In reply to GameboyRMH :
Oh rats…my step son presented me with a hand written note on Christmas Eve indicating that he had purchased 0.007 bitcoins for each of my two daughters.
I just assumed that everything from college to inheritance was squared away for them…how could such a well-conceived plan possibly falter???
BoxheadCougarTim said:From what I read yesterday (albeit on Zero Hedge, so take it with a large salt lick), China is "convincing" miners to exit cryptocurrency mining pretty soon. Seems to have something to do with them gobbling up tons of electricity that the state thinks could be used for more productive things.
Yep this is a real thing (odd for Zerohedge 
):
https://www.engadget.com/2018/01/08/china-to-curtail-bitconi-mining/
In reply to GameboyRMH :
Meh. So what if mining stops? That doesn't automatically destroy all the coins already in existence.
Seeing more and more censorship and demonetization from the media powerhouses, I'd say double down on investments during this down turn. Bitcache is coming.
In reply to BoxheadCougarTim :
That's completely true as a number of other outlets reported on it. China is throttling power to the coin farms forcing them to shut down.
What happened is that Bitcoin provided an untraceable unregulated mechanism for moving money of wealthy Chinese citizens out of the country without government approval. Since their government is what it is they didn't want to cede the control, so they're cracking down.
South Korea is interesting as something like 30% of the citizenry holds cryptocurrency. I know India is trying to figure out a way to tax dividends and the SEC here in the US is making noises about getting aggressive in regulating the medium.
RevRico said:In reply to GameboyRMH :
Meh. So what if mining stops? That doesn't automatically destroy all the coins already in existence.
Seeing more and more censorship and demonetization from the media powerhouses, I'd say double down on investments during this down turn. Bitcache is coming.
The problem is how the payment network works. The less processing power the less overhead the payment network has to process the current volume. That can slow down trade times pretty significantly as China controls roughly 50% of the processing power.
^Not only slow it down, but increase transaction costs even further.
And a decentralized way to knock out transaction fees is on its way. So I fail to see the problem.
Maybe I'm putting too much faith in Kim Dotcom, but for the enemies that man has made in the past decade, he's earned it. It's so rare to find the combination of money and intelligence needed to pull something this big off, but he has it.
I haven't jumped in at all, but I'm thinking at throwing $100 into the ring at some of the altcoins. I think some of them could be lottery tickets.
Low transaction fees won't stave off the regulatory crackdown, though. From that standpoint, Bitcache (and all the "real" cryptocurrencies, vs. the centrally controlled ones like XRP) still has all of Bitcoin's problems.
I bought into a few lottery ticket alt-coins. Threw about $200 at them. The reason being, I read up on the blockchain technology (blockchain in general) and thought that it does have some merit. I figure that there are a few things working in my favor for this:
1: It is really, really difficult to enter the market. That has to be keeping a lot of people out of it. Seriously a gigantic PITA to even buy anything. Eventually, I theorize that it will become much easier.
2: I bought the damn things low enough that if they ever get to even $1.00, I'll be able to pay off our student loan and the car loan.
3: People track bitcoin, but bitcoin is actually pretty terrible compared to the others. Bad tech.
In any case, I figured it was throw some money at it and see what happens. If it goes up, great! If not, oh well. I fully expect to lose my money with this, but I also think there is enough in the blockchain tech to take a gamble.
My theory has been - back the crypto you actually want to use.
I tried using BTC to buy something on NewEgg and was astounded at the costs to do so. Just wasn't worth it.
Sold all my BTC and bought into LTC. LTC has a much cheaper transaction cost.
I've made about $400 off of ripple so far. Luckily I bought it when it was under 45 cents. Didnt spend much. Wish I would've initially put $1000 into it 
So, a question for those with skin in this game. Do you have a predetermined point that will trigger a sale, or are you just flying by the seat of your pants? Like, if you double your money are you going to sell, or when you reach a certain dollar amount, or will you ride this thing long term?
In reply to STM317 :
Im kind of doing it just for fun. If ripple gets to $10 a piece then I'd just be a lucky player. I haven't thought about when I'd cash out.
STM317 said:So, a question for those with skin in this game. Do you have a predetermined point that will trigger a sale, or are you just flying by the seat of your pants? Like, if you double your money are you going to sell, or when you reach a certain dollar amount, or will you ride this thing long term?
Mostly SOP.
I have so little in it in the grand scheme of things that I'm willing to ride it out. I'm planning on re-evaluating every month or so. There is one coin that I wouldn't be surprised if it gets huge--that one I'd probably sell if it gets to $0.95.
I have not read and digested this entire article yet, a friend shared it on facebook.
Relevant to cryptocurrencies for sure
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/16/magazine/beyond-the-bitcoin-bubble.html
Showed deucekid#2 the charts this morning. He says "looks like a flash crash going on......."
Dude, a multi day correction isn't a flash crash. That's not even what those words mean. Tell me again how you understand the crypto market?
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
Someone is reading too much HODL on Reddit.
Funny though.
I don't really "get" the whole thing. I did take a look at some Bitcoin mining devices yesterday a man (semi retired IT guy) had running in his garage and was surprised to see they were each only the size of a shoe box. He had bought 2 of the machines in 2014 for a few hundred bucks each and left them running for a couple years during which time they generated about 4 bitcoins. He ran a dedicated 220 V supply to them. He bought a new machine recently to replace the older ones and used the bitcoin currency to pay for it. The new one was running while we were talking. The new machine was the only thing he's ever used any of the "profit" for.
Me "So ya spent a bit under a thousand dollars to buy the first machines, installed a dedicated circuit for them and fed them electricity for a couple years, then bought another machine with the "profit" which you continue to feed electricity to, correct?"
Him "Yes"
Me "You haven't traded any of the bitcoin for real money?"
Him "No"
Me "Hmmmm"
In reply to NOT A TA :
My understanding is that mining Bitcoin is a wash worldwide based on money gained vs money spent on electricity. However, I bet he pays more for his electricity than most miners.
To make a profit you need to have a warehouse full of highly optimized mining machines (using ASICs) and access to cheap (which tends to mean dirty) electricity. Probably not possible since a couple of days ago though.
Recently I've gained access to a computer with "free" processing power and I'll soon have one that can run on 100% solar power, but I think I'll have them run WCG on BOINC instead. Something good could come of that.
That .035 ETH I have is totally going to be worth real money someday!
Turns out that industrial-scale mining is still profitable at these prices, and as such, energy usage has continued to climb unabated:
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/1/18/16901422/bitcoin-price-crash-energy-emissions
China's crackdown may have the helpful side effect of moving the mining operations away from the coal power plants.
In reply to NOT A TA :
How is that any different than a dividend re-investment retirement fund?
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