To ask if anyone dabbles with bitcoin?

[MollyWantsACracker]

Disclaimer: I am totally clueless

I bought a few euro worth today, just for fun really

Anyone else?

Radio 4 programme about Bitcoin
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0952svj

OK, on mining. The mathematical problems are already written into the code and are far far far more complex than any human can solve. Here’s a photo of a mining farm to give an idea of the scale behind these operations. You seriously can’t sit behind a PC these days and do it yourself- it would cost a fortune!

I’d be wary about recommending any particular exchange for buying Bitcoin as in theory, any could be vulnerable to hacking or go out of business etc. Personally, I haven’t had any problems with Coinbase though on the back of yesterday evening’s meltdown it might not be the best to use if you think you might want to sell quickly during a crash! I know others who have used Kraken and Bittylicious and like them. I don’t think any are 100% secure for holding your coins (note, people talk about them holding your coins, but the coins never leave the block chain, what they hold is the key to your coins in your wallet on the block chain) and if you do accumulate an amount you don’t want to lose, you’re better off buying a hard wallet and storing them (or rather, your key) yourself.

When I say "people at the top" I mean professional investors (v armchair gamblers).

This thread reminded me I'd had a punt a couple of months ago - in June I'd chucked £100 each into BTC and ETH. The latter is plodding along at £150 but the bitcoin is sat at £500. Haven't done any trades, I'd just bunged the money in as a flutter to see what would happen. See where it goes from here!

Banana this is what I would like to do, put a small amount in and leave it.

So I go to coinbase and go from there? And I can buy small amounts of one bitcoin! This is an old thread as I checked the price yesterday and it was 7 grand per bitcoin not the 4 grand on the thread earlier in the year

I use cryptonator and bought some bitcoin about 4 months ago maybe and it’s gone up in value from £50 to £239, I also bought some Dash (can’t remember how much to begin with) but that’s definitely creeping up. I need to buy an external thing to store them on

(Can you tell I have no idea what I’m doing?)

Yes you can buy a percentage of a bitcoin!

I use the app on Coinbase. They will limit the amount you can spend at first anyway so you will only be able to buy a small part of a Bitcoin. As you make more purchases your limits will go up.

I have a Nano Ledger S arriving today so I can move some of my coins off the exchanges.

therealsurvivalists.com/bitcoin_for_preparedness/ some bitcoin info and explanations

MyFriendGiraffrey - I have no idea to be honest, probably more than I do now but I'm inpatient and need the constant interaction.

I've made £60 so far today whilst at work doing my real job 😂 My daily goal is to earn more than I do at work per day.

As the technology advances, the complexity of the blockchain - and its capabilities - will increase.

It will be possible to place a "contract" onto the blockchain which will only be executed when certain criteria are met. Because each successive transaction on the blockchain validates the last, it will be impossible to tamper or change it except by the consensus of the blockchain.

I was at a conference recently, where using the blockchain for vehicle tracking - from manufacture to scrapping - was being discussed. Couple that with autonomous cars, and you could have cars that drive themselves to a dealer if you don't keep up payments.

One of the more interesting uses came from Australia, which is looking to put their property register on a blockchain. The idea being you have one single version of the truth that is accessible to all - given the correct conditions.

Just a note that dabblers in BitCoin should make sure their paper trail is perfect, or you may have them confiscated

www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/30/cps_cryptocurrency_confiscation/

(In the UK, if you can't prove it's yours. It's not.)

Wow, that seems a bit harsh!

How hard is it to buy some and set it up as total new person, do I need Id? Tell my bank im buying some tell Mil.. Is it a very quick thing or will it take time? I just want buy 50 or 100 pounds

I would agree with the poster who says that cryptocurrencies are a prime example of money created out of thin air.

It cannot be equated to currency issued by a country. Physical currency still generally has a relationship to a country's GDP/wealth generation. A cryptocurrency has no such thing to back it up. Its value is literally based on supply and demand. It might as well be magic beans. The value is only as much as someone else is prepared to pay for it and treat it as legal tender.

Therefore it is generally in the interests of anyone who trades in bitcoin to want as many people to trade in it as possible to increase the demand against a limited supply. They have an interest to say they made money, even if they did not. It feeds the bubble as it hikes up the value.

That demand can vanish overnight. Hence the huge fluctuations in value even now. It is pure gambling. I am sure there is money to be made but best not be the one holding the baby when the music stops.

The parallels with MLM are not so far off. People will tend to make money so long as fresh blood gets sucked in.

They can only seize the currency via a confiscation order if they can prove its the proceeds of crime, so unless you are using Bitcoin to launder money you don't have much to worry about (except the whole thing is a bubble and likely to burst).

It cannot be equated to currency issued by a country

Troofact @blueshoes. Crypto is the opposite of the fiat currencies issued by countries. There will only ever be 21Mn bitcoin. It is therefore the exact opposite of a Ponzi scheme. fiat currencies are kept afloat through trust and are backed by nothing but blind faith. bitcoin is the digital version of gold, in that when it is all mined that's all there is.

I agree, Lok . Unless you are a criminal I wouldn’t worry about your Bitcoins being seized. Part of the fundamentals of Bitcoin is that the movement of each coin is public - it’s just where it’s going that is anonymous. No matter where you buy it, there is a trail that you can’t erase.

I really don’t care if anyone buys Bitcoin or not. It’ll need to cease to exist before I lose any money and even if that happens I’m only out my initial purchase. Of course it could all vanish overnight and of course it’s a mindboggingly risky gamble that you should only buy into if willing to lose your money and if you understand what you are doing. However, for those of us who thrive on high risk speculation, it’s great fun.

Ha, ha, ha. Out of curiosity, I looked back to see my old posts about Bitcoin and this is what I’d posted back in 2014 under an old user name:

“I bought some Bitcoins back when they were £10 a coin and am still holding them (though have likely missed their high point). I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole right now- it is completely unclear what will happen with their price.”

Quite funny in hindsight. I don’t even know what price they were at that time.

Someone once swapped their house for a tulip bulb.

Clearly a lot of people made money buying tulip bulbs but then everyone lost virtually the lot.

Tulip bulbs/ bitcoins are virtually the same thing.

Ha, ha, ha. They were $313 per coin back when I said I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole. TBF, that’s back when they were crashing from their peak (they crashed about 80% I think) and I was just letting out big sighs and holding onto my bundle.