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Thread: Cryptocurrency - anybody in the space?

  1. #11
    Saiyan Race
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    Quote Originally Posted by twooldcat View Post
    My biggest hang-ups on crypto fall into two categories:

    • Volatility (more speculators than folks who actually buy goods and services with crypto)
    • Environmental impact, with BTC alone consuming as much power as a moderately sized country

    I recently bought some because I was interested in buying something that isn't easily obtainable in my country. I was then sad to find out that many vendors don't even accept BTC and I'd have to jump through odd hoops to get my hands on some Monero. If the traceability of BTC has been called into question, it has me wondering what sets it apart from fiat currency?

    I think the environmental impact will be less of a problem as renewable energy gets ever cheaper. Even still, I guess my ultimate question is what are y'all seeing that I'm not?
    The energy stuff is considered "FUD" news by many. BTC is always being developed and improved. I remember it took half a day in 2018 during the all-time-high at that time for my transactions to get processed... Today, with 3x the value of BTC, my transactions are through within minutes. And it's just getting better.

    Again, I really think the energy bit is all FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt). And I'll let you imagine for yourself who's spreading that sort of news. Consider video games... They also use up a lot of energy.

    Regarding your question, one plus is that you can't print BTC freely like you can with fiat cash. There's only a set amount that can become available (21M).
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  3. #12
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    Ive recently started investing. $100 each on BTC and ETH each paycheck.

    I would like to invest on the less known cryptos but I have yet to find a solid place to buy them. Any recommendations? Especially those best in Canada? Currently I am using Shakepay.

    Also, anyone into NBA top shot? Bought a "highlight" for $200 and sold it for $1500 2 weeks later. Its insane and still super new. Very hard to get packs though.

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  5. #13
    I_royalty_I's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by twooldcat View Post
    My biggest hang-ups on crypto fall into two categories:

    • Volatility (more speculators than folks who actually buy goods and services with crypto)
    • Environmental impact, with BTC alone consuming as much power as a moderately sized country

    I recently bought some because I was interested in buying something that isn't easily obtainable in my country. I was then sad to find out that many vendors don't even accept BTC and I'd have to jump through odd hoops to get my hands on some Monero. If the traceability of BTC has been called into question, it has me wondering what sets it apart from fiat currency?

    I think the environmental impact will be less of a problem as renewable energy gets ever cheaper. Even still, I guess my ultimate question is what are y'all seeing that I'm not?
    Joe hit a few good points. The scarcity is what drives the price. There�s a finite number of BTC out there and once that cap is reached, no more will be mined/minted. This number has remained the same forever. The power consumption - I can�t speak on that as idk if anybody really had those exact stats. It does take power to operated processors to manage the network, but there are other activities out there that contribute WAY more to the environmental side of things. Think of all the power that�s used to maintain the internet, or those Netflix shows, the lights in your house, air conditioning, etc etc. nobody is calling for a stop to any of that. As tech progresses, the energy consumption will reduce. I tried to find an article I read the other day about a mining startup that is using solar power to run their rigs. Interesting stuff.

    In my opinion, BTC is more of a store of value, a proof or concept and the grand daddy to all crypto. It paved the way and proved that crypto is more than a fad. The first mover isn�t always the end all be all winner. I like ETH much more than BTC, but everyone associates all crypto with BTC. BTC and crypto in general is better than fiat in the sense that it�s decentralized. Nobody controls your account but you. The bank can go in and freeze your account, reverse or block payments. Nobody can do that to you in crypto as long as you own your keys and store it on your own wallet.. not Coinbase or an exchange. There are SO many developments, many being applied to the real world as we speak. But it takes time.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeongyeon View Post
    Ive recently started investing. $100 each on BTC and ETH each paycheck.

    I would like to invest on the less known cryptos but I have yet to find a solid place to buy them. Any recommendations? Especially those best in Canada? Currently I am using Shakepay.

    Also, anyone into NBA top shot? Bought a "highlight" for $200 and sold it for $1500 2 weeks later. Its insane and still super new. Very hard to get packs though.
    Congrats on the top shit profits! I was late to that game and still don’t entirely understand the purpose of it, and NFTs as a whole haha

    As far as investing in other cryptos... you’re going to want to dive deeper. I use BTC and ETH as stepping stones. I don’t buy with fiat anymore but invest via my portfolio into new projects. You’re going to want to use a crypto exchange. This opens the world to SO many other coins. You can trade eth/btc for other coins. Good ones that I use include Binance, Bittrex, Hotbit, Bilaxy, Kucoin, among others. Many people are stuck on this next step in crypto. You can’t always buy a coin straight up for USD. Only the big, most popular coins have that option. Explore exchanges and you’ll be good to go!
    What's my definition of success?
    Creating something no one else can
    Being brave enough to dream big
    Grindin' when you're told to just quit
    Giving more when you got nothin' left

  6. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by twooldcat View Post
    My biggest hang-ups on crypto fall into two categories:

    • Volatility (more speculators than folks who actually buy goods and services with crypto)
    • Environmental impact, with BTC alone consuming as much power as a moderately sized country

    I recently bought some because I was interested in buying something that isn't easily obtainable in my country. I was then sad to find out that many vendors don't even accept BTC and I'd have to jump through odd hoops to get my hands on some Monero. If the traceability of BTC has been called into question, it has me wondering what sets it apart from fiat currency?

    I think the environmental impact will be less of a problem as renewable energy gets ever cheaper. Even still, I guess my ultimate question is what are y'all seeing that I'm not?
    I agree with you here. I think the founders of BTC would be sad to see what crypto is today. Their vision was for a decentralized currency to increase the economic freedom of the broader populace. If the ideological rationale for crypto is to make the financial system more rather than less accessible, then it falls short of fiat by that metric. Crypto as it currently exists is a speculative asset for generally wealthy people to gamble on. For non-technologically literate users, going through exchanges that are subject to the same financial regulations as any other financial institution is the most viable option. Ironically, there's a small benefit here: exchanges and traditional banking institutions will also insure your money to a certain threshold and allow you to regain access if you're locked out. In comparison, if you lose your private key you're screwed forever. I wouldn't consider decentralization a benefit in and of itself besides for ideological reasons, since decentralization in the case of crypto comes with numerous pitfalls.

    For practical purposes, it doesn't make sense to offer most goods and services for a set amount of crypto -- you still need a static fiat price, and to calculate the amount of crypto required at the point of sale because of how volatile the market it. Crypto has less utility than fiat, and I haven't seen someone make a realistic case for why that would change in the foreseeable future (arguably, institutional adoption might drive that change, but lol @ JPMorgan and Tesla being drivers of a currency for the people).

    I am enamored with the idea of crypto. Maybe sounds tacky, but I have a genuine and strong ideological preference for freedom...but crypto isn't there yet.

    Regarding the environmental impacts, I saw this thread the other day which I though provided some interesting (though not definitive) context: (you need an account to see links)

  7. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by bank_man View Post
    I agree with you here. I think the founders of BTC would be sad to see what crypto is today. Their vision was for a decentralized currency to increase the economic freedom of the broader populace. If the ideological rationale for crypto is to make the financial system more rather than less accessible, then it falls short of fiat by that metric. Crypto as it currently exists is a speculative asset for generally wealthy people to gamble on. For non-technologically literate users, going through exchanges that are subject to the same financial regulations as any other financial institution is the most viable option. Ironically, there's a small benefit here: exchanges and traditional banking institutions will also insure your money to a certain threshold and allow you to regain access if you're locked out. In comparison, if you lose your private key you're screwed forever. I wouldn't consider decentralization a benefit in and of itself besides for ideological reasons, since decentralization in the case of crypto comes with numerous pitfalls.

    For practical purposes, it doesn't make sense to offer most goods and services for a set amount of crypto -- you still need a static fiat price, and to calculate the amount of crypto required at the point of sale because of how volatile the market it. Crypto has less utility than fiat, and I haven't seen someone make a realistic case for why that would change in the foreseeable future (arguably, institutional adoption might drive that change, but lol @ JPMorgan and Tesla being drivers of a currency for the people).

    I am enamored with the idea of crypto. Maybe sounds tacky, but I have a genuine and strong ideological preference for freedom...but crypto isn't there yet.

    Regarding the environmental impacts, I saw this thread the other day which I though provided some interesting (though not definitive) context: (you need an account to see links)
    I see your points but don't agree on everything. Nobody is claiming crypto is perfect the way it is. It's still a very new technology in contrast to the other money systems in the world. Projects are always working on decreasing the transaction times and fees, but it's still a work in progress. It's still very much decentralized. You don't have one overarching entity that can decide to freeze your funds or restrict who you can send to, when you can send to, or how much you can send. Your point about losing your private keys proves that point. Nobody controls your money but yourself. You need to take responsibility and ensure you don't lose your keys or let others get ahold of them because there is nobody in the world who can reverse those transactions or give that money back to you. It's not only big players in the space moving money around. You could invest $100 into a coin and let it sit, watch the team develop and the project take off, then see your $100 turn into $5000. It's happened countless times. It's just being smart, knowing where to put your money and doing your due diligence.

    There are many exchanges that require KYC information, but not all of them. The US has stricter regulations, so that is very much a thing to be wary of, but more regulation is better for the space. Makes it less wild wild west so to speak. It's also never a good idea to keep funds on an exchange because you don't control your private keys, that's crypto trading 1o1. You can literally make an account on any number of exchanges and begin depositing/withdrawing/trading in a matter of minutes - I just did this a few days ago to move funds around to invest in a new project actually.

    I definitely agree crypto won't REPLACE fiat anytime soon as the value of crypto is closely linked back to a fiat value system. That's the same for every other good and services out there, but crypto is an alternative. There are insane developments going on right now, from privacy, to decentralized finance, to new point of sale solutions. It's still in it's infancy and it's grown to almost $2,000,000,000,000 market cap overall; insane!

    Crypto definitely isn't at the perfect spot right now, it's still the beginning. That's why it's a prime time to diversify and get involved in the space. I originally invested for fun and curiosity but got sucked in rather quickly. I started my portfolio to fund a cruise vacation, but it's turned into enough to pay off my house if I needed it to. It's changed my life and I have learned SO many things along the way. I highly encourage everyone I interact with to at least dabble in the space. It doesn't take long to get spun up and grasp the basics. I'm excited to see where things are at five years from now.
    What's my definition of success?
    Creating something no one else can
    Being brave enough to dream big
    Grindin' when you're told to just quit
    Giving more when you got nothin' left

  8. #16
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    deleted (sorry)
    Last edited by bank_man; 04-19-2021 at 05:38 PM.

  9. #17
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    Take me to the moon, dogecoin!

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeongyeon View Post
    Ive recently started investing. $100 each on BTC and ETH each paycheck.

    I would like to invest on the less known cryptos but I have yet to find a solid place to buy them. Any recommendations? Especially those best in Canada? Currently I am using Shakepay.

    Also, anyone into NBA top shot? Bought a "highlight" for $200 and sold it for $1500 2 weeks later. Its insane and still super new. Very hard to get packs though.
    I use Robinhood. They seem to have a wide variety of crypto. I'm in dogecoin rn and it's skyrocketing as of yesterday. People are really salty with Robinhood right now because they "conveniently" go down when the prices of certain stocks/currencies is on the rise which halts buying and selling. They've done this a few times now. People are thinking of swapping to fidelity. This is all info I'm gathering from my bf who keeps tabs on reddit about it.

  10. #18
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    I'm ass deep in DOGE and ankle deep in BTC

    Tentatively optimistic- though I know there's a chance it could crash and burn at any moment, but I bought DOGE in at 3 cents so I'm sitting pretty right now.

  11. #19
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    I follow Space X all the time. NASA gives me the opportunity to watch some interesting research. You are right, cryptocurrencies are developing very fast. And it is not just bitcoin, I dare say. I think you, like many others, have long known which coins to keep an eye on. I have even decided to take a risk and take out a loan to invest in some coins. But I don't recommend any of you to do it blindly . You need to have information on the subject first . I can recommend you the (you need an account to see links) on this topic. There is a lot of useful information. I think that this resource will help you some points in more detail.
    Last edited by CharlieWex; 05-28-2021 at 10:25 AM.

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