since lamented the giant that is Amazon eat everything in its path.)

[gcstomp]

Wel over 13k now. Sob. Did you invest a day ago when you started thread? You are now up double digit percent profit. Sob.

[Sour Masher]

I did not. I wanted to buy a little iota or ripple, but discovered the process complicated. It appears I have to buy bitcoin first and then use that to buy the currencies I actually want to buy. I do not know why getting on an e xchange and using credit or USD is so difficult to buy the currencies I am interested in, but it is off putting. I don't want bitcoin right now as I fear a correction could occur at any time. Obviously, I should have just put my little 1k in bitcoin, in hindsight. I'd be up over $100 in just a day. It is over 14k now.

I might jump in to bitcoin for a bit, but I will wait for what I think is an inevitable correction. If it drops a couple of thousand tomorrow, I might throw my 1k into it right after that. It is harder for me because my wife doesn't want me investing our limited savings at the moment, especially on something so speculatve, so my only free role money is the 1k I have in PayPal in baseball winnings. I might win my football league too, so then I'd have 1700 to gamble. But PayPal bans the buying of Cryptos, so I'll have to use credit or debit, and transfer my winnings from PayPal to our checking account to cover it.

[madducks]

Apparently, bitcoins are easy for hackers to steal:

Hackers have carried out a heist on a leading digital currency platform, making off with an unspecific amount of bitcoin.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/07/tech...ing/index.html
"The cyber heist is yet another reminder about the vulnerability of some digital currency platforms.

Bitfinex, a Hong Kong-based bitcoin exchange, was briefly shut down last year after hackers stole nearly 120,000 bitcoins -- worth more than $65 million at the time.

The year before, cyber thieves made off with about 19,000 bitcoins after breaking into European exchange Bitstamp.

Cybersecurity firm FireEye warned recently that North Korean hackers are stepping up their attempts to steal bitcoin in order to support Kim Jong Un's authoritarian regime."

[gcstomp]

Geez, broke thru 17 k per coin briefly. From 2 days ago, you would be up from 11 k about 50 percent. Ytd 1600 percent. Or most mind boggling, 1000 us dollars invested in 2010, now over 40 million dollars.

[Ken]

Important barrier has been reached with the price though - some retail markets are rejecting Bitcoins now because the transaction costs are too high. If this trend continues I would expect the price to come back down.

[Sour Masher]

Important barrier has been reached with the price though - some retail markets are rejecting Bitcoins now because the transaction costs are too high. If this trend continues I would expect the price to come back down.

Yeah, I saw that. Steam pulled it, because they said costs rose from 20 cents to $20. But none of this seems to be slowing Bitcoin yet. The price of Bitcoin has DOUBLED in just the last two weeks. This isn't the first time I've regretted not getting in on this bubble. I'm confident the price will deflate at some point, but who knows when that will be?

[Sour Masher]

Geez, broke thru 17 k per coin briefly. From 2 days ago, you would be up from 11 k about 50 percent. Ytd 1600 percent. Or most mind boggling, 1000 us dollars invested in 2010, now over 40 million dollars.

I remember that story of the million dollar pizza a couple of years ago. Some guy used 10k bitcoin to buy a pizza early on, when it wasn't worth much. That pizza now costs over $160 million.

[gcstomp]

In the fortune favors the bold deptartment, it is estimated there are as many as 200 new billionaires from bitcoin. Among them, the winklevoss twins, who famously sued Mark zuckerberg over creation of Facebook. Good for them, they kept hitting for the fences.

[Mithrandir]

Geez, broke thru 17 k per coin briefly. From 2 days ago, you would be up from 11 k about 50 percent. Ytd 1600 percent. Or most mind boggling, 1000 us dollars invested in 2010, now over 40 million dollars.

Is that real money? This shit is soooo confusing.

[Mithrandir]

Yeah, I saw that. Steam pulled it, because they said costs rose from 20 cents to $20. But none of this seems to be slowing Bitcoin yet. The price of Bitcoin has DOUBLED in just the last two weeks. This isn't the first time I've regretted not getting in on this bubble. I'm confident the price will deflate at some point, but who knows when that will be?

Where and how do you even buy this Bitcoin stuff?

[Sour Masher]

Is that real money? This shit is soooo confusing.

It is real money in the sense that it would take that much in USD to buy one right now, and that is about how much you'd get back if you had one and sold it. This happens on exchanges. There are many where cryptocurrencies are bought and sold. Bitcoin is the king of them all, and the easiest to buy. You can buy fractions of bitcoin, so you can invest whatever you want to. I have not invested anything, as I keep thinking I'm too late. If it was easy to buy a couple of the cheaper ones (some only cost a few bucks or less a piece still, and to me, that represents more upside), I'd speculate for a few hundred right now, but the ones I want can only be bought with bitcoin, which is annoying.

[Fresno Bob]

I live in SF, and know of no one, NO ONE, that has cashed out multi-millions yet of bitcoin......seems really frakking fishy to me

[gcstomp]

bob, fishy as in you think there actually arent billions of dollars being traded every day on exchanges? as i said, i screwed up, sold way too early, but i did cash out a position that helped me out a bit to buy the roof right above me where i am sitting this second. and i am literally the very smallest of small fish among a circle of dozens of people I know, who have positions they hold today, some who have sold off fractions of those positions to buy very real metal boxes with wheels they drive to work, or enabled them to take exotic trips. i dont know anyone who made enough to retire on, but there are real people who have made real dollars. this isnt a big truman show just for the camera thing.

as far as if its a massive bubble that will pop and leave btc worthless and people destroyed, it may be that for sure.