Cryptocurrency thread

[Code Monkey | 2,011]

On 4/24/2021 at 5:35 PM, Gloves said:

I just have a hard time envisioning a future where bitcoin is THE currency. I get why it should be, I've done that research. And maybe one day it will be, but I'm not sure we'll see it in our lifetime. Look at how many things get held up by old dudes, tradition, religion, the list goes on. 

If I could feel confident in it becoming THE currency, I'd be all in right now. 

There will still be federally regulated fiat currencies but I believe once Amazon, Walmart online and eBay start accepting Bitcoin, it's going to become THE digital currency. Then the only hurdle is the convenience of pulling a debit card out of your pocket but that will be solved by pulling out your phone and tapping it to pay by Bitcoin. I've actually started asking all of my clients if they can pay me in Bitcoin, I don't even want fiat anymore.

I also think Bitcoin is going to crash here soon probably down around $25,000 and then it'll shoot up to $100,000 by the end of the year. Then up to $400,000 by the end of 2022.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

7 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

There will still be federally regulated fiat currencies but I believe once Amazon, Walmart online and eBay start accepting Bitcoin, it's going to become THE digital currency. Then the only hurdle is the convenience of pulling a debit card out of your pocket but that will be solved by pulling out your phone and tapping it to pay by Bitcoin. I've actually started asking all of my clients if they can pay me in Bitcoin, I don't even want fiat anymore.

I also think Bitcoin is going to crash here soon probably down around $25,000 and then it'll shoot up to $100,000 by the end of the year. Then up to $400,000 by the end of 2022.

I agree except I'd put the bitcoin floor around $45,000. If it did go down to $25,000 I'd buy another whole coin immediately.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

Bitcoin transactions are really slow today for some reason. I had one take 9 hours to go through. The fees are high right now too.

[Code Monkey | 2,011]

33 minutes ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

Bitcoin transactions are really slow today for some reason. I had one take 9 hours to go through. The fees are high right now too.

They changed their abbreviation on the markets from XBT to BTC so there may be some problems with it. I can't even see it in my portfolio at all right now, I'm just waiting for it to be fixed.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

8 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

They changed their abbreviation on the markets from XBT to BTC so there may be some problems with it. I can't even see it in my portfolio at all right now, I'm just waiting for it to be fixed.

It looks like a lot of people were experiencing long transaction delays and high fees yesterday. Hopefully it's better now.

[Code Monkey | 2,011]

10 hours ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

It looks like a lot of people were experiencing long transaction delays and high fees yesterday. Hopefully it's better now.

It appears to be, I can see Bitcoin in my portfolio again. I think there was a rush when the market opened yesterday to get in on the low prices. I'm still waiting for it to crash again over the next week.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

12 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

It appears to be, I can see Bitcoin in my portfolio again. I think there was a rush when the market opened yesterday to get in on the low prices. I'm still waiting for it to crash again over the next week.

Possibly. The transactions I sent yesterday confirmed in about 15 minutes with low fees.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

Crypto is really showing up my stocks right now. Of course it could swing the other way in a matter of hours, but I gotta live it up while the living is good.

I finished up both my BTC and ETH goals and now I'm just dollar cost averging into ETH and interesting alt coins at about $1k per month or so. The rest of my investing is just going into boring stocks and funds (401k and IRA) like a mature adult.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

2 hours ago, DoctorEncore said:

Crypto is really showing up my stocks right now. Of course it could swing the other way in a matter of hours, but I gotta live it up while the living is good.

I finished up both my BTC and ETH goals and now I'm just dollar cost averging into ETH and interesting alt coins at about $1k per month or so. The rest of my investing is just going into boring stocks and funds (401k and IRA) like a mature adult.

Congratulations on hitting your goals already! Are you done buying BTC altogether or will you still be adding some each month along with the ETH?

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

6 minutes ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

Congratulations on hitting your goals already! Are you done buying BTC altogether or will you still be adding some each month along with the ETH?

I think I'm going to just stick with Ethereum since I'm mostly investing in crypto for growth. I still think Bitcoin is going to grow faster than the index funds, but I'm hoping for explosive growth from Ethereum over the next few years as all the 2.0 upgrades roll out.

Also, Voyager gives 6.25% interest on Bitcoin right now, so I'm passively accumulating at a slow rate. If interest stays at that level, I will have 2 BTC in 11 years.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

10 minutes ago, DoctorEncore said:

I think I'm going to just stick with Ethereum since I'm mostly investing in crypto for growth. I still think Bitcoin is going to grow faster than the index funds, but I'm hoping for explosive growth from Ethereum over the next few years as all the 2.0 upgrades roll out.

Also, Voyager gives 6.25% interest on Bitcoin right now, so I'm passively accumulating at a slow rate. If interest stays at that level, I will have 2 BTC in 11 years.

I'm relatively close to 2 BTC as is. I probably should have added some ETH when it dipped under $2k recently, but I ended up buying more BTC since it was down too.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

6 minutes ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

I'm relatively close to 2 BTC as is. I probably should have added some ETH when it dipped under $2k recently, but I ended up buying more BTC since it was down too.

It seems like BTC is about as safe as crypto gets, so that seems like a reasonable decision. I just don't want to get overloaded in crypto since there is still a lot of uncertainty about the future, so I'll probably hold at one BTC. Even going forward from where I am now I'll probably just buy a little ETH here and there.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

1 minute ago, DoctorEncore said:

It seems like BTC is about as safe as crypto gets, so that seems like a reasonable decision. I just don't want to get overloaded in crypto since there is still a lot of uncertainty about the future, so I'll probably hold at one BTC. Even going forward from where I am now I'll probably just buy a little ETH here and there.

I feel fairly confident in bitcoin and hope that it will continue to gain acceptance, but the transaction confirmation time and fees will likely keep it from daily use. I like that PayPal lets you use it as a payment method even though they don't let you transfer it out at the moment. They called me last week and talked with me for an hour to get input on how they could improve their crypto service. They also added a feedback button on their crypto page, so hopefully they will offer full crypto exchange services eventually. I have a Coinbase account for regular use, so I keep my spending bitcoin separate from my HODLing coin.  

[Gloves | 11,790]

Put my planned 250 into crypto yesterday, but went with ETH instead of BTC. Those are the only 2 actually available to me, so figured that's nice and easy to keep track of. 

I'm thinking it might be a good plan to adjust my current savings process from "everything in my TFSA for investing" to "flat 250 into crypto, rest to TFSA". This way it's not a huge impact to my existing savings goals and process, while slowly building up some crypto. 

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,013]

On 4/25/2021 at 11:51 PM, Code Monkey said:

There will still be federally regulated fiat currencies but I believe once Amazon, Walmart online and eBay start accepting Bitcoin, it's going to become THE digital currency

Do you watch the forex at all? Theres no currency close being as volatile as any crypto, let alone bitcoin. How would anyone have any faith in spending a currency that drops 20% of it's purchasing power in a week.

No offense, but these types of attitudes just highlight the ignorance of the purpose of currency. So long as bitcoin is volatile, it will not be a currency, and it indeed isn't one outside of being named one. Crypto is stock right now and no one anywhere is doing anything to change that. 

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

1 hour ago, Gloves said:

Put my planned 250 into crypto yesterday, but went with ETH instead of BTC. Those are the only 2 actually available to me, so figured that's nice and easy to keep track of. 

I'm thinking it might be a good plan to adjust my current savings process from "everything in my TFSA for investing" to "flat 250 into crypto, rest to TFSA". This way it's not a huge impact to my existing savings goals and process, while slowly building up some crypto. 

What service do you use that only has two choices? At least they gave you the best options.

Edited May 1, 2021 by Bearcat-Doug

[Gloves | 11,790]

2 minutes ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

What service do you use that only has two choices? At least they gave you the best options.

WealthSimple.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

2 minutes ago, Gloves said:

WealthSimple.

I'm not familiar with that. Is it like Robinhood or something?

[Gloves | 11,790]

5 minutes ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

I'm not familiar with that. Is it like Robinhood or something?

It's a robo-investor. They recently released their "Trade" app, which lets you manually invest in stocks, and even more recently, purchase crypto. I imagine they might branch out to other cryptos, but they just added ETH not too long ago, so we'll see.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

Just now, Gloves said:

It's a robo-investor. They recently released their "Trade" app, which lets you manually invest in stocks, and even more recently, purchase crypto. I imagine they might branch out to other cryptos, but they just added ETH not too long ago, so we'll see.

Maybe. I expect PayPal will add some more eventually, but I'm more interested in them adding a wallet feature. Coinbase just added PayPal as a funding option, so hopefully they at least let you send bitcoin to your Coinbase wallet if they don't add their own.

[Code Monkey | 2,011]

2 hours ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

Do you watch the forex at all? Theres no currency close being as volatile as any crypto, let alone bitcoin. How would anyone have any faith in spending a currency that drops 20% of it's purchasing power in a week.

No offense, but these types of attitudes just highlight the ignorance of the purpose of currency. So long as bitcoin is volatile, it will not be a currency, and it indeed isn't one outside of being named one. Crypto is stock right now and no one anywhere is doing anything to change that. 

You're expressing volatility as a function of fiat. Fiat is also extremely volatile if you express it as a function of something else but if you view it as its own standalone currency, then it isn't volatile at all. Its purchasing power doesn't change.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

5 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

You're expressing volatility as a function of fiat. Fiat is also extremely volatile if you express it as a function of something else but if you view it as its own standalone currency, then it isn't volatile at all. Its purchasing power doesn't change.

1 BTC = 1 BTC. Few understand this.

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,013]

5 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

You're expressing volatility as a function of fiat. Fiat is also extremely volatile if you express it as a function of something else but if you view it as its own standalone currency, then it isn't volatile at all. Its purchasing power doesn't change.

Express fiat as a function of something else such that it makes the fiat volatile. 

[Code Monkey | 2,011]

2 hours ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

Express fiat as a function of something else such that it makes the fiat volatile. 

Venezuelan Bolivar. One day it's worth 10,000, the next day it's worth 10,000,000.

Here's an example. When you buy a book, the prices on the back are $16 USD and $22 CAD, both currencies are independent of one another in that scenario. If USD or CAD crash, the price of the books doesn't change, they'll always be that price for those specific books. It's not $16 USD and the equivalent of $16 USD in CAD, the CAD has its own price. Right now we only have $X in USD and $Y worth of USD in Bitcoin. When we get to the point where we have $X USD and $Y BTC, that's the day BTC loses volatility.

I asked my clients to pay me X Bitcoins for work and I don't care what their value is, I just want that many Bitcoins, volatility-independent. Regardless of what they're worth in USD, I don't care, I just want that many BTC for my work.

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,013]

9 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

Venezuelan Bolivar. One day it's worth 10,000, the next day it's worth 10,000,000.

Here's an example. When you buy a book, the prices on the back are $16 USD and $22 CAD, both currencies are independent of one another in that scenario. If USD or CAD crash, the price of the books doesn't change, they'll always be that price for those specific books. It's not $16 USD and the equivalent of $16 USD in CAD, the CAD has its own price. Right now we only have $X in USD and $Y worth of USD in Bitcoin. When we get to the point where we have $X USD and $Y BTC, that's the day BTC loses volatility.

I asked my clients to pay me X Bitcoins for work and I don't care what their value is, I just want that many Bitcoins, volatility-independent. Regardless of what they're worth in USD, I don't care, I just want that many BTC for my work.

Your example is not showing a volatile USD tho. Of course some shithole country with a currency no one wants is going to have a high volatility but like I said originally, that is literally the opposite of what the function of a currency is to be.

The reason you want bitcoin is bc you think it is going to gain value. If you knew the future and in 5 years bitcoin was going to be $5 you would'nt want that shit for payment for your work. 

The function of a currency is to NOT be volatile. If a currency is volatile that means it's being mismanaged and will be replace by something that is stable. 

Again, I'd like an example to which the USD is volatile, or the EUR, or JPY or any other major currency in the world that isn't some shithole country. I'm sure Venezuelans would rather get paid in bitcoin or bananas than their fiat but that is a strawman example and a thus a flawed argument.