Would you buy crypto?

[the7Vabo]

I bought a small amount of crypto in 2021 and have recently made some money on it.

However, I started to wonder about the ethics of it and when I looked into it - read articles online it’s hard to see how it could be ethical given how many use it for drug dealing and unspeakably worse.

AIBU?

No

I would not.

I wouldn't. But not because of the ethics, so many facets of everyday consumer life for us are already soaked in blood.

No less ethical than how the bankers trade gold and sterling investing in mining fossil fuels, arms dealing, gambling websites and animal testing.

There’s nothing unethical about it. It’s no different to playing the stock market or betting on a horse. It is my pension. I will be closing down businesses and retiring when my husband turns 50 in 18 months. I will be 45 and will have enough money to never have to worry about money again. It was a £2k gamble each 11 years ago. We could have lost it all

I would if I had the nerve. One of ds's friends, late-20s, has made close to £1m

No because I don't really understand how it works.

Following an old Alvin Hall maxim of never invest in something where you don't understand how the money is made.

Yes. I have and will.

I knew a few people who are well into it, so had someone invest £3000 in bitcoin and some other (now gone) schemes quite a few years ago now. I have just over 1 bitcoin worth about £80k when I checked just now from £1500 investment.

I still cannot get my head around how it works with the wallet, hard drive etc…

It's gambling

It's volatile

It's run by the big fish and the little fish get eaten alive. (In my honest opinion).

Betting on horses is pretty unethical ...

I wouldn't know how to!

It's not great for two reasons. One reason is that it is quite beneficial for illegal transactions. The other is that running the whole of bitcoin uses a vast amount of energy which could be used for other stuff.

OTOH cash is used for illegal transactions. Most drug dealers operate with cash. So does that mean I should not use cash. Probably our current computerised payment systems use a lot of electricity, although probably nowhere near as much as bitcoin relative to the amount of transactions made.

The price of it relative to fiat is very volatile. It goes up and down a lot. So you can make a lot of money if you buy in at the right time. And lose a lot of money if you buy in at the wrong time, although the trend is upwards so far and therefore if you are willing to hold eventually you recover (so far). There is no guarantee this will continue.

The whole regulation of it is a bit wild west at the moment and people have lost a lot of money in scams. So you take your chances.

I personally would not know how to. However, my husband does and has made me over £650k (pension pot) since 2017. It was a gamble on my part letting him basically invest my pension but luckily it has paid off. He has plans to sell the bitcoin to more stable investments over time.

No- I just don't understand it, in that I understand it on a theoretical level but I don't feel like I intrinsically understand it, and so I stay out.

I did a while back and it helped me buy my house. My sister was far more in to it and made a lot more than I did. I still have a little.