The BITCOIN thread

[KoRnholio]

But that said, http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/mtgo...zm1g10zm2g25zv the bitcoin is seeing a bit of a surge these days and the only way to justify such a surge is to see a usefulness in the currency itself. If you're going to buy bitcoin, it's got to be with an eye to actually using the damn things, even if you don't intend to. You want to piggyback off of those who act in our enlightened self-interest.

The problem is, the vast majority of people buying bitcoins are in it because they see it as a get-rich-quick idea. See below.

If I can spend $100 on bitcoins, and have 0.1 or whatever, well if in five years that's worth $2k, that's a free holiday to see my friends in NZ. I think the only people who get ridiculous returns are those who mined early when it was easy and are letting them go now. I suspect the majority of us will have to settle for more modest returns.

A 2000% gain over 5 years is not a ridiculous return?

I'd strongly suggest anyone who wants to get involved in Bitcoin read up on the history of the tulip bulb bubble.

Cliffs: When it is only speculators buying because they think the price will continue to rise, it will rise amazingly fast. But once there are no more buyers at a certain price level, the speculators all try to sell at once into zero demand. Massive crash.

[pocketfours]

I'd strongly suggest anyone who wants to get involved in Bitcoin read up on the history of the tulip bulb bubble.

The tulip bubble is exactly why we want to put money in bitcoin isn't it? At $10B the valuation is hardly tulip-absurd yet, but I'm betting real dollars on the hopes that it will be one day. I'll do my best to sell (at least some coins) before the big crash, which is why this is clearly a gamble and not an investment.

[KoRnholio]

The tulip bubble is exactly why we want to put money in bitcoin isn't it? At $10B the valuation is hardly tulip-absurd yet, but I'm betting real dollars on the hopes that it will be one day. I'll do my best to sell (at least some coins) before the big crash, which is why this is clearly a gamble and not an investment.

Only if you're lucky enough to sell near the mystery top number. Won't do you any good to buy at $1,000, miss the top of $?,???/$??,??? and then end up selling at <$200.

Given that everyone is already talking about bitcoins, the top will probably come in a lot sooner than even us bubble-seers can predict.

Take a look at the charts. Can you tell where we are at on the prototypical bubble chart roadmap? Maybe the first sell off, if you ignore the April-May dip. Maybe this recent small drop is noise and we're in the the Enthusiasm and/or Greed phase. Or maybe this is the Bull trap forming as we speak.

Bitcoin 1 year chart
Image seems fail, here is the link:
http://www.bitcoincharts.com/charts/...zm1g10zm2g25zv