[Guy Brush]

How fast is coinbase with transactions? I know there's a local bitcoin market and there are two options for buying/selling. One is with bank transfer and it takes 2-3, sometimes more, days. The other is a quick option but only works with a certain bank, where the client needs to have an account with the same bank too. This works instantly and you can react on price fluctuations very quickly. The first option (bank transfer) is a joke if prices change quickly.

[GMT]

Oh there's money to be made, but yes I do now see it for what it is. Its a popular gambling game. As long as new players are starting up, existing players make money. Being first in first out is the way to play, but you have to understand the game. Its not like you are buying anything real. There is no country's GDP to underpin any value to any of them. There are no assets held by any of them. At least in a casino, the value of your chips is certain and backed by currency. In the game of fictional money, you have nothing to back up future value beyond new players entering the game. All the talk of these things allowing trade is from people who don't understand the need for value stability to allow confident trade and contracts to exist for the future. PayPal allows transfer of one currency to another currency elsewhere. To say crypto is needed is nonsense. Little people use PayPal, big guys use bank transfers and the whales buy currency futures for stability in their contracts.
So who needs crypto currencies? No one. Its just a gambling game. If you accept that, good luck, but to claim anyone who looks into it and decides not to play, doesn't understand it, well keep deluding yourself. Don't forget to turn your profits back into real money though. No one wants to be holding crypto currency when the players move onto the next game.

[Guy Brush]

Originally Posted by GMT

PayPal allows transfer of one currency to another currency elsewhere. To say crypto is needed is nonsense. Little people use PayPal, big guys use bank transfers and the whales buy currency futures for stability in their contracts.
So who needs crypto currencies? No one. Its just a gambling game. If you accept that, good luck, but to claim anyone who looks into it and decides not to play, doesn't understand it, well keep deluding yourself. Don't forget to turn your profits back into real money though. No one wants to be holding crypto currency when the players move onto the next game.

Sure it is a game with the fluctuations , but saying PayPal does the job is just not right.
I avoid them like the plague, they fucked with me as seller and there was nothing I could do. The buyer's always right, even if he's not!

[MJPassion]

Originally Posted by GMT

Oh there's money to be made, but yes I do now see it for what it is. Its a popular gambling game. As long as new players are starting up, existing players make money. Being first in first out is the way to play, but you have to understand the game. Its not like you are buying anything real. There is no country's GDP to underpin any value to any of them. There are no assets held by any of them. At least in a casino, the value of your chips is certain and backed by currency. In the game of fictional money, you have nothing to back up future value beyond new players entering the game. All the talk of these things allowing trade is from people who don't understand the need for value stability to allow confident trade and contracts to exist for the future. PayPal allows transfer of one currency to another currency elsewhere. To say crypto is needed is nonsense. Little people use PayPal, big guys use bank transfers and the whales buy currency futures for stability in their contracts.
So who needs crypto currencies? No one. Its just a gambling game. If you accept that, good luck, but to claim anyone who looks into it and decides not to play, doesn't understand it, well keep deluding yourself. Don't forget to turn your profits back into real money though. No one wants to be holding crypto currency when the players move onto the next game.

You say all this as if your fiat paper money has any real value.
BTC = 1's & 0's on a computer
Pay Pal = 1's & 0's on a computer
Your paper fiat currency is no more valuable than is BTC or your Pay Pal account.

If you’re truly interested in how money works, I suggest reading “THE CREATURE FROM JEKYL ISLAND”.

[GMT]

Mj, any currency is backed by a nation. The infrastructure of that nation, the population of its workforce, the education of the work force, the natural assets of the land and more importantly its annual GDP. To say it has no more value than Sheldon coopers battle giraffe, is nonsense.

[DocTim420]

BTW, you can also make money on the decline of Bitcoin.

In the "option" world, there are "calls" and "puts". Both are binding contracts. Calls allow you to buy at a certain price...Puts allow you to sell at a certain price.

Investigate "out of the money put" on the option exchanges (particularly those with a strike price under $14,000). As long as Bitcoin is trading above $14k, the put has no value ("out of the money"). But...if Bitcoin drops to say $10k, that put will be worth not less than $4000 (difference between current price and the "put strike price"...provided the contract did not expire). One should be able to buy "out of the money" put for pennies without great risks.

Call it insurance, call it legalized gambling, call it a ponzi scheme...but if it were me I would view Bitcoin investing as a variation of the game called "musical chairs"; last one standing loses. Ride the wave, but don't be the last guy walking to the beach.

[Moppel]

What if happens if 50% of people go to the bank and take all their money of their account? Exactly.....

[Douglas.Curtis]

Anyone in to trading? The volatility of these coins has been great.

Once in a while, I'll find a coin I can make a few trades a week with. Set a low order and wait for it to get picked up. Set a high sell order and wait for it to go. Lather, rinse, repeat. It can be difficult to find a coin with regular swings, and sometimes those swings change and you get stuck with expensive coins you can't sell. lol Just like the stock market, in that respect. Patience works for me, others like faster trading. To each their own.

@GMT, Bitcoin has an extremely high intrinsic value, btw. It's value is in NOT being a fiat coin from another realm, it's a fiat coin from a decentralized community. A community which has it's own faults, and is also missing a great many of the faults of a standard country.

Huge Advantage: You can carry billions through an airport or country, without fear of seizure. Try that with any other fiat currency today.

[mushroombrew]

Originally Posted by MJPassion

You say all this as if your fiat paper money has any real value.
BTC = 1's & 0's on a computer
Pay Pal = 1's & 0's on a computer
Your paper fiat currency is no more valuable than is BTC or your Pay Pal account.

If you’re truly interested in how money works, I suggest reading “THE CREATURE FROM JEKYL ISLAND”.

I love the way it is written! Hilarious. Thanks for that link.

[GMT]

Originally Posted by Moppel

What if happens if 50% of people go to the bank and take all their money of their account? Exactly.....

The bank goes under and the govt pays the account holders out. Look up northern rock UK.

Bitcoin has no intrinsic value at all. Just because it costs money to do something, didn't give that thing intrinsic value

Why would you carry billions through an airport? You don't even hold billions in cash. You hold it in a secure account that can be accessed from anywhere.