Hope Bitcoin Bubble Blows Up For Good

[maclaptech]

I am getting sick and tired of looking for video cards and not being able to find them because they are out of stock and going up in price all because of Bitcoin mining video card hoarders.

 

[Umbra]

I'm getting sick that i didn't buy Bitcoins earlier

 

[Mr. Ingram's Computer Repair & Shoppe]

It's starting to bother me too, it's getting impossible to find a GPU. on the bright side, there are going to be WAY to many GPUs here in the future and prices should fall with the rapid over-stock. Just waiting for BC to die...

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

hey, we don't like it either, everytime I struggle to get hardware in stock i'm like:

 

[sapphirescales]

Don't expect cryptocurrencies to go anywhere anytime soon. I've built oodles of mining rigs these last few months. Me personally? I buy crypto's outright. It's not worth my time and effort to build rigs and keep them running for myself.

 

[GTP]

...and when you do find stock it's almost twice the price of a few weeks ago! Ouch!

 

[Umbra]

Bitcoins bubble, more it last, more the fall will be impressive...

 

[CLC]

By from china, wait, when you get your products the ones you were waiting for will be in stock locally.

 

[Moltuae]

I am getting sick and tired of looking for video cards and not being able to find them because they are out of stock and going up in price all because of Bitcoin mining video card hoarders.

If you see cryptocurrencies as nothing more than a nuisance that adversely affect gamers' graphics card prices and availability (which of course is just a temporary situation caused by a supply/demand imbalance), then you're not only missing the bigger picture but you're also missing a HUGE opportunity.

I think others here who have embraced this technology will agree with me when I say, cryptocurrencies are the best gift to the tech industry since the internet itself. The growing cryptocurrency market (now quickly approaching 1 trillion Dollars) is overflowing with lucrative business opportunities, many of which are just made for techies like us. My income has more than quadrupled since I got involved in cryptocurrencies, not just from my own investments and mining but in assisting others to purchase, secure and mine cryptocurrencies.

If you're still not convinced, do yourself a favour and do some research. Trust me, your future self will thank you if you do. I guarantee you'll be surprised by what you learn. It's a fascinating technology that makes you rethink what you thought you understood about currencies, both virtual and 'real'. And if there's one thing that becomes absolutely clear as you understand how and why cryptocurrencies came to be, it's that they're here to stay, no matter what any banks or governments try to do to stop them.

 

[NYJimbo]

I'm sad that I didnt buy Ripple at 8 cents when I could have.

Having said that, how many of you have had your GPU cards die or cook themselves to death ?

 

[sapphirescales]

If you see cryptocurrencies as nothing more than a nuisance that adversely affect gamers' graphics card prices and availability (which of course is just a temporary situation caused by a supply/demand imbalance), then you're not only missing the bigger picture but you're also missing a HUGE opportunity.

I think others here who have embraced this technology will agree with me when I say, cryptocurrencies are the best gift to the tech industry since the internet itself. The growing cryptocurrency market (now quickly approaching 1 trillion Dollars) is overflowing with lucrative business opportunities, many of which are just made for techies like us. My income has more than quadrupled since I got involved in cryptocurrencies, not just from my own investments and mining but in assisting others to purchase, secure and mine cryptocurrencies.

If you're still not convinced, do yourself a favour and do some research. Trust me, your future self will thank you if you do. I guarantee you'll be surprised by what you learn. It's a fascinating technology that makes you rethink what you thought you understood about currencies, both virtual and 'real'. And if there's one thing that becomes absolutely clear as you understand how and why cryptocurrencies came to be, it's that they're here to stay, no matter what any banks or governments try to do to stop them.

Cryptocurrencies are in the "dot-com bubble" phase right now. You would be suicidal to invest in them at the present time. They might go up in the short term, but long term most of them are heading for a spectacular crash with a few winners chosen at the end. Would you ever have thought that AOL would be the crappy little company it is today back in 1995? Or that Netscape Navigator and AltaVista would be totally dead? Now we have new players like Google and Xfinity that make up the majority market share. If you invested in AOL or AltaVista back then you would have been VERY sorry. I tend to think of Bitcoin as AOL. It's HUGE right now, but in the near future it will implode. The next big cryptocurrency is right around the corner, and I'm watching for it. I must say, it just might be Ripple. But I'm very cautious because pretty much ALL cryptocurrencies are in a spectacular bubble right now. My plan is to diversify and invest in dozens of smaller cryptos as they come to market. They tend to increase in value about 1000% in less than a year if successful...

 

[DataMedics]

I disagree that cryptocurrencies are going away. They are here to stay for one very important reason, they are valuable to criminals. Do you really think that the next crypt-o-viruses are suddenly going to stop coming out, or that they'll start accepting credit cards as payment? No, they rely on crypt-o to run their operation. So this means that people will keep being forced to buy crypt-o whether they view it as an investment opportunity or not (money in = inherent growing value). That money going in ultimately goes to someone who then needs to get more crypt-o by mining it, buying it, etc. and the cycle continues.

The recent rush of investment certainly is accelerating the growth of the currency, perhaps beyond where it should be at the moment. But, it doesn't change the fact that it is an entity of trade that has a valid (albeit illegal often) reason that money keeps going into the blockchain market.

I first noticed BitCoin when I read about the Silk Road website where you could buy drugs mail ordered using BitCoin. My logic then (when it was worth around $20) was this.

If you can buy/sell drugs with money then (money = drugs)
If you can buy/sell drugs with bitcoin then (drugs = bitcoin)
so by simple deduction if bitcoin = drugs & drugs = money, bitcoin must = money

Also, as to Bitcoin being the issue with GPUs, I don't think much of anyone is using GPUs for BitCoin mining these days. It's mostly all done by ASIC miners now which are dedicated to just mining Bitcoin. The GPUs are all tied up with other ones like Litecoin, Ethereum, etc. which don't have ASIC miners built for them yet. I think many of those alternative ones will eventually die out but I think BitCoin is here for the long run.

I'm getting sick that i didn't buy Bitcoins earlier

On this note, when the price once dropped from $100 to $70 I joked with my wife that we should sell our house and just invest it all into BitCoin. Had I actually done it, I'd have around $21Million dollars right now.

 

[Moltuae]

Cryptocurrencies are in the "dot-com bubble" phase right now. You would be suicidal to invest in them at the present time. They might go up in the short term, but long term most of them are heading for a spectacular crash with a few winners chosen at the end. Would you ever have thought that AOL would be the crappy little company it is today back in 1995? Or that Netscape Navigator and AltaVista would be totally dead? Now we have new players like Google and Xfinity that make up the majority market share. If you invested in AOL or AltaVista back then you would have been VERY sorry. I tend to think of Bitcoin as AOL. It's HUGE right now, but in the near future it will implode. The next big cryptocurrency is right around the corner, and I'm watching for it. I must say, it just might be Ripple. But I'm very cautious because pretty much ALL cryptocurrencies are in a spectacular bubble right now. My plan is to diversify and invest in dozens of smaller cryptos as they come to market. They tend to increase in value about 1000% in less than a year if successful...

I agree completely. The best advice is to keep a diverse portfolio and keep an eye on developments.

And, needless to say, from an investment point of view, you should only risk what you can afford to lose. Cryptocurrency technologies may be developing rapidly but they're still very much in beta.

After years of studying and reading about cryptocurrencies and contemplating the fate of Bitcoin however, I'm not so sure about the AOL comparison, or any other early dot-com company for that matter. The thing is, Bitcoin is not a company, nor is currency it's sole use. It's a network, or protocol, on which a currency (the 'killer app') has been built. In that respect, I think it's closer to compare it with fundamental internet protocols such as the TCP/IP suite, which have remained relatively unchanged since the dawn of the internet. Consider IPv4, for example: Despite its shortcomings (and the plans to replace it with IPv6, beginning over 20 years ago), it's still in widespread use today.

Also, while I believe most of the sh1tcoins will fall by the wayside as time passes, there's room for lots of different cryptocurrencies in this space, so I suspect there will be a number of winners. And, while Bitcoin may continue to lose its dominance, I think it will continue to grow and implement improvements that have been tried and tested in lesser coins. Bitcoin has gained inertia as it has grown, slowing down progress due to the requirement that improvements can only be deployed with complete consensus. And rightly so; the network is now protecting many billions of Dollars worth of wealth. And, while such consensus requirements mean that it can take time to resolve some of the growing pains (such as increasing transaction fees) that are presently limiting Bitcoin's usefulness, it also helps to instil trust in its users, something which is of utmost importance if a cryptocurrency is to be used as a store of wealth.

Having said all that, cryptocurrencies are breaking new ground every step of the way. It's difficult to predict the outcome or draw comparisons with anything that has gone before because nothing we presently have quite compares to these new 'networks of money'. One thing's for certain though, it's going to be very disruptive -- more so than the growth of the internet was -- and mainstream adoption is also going to happen very quickly. The internet took probably about 20-30 years to become ubiquitous. The difference with cryptocurrencies is that we now already have the required network infrastructure in place (ie the internet) and development is being driven forward by enormous sums of investment. Growth is happening exponentially; in just a few years time I think we might not be discussing the fate of cryptocurrencies but the fate of the banks and the old outdated fiat currencies.

 

[SAFCasper]

Cryptocurrencies are in the "dot-com bubble" phase right now. You would be suicidal to invest in them at the present time...

The thing is, people have been saying this forever. Every week there is another article about how "the bubble is about to burst" or "Bitcoin is dead" -- I started paying attention in February 2017 and people were calling it a bubble back then.

This site actually keeps track of how many times Bitcoin has "died" in the media - https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoinobituaries/
Some of the older ones are fun to read now.


Personally I think the bubble is more in altcoins. Things like Cardano valued at 23 Billion and TRON valued at 10 Billion when they haven't even released a working product yet. Literally all they have is a whitepaper and marketing. The price here is pure hype, manipulation and greed.

 

[mraikes]

so by simple deduction if bitcoin = drugs & drugs = money, bitcoin must = money

AKA the transitive property of cryptocurrency? Or another equation: (Illegal stuff + cryptocurrency) * (cryptocurrency + speculative investors) = Profit

IMO the problem is that bitcoin doesn't equal anything whatsoever. There's nothing to back it but smoke and mirrors. No hard value. Not even the the sometimes hollow promise of "full faith and credit". Nothing but the enthusiasm of bitcoin investors. And investor enthusiasm is a fickle mistress.

And yet, each time I think there must be a limit to that enthusiasm, I'm proved wrong! So ask I myself, what am I missing now? What has changed? So I check to see if bitcoin it suddenly easy to use/spend/own like "real" money. But no it's not. If I want a cheeseburger at a drive through, a steak at a decent restaurant, gas for my truck, or groceries for my family, I'm can't conveniently use bitcoin (or even inconveniently use it). And if I can't somewhat easily use the most famous cryptocurrency on the planet, I can't use any cryptocurrency.

My FTJ is IT Manager for a couple of large car dealerships. I'm surrounded by car salesman everyday (pray for me). These guys are bonkers for bitcoin. It's all they talk about. The less knowledgeable, the more enthusiastic. But they aren't enthusiastic over it's use as a currency, only as an investment. Ask them how to actually use it to buy something and they don't have the first clue. Ask them what makes it worth the money they're dreaming of spending to buy it, and its "because the price is going up".

I know I'm getting old and my brainwaves are often stuck in well rutted paths. But what is it specifically about cryptocurrencies that poses an actual value and convenience to the average "man on the street" that doesn't already exist in the mainstream economy?

 

[Krynn72]

I think the "But I can't use it NOW" argument is a relatively weak one. No, you can't buy something in a retail shop with btc, RIGHT NOW. But I think saying that it will die as a fad because its not accepted for normal business at this very moment is naive. This is a very new technology as far as human business is concerned. Its a completely new idea, as big a leap of faith as switching from item-for-item trade to the paper IOUs we use today.

Paper money didn't take off within 10 years of its conception either. It was invented in 600BC by the Chinese, and the first paper money issued in Europe wasn't until 1666, well over a thousand years after its initial adoption. Its now dominant and people are getting sick of coins and hardly anybody trades items or services. In 2018, claiming Crypto will fail is calling the game WAY too early.

 

[mraikes]

I think the "But I can't use it NOW" argument is a relatively weak one. No, you can't buy something in a retail shop with btc, RIGHT NOW. But I think saying that it will die as a fad because its not accepted for normal business at this very moment is naive. This is a very new technology as far as human business is concerned. Its a completely new idea, as big a leap of faith as switching from item-for-item trade to the paper IOUs we use today.

Paper money didn't take off within 10 years of its conception either. It was invented in 600BC by the Chinese, and the first paper money issued in Europe wasn't until 1666, well over a thousand years after its initial adoption. Its now dominant and people are getting sick of coins and hardly anybody trades items or services. In 2018, claiming Crypto will fail is calling the game WAY too early.

You may be right. Nevertheless, what will make it better for day to day use 10 years from now than the many other things I can use today? Cash, checks, credit cards, payments on my smartphone. Why is Bitcoin or any cryptocurrency inherently better for me? If it's really going to succeed as a currency in the common marketplace, there has to be a value proposition. What is that proposition? Why should it take off as a currency?

Maybe the Chinese invented the concept of paper money (IDK), but they didn't invent the concept of something-of-value traded for something-else-of-value. Paper currency evolved over time so you didn't have to actually carry your gold and treasure around to buy donkeys and groceries. The paper represented that treasure. Fiat currency eliminates the backing of treasure completely and replaces it with high falutin concepts and government promises.

Bitcoin goes one step further and is backed by neither treasure nor anyone's promises. Is that better?

Cryptocurrency feels like a modern, technological, Sutter's Mill. A few nuggets of maybe-gold were discovered, and then a bunch of people learned that mining the maybe-gold wasn't all that hard. But now that it has gotten hard to mine, the general public has learned about it and the almost-gold rush is in full stampede. But in the real gold rush the only BIG winners were the stores, bars, brothels and outfitters that supplied the miners. In this maybe-gold rush, the miners can't spend what they mine even if they wanted to.

 

[Moltuae]

IMO the problem is that bitcoin doesn't equal anything whatsoever. There's nothing to back it but smoke and mirrors. No hard value. Not even the the sometimes hollow promise of "full faith and credit". Nothing but the enthusiasm of bitcoin investors. And investor enthusiasm is a fickle mistress.

That's a good question, and it's the one that everyone asks at first. And when you start to dig a little deeper you'll begin to question not just cryptocurrencies but all currencies. As you reach that point, there soon comes a realisation that the money we take for granted is not all it seems. Fiat currencies, such as the USD or the GBP, are backed by nothing but governmental promises. Worse than that they can be manipulated by the corrupt banks and governments that control and issue them who can (and do) print more money at will, continuously diluting and devaluing the money you hold. The only reason such currencies have any value at all is because we all agree and believe they have.

In much the same way, the value of any cryptocurrency is derived from it's use and agreed upon by its users. The big advantage over fiat currencies however is that there is no central authority controlling the supply, able to print more money whenever they feel like it. Bitcoins are created only during the mining process (which rewards miners for processing transactions). Each Bitcoin balance is mathematically guaranteed and unforgeable and every Bitcoin presently costs thousands of Dollars each to produce. By comparison, a Dollar costs almost nothing to produce. Think about that and ask yourself again which should be the worthless one.

In addition to the cost of producing Bitcoins, their value largely stems from their use as a store and exchange of wealth. To understand that, you have to realise that money, at it's most fundamental level, is a just a form of social interaction and Bitcoin is a social network for recording and exchanging those interactions in the form of wealth. When you buy BTC, you're not buying a product or a service but proof of ownership of a piece of that wealth store, recorded indelibly in the blockchain ledger. The value grows proportionately as the network grows. Think of it more like a social network such as Facebook that becomes exponentially more valuable the more users there are.

I know I'm getting old and my brainwaves are often stuck in well rutted paths. But what is it specifically about cryptocurrencies that poses an actual value and convenience to the average "man on the street" that doesn't already exist in the mainstream economy?

Cryptocurrency payments are peer to peer. There is no middleman and no company or government overseeing the payment granting (or denying) permission for the payment. They are uncensored and borderless. You can send a payment in seconds just as easily to someone standing next to you as you can to someone on the other side of the planet.

 

[LordIntruder]

IMO the problem is that bitcoin doesn't equal anything whatsoever. There's nothing to back it but smoke and mirrors. No hard value.

I just bought a new computer for my home desk. With bitcoin. Oh, I didn't pay for bitcoin anything but time to click on websites offering Satoshi for clicking. But that was when 1 bitcoin was worth 300 Euros or less. After buying my 3000-Euro-machine I decided to take a holiday with the whole family (three mothers of five childs and the five childs, too). For me it is christmas and birthday at the same time since weeks. Should I care about the bitcoin value tomorrow? No, I shouldn't because I never invested anything but time to click on faucets.

To all the other facts you wrote about and what should have to be mentioned not only by you: there are a lot of businesses and shops here (in germany) where you can pay with bitcoin. Yes, they are enthusiams. But their enthusiam helps me to get things just because I decided to click on websites years ago. At the moment it is time for me to harvest the fruits of former decisions how to spend a bit of my time.

 

[mraikes]

...snipped...Fiat currencies, such as the USD or the GBP, are backed by nothing but governmental promises. Worse than that they can be manipulated by the corrupt banks and governments that control and issue them who can (and do) print more money at will, continuously diluting and devaluing the money you hold. The only reason such currencies have any value at all is because we all agree and believe they have....snipped..

Agreed. Although at least democratic governments/societies have some interest in maintaining a reasonably strong and valued currency and generally implement policies to do so. That seems like a nice thing.

In much the same way, the value of any cryptocurrency is derived from it's use and agreed upon by its users. The big advantage over fiat currencies however is that there is no central authority controlling the supply, able to print more money whenever they feel like it. Bitcoins are created only during the mining process (which rewards miners for processing transactions). Each Bitcoin balance is mathematically guaranteed and unforgeable and every Bitcoin presently costs thousands of Dollars each to produce. By comparison, a Dollar costs almost nothing to produce. Think about that and ask yourself again which should be the worthless one.

It seems like bitcoin miners (people, not the devices) did and do create their currency from nothing. And people are creating more right now - based upon nothing but the ability to purchase the right hardware and wait out the process. Currency from nothing. But it sure seems the electric utilities and video card companies have benefitted!

In addition to the cost of producing Bitcoins, their value largely stems from their use as a store and exchange of wealth. To understand that, you have to realise that money, at it's most fundamental level, is a just a form of social interaction and Bitcoin is a social network for recording and exchanging those interactions in the form of wealth. When you buy BTC, you're not buying a product or a service but proof of ownership of a piece of that wealth store, recorded indelibly in the blockchain ledger. The value grows proportionately as the network grows. Think of it more like a social network such as Facebook that becomes exponentially more valuable the more users there are.

Ok, now framing it as a social network doesn't sell it to me! And what you've described is pretty much already the current system of modern currency. My money doesn't actually exist in some bank vault somewhere. It's nothing more than journal entries in various mighty computers of commerce. I increase or decrease those entries through virtual interactions with others by receiving and initiating monetary exchanges between myself and other individuals and businesses. I guess that is social. But I still don't register why my journal entries (so to speak) are better logged as some cryptocurrency than dollars. Or pounds. Or whatever.

Cryptocurrency payments are peer to peer. There is no middleman and no company or government overseeing the payment granting (or denying) permission for the payment. They are uncensored and borderless. You can send a payment in seconds just as easily to someone standing next to you as you can to someone on the other side of the planet.

How is this an advantage for Joe Sixpack? I mean, practically speaking, so what if there are no middlemen? I can and do already send modest sums to people next door and around the world with no problems, no restrictions (that I've yet encountered anyway). The processes to do such things already exist, are easy, convenient and cheap (if not free).

The no middleman, no government oversight argument remains one that is perhaps most appealing to tax cheats and criminals. In a general sense, I'm not averse to Governments keeping an eye on the flow of money to enforce tax laws, reduce crime, terrorism, etc, etc.