Posted on 02/01/2024 8:27:45 AM PST by Victor
Do any Freepers have experience with Crypto/Bitcoin? Anybody been scammed?
1. Fiat government currency is in the same boat - it is no longer backed by silver/gold or anything else, and value is based on the exact same criteria.
2. The vast majority of government currency is likewise 1's and 0's, (only a small % now exists in physical form of paper/cotton sheets etc.) The difference is cryptocurrency is in immutable blockchains, whereas government currency is in bank ledgers that are centralized and mutable (corruptible), needing audits to keep the system even partially honest.
3. Government currency is likewise backed by nothing - no gold, no silver, no nothing. Explain to me what "government-backed" means if they won't commit to providing _anything_ for it in a pinch?
4. Cryptocurrency value is only as good as its utility and anonymity - the same goes for government currency. When a government currency loses its utility (Zimbabwean dollars for example), nothing magically props it up.
5. Yes, crypto cuts out middle-men, once you have used them to enter into the world of cryptocurrency. It's much harder to avoid middlemen and their costs in the government fiat world.
6. Governments hate crypto because they lose control - and people hate government fiat because of the control involved. Which will prove stronger in the end? That's more an open question than one I will try to answer.
7. People not involved with cryptocurrency get hung up on crimes with cryptocurrency because that is all they see and know from the headlines. It's like judging dollars based on news reports of bank robberies. If that's all you know, naturally your perception will be skewed.
8. I agree government edicts are the greatest threat to cryptocurrency. The same could be said of a lot of things. But if governments could ban them, they would have done so (or have already tried). The recent approval of Bitcoin ETFs is, in my opinion, an indicator that we are now past that stage of risk. Billions of $ are now invested in bitcoin on Wall Street in just the last few weeks, and that will only grow over time. Any attempt to ban cryptocurrency would raise strong protest not just from fringe dissidents but from the whole range of Wall Street giants that are now in the boat with cryptocurrency. They will not willingly let that boat sink.
LOL...like with sexy/beautiful Asian women who appear out of nowhere on your social media posts..and offer seemingly intelligent business opportunities...?
It’s risky. There are no earnings, there are no fundamentals, no dividends. No stock rating companies rate Crypto stocks because there is nothing to rate. There is no reason other than greed to buy crypto, it’s just an expensive lottery ticket. You might get very lucky, or you might not.
The other problem with Crypto is that the govt will take it over if it ever becomes worthwhile. Govt hates it because it’s main use is laundering illegally made money and avoiding taxation. That indicates it’s temporary in its’ present form. Govt will take it over at some point due to those issues.
There are many easier and less risky ways to make money investing. I discovered what I think is the easiest 50 years ago (real estate) and it is still paying off for me today and I’m watching for more to buy when the timing is right, which will be soon.
I have .002% of my assets in Ethereum because it might actually have a use in facilitating transactions someday, which means it could actually earn money.
Thank you
Tulips!
Betting against government power is very risky.
Live well now because most of the USA is going to hell.
Trump entered the 2020 election with Mike Pence, who might have gotten a few votes from family members.
I scammed myself by not buying it when it was pennies.
I do know this much: it wasn’t invented by a Japanese kid in his mom’s basement.
It is a most sophisticated information system.
Oh…they are only two minutes from my house!
I’m fortunate enough not to have any money to invest, thus saving me the worries of being scammed, or losing my shirt.
just last week I had a lovely Chinese girl wanting to talk about crypto investments...
So...no women in your life!?
ROTFLOL
Yes, so did I...one of the reasons I started this thread.
Mine was an absolutely gorgeous young lady who claimed to be from Singapore...She gave the name of "Linlin"
It's mind boggling to realize that the person you're dealing with is not the person in the picture.
These are very intelligent and artful thieves. They steal entire photo albums and pretend that they are who you're looking at.
What was your experience?
“Seek an expert. If not someone like Dave Ramsey, then a professional advisor from a reputable firm like First Command.”
Good advice. Another consideration is whether Bitcoin would just be a small component of your overall investment portfolio or the main or only investment.
If someone has achieved critical mass and wishes to play around with 5% of it in Crypto that is an entirely different situation from someone who is approaching retirement and realize they haven’t saved and are viewing Bitcoin as a hail mary. Every person’s situation is different.
Good advice. Thanks.
“…EMP worries…”
Your bitcoin is only a bunch of stored electrons, isn’t it? But then so is my bank account, I guess. I can plug in to my ATM and pull out paper dollars, unless the power goes down, or the system is disrupted by an EMP. That could render both of us bankrupt!
If we are dealing with an EMP, that means someone fired off a nuke over our country.
Methinks we might have bigger things to worry about then.
I am shocked that you of all people would be buying crypto seeing how you were so adamant that we needed severe lockdowns,forced school closings and forced face masking and vaccines....but take a chance on crypto? Yee ha!!
Pretty much the same deal... “candice” clothing executive from Toronto ... via Singapore... part time investor... yadda.. yadda... she started bringing up the crypto thing and that was a bit of a boat flare.. i’d been been noticing some inconsistencies in her unrelated stories of adventure.... went to the company website ...no mention of her anywhere. she brought up the cyrto thing again.. i told her hey ....if we were sitting around face to face sucking down gin and tonic we’d talk about till dawn... she started getting indignant and condescending equal to or greater than my ex-wife... (which is saying something) ... i blocked her ...and thanks to this thread i opened a Coinbase account today and bought my first crypto (BTC) and Quickley made about 27%... we’ll see how it goes, one of my hobbies is throwing money away at stupid things.... good thing i had all that honeypot training for my SC.... i coulda been victimized hehe
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