Strange that anyone would consider bitcoin a safer investment than the stocks. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-price-advancing-to-recent-top/ But bitcoin investors can profit from this if they can sell their bitcoins when the price starts to fall.
I've made it pretty clear that I don't trust Bitcoin one bit, or in fact any cryptocurrencies for that matter so it's certainly something I wouldn't want to get involved with. While the price might have surged recently, it wasn't long ago that the price crashed to a new low and if something is that volatile, it's definitely something I'll be staying away from.
I suppose the only people who may see this as good news are investors who already "own" bitcoins. They can act fast, sell their bitcoins or hope that the prices while keep creeping up and when they plunge regret having waited that long. Gold, IMHO, would a better investment choice if stocks are too risky an investment.
It's definitely not a space that I trust but I'm still curious about having a punt at it. I'd almost treat it in the same way as I would going to the casino - money that I'm happy to play with and would accept losing. I certainly won't be looking at it as a long-term investment story, though. Who knows whether Bitcoin will be the cryptocurrency of choice in five years time.
I don't fool with it. This is the type of thing you might throw a few speculative bucks into when it's been beaten down, then sell into strength - similar to a small cap biotech - without the fundamental changes such a company would be going through to make its price spike upward. Or else you could try to ride the momentum (while it may last) with a few bucks. Either way, not something to bet anywhere near the whole ranch on. Dabble lightly if at all.
Ah crap, I was going to get a few BTC when it was down at $250. But the process of getting a wallet setup is kind of complex so I put it on the back burner and forgot until now.
One thing I will say is that they are hoping that Bitcoin will be the future of new economies. If they can attach a tangible value to it (in the form of another commodity that people actually want), then that can work. Otherwise, it just seems like you have to convince a whole lot of people that "nothing" suddenly is worth the monetary amount you are saying. Sounds like the perfect storm to create a bubble, unfortunately. They have to convince people to want Bitcoin, but they are not giving a reason. I've noticed that some retailers, particularly struggling airlines, have started to accept Bitcoin. Perhaps it is an effort to help attract long term customers and keep their business afloat for a while. We'll see what happens to the Bitcoin arena in the next decade.
Bitcoin is taxed as property in the USA. There are ways to obtain and use it with identifying yourself directly though. The only real value to bitcoin that I have noticed is for black market sales on the deep web. People use a mixing service for making bitcoin purchases and have stuff drop shipped. I don't have any use for this type of thing because anything I want is perfectly legal and above the board where I live.
I did the smart thing back in the early days of bitcoin. Bought a ton and forgot about it! Unfortunately, I only remembered that I had them when mtgox.com went bankrupt, and I lost what had become a six digit figure. Even though I still have a tiny bit of hope in terms of getting my money back from the bankruptcy proceedings, I haven't really mustered up the courage to have any money in bitcoin since then. So in my book, bitcoin does not equal any kind of safety, even though it was the brokerage that went bust.
From what I have been reading, Bitcoin is getting popular every day. There are sites that sell bitcoins and I had read their literature on the subject. Although I cannot comprehend how the bitcoin gets its value, I suspect that it is just relying on the law of supply and demand. When there are buyers, naturally the price would increase and vice versa. I wouldn't dare buy a bitcoin for I may be left with nothing on my hands when something goes wrong with it.
