Is Bitcoin the Next Big Thing?

[markb]

For people who have bought ripple, whats the best way of buying ripple from the UK? Its says on their website about using gatehub, and which wallet would people recommend?

 

[boxerdog]

I`m holding on to some Ripple and Monero, probably going to grab some more Ripple later on today just watching to see if it goes down to 0.19

 

[markb]

I`m holding on to some Ripple and Monero, probably going to grab some more Ripple later on today just watching to see if it goes down to 0.19

Hi, what wallet do you use and where do you buy them from?

 

[dee]

Hi, what wallet do you use and where do you buy them from?

I'm on Etoro.... which I regret. I should have just got a wallet. Nano ledger is supposed to be good and its hardware. Check it'll store ripple though

 

[boxerdog]

I use Toast wallet for Ripple

 

[websaway]

Wow todays high above $15000. I hang my head in shame because even if I was right two years ago when I saw this as a Ponzi scheme, many ordinary people have made mega money by not listening to my opinion, so to those people I say, I always take responsibility for my views, I don't believe in spinning things to justify when one is wrong, I don't believe in being so technical that you hedge your bets on being wright or wrong or not so wrong when you are wrong. Good luck to those who were in at the outset and enjoy.

 

[Admin]

Ive been with Revolut for years. Love how they introduced an instant bank account Uk and european this year. Today they launch easy buying and holding of crypto...its stuff like this which helps mass adoption. Bitcoin might not be the cheap virtual currency of its dreams but it will be a peer to peer store of wealth. With lightning network progress this week, it might be the transactional dream too..

https://blog.revolut.com/revolut-launches-easiest-fastest-way-to-buy-cryptocurrencies/

 

[markb]

Ive created an account on gatehub but I think I have to wait several days before it gets approved. I've also tried to buy via cryptomate but it never gets as far as finding a vendor to buy the XRP coins from. Not sure if its an issue with their site or not.

 

[TinkyWinky]

Ive created an account on gatehub but I think I have to wait several days before it gets approved. I've also tried to buy via cryptomate but it never gets as far as finding a vendor to buy the XRP coins from. Not sure if its an issue with their site or not.

Same here - a few days!!! Have done a small bit of research as IMHO it has definite long term benefits due to it's transaction speed ... plus it already has some quite well recognised banks on board like Santander. Quite frustrated i have to wait days...

Is it then a purchase in US$ or BTC only to buy ripple?

Also seems from limited time to research, the price is taking a battering doe to founder 'dumping' his 8bn 'coins', plus the inherent volume of 100bn units out there could prevent this from doing a bitcoin in the short term... will keep price quite low so plenty of upside perhaps - especially if the BTC bubble goes pop.

 

[dog]

I'll invest in Cannabis and Blockchain.

http://ganjalink.com/34129969/what-are-blockchains-and-how-will-they-revolutionize-cannabis

 

[Edwin]

Also seems from limited time to research, the price is taking a battering doe to founder 'dumping' his 8bn 'coins', plus the inherent volume of 100bn units out there could prevent this from doing a bitcoin in the short term... will keep price quite low so plenty of upside perhaps - especially if the BTC bubble goes pop.

If the BTC bubble really does pop (as in "South Sea"/"Tulip" level popping i.e. dropping rapidly to an immeasurably low value) then why would any other cryptocurrency hold any value at all?

I still think the whole thing's a pyramid scheme, but it's only human to think "if only I'd bought a few Bitcoin when I first started reading about it..."

And of course it doesn't matter what it is so long as you're in and out again before reality catches up.

Ah, c'est la vie!

 

[Edwin]

BTW, I throw this out purely as a thought experiment and conversation prompt: What do you think would happen to Bitcoin's price and prospects if the Winklevoss twins decided they'd rather like to have their $1 billion plus haul of BTC in "real money" (e.g. because they believe they've called the top of the market) and start selling like crazy (with $1 billion worth you'd pretty much have to sell like crazy to have any hope of realising a decent slice of the money).

 

[mat]

Everyone and their Grandma is now buying £20 of bitcoin so that they can make £4 profit and cash out, makes me laugh.

 

[domainseller200]

I love Bitcoin and how it has exploded, and I have never even bought any or owned any - which is something which I am actually glad of.

Why?

Imagine buying 500 @ $2 each in December 2011 and then selling them for $25 each in February 2013 and you made $11,500 profit - at the time you would be elated and think you done very well. Today those same Bitcoins would be worth over 600x more and $8,000,000 and I imagine you would be feeling you sold at the wrong time and beat yourself up for the rest of your life for it.

The problem with hindsight is it is always 20/20, and me personally would rather not have been involved in something altogether than beat myself up over selling WAY too early.

There are so many people walking around saying "I wish I had bought Bitcoin back when they were $1, as I would be a multi millionaire now" when in all reality they are kicking themselves about a situation which never really would have happened, as 99.9% of people would have sold LONG before they hit anywhere near today's values, but they base their regret on not buying them on today's knowledge and therefore a false scenario.

I feel the only people who have made GENUINE huge returns from Bitcoin are the people who literally had 1000+ back in the early days and have held on for the long term. Of course, I still think there is still money to be made on Bitcoin except the risk is far higher and the startup cost vs. potential reward is a risk which is now 16,000 greater and has a much higher barrier to entry.

Love reading the posts and the excitement though, and well done to anyone who has made some good money from it

 

[Edwin]

Interestingly, my wife and I had an almost identical conversation about two hours ago. We concluded that we would never have been willing to "tough it out" to anything like the current level even if we had a few Bitcoin, so we would have made a nice little profit (perhaps) but would also be kicking ourselves until our shins were blue today.

Whereas this way there's no bruising around my ankles at all, even though I'm a bit poorer...

 

[boxerdog]

https://www.theguardian.com/technol...en-hack-attack-marketplace-nicehash-passwords

 

[TinkyWinky]

If the BTC bubble really does pop (as in "South Sea"/"Tulip" level popping i.e. dropping rapidly to an immeasurably low value) then why would any other cryptocurrency hold any value at all?

I was thinking also about the blockchain use... Ripple has very fast transaction times as a payment system, so is wanting to be the future "payment system of choice" shoudl crypto statr to undermine FIAT currencies.

IMHO I think most of the value of Bitcoin relies on 3 things...

Availability (max of 21 million of which only about 16m have been mined - therefore supply and demand massively driving up prices)
Desirablity (everyone has gone nuts & media & first mover)
It's Value (rising value is encouraging more and more to jump in to "make their millions")

You are right that if Bitcoin pops all may pop - but if institutions have started to realise the potential and are looking at things like Ripple - then it could be worth a small punt for the longer term.

 

[Edwin]

BTW, if you're wondering why central banks are getting sweaty over Bitcoin, it could be partly down to the fact that it's now "worth" over 0.1% of all the wealth in the world.
https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/03/combined-wealth-world.html
https://www.coindesk.com/price/

In other words, 1 in every 1,000 $ of wealth is now in Bitcoin, globally. Take a second to absorb that, really internalise it.

It's (probably) exhilarating if you're holding Bitcoin.

But it's pant-wettingly awful if you're a central bank or financial regulator because the Bitcoin being bought now are being bought with "real" money (which presumably has to come from somewhere, e.g. by liquidating stock positions or other investments, depleting cash in the bank etc.). And if Bitcoin drops to zero all that money is really, genuinely, irrevocably lost.

I expect it's going to be like the Icelandic crash all over again - it will turn out that charities and pension funds and other entities which really really should know better have invested in Bitcoin, and are instantly insolvent.

 

[Edwin]

You are right that if Bitcoin pops all may pop - but if institutions have started to realise the potential and are looking at things like Ripple - then it could be worth a small punt for the longer term.

True. However if the $267,000,000,000 of Bitcoin value goes up in smoke it's very hard to imagine small investors will have any appetite for Ripple or any other cryptocurrency/blockchain play, no matter how useful it might be. That doesn't stop developers working on it, or companies incorporating it into new business models. But for it to see a major ramp-up, you absolutely have to have the average "bod in the street" piling in, and if Bitcoin flames out that won't happen.

Of course, if companies behind other blockchain plays make a huge business out of whatever service they're using that particular blockchain variant to underpin, then those companies may end up being worth a lot (just like eBay, Amazon, Google etc. are very valuable companies). But that's still one to several orders of magnitude less than the cryptocurrency inflation itself.

 

[Edwin]

This is the kind of situation in which Bitcoin starts getting really scary...
https://www.coindesk.com/futures-industry-association-blasts-new-bitcoin-derivatives/

Basically, regulation hasn't caught up yet, so if there's a global Bitcoin crash all sorts of people will be left holding the can who realistically shouldn't. There could be untold repercussions (probably like the global financial crisis of 2008) while some of the entities that should be punished won't be because of the magic "too big to fail" mantra.