To think a huge crypto bitcoin bloodbath is on the cards.

[Viviennemary]

I have thought this for quite a while. But surely it's any day now. How this crypto market is sustainable is a mystery. A lot of it is backed up by Tether a so called stable coin meant to be worth 1$ but it is suspected Tether isnt backed by anything. Its just printed tokens backed by nothing.

Aren’t crypto-bros just male MLM huns?

I know a guy who’s into bitcoin. One minute he’s doing really well and is about to buy a small holding, the next minute he’s going to kill himself, then he’s buying a small holding, then he’s killing himself, etc.

God I wish I understood all this I just read an article along the lines of “ Bitcoin explained as though you are a five year old “ still don’t get it

If there is a blood bath I am going back in again.

YANBU its essentially gambling. I dont really believe in its use as anything other than an empty stock to make money from.

We have made good money though. I put in our house deposit at the beginning of last year and came out just after the peak and we did do really well. It is bloody terrifying though! Not just the market but you could get hacked and boom its all gone.

I keep saying I should go back in but always postpone. I cba to put a big amount in atm, and to dollar cost average tiny amounts in is too much blood pressure than its worth in profits.

I will kick myself when it goes back up though!

@MrsTerryPratchett

DH is a nerd and says that quantum computers will render bitcoin blockchain and NFTs as useless as tulips.

Seriously, it's good job he is really hot.

Ha ha!

I've just recently learned about NFTs and my mind was absolutely blown. I still think some people have more money than sense sometimes ha ha!

Also thank you for explaining the environmental impact, I've never really thought about it like that before.

And wow! At how much power it takes to generate bitcoin! I barely know anything about it but that's nuts!

Hahaha yes NFTs are like…wow, so people really do this?!?! Sheer madness.

If you don’t already know about this, Google “All my apes gone” and “evolved ape”. Your eyes will pop.

Just…WHY?!?!

Has anyone actually explained anything? Any questions answered??

Come on the grinch, spill the beans! What've you learnt?

@foxgoosefinch

Hahaha yes NFTs are like…wow, so people really do this?!?! Sheer madness.

If you don’t already know about this, Google “All my apes gone” and “evolved ape”. Your eyes will pop.

Just…WHY?!?!

OMG I've not heard of these before and googled "All my apes gone" Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha! That is fucking hilarious! Love that someone turned it into a riff of "California Dreamin"

I can't remember what I was watching but there was some actor mentioned he collected them and I went down a rabbit hole having similar thoughts to you ha ha!

@immersivereader

Come on the grinch, spill the beans! What've you learnt?

Me?

Oh I really don't know much ha ha!

NFTs are Non Fungible Tokens.

The way I understand it mostly people buy digital art NFTs, they are like for example tiny little digital avatars you could use as a profile picture.

Literally a few coloured pixels. That people are paying kings ransoms in actual money for.

It's like paying thousands and thousands for use of an exclusive emoji but with less practical use I think?

They’re also really quite astonishingly ugly. Imagine if actual grown up men were trading Garbage Pail Kids cards with each other for giant amounts of cash - only, the cards were incredibly ugly cartoon pictures of apes - and that’s the basic idea.

@MrsTerryPratchett

DH is a nerd and says that quantum computers will render bitcoin blockchain and NFTs as useless as tulips.

Seriously, it's good job he is really hot.

This genuinely made me laugh out loud!! On a side note ... why are tulips useless? Are the more useless than roses or cacti?

The wide boys have started to move in here (you will see a lot of "Web 3.0" popping up for the gullible) but there is a paradigm shift in the wings.

One thing's for sure, there are not enough eye rolls for this shit - bitcoin attracts a serious amount of buzzword bollox that nobody but the person concerned understands.....

@FatFucker
Tulips:
www.britannica.com/event/Tulip-Mania

Mind you tulips are a lot prettier than ugly little pictures of apes.

I haven't read the full thread, so sorry if this question has been answered...

Can I use a bitcoin to buy anything tangible... for example, if I wanted to buy a car, would the dealership take bitcoins in payment?

If I had a physical commodity like gold, or diamonds, I could go to a dealer, and he would buy my gold, give me cash (or credit my account). Could I cash in my bitcoins in the same way?

@foxgoosefinch ooooooo now that.was. interesting. I love mumnset!!!

The things I learn! Although not always good. I.e. Blue waffle!!

@CanadianJohn www.google.com/amp/s/finance.yahoo.com/amphtml/news/10-major-companies-accept-bitcoin-190340692.html

Some companies do accept bitcoin but it is limited. Which is my problem with it, the point of a currency is that you are supposed to be able to exchange it for tangible things you want/need!

@Viviennemary having thought about it a blood bath is slightly over dramatic don’t you think and if you’re not in it why does it bother you 🤷‍♀️ Each to their own

Sorry, you’re just going to have to DYOR (just as I have). Far too much here to unpack into a Mumsnet thread but many early adopters are going to do extremely well for themselves before the masses catch on.

I don't think any of us are denying for a second that the early adopters will make a fortune. Also DYOR is a bit patronising - I'm a software developer running a tech company and could build a Blockchain if I needed to. If you're so well researched I'd love for you to explain what the long term utility of bitcoin is.

Bitcoin is fairly old news now. Everyone was "investing" as price peaked in the bubbles, allowing a few insiders to cash out.

Now it's old hat, and there is very little real money going into the system. Fake money continues to increase in the system to keep the price high, but getting new real money to come in is ever harder, and almost impossible if it gets boring. Hence the pivot to NFTs....

NFTs are the stupidest thing around, they make Beanie Babies look like credible investments. You are buying a URL to a JPEG.

Most NFT stuff is money laundering. Drug dealer A sends Drug Dealer B some drugs. In return Drug Dealer B buys an NFT (a JPEG drawn in MS Paint in 10seconds) from Drug Dealer A for $1million. It's difficult for the authorities to discern the difference between a Drug Dealer and a moron. A lot of real modern Art works in a similar way, but NFTs are quicker and easier.

NFTs are very irritating

Mostly because I see the impact on the art world and their scrabbling for money. Of course it’s just money they can see

@CanadianJohn

I haven't read the full thread, so sorry if this question has been answered...

Can I use a bitcoin to buy anything tangible... for example, if I wanted to buy a car, would the dealership take bitcoins in payment?

If I had a physical commodity like gold, or diamonds, I could go to a dealer, and he would buy my gold, give me cash (or credit my account). Could I cash in my bitcoins in the same way?

99% of places won't accept Bitcoin. The world works in real money, no company wants to take something as payment that could potentially drop in value by 10% in 30 seconds.

Those that do are doing it for novelty value and will instantly convert in to real money through a 3rd party service. Rather than increased adoption, there are now fewer companies that will accept it than 5 years ago.

The big problem with Bitcoin is that it cannot handle many transactions. VISA handles about 1700 transactions per second, Bitcoin is only 7. And a Bitcoin transaction takes 10minutes minimum. So there is no way it could be used worldwide. There are ways around this, but you're then not really using Bitcoin anymore.

I'd never even heard of NFT's. They sound an even bigger con than crypto. I agree it makes beanie babies sound quite respectable. That certainly was fomo if there ever was.

there are adverts for crypto's and how to trade them on the tube on platforms / stations and inside tube trains now - that makes me wonder about abit about bubbles - bit like the famous shoe shine boy on wall street discussing share prices just before the Wall Street crash

The big problem with Bitcoin is that it cannot handle many transactions. VISA handles about 1700 transactions per second, Bitcoin is only 7. And a Bitcoin transaction takes 10 minutes minimum. So there is no way it could be used worldwide. There are ways around this, but you're then not really using Bitcoin anymore.

Pretty much what I was saying back in 2012.

At this distance it's pretty obvious Bitcoin was a proof-of-concept that escaped into the real world. Subsequent blockchain implementations are more practical.

One reason I suspect crypto currencies aren't popular in some circles is they do rather require people to keep asking "Why is worth ?". And an awful lot of the modern world relies on people not thinking that. Certainly not asking it.

Some things - as discussed previously - may be considered to have some intrinsic value. However there is a long and proud tradition in society of ascribing "value" to things effectively by edict.

Frank Skinner used to do a gag about losing money investing in art ..

...in hindsight I shouldn't have concentrated on Rolf Harris ...

which kind of sums up what can happen when "trust" is suddenly removed from the equation.