Cryptocurrencies

posted by QuakerOats

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-02/criminal-underworld-is-dropping-bitcoin-for-another-currency

Yeah, I think in this case if I were to be an investor I'd be following the illegal money....

Sure.  Part of the reason I got into Monero as early as I did was because it tracks and records less in transactions, and whether it was criminals, anti-government crowd, or just the generally paranoid, I assumed that would appeal to them.

I'm really regretting not being able to get into Ripple back when it was about 25¢ in mid-December. 

https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ripple/

posted by justincredible

(there will only ever be 21 million bitcoins in existence).

Listening to Planet Money podcast, apparently there are decent amount of person who lost their bitcoin wallets when it was worth nothing, so I wonder how the "reduced supply" will increase the perceived "value".  Or maybe this reduced supply is already known.

posted by Verbal Kint

 

Listening to Planet Money podcast, apparently there are decent amount of person who lost their bitcoin wallets when it was worth nothing, so I wonder how the "reduced supply" will increase the perceived "value".  Or maybe this reduced supply is already known.

It looks like estimates are there about 4 million already lost forever, dropping the total max in circulation to 17 million. 

http://fortune.com/2017/11/25/lost-bitcoins/

I just checked my crypto wallet and my $250 purchase of ethereum is doing well, currently sitting at $576. I wish I had bought more as I think I like it better long term than bitcoin. My $1000 of bitcoin is only up $75.

Flip those purchase amounts and my $400 increase jumps to well over $1000.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-crypto-website-changes-its-data-and-100-billion-in-market-value-vanishes-1515443100

Most crypto is down big. Bitcoin is down to almost $11k.

posted by justincredible

Most crypto is down big. Bitcoin is down to almost $11k.

More anecdotal evidence of news of the pending apocalypse.....talking to our building maintenance guy the other day.  He also flips houses for a [modest] living  He's a heavy investor in crypto.

This is exactly like the tail end of the housing bubble.  If I start hearing about people buying crypto on margin it's time to figure out how to short that market.

posted by gut

More anecdotal evidence of news of the pending apocalypse.....talking to our building maintenance guy the other day.  He also flips houses for a [modest] living  He's a heavy investor in crypto.

This is exactly like the tail end of the housing bubble.  If I start hearing about people buying crypto on margin it's time to figure out how to short that market.

And now that you can trade BTC futures, that should be doable.

posted by O-Trap

And now that you can trade BTC futures, that should be doable.

Right.   Of course, a lot of my professors lost a lot of money shorting the tech bubble.  As they say, they "weren't wrong just early!"

Might be a fun/interesting play to do some pairs trades, like short monero and long bitcoin.  Even though you'd be hedged against the overall crypto market, that still seems inherently high risk/volatiliy.

Also, short positions in markets that may be prone to manipulation seems like a pretty dumb idea for a non-professional.

An even bigger drop as of this morning. 

cue all these fuckers i work with telling me how they all closed their bitcoin wallets on friday, so they all made thousands.

Ethereum at $850 or less is very tempting. As I watch the chart bitcoin drops to below $10k.

This is the correction I was waiting for at the new year.

posted by gut

More anecdotal evidence of news of the pending apocalypse.....talking to our building maintenance guy the other day.  He also flips houses for a [modest] living  He's a heavy investor in crypto.

This is exactly like the tail end of the housing bubble.  If I start hearing about people buying crypto on margin it's time to figure out how to short that market.

While Joe Kennedy probably got away with insider trading he famously said this before selling out before the Great Depression. 

posted by BoatShoes

While Joe Kennedy probably got away with insider trading he famously said this before selling out before the Great Depression. 

When your loser friends from high school that couldn't pass Algebra 2 are on there talking about a bitcoin/crypto...you knew it was time to pump the brakes a bit. 

As usual, those who chased the steam are going to get killed. All the people who bought in at 12-18K will reluctantly sell when it hits 7 (or less?) and take the loss on the chin. The guys who were in at 3k or less will start buying again and it'll bounce back. The sheep will buy again...only to get killed again. Sheep get slaughtered. 

posted by j_crazy

cue all these fuckers i work with telling me how they all closed their bitcoin wallets on friday, so they all made thousands.

I've already seen a few show up today.
 

posted by justincredible

Ethereum at $850 or less is very tempting. As I watch the chart bitcoin drops to below $10k.

This is the correction I was waiting for at the new year.

Me too.  I'm buying in for more if BTC gets to maybe $7K, though I could absolutely see it going as low as $1-2K.

ETH dropped as low as $770 and I failed to buy in. It's back up to $920 now. Bah.

This is an interesting subreddit to read through today:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitconnect/

Related: https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/16/bitconnect-which-has-been-accused-of-running-a-ponzi-scheme-shuts-down/

posted by justincredible

This is an interesting subreddit to read through today:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitconnect/

Related: https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/16/bitconnect-which-has-been-accused-of-running-a-ponzi-scheme-shuts-down/

I actually work with the guy who did a lot of their web design.  They're paying most of their actual debt lines, but it sounds like they're going to stick a lot of their affiliates (or "ambassadors," or whatever they're calling them) and some of their contractors.