Cryptocurrencies--too late to invest?

[Mithrandir]

But where do you actually buy one?

[Sour Masher]

But where do you actually buy one?

One of many currency exchanges, such as Coinbase. Google is your friend....I'd do a lot of independent research before I invested. I would not rely on any of us or any one source telling you which exchange/method is best. And you don't have to buy one. You can buy a small fraction of one, if like me, you can't afford a whole bitcoin.

But if you don't like Google, here is a video I found for you . It is pretty straightforward.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/07/josh...nt-bubble.html

[Mithrandir]

One of many currency exchanges, such as Coinbase. Google is your friend....I'd do a lot of independent research before I invested. I would not rely on any of us or any one source telling you which exchange/method is best. And you don't have to buy one. You can buy a small fraction of one, if like me, you can't afford a whole bitcoin.

But if you don't like Google, here is a video I found for you . It is pretty straightforward.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/07/josh...nt-bubble.html

Thanks. I have zero intention of buying any. Was just curious.

[Hornsby]

Can someone explain, simply, how bitcoin is "mined?" I read an article about a plant in China, essentially a vast server farm covering acres from the little I understand. Nobody in the article could really explain it, and the workers had NO idea what they were actually doing, save maintaining the computers. But apparently it takes MASSIVE amounts of computing power to actually "make" Bitcoin?

[Sour Masher]

Can someone explain, simply, how bitcoin is "mined?" I read an article about a plant in China, essentially a vast server farm covering acres from the little I understand. Nobody in the article could really explain it, and the workers had NO idea what they were actually doing, save maintaining the computers. But apparently it takes MASSIVE amounts of computing power to actually "make" Bitcoin?

This is a pretty clear description of it:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bitcoin-mining.asp

The processing power involved is almost all artificially created, with the goal of controlling the release of new bitcoins. It keeps going up as more people try to do it, because the system makes it harder to do to make sure new bitcoins s aren't mined too fast. Eventually, it will stop, as a cap of 21 million coins is the planned end goal. Early in when interest was low, bitcoins were much easier to mine.

In a few years, once all bitcoin has been mined, the only incentive for those verifying transactions will be fees, which seems to me a long term concern. Fees are already too high to be practical for all but high dollar transactions. Although, maybe that is what bitcoin ends up as--a store of value used for large transactions. I think other Cryptos are trying to fill the small transaction niche.

[Hornsby]

This is a pretty clear description of it:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bitcoin-mining.asp

The processing power involved is almost all artificially created, with the goal of controlling the release of new bitcoins. It keeps going up as more people try to do it, because the system makes it harder to do to make sure new bitcoins s aren't mined too fast. Eventually, it will stop, as a cap of 21 million coins is the planned end goal. Early in when interest was low, bitcoins were much easier to mine.

In a few years, once all bitcoin has been mined, the only incentive for those verifying transactions will be fees, which seems to me a long term concern. Fees are already too high to be practical for all but high dollar transactions. Although, maybe that is what bitcoin ends up as--a store of value used for large transactions. I think other Cryptos are trying to fill the small transaction niche.

Head hurts now...

I THINK that I get it...probably a little out of my wheelhouse at this stage of my life. But best of luck to all that invest in it...

[Sour Masher]

Head hurts now...

I THINK that I get it...probably a little out of my wheelhouse at this stage of my life. But best of luck to all that invest in it...

I don't know if that will ever include me, although I'll probably always lament not buying some a few Bitcoins when I first became tempted to do so, when it was under $500 a coin.

[Hornsby]

I heard an interesting BBC documentary this morning about cryptocurrency...the one main point I came away with is the enormous amounts of electricity it takes to produce bitcoin. Right now, it takes as much electricity as the country of Denmark to mine and run the system, by 2020, just a few years away, it'll take as much electricity as the entire United States uses. That's just staggering...

[Ken]

I heard an interesting BBC documentary this morning about cryptocurrency...the one main point I came away with is the enormous amounts of electricity it takes to produce bitcoin. Right now, it takes as much electricity as the country of Denmark to mine and run the system, by 2020, just a few years away, it'll take as much electricity as the entire United States uses. That's just staggering...

Exactly - and wasteful. Nothing of "value" is produced by that electricity. Which I think will be the biggest downfall of bitcoin (eventually...), it has so much of a waste component.

Although it's been a bubble that people have been predicting will burst for a while, and it is still going up!

http://www.commitstrip.com/en/2017/12/06/christmas-bitcoin/

[Sour Masher]

Yeah, the amount of electricity is absurdly wasteful and unnecessary. The actual work of verifying translations is minimal. All the extra processing power just to slow the mining process is a huge waste and flaw. Bitcoin is becoming one of the worst things to happen to the environment this century. So etching has to give. Either prices have to crash so incentive to mine goes down and therefore less competition and effort goes into it, or governments are going to have to step in to regulate.

[Hornsby]

Exactly - and wasteful. Nothing of "value" is produced by that electricity. Which I think will be the biggest downfall of bitcoin (eventually...), it has so much of a waste component.

Although it's been a bubble that people have been predicting will burst for a while, and it is still going up!

http://www.commitstrip.com/en/2017/1...stmas-bitcoin/

To your point about a possible bubble...roughly 1000 people own about 40% of all the bitcoin in existence. If more than a couple of them decide they want to cash in on the current price...

Holders of large amounts of bitcoin are often known as whales. And they’re becoming a worry for investors. They can send prices plummeting by selling even a portion of their holdings. And those sales are more probable now that the cryptocurrency is up nearly twelvefold from the beginning of the year.

About 40 percent of bitcoin is held by perhaps 1,000 users; at current prices, each may want to sell about half of his or her holdings, says Aaron Brown, former managing director and head of financial markets research at AQR Capital Management. (Brown is a contributor to the Bloomberg Prophets online column.) What’s more, the whales can coordinate their moves or preview them to a select few. Many of the large owners have known one another for years and stuck by bitcoin through the early days when it was derided, and they can potentially band together to tank or prop up the market.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-08/the-bitcoin-whales-1-000-people-who-own-40-percent-of-the-market

[gcstomp]

To be fair, regarding wealth distribution. We read earlier this year that richest 8 people in world own more than bottom 50 percent of planets pop.

[Hornsby]

To be fair, regarding wealth distribution. We read earlier this year that richest 8 people in world own more than bottom 50 percent of planets pop.

True, but the traditional finance systems are regulated pretty well, whereas I understand Bitcoin really has no regulation from any government agency...

[Fresno Bob]

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.

I get that people have pulled up to a couple of hundred grand out, but I'm looking for the $40M monitization people, have not run into one of those yet

[revo]

Bitcoin was at $20k on Sunday, and plunged to just around $11k this morning before rebounding to around $14k.