Official cryptocurrency thread (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Altcoin)

[RED-DOG]

XRP somewhat off the $2-3 target for year end, wonder what happened ?

XRP isn't a cryptocurrency. If I'm being brutally honest its totally worthless. Lots of people see 'the partnerships' 'the banks using ripple', yeah cool.... now tell me more about why XRP has value.

Didnt know that as dont know anything about crypto obvs. Just saw it discussed here so brought it up again to be hilarious

Centralised token which has no Blockchain and is worthless. Rode the ‘crypto hype’ by recruiting/building a big fan base of people who blindly shill it

I think he missed the hilarious bit.....

Well it’s obviouslt tanked since it was discussed.. didn’t realise rubbing someone down for losing money was hilarious

Ah, have to disagree on that, it definitely is

Sorry, I misinterpreted what you meant, I'm overly sensitive when it comes to potential mental health issue triggers. I've seen what can happen first hand.

I agree a $100bn is an absurd MC (especially when its worth exactly 0).

Meaning somebody losing money btw, I didn't mean I was triggered 

I'm genuinely glad to hear that. I'm a slightly told you so, minor troll but no desire to cause offence to people

In this case he's a miner troll.

[youthnkzR]

lol

[youthnkzR]

XRP somewhat off the $2-3 target for year end, wonder what happened ?

XRP isn't a cryptocurrency. If I'm being brutally honest its totally worthless. Lots of people see 'the partnerships' 'the banks using ripple', yeah cool.... now tell me more about why XRP has value.

Didnt know that as dont know anything about crypto obvs. Just saw it discussed here so brought it up again to be hilarious

Centralised token which has no Blockchain and is worthless. Rode the ‘crypto hype’ by recruiting/building a big fan base of people who blindly shill it

I think he missed the hilarious bit.....

Well it’s obviouslt tanked since it was discussed.. didn’t realise rubbing someone down for losing money was hilarious

Ah, have to disagree on that, it definitely is

Sorry, I misinterpreted what you meant, I'm overly sensitive when it comes to potential mental health issue triggers. I've seen what can happen first hand.

I agree a $100bn is an absurd MC (especially when its worth exactly 0).

Meaning somebody losing money btw, I didn't mean I was triggered 

I'm genuinely glad to hear that. I'm a slightly told you so, minor troll but no desire to cause offence to people

Happy to hear it, I'm just used to Crypto twitter... Its pretty toxic. Some people genuinely seem to get a kick out of others having lost fortunes. Sad to see.

[Longines]

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/11/26/ohio_bitcoin_taxes/

Seeing as Bitcoin is going so, so well, Ohio becomes first US state to take biz taxes in BTC

[Royal Flush]

This thread is great, just caught up on the last 3 months.

Where do people actually generate these 'predictions' for a coins value by a certain date?? I mean obviously just numbers plucked from the sky but how do they justify to themselves?

I remember when I first looked at BTC in Feb 2013, loved the concept, loved the technology. Couldn't see it as any value at $26 a coin can't fathom how there is any value in it now especially as EvilPie pointed out all the complete idiots have now been bitten, all that's left now are the purists, how is there going to buy any huge buying volume again?

I'm reminded of a saying my father was very fond of "When taxi drivers are giving stock tips, the market is over valued" I know a taxi driver who bought 2 BTC in December last year. Has all but crushed his life savings. Where do people think the next wave of blind 'investors' are coming from?

[SuperJez]

This thread is great, just caught up on the last 3 months.

Where do people actually generate these 'predictions' for a coins value by a certain date?? I mean obviously just numbers plucked from the sky but how do they justify to themselves?

I remember when I first looked at BTC in Feb 2013, loved the concept, loved the technology. Couldn't see it as any value at $26 a coin can't fathom how there is any value in it now especially as EvilPie pointed out all the complete idiots have now been bitten, all that's left now are the purists, how is there going to buy any huge buying volume again?

The predictions for price are indeed hilarious.  Nobody can place an accurate value on a bitcoin.  The problem is it is the price that generates headlines and all that the vast majority of people  care about.  Hence an endless procession of "experts" who make predictions.  Anyone who says its going to $100k is giving awful advice to people and should not be saying that.  But equally saying that bitcoin is "overvalued" is just as ridiculous.  Nobody that claims it is "overvalued" can accurately state what the true value is, it is just arrogant grandstanding.  Time and time again both sides are proven wrong.

What actually matters is does bitcoin have value to the world?  Can it be banned and shut down?  What I see usually intelligent people do, the types who have invested properly in stocks and shares for their retirements, is dismiss the first question and answer "No it has no value".  Because firstly it does not generate profits/dividends like holding Apple shares and secondly you have to spend time getting your head around some very confusing technology to understand where the value is coming from.  You also have to ignore the reams of tabloid drivel and scaremongering written on the subject.  What you have with bitcoin is a store of value that no central authority controls (so nobody can manipulate for their own gain),  the removal of fraud and corruption, and financial inclusion for everyone.  It is actually quite staggering and I can't even begin to understand the full potential.   Simply having the most verifiable transaction ledger on the planet is huge.  Nobody can alter it fraudulently.  All transactions are publically visible and can be traced from beginning to end easily.  Does that make it a good system to move criminal money though?  Of course it doesn't, but tabloid drivel feeds peoples minds.

Nobody can accurately say what the price of a bitcoin is but it definitely has real value.  Who knows what happens from here though.

[RickBFA]

This thread is great, just caught up on the last 3 months.

Where do people actually generate these 'predictions' for a coins value by a certain date?? I mean obviously just numbers plucked from the sky but how do they justify to themselves?

I remember when I first looked at BTC in Feb 2013, loved the concept, loved the technology. Couldn't see it as any value at $26 a coin can't fathom how there is any value in it now especially as EvilPie pointed out all the complete idiots have now been bitten, all that's left now are the purists, how is there going to buy any huge buying volume again?

The predictions for price are indeed hilarious.  Nobody can place an accurate value on a bitcoin.  The problem is it is the price that generates headlines and all that the vast majority of people  care about.  Hence an endless procession of "experts" who make predictions.  Anyone who says its going to $100k is giving awful advice to people and should not be saying that.  But equally saying that bitcoin is "overvalued" is just as ridiculous.  Nobody that claims it is "overvalued" can accurately state what the true value is, it is just arrogant grandstanding.  Time and time again both sides are proven wrong.

What actually matters is does bitcoin have value to the world?  Can it be banned and shut down?  What I see usually intelligent people do, the types who have invested properly in stocks and shares for their retirements, is dismiss the first question and answer "No it has no value".  Because firstly it does not generate profits/dividends like holding Apple shares and secondly you have to spend time getting your head around some very confusing technology to understand where the value is coming from.  You also have to ignore the reams of tabloid drivel and scaremongering written on the subject.  What you have with bitcoin is a store of value that no central authority controls (so nobody can manipulate for their own gain),  the removal of fraud and corruption, and financial inclusion for everyone.  It is actually quite staggering and I can't even begin to understand the full potential.   Simply having the most verifiable transaction ledger on the planet is huge.  Nobody can alter it fraudulently.  All transactions are publically visible and can be traced from beginning to end easily.  Does that make it a good system to move criminal money though?  Of course it doesn't, but tabloid drivel feeds peoples minds.

Nobody can accurately say what the price of a bitcoin is but it definitely has real value.  Who knows what happens from here though.

I suppose the real value of Bitcoin will be decided by the markets over the next few years. The problem is that it is being used primarily as a tool for speculators.

No one I know has really bought it for any practical purpose other than pure speculation. That's a dangerous and unsustainable position if that's all its used for.

If it has a real value and long term practical use it will establish a more stable position. I appreciate that all commodities/currencies will be used for speculation but their historical intrinsic value and usefulness is much clearer than Bitcoin has become yet.

I still think it will tank to almost no value but I'm a Luddite old fart.

[Pokerpops]

I don’t see any truth in the idea that ‘nobody can manipulate bitcoin for their own gain’

Given that the value selling price is based on little more than a market mechanism that matches buyers and sellers it seems to me that it could be pretty easy to manipulate.
A flurry of positive news reports drives the price up, and negative opinions drive it down.

[SuperJez]

I don’t see any truth in the idea that ‘nobody can manipulate bitcoin for their own gain’

Given that the value selling price is based on little more than a market mechanism that matches buyers and sellers it seems to me that it could be pretty easy to manipulate.
A flurry of positive news reports drives the price up, and negative opinions drive it down.

When I said bitcoin cannot be manipulated for someones gain I meant the actual way it works.  Nobody can alter the ledger, Nobody can stop you sending it anywhere, Nobody can stop it being available only to certain countries, Nobody can make fakes, Nobody gets to decide if you are allowed a bitcoin address or not, Nobody can just decide to print loads for their own gain, etc etc etc.

The actual price is of course very open to manipulation and lurches about in an extreme volatile manner.  This is true of any asset really.  If the head of Amazon payments made a statement tomororow that Amazon would start accepting BTC as payment in 2019 then the price would rocket for a while even if it was true or not.  A whale selling several coins at once could cause a substantial price drop.  This is very early days for bitcoin and this sort of stuff will go on for a long time yet.

[Jon MW]

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/11/30/blockchain_study_finds_0_per_cent_success_rate/


Similarly to what I suggested before - however clever blockchain is, it needs to either be able to do something that nothing else can do or it needs to be able to do it better than what is currently available.

Is there any evidence elsewhere of blockchain being meaningfully useful to people?

[youthnkzR]

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/11/30/blockchain_study_finds_0_per_cent_success_rate/


Similarly to what I suggested before - however clever blockchain is, it needs to either be able to do something that nothing else can do or it needs to be able to do it better than what is currently available.

Is there any evidence elsewhere of blockchain being meaningfully useful to people?

It can. It is.

[Karabiner]

If the Dow keeps plunging will crypto be seen as a safe haven?

[nirvana]

If the Dow keeps plunging will crypto be seen as a safe haven?

Not quite yet..and to expand, in the last 30 days it looks like gold went up a moderate 1% or so.

In the same period Btc halved in value - yes that's halved from a price of $6500 on 7th Nov to $3250 or so as we speak.

Don't know what comes after a bloodbath but still some excellent headlines:

'Bitcoin price analysis (oxymoron); Why are buyers so afraid to commit ?'  Should have asked me

[Pokerpops]

it’s not just Bitcoin that is losing value

https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/spankchain/

[youthnkzR]

it’s not just Bitcoin that is losing value

https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/spankchain/

It's almost like people have realized they don't have to pay for porn!