Another Con: Bitcoin loses more than a third of value over a week

[kpete]

Bitcoin continues to give its investors an exciting ride. This week it has lost more than a third of its value from its record high of nearly $20,000.

On Friday, it fell below $11,000, according to the Coindesk exchange website, before recovering to about $12,000.

This puts it on track for its worst week since 2013.

The currency has had a blistering trip over the past 12 months. Its price at the start of the year was $1,000.

Charles Hayter, founder and chief executive of industry website Cryptocompare, said: "A manic upward swing led by the herd will be followed by a downturn as the emotional sentiment changes."

He said a lot of traders would have been cashing in on the spectacular gains made over the year.



http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42457983

[Tommy_Carcetti]

1. Color me shocked.

Imagine if actual money fluctuated up and down like this.

[n2doc]

2. Gold and Silver have, in the past

Generally hasn't ended well for short-term investors. Who knows if bitcoin will even be around in 5 years.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

4. Cryptocurrency reminds me of baseball cards.

When I just started middle school, there were four brands of baseball cards: Topps, Fleer, Donruss and Upper Deck. Upper Deck was a newcomer and featured glossy photos. The others had a more dull texture.

I remember going through the magazines with my friends and judging the value of our collections. (My prize possession? A 1975 Topps Robin Yount rookie card. At one point, Becketts magazine had it around $200.) The value of the cards seemed to all go up, surely but steadily.

Within about 2-3 years, things changed rapidly. Topps, Fleer and Donruss all wanted to compete with Upper Deck, so they started coming out with fancier and glossier special edition cards. Pretty soon there were cards of all different shapes, sizes, types, etc.

Pretty soon the market was glutted. Instead of having four cards per player, you now had dozens of different cards for each player.

The perceived value of baseball cards crashed. I don't think it ever recovered.

I still have my 1975 Topps Robin Yount in a plastic case somewhere. Could it still fetch me $200? I honestly have no clue.

[NightWatcher]

6. I bet we're the same age. I did exactly the same.

I got into cards as a kid and started going to collectors shows and almost overnightthe market exploded. I had "The Bo Jackson" card, you should know the one. I had McGuire and Will Clark rookie cards and spent a Middle schooler's fortune.

Luckily I was never in it for money although I had cards that I thought had value. Now I still have a few cards in a box somewhere but I haven't opened it in at east five years.

Baseball cards won't provide for my retirement but I'm sure my Beanie Babies will.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

9. The Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. rookie was the holy grail in my circle.

[NightWatcher]

13. My two favs

[Dr Hobbitstein]

14. I remember paying a friend $20 for that card in 1989/90.

Holy Grail indeed. Went to sell it when I came across it again after high school. Was worthless (around 99/00).

[Tommy_Carcetti]

16. My wife built up an extensive Beanie Baby collection.

My kids have really taken to playing with them the past couple of years.

Their tags have long since been removed.

Playing with stuffed animals? The craziness!

[dembotoz]

21. family friend also way over invested in those things

then her life fell apart and she was pretty much destitute with an amazing collection...

hind sight is always 20/20

general rule of thumb....if there is a get rich quick scheme out there, the good days have passed by the time i hear of it.

its saved much a bunch of bucks over the years and generally has been always correct

[ret5hd]

7. Somewhere between $27 and $11350. No, really:

https://www.sportsmemorabilia.com/sports-products/robin-yount-1975-topps-223-rc-rookie-brewers-ex-36183.html?sku=8033196&utm_source=SportsMem_PLA&utm_medium=cse&gclid=Cj0KCQiA9_LRBRDZARIsAAcLXjfG84L-lWA2V88acVtJ09v9OEB-2SM1tIATCU67EHtPcTzZ-SCiZX0aAuHjEALw_wcB

https://www.ebay.com/i/292105821446?chn=ps

[Tommy_Carcetti]

8. So I'm getting that trip to a five star Hawaiian resort! Or a dinner at Chili's!

Woo-hoo!

[MerryBlooms]

22. I have a lot of '56 Topps baseball mostly PSA 7 - 8

The '56 football set isn't nearly as highly graded, but I do have a couple of unopened '56 packs.

[Gabi Hayes]

10. Fidget spinners! Those rubber band looms. Pet rocks. Those little bean baggy animals people used

to trade. Bernie Madof (sp?). Trump steaks. Trump U. Trump vodka. Trump airlines. Trump taj. Trump USA

[Wounded Bear]

3. That's why all the sane countries use fiat currencies...

with a central bank or other measure to regulate fluctuations as much as possible. Point this out to your libertarian friends who keep complaining about the Federal Reserve.

[Gabi Hayes]

11. Fiat 850s.....

Great investment in driving

[Gabi Hayes]

5. Did trump come up with this one before or after the Taj?

Didn’t 77 million just disappear very recently?

[MisterProton]

12. Perfect buying opportunity

"If Bitcoin fell 94% from its recent peak of $19,783, matching its worst historical decline, it would still be (at $1,187) higher than where it started the year (at $968)."

Link to tweet

[Tommy_Carcetti]

15. Anything non-Bitcoin related you'd like to chime in on? nt

[ffr]

17. Don't tell me I got into this pyramid scheme at the top.

Dammit!

[Gabi Hayes]

19. Hurry, before its 2 late!

https://www.google.com/search?q=brooklyn+bridge+sale&client=safari&hl=en-us&prmd=smivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjUpvi3ip7YAhUn54MKHXylBVAQ_AUIEygD&biw=768&bih=922

[ffr]

20. You're right. I should double down and buy twice as much now.

[Paladin]

18. Why not just give your money to the Salvation Army, instead?

Lots of needy people would be helped, and you wouldn't look like a clueless asshole for having anything to do with Bitcoin.

[hunter]

23. Bitcoin is history's greatest Ponzi scheme.

In a Ponzi Scheme you need to tell a story that makes sense to the people drawn in by the scheme. Usually it's a simple story, mostly that some personable fellow is a super smart investor, for example, Bernie Madoff. That person may be the founder of the scheme, but it's more common for them to be (or become) the witless front man and/or fall guy.

Basing a Ponzi scheme on the value of magic numbers with certain cryptographic properties, selling the scheme to sketchy people who don't want the law looking in on their business, and lighting the whole scheme off from a position of anonymity... that was utterly brilliant.

(Reposted from Environment and Energy. The energy cost of Bitcoin is obscene.)