I have been following this stuff since Bitcoin was $4. I was an executive in a pretty large bank. I understand how “money” works. After a few years I became pretty jaded.
The thing I found appealing about bitcoin was the prospect of being able to move money from point A to point B without having to hand over a chunk of every transaction to some institution. I also found the inability to inflate the “count” of units at a whim.
I find it frustrating to see the “investment” gurus try to stick the entire crypto universe into a single pigeon hole. They try to apply standard investment standards to something that isn’t an investment—but rather a tool. Its like wondering why a shovel isn’t a good investment based on their standards.
Are there scams in the process? Absolutely. Are there “greater fools?” Yes.
And the crap about the power usage has been debunked many times over—yet it persists.
I have never advocated anyone buying any crypto. I pared my holdings significantly a year ago. These “crypto winters” are pretty standard over the past 9 years. Will it go back to its peaks? I have no idea.
What I do know is that the blockchain technology will be integrated in a lot of day to day things because it is simple, immutable, and transparent. If people want transparency in their governments, moving the budgets, payments, and tracking to a block chain would achieve much. We would be able to see where every penny was spent. THAT would rattle some cages.
Buy it, or don’t buy it. Its not about an investment. Its about the technology and process. It’s not only coming to a future system...its being integrated today.
I have been following bitcoin since it was $500. I have not bought any, and this point, I don't intend to.
I do have some comments/questions that maybe you can respond to.
Coinbase is an American publicly traded company that operates a cryptocurrency exchange platform. So, if I wanted to buy or sell Bitcoins, I could do that by going through Coinbase?
Here's my question...If I were to sell $600 worth of Bitcoins through an exchange like Coinbase, would they then issue a 1099K to me and the IRS?
I believe they will issue a 1099k. I also believe this will create turmoil in the entire crypto industry as the IRS will now have insight to any crypto account that converts crypto to cash greater than $600 per year.
What's your take?