Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies in general, NFTs etc.

[Gavin Chipper]

What do you think of these? I'd been thinking of making this topic for a while and was considering doing it today anyway and then I saw a post on Facebook by someone who posts on here (who can come forwards if they want) saying that it's all over, so I thought now would be the time for this thread.

I should mention at the start that I have dabbled in the cryptos myself. Some people think that cryptos are the future of money and have an almost religious devotion to it, quite often to bitcoin in particular. I'm definitely not like that - for me it's always just been as an investment to make money that I can then buy stuff with.

Right now, Bitcoin is about $19,750, down from an all-time high of about $69,000 (people always give the price in dollars so I'm going with that). So it's down over 70% from its high about a year ago. Some would see that as a sign of the end, whereas others would see it as the obvious time to go in while prices are low. It's worth noting that when it's hit peaks before, it's had a bigger percentage drop and then recovered again. In December 2017, it reached about $20,000, but went to about $3200 a year later. This was about 85% down. And obviously it recovered to about $69,000 later on.

But obviously there's no guarantee it will go back up again. You can't expect things to just repeat what they did in the past. Do Bitcoin and the rest have any real value, or is it just speculators pushing the price up until people eventually realise they're all intrinsically worthless? What do you think? I personally think it probably will go back up again, and that calls for The End are a bit premature, at least over the next few years. But beyond that, I don't know. In 10 to 20 years' time, people might have moved on, but they might not.

And finally, as well as Bitcoin, there's all sorts of other cryptos, offering "smart contracts" and the like, and also NFTs, the latter of which I haven't ever gone near.

[Marc Meakin]

I have no skin in the game and have never bought onto it and yet I'm replying , anyone would think I do it for attention.
Bitcoin seemed very of the zeitgeist 5 or 10 years ago but like the days when anybody who was any body had a blackberry but where are they now?
I think only Gold and other precious or not so precious metals (like Copper) are a sure fire way of making money, everything else is a form of gambling

[Paul Worsley]

Don't invest in something you don't know anything about. That includes gold and copper.

[Mark James]

I like this line from Wikipedia on the page about the tulip crash: Former president of the Dutch Central Bank, described Bitcoin as "worse than the tulip mania", adding, "At least then you got a tulip, now you get nothing."

[Mark James]

I would recommend reading Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain. Here's a podcast featuring the author talking about the link between crypto currencies and neo Nazis

https://podcasts.apple.com/is/podcast/8 ... 0517414449

[Mark Deeks]

* comes forward *

[Marc Meakin]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63601213

This

[Gavin Chipper]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63601213

This

Of course, all these centralised exchanges go against the original point of Bitcoin, which is decentralised money, which individuals can control themselves, without requiring banks or any centralised authority. So maybe people just aren't using crypto properly?

[Mark James]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63601213

This

Of course, all these centralised exchanges go against the original point of Bitcoin, which is decentralised money, which individuals can control themselves, without requiring banks or any centralised authority. So maybe people just aren't using crypto properly?

No, that's just the inevitability of crypto currencies.

[Marc Meakin]

Like a lot of systems, they are a utopian concept which can only work if everyone plays fair.
A bit like socialism which is a fantastic principal that only works if all the haves help the have not but I'm digressing here