Bitcoin....who's gotten into it?

[digitaldeath]

Nah that's $120 of free money

[Bobby Stainless]

[mangle]

Dumped half of my LTC today. What was a forgotten little experiment with a few graphics cards years ago turned out rather well. Perhaps I'll regret not selling all of it now?

[Flyoverland Captive]

It seems to me that the real winners in the whole BTC experiment, long term, are the power companies fueling the miners.

[Bobby Stainless]

It seems to me that the real winners in the whole BTC experiment, long term, are the power companies fueling the miners.

That guy that sold 14000 BTC and made 200 million did pretty well too.

[ICantLogIn]

It seems to me that the real winners in the whole BTC experiment, long term, are the power companies fueling the miners.

Mostly done in Iceland (geothermal) and China (water). So yeah thanks natural energy. They are driving the prices of using natural resources down and to be more efficient, in the long run its a win for the environment and us all.

[Bobby Stainless]

Mostly done in Iceland (geothermal) and China (water). So yeah thanks natural energy. They are driving the prices of using natural resources down and to be more efficient, in the long run its a win for the environment and us all.

My brother has a partner in his group that invested in a mining op in Oregon. Apparently there is a part of the state that has extremely low power costs.

They have maxed out their power allocation, but he is still making about 30k a month off it.

[ICantLogIn]

My brother has a partner in his group that invested in a mining op in Oregon. Apparently there is a part of the state that has extremely low power costs.

They have maxed out their power allocation, but he is still making about 30k a month off it.

Are they mining BTC? Thats the way to make money off this market, its like selling pick axes to gold rushers.

[Bobby Stainless]

Yep BTC. He's been doing it for about a year now.

[ICantLogIn]

Is it true that bcash has no development team and Rogers idea of improvements is just coping what bitcoin is doing? That can't be a great biz model. Not that it matters when you're just in it to make money. I'll still trade it if its profitable to do so.

[Bobby Stainless]

CB still not letting purchases go through.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Is it true that bcash has no development team and Rogers idea of improvements is just coping what bitcoin is doing? That can't be a great biz model. Not that it matters when you're just in it to make money. I'll still trade it if its profitable to do so.

Pretty much. Yes, you could/can still make some money on it right now, but long term b-cash is a nightmare. Roger is tricking alot of people into thinking he actually has a viable coin.

[ICantLogIn]

How, exactly? BTC transfers are >$20 apiece & take hours.

But BTC has a dev team that can improve that. Bcash only has a marketing guy no dev team.

[digitaldeath]

[reckless toboggan]

Is this the turn?

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/glob...ticle37401401/

Bitcoin whales are cutting back as eager minnows dive in.

If you're Bitcoin-rich and sitting on enormous, life-changing gains, here's a tip from the pros: Sell loudly, publicly and theatrically. You just might avoid charges of epic hypocrisy.

In recent days, members of the cryptocurrency old guard have announced they're bailing out. Some, like Emil Oldenburg, claim to be switching to Bitcoin Cash -- a spin-off that's better at the whole payments thing than the more rigid original. Others, such as Litecoin founder Charlie Lee, are selling rival tokens to supposedly avoid conflicts of interest in what's a fiercely partisan market.

The common thread here is the effort to portray selling as a noble act, not a cash grab. Maybe in these cases, it's true. But it's remarkably fortunate timing. Bitcoin has soared to $17,000 from $950 this year, and Litecoin to $330 from $4.

There seems to be a broader trend here. There's been a drop in the number of ultra-fat Bitcoin holdings, owned by the market whales, at exactly the time when Wall Street is desperate to play in the Bitcoin casino and ordinary punters are mortgaging their house to bet on a hot crypto tip.

A trawl through the Bitcoin rich list this year, using the Wayback Machine (a non-profit digital archive of the web), shows an explosion in the number of huddled masses holding fractions of the digital token. But the ranks of the Bitcoin-wealthy have thinned. There are more minnows, but fewer whales. Everyone's richer in dollar terms, but the balance of new ownership is shifting to the little guy.

In any other market, charges of hypocrisy would be leveled at those heading for the exit, given their evangelizing about the Bitcoin future. But this is crypto-land, where wealthy geeks argue for days on end about block sizes, consensus algorithms and the spirit of the original Bitcoin white paper, without ever mentioning more obvious motivations like making money.

So, in fairness, it is possible that some of those ditching Bitcoin are doing so because they'd rather reallocate crypto-capital to other tokens -- such as Bitcoin Cash -- instead of just cashing in their chips and retiring on a pile of U.S. dollars. Oldenburg's criticisms of Bitcoin ring true. Its network congestion and high transaction fees are deterring adoption.

Still, if this trend continues, it will be hard to ignore the niggling feeling that the latecomers piling into Bitcoin at the end of 2017 aren't quite as astute as the early birds who are getting out.

Wall Street's best and brightest think they can outsmart the market using technical analysis, exchange arbitrage and derivatives. Denizens of Main Street, meanwhile, reckon word-of-mouth tips on the next big thing will help them afford early retirement. But maybe the true risk-takers, who've been compensated handsomely for making a brave bet, will make fools of us all.

http://business.financialpost.com/pm...gs-grow-louder

Assessing the risks of cryptocurrency investing as warnings grow louder.

The growing frenzy around bitcoin and other cryptocurrency offerings has prompted warnings from a range of financial heavyweights on the risks that current and potential investors should keep in mind.

Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz sounded the alarm last week, saying that buying into the trend is “closer to gambling than investing”, while Canada’s securities regulators association issued a special warning on Monday about the high level of risk associated with digital currency-linked products.

Top of mind for many is the question of just how big a bubble bitcoin is in. Virtually worthless in early 2009, the cryptocurrency hit US$1,000 by early 2017 and then soared to its current price of just under US$17,000, a 12-month gain of more than 1,900 per cent.

The disruptive potential of bitcoin and its underlying blockchain technology is only helping fuel the speculation and could lead it to go higher still, said BMO Financial Group chief economist Doug Porter.

“Bubbles start off with a very compelling story, a fundamental change that triggers a lot of enthusiasm and attracts a lot of investment, and often what we see happen is a good thing goes crazy.”

“These sorts of things, whenever you get into the speculative mania, they can go a lot further and higher than many people believe is possible,” he said.

Even those who fully believe bitcoin will keep growing and help to disrupt financial systems expect the price volatility to continue.

“Even if there are corrections along the way, it will come back even stronger than before, so I’m not too worried about corrections. But for sure there is going to be volatility,” said William Mougayar, a cryptocurrency investor and author of The Business Blockchain.

But with such an astounding run-up already this year, investors are turning to the debut of other coin launches in the hopes of repeating the astounding profits that have come to early bitcoin speculators.

The rise of initial coin offerings (ICOs) or token offerings used by blockchain start-ups to raise money has, however, led to other risks for the casual investor.

With little regulation and more than US$3.6 billion raised in 234 offerings this year according to CoinSchedule, a cryptocurrency and ICO website, the area has been ripe for abuse, said University of Waterloo associate professor Jean-Paul Lam.

“There has been quite a lot of fraud already, with companies taking advantage of the frenzy in ICOs and investors thinking they can make a quick return on their investment and they would invest in a lot of these projects without doing any due diligence.”

“What has surprised me is the frenzy with people not assessing risk,” said Lam.

The SEC has already cracked down on two such offerings this month, including one by Quebec-based PlexCorps that it said raised up to US$15 million from thousands of investors since August by promising a 13-fold profit in less than a month.

Another seldom-mentioned risk is as old as money itself: taxes.

While some believe their offshore wallets and decentralized ledger will allow them to hide their gains, Toronto tax lawyer Evan Kwok said the Canada Revenue Agency is actively looking into the issue and could begin a crackdown at any time.

Active traders of digital currencies will likely have their profits taxed as business income, while those who have sat on their holdings would be taxed under capital gains, said Kwok.

However, keeping track of gains can become complicated, since the digital exchanges don’t always provide complete transaction history, while those who actually use bitcoin to buy real-world items have to keep track of those transactions as well.

“Once you transact away from that currency, let’s say you buy a coffee using bitcoin, that triggers a capital gain, you actually used it and liquidated your position.”

Investors also have to understand the basics of the technology, including the public wallet, private key, and how to secure your private key, said Jean-Philippe Vergne, co-director of the Scotiabank Digital Banking Lab at Western University.

He said investors also have to be wary of the cryptocurrency exchanges, as there have been numerous hacks, including a South Korean exchange that shut down Tuesday after a cyberattack.

But despite the risks, Vergne said it could still be a way to diversify holdings for certain investors.

“I think for investors who are interested in adding maybe five to 10 per cent of their savings in cryptocurrency, which is a nice way to diversify and gain exposure to an up-and-coming sector of the economy, why not, it may be a good idea.”

[whitekingsalmon]

Litecoin.....
In at 123 out late last night at 325..... f that headache.... be back in on a big dip.

[Timberridge]

"Today, CamSoda, a leading adult entertainment webcam platform, announced the launch of BitCast, a platform that allows people to track the success of the cryptocurrency investment – and get sexual pleasure from it. The platform pairs interactive sex toys for females and males with the performance of Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin, increasing or decreasing the frequency of vibration based on the real-time value of the cryptocurrency. If the value of the currency goes up, the vibrating increases; and if the value goes down, the vibrating decreases.

That’s right y’all, you can now feel the counter-logical fluctuations of Litecoin pricing inside you…literally. And why not let the panic of an Ethereum plummet also serve as an opportunity to edge you down from the intense Bitcoin orgasm you just had? Or, as the fine folks at CamSoda put it:

“With people constantly tracking their cryptocurrency investments, we saw an opportunity to offer them simultaneous sexual pleasure derived exclusively from price fluctuations,” said Daryn Price, VP, CamSoda. “Now, with Bitcast, our fans can hook up their favorite interactive toy and literally get pleasure from their investments. So, essentially, as the price goes up, so too do your orgasms.”

[mcsquared]

^^^ So a literal Pump and Dump scheme?

[El Chupacabra]

Long Island Iced Tea Co renames itself Long Blockchain, sees 289% spike:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ong-blockchain

[SkiCougar]

Long Island Iced Tea Co renames itself Long Blockchain, sees 289% spike:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ong-blockchain

seems about once a year someone renames their company or even just ticker symbol and people run it up thinking it's something else.

at least I have heard the tea co is going to get into it or accept it as an exchange, it's supposebly not just a straight rename.

[reckless toboggan]

Long Island Iced Tea Co renames itself Long Blockchain, sees 289% spike:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ong-blockchain

I'm thinking of changing my name to Coiny McBitface, and then just sit back and watch the money roll in.

[4matic]

Back when the fed and treasury were trying manage the US dollar they would wait until it was already moving in their desired direction and then step on it with action. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the SEC and Treasury make a move with regard to crypto on top of the recent weakness.

[digitaldeath]

Peter schiff says mark it a zero!

Bubble about to pop


Boyyyyyyy

[4matic]

Peter schiff

Charlatan

[4matic]

I would expect a 38% retracement of the entire move to offer some support.