Cryptocurrency / Bought my first
 

Because they can do it with zero objection, governments print money to pay their debts.

Other countries are currently detaching the US dollar from the Petro Dollar. The "air", so to speak, is being slowly let out of the US dollar. It and other fiat currencies are growing more worthless daily.

The USA prints $$$ to fund its endless wars. That alone is disgusting.

Compared to the COMBINED top ten military spenders, the USA spends 8x as much $$$.

The USA fights countries that can NOT fight back. That's cowardly. The USA is the "school yard bully".

Anyways, two days ago, I just bought 5 Ethereum coins at $358 each.

Bitcoin is currently at US$8,000+ per coin.

Bitcoin is having technical problems with transactions taking a lot of time to close. Nonetheless, pundits feel Bitcoin will go to US$500,000 each by 2020.

Two pundits feel Ethereum will surpass the Bitcoin's value, because of technical differences too difficult to describe here.

Anyone else into crytos? How long? And, if you don't mind, how invested?

Cryptocurrency is the realm of organised crime, Russian oligarchs and others with money to hide. Good luck to you.

I have a few pounds of silver. If cryptocurrency is a promissory note then they are waaaaayyyyyyyy late to the game. I did find a 1799 US penny at an antique shop, so corroded the date was not legibile, some 2000 grit and oil and it became visible. So rare a MS 61 example, the only mint state ever found, sold for just under a million dollars of useless fiat currency. Mine should be worth around $3K, not bad for 15 bucks.

I was always told cleaning coins devalues them significantly. We found a coin from 1565 in our garden, was pretty cool, couldn't see the king or Queens Head, but could clearly see the date and a shield on the face (similar to one below) Wasn't worth much, although my dad had a collection of roman coins from a few thousand years ago, they were pretty neat.

Don't invest in much myself, this year it's been my social life, the return being hysterical memories and deep friendships that will last a lifetime. Worth every penny ;)

https://www.leodishammeredcoins.co.uk...2561-L7854.jpg

It was sold for $15 with date listed as "unidentifiable" (1796-1807). It's value in that condition was what I paid for it. What I did, to a very corroded-dug up from the ground after 100 years or so coin, made the date readable which determines the value based on the visible date, regardless of condition, the 1799 penny is considered the rarest of the rare.

https://www.pcgscoinfacts.com/Coin/Detail/1443

Back in 2012 I was thinking about investing in Bitcoin when it was worth the same as one dollar, but I invested in potash mining instead. Potash mining didn't change much in value and I even lost some money when I sold my shares, but if I had invested in Bitcoin instead then I would be a millionaire by now. I'm still thinking about buying some Bitcoin, I think it will replace all currency eventually. I heard great things about Darknet, but I never been on it yet; there is also a lot of illegal activity going on that is not traceable. In the beginning it was mainly Russians that used Bitcoin on Darknet, which gave the digital currency a bad name.

I believe that paper money became worthless when they started putting "legal tender" on it; and the governments printing more money and manipulating the market like China doesn't help it either. Bitcoin isn't perfect either, every transaction ever done has to be stored as data, which takes a huge amount of processing power and storage space as time goes on; but at least there is no inflation with Bitcoin. I think it's still the future and eventually it will replace the current paper money system.

I think some sort of digital currency will be the future of commerce, but a regulated system. As it is at the moment, anyone can start a digital currency.

VERY cool! I'm so happy for you, Gary! SCORE!

Where/how do you invest?

Paul, on a podcast, I heard about someone that gives away Roman coins as a conversation starter, so to speak. Why aren't these coins worth a lot?

Bought Ethereum at US$358 per coin four days ago. It's now US$420.

That's it! I'm selling my sports car, which I drive so infrequently, to buy more coins.

Who knows Doug, probably because they're so common, those damn Romans got about a bit. You can get about 60 assorted coins for around $15 on eBay, ancient stuff is cool, but rare ancient stuff is valuable. Occasionally someone will stumble across a pot of Norman gold coins worth a few million here, now that stuff is worth a bit!

Something about bitcoin and others just doesn't click. Despite having listened to multiple podcasts and done some reading, I don't really get how it works, what gives it value, etc. Usually at this point I'd feel like I have a decent handle on whatever I'm studying.

What gives cryptocurrency value? I had a problem wrapping my head around THAT question, too. Afterall, it's just ones and zeros. You can't hold it!

Someone later explained it like this...Consensus is what gives gold, artwork, and paper money their value. For example, a $100 bill means something to you and me. That same $100 bill is valueless to an aborigine. But, if you could explain to the aborigine that that $100 could be traded for a fishing net, then that $100 suddenly has value.

You may have a warm, fuzzy feeling holding your ATM card, but it's just an embossed piece of plastic. Without that card, if you could recite the card numbers, you could STILL buy stuff over the internet.

Think of cryptocurrency like an ATM card, so to speak; an ATM card that gathers interest.

Try these explanations about cryptocurrency value.

https://www.google.com/search?q=what...hrome&ie=UTF-8

My passing knowledge on cryptocurrency is that it has to be "mined" by a computer spending processor cycles to break the code the currency is based on. There is a finite limit on how many coins can be mined for each currency.

With a few old computers lying around, I though giving mining a try, but have other projects to do.

Don't bother, Trollbait. Computers are now being sold specifically for mining. The cost of electricity with a "typical" computer may cost more than the crypto credit you mine.

Keyword search YouTube for more info from far more knowledgeable people.

One YouTuber said you'll make $$$ faster BUYING cryptos than by buying a mining rig.

I trust that paper cash ended up plainly useless when they began putting "legitimate delicate" on it; the legislatures printing more cash and controlling the market like China doesn't resist either.
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The whole planet is going to hell, Ken.

And, welcome to the club!

That was what I figured. Only worthwhile if I also had some PV panels lying around doing nothing.

Yep. Solar panels would be ideal.

The professional miners are using SO much electricity that they have to add air conditioning to their electric bill, too.

ChewChewTrain, how is the cryptocurrency fairing?

hahaha!!! Yep. It's been most exciting times!

Despite this crash, which is STILL continuing, I'm STILL comfortably in the red.

I made a series of good moves at the right time; some luck and some due to amazing Technical Analysis advice offered by a YouTuber with 20+ years of stock market experience. He's SO good, he predicted a recent Bitcoin low to within $95 when the coin was still trading at 27% higher.

I began playing the crypto coin game on Nov 19th, a little short of 90 days ago. I have zero stock market experience/knowledge, too.

In my short time, two things I've learned... When holding cash patience is your best friend and a saying from Warren Buffet. "Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful."

Have you or know others that have bought crypto?

No, not me. The reason I asked, is some of the British banks are banning customers from using their credit cards for buying them.
When I worked for Lexmark we were all given stock options. When we were permitted to sell, everyone I knew took their profits. I decided to hang on to mine, and eventually they were worth less than the price they were at when we got them, so I got nothing. C'est la vie.

Yeah. The banks are probably trying to keep people from putting themselves at risk. I've heard online stories of people taking out bank loans on their homes to buy crypto. OUCH!

You may not be able to buy crypto directly from an exchange with a credit card, but you can probably still take a cash advance on the card the bank will not be any wiser.

I'm still investing heavily in my social life, you're only young once. Maybe when I'm old, I'll think about the future, but for now, I just want to live for today.