Off Topic Does anybody understand bitcoin?

Maybe. Had a look at it in the past. I get some staking rewards now, not much.

My problem has always been that these 'coins' don't really exist so putting them in a 'wallet' just fries my brain.

'Does anyone understand Bitcoin?"

I look at them as amounts of money rather than the thing themselves, without knowing a great deal about them, other than they would appear to be part of a future society. Have their detractors in the same way the Internet, mobile phones and social media had in their early days and now all those who said it'll never catch on, rely on those same things to function day to day.

blimey, all a bit existential for a Sunday evening this.

 

True .
I pondered Bitcoin for months at £8,000 before going in at £18,000 and Eth at £300 all summer before buying at £1,300.
My daughter's boyfriend just buys anything that moves and is up 1000s of %.

 

Really?
Still don't possess a "smartphone"

 

The Meta world is already here, although in its infancy. Crypto is part of this world which is why it will be here for the long term. It will make our lives a lot different in a reasonable short period of time, like digital has. Investing this early will be long term beneficial but a major bumpy road lies ahead and there will be many casualties. A fund would be the safest option currently.

 

Can you explain what function crypto actually serves?

I'm aware it's something you can trade in based purely on its current demand rather than because it has any intrinsic value, the same as trading in gold except trendier and at huge environmental cost. But since you're saying it's the future and will change our lives in the same way as the Internet you obviously know something I don't about how it'll enhance society.

 

Some people on here have to ask for advice on how to use the red button SKY do I don’t think they will grasp all this stuff.

 

Anybody apart of SoRare on here? The NFT card base football game.

I started it about 18 months made a fairly large investment. Taken off some what but it’s crypto that underpinning the rise.

 

Just to clarify that the Meta world will enhance the way we live and not necessarily crypto on its own, although to answer your question, it currently doesn’t serve a major purpose but long term will serve as a world wide currency and will be traded as such, especially when the governments get involved and creat their own. It’s quite a thing actually, on the scale of the invention of money.

 

I also understand when people say it serves no purpose and does nothing so why does it have a value. Simple answer is supply and demand. It doesn’t matter if it has a use or not. People want it and are prepared to pay to have it. Same is gold generally or in some cases art. Serves no (current) real need but valuable

 

Not questioning that at all. But people should understand it when getting involved. Its entire value is based on demand, and demand has rocketed in the last year simply because it's become very trendy. Like all trends, that can only last so long. At some point people are surely going to get bored.

Crypto is not going to become adopted as a currency, because it's totally pointless for mainstream use. It provides a benefit for dodgy types to move money around without a proper paper trail. It doesn't offer any sort of convenience for normal people - in fact it's distinctly inconvenient with all the wallets and fees to move it around and all that crap. So whilst things like card and mobile payments gain more and more popularity because of their convenience, I don't see how that can be expected to happen for cryptos.

I really think a lot of people are taken in by this because they think it's "techy" and therefore it's the future, but without any understanding of why or how it would ever be used. Yes, people will have knocked the Internet and mobile phones in their early days, but they had obvious uses and by the time people were saying they wouldn't catch on, they already were in reality. Crypto has been going for years and it's still totally pointless.

 

I do worry for those who will lose everything once the petals fall off the tulips.

 

It's gambling no more no less. At least putting a bet on the horses, dogs or footy you get a bit of entertainment with this crypto currency it's just guess work. However as long as you can stand potentially losing it all, good luck.

 

Vast majority of gold is never used for anything other than an investment and not used in phones or for jewellery but stored either physically or traded electronically. That’s why I used the word generally in the post.

 

But you can own gold without actually holding it and irs probably a safer way .

 

Bloody hell, your a trusting soul.

 

True. You can either own it physically and pay for storage or hold it yourself. You can also trade electronically on both physical amounts and the movement of the price. You can actually go to a mine and buy it in its dore form but really not recommended!

 

There used to be a poster on here who was a gold miner. He mined in California and I think somewhere like El Salvador.

 

Don’t know about gold mined thousands of years ago. Most gold mined today is already bought and is used for investment purposes. True it could be used for jewellery but unlikely. People buying gold to make into jewellery have little influence on the price of gold. If Tiffany of New York want some gold they go to an exchange where the price is already in motion and fluid. However if the order is big enough they can get a small discount on the price from the owner of the gold but this has no influence on the actual market price of the gold, which is the real value. China buying a metric tonne or sweeping up as much as they can, which they are doing by any means possible, is a difference.