This family bet everything on bitcoin when it was $900 - and bought more when it crashed in 2018

[brooklynite]

CNBC

Didi Taihuttu, his wife, and three kids bet all they have on bitcoin.

In 2017, CNBC spoke to the Dutch family of five when they were in the process of liquidating their assets — from a profitable business and 2,500-square-foot house, to their shoes — and trading it all in for the popular cryptocurrency and a life on the road.

Nearly four years and 40 countries later, Taihuttu and his family still don’t have bank accounts, a house, or all that much by way of personal possessions. All of the family’s savings remain tied up in highly volatile cryptocurrencies.

“We stepped into bitcoin, because we wanted to change our lives,” said the 42-year-old father of three.

Perhaps, as a Nederlander, he should bone up on the history of the tulip bubble?

The Dutch tulip bulb market bubble, also known as 'tulipmania' was one of the most famous market bubbles and crashes of all time. It occurred in Holland during the early to mid 1600s when speculation drove the value of tulip bulbs to extremes. At the height of the market, the rarest tulip bulbs traded for as much as six times the average person's annual salary.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dutch_tulip_bulb_market_bubble.asp

[Blues Heron]

1. Maybe if the Tulips were opium poppies it would be a better fit

I think bitcoin is being massively propped up by drug money laundering. The liquor store near here just put in a bitcoin machine and these sketchy guys hover over it for hours feeding in 100 dollar bills! (stacks of cash anyway if not all 100s)

[JCMach1]

5. What people don't get. With a universal ledger, BTC is the worst

Currency imaginable for money laundering.

There are cryptos setup for that, but not Bitcoin. It's transactions can be traced by anyone

[Blues Heron]

7. it's easier and more anonymous than a bank wire though

even if it is traceable, they're still using it and drug money is still being fed into those machines.

[JCMach1]

12. Not really

Despite the perception that crypto assets are a preferred haven for illegally acquired funds, criminals prefer to launder proceeds through mules, front companies, or cash businesses as well as investing it into crime, it said.

“Identified cases of laundering through cryptocurrencies remain relatively small compared to the volumes of cash laundered through traditional methods,” SWIFT noted, in a report titled “Follow The Money”, published last week..."SWIFT Says Criminals Prefer Cash for Money Laundering, Not Cryptocurrency | News Bitcoin News" https://news.bitcoin.com/swift-says-criminals-prefer-cash-for-money-laundering-not-cryptocurrency/

[Blues Heron]

15. Thanks for that link

My observations are purely anecdotal. (and the guys at the liquor store make the same observations) - Sketchy young men with piles of cash that they feed into to the machines. Sometimes its 15-20 minutes of straight cash feeding right into the Bitcoin terminal. This is straight up weed money or coke money going in there. I think they like the seeming anonymity, especially if they're low level dealers.

[Silent3]

11. If someone is feeding $100 bill into a machine...

...it's going to be pretty hard to track Bitcoin purchases back to those people, unless there's surveillance video matching people with the Bitcoins they purchased, or there's some personally identifiable account the Bitcoin is transferred to when purchased.

I've never seen one of these machines myself. I guess I don't hang out at liquor stores enough!

[JCMach1]

13. You realize how untraceable cash is, right?

[Silent3]

17. Yes, which was my point.

Buying Bitcoin with cash would make it difficult to track who owns the Bitcoin, unless other means of tracking enter into the picture. I'm not sure why you're asking me this, unless you're suggesting keeping the cash as cash is better that converting to Bitcoin. Perhaps true, but actual cash isn't much good for online or otherwise remote purchases.

[Blues Heron]

14. lol some days it's my only human contact

I don't even drink anymore - just NA beer!

[JCMach1]

2. If you don't understand it, I get it. But, I have made thousands

Mining and investing in BTC over the years...

No tulips here, just blockchain tech...

[ansible]

3. They still made money, passing up on bitcoin in 2010 was the worst mistake of my life

I still remember when you could get 0.25BTC per hour for FREE in bitcoin faucets. Jesus fucking Christ, I invested all my money in the wrong things instead.

[Doremus]

4. I dunno, I've been hearing the warnings about Bitcoin bubbles and other admonishments

for years. If I'd have bought into it back when first warned away I'd have a more lavish lifestyle right now.

[MoonlitKnight]

6. Maybe I should buy some

So it will crash the next day.

[Cicada]

8. A foreign sailor ate a tulip bulb, thinking it onion, was charged with grand larceny

It was worth more than a house!

[Wellstone ruled]

9. Qonan loves Bit Coin,

those whom follow Patrick Bynns the Guy who was removed from Overstock runs a Q conspiracy web site that offers Fractional Shares of a Bit Coin,hundreds of suckers have been buying into his scam for more than three years.

[OneGrassRoot]

16. Yeah, the nefarious actors manipulating cryptocurrencies...

are what make me so nervous about it. I know criminals have used all types of currency but there's something about the cryptocurrency craze that makes me hesitate to get involved. Talk about volatile.

[Wellstone ruled]

18. Got a family member who

is wrapped up in this thingee. Full blown Q. Some of this groups theories are amazingly off the friggin wall.

[OneGrassRoot]

19. Between ISIS and Q...

they're giving cryptocurrencies a bad name. Truly.

[Wellstone ruled]

20. Read the Message Boards

running behind these crypto scams. Blow your mind just how people are so easily screwed out of their hard earned dollars. Reminds one of the Schwab and Arnold days of Penny Stock Pump and Dumps. BTW,many of their employees are alive and well pumping this same scam.

[OneGrassRoot]

21. Wow! thx n/t

[MisterProton]

10. Bitcoin has died 341 times already...

https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoin-obituaries/

Tulip markets don't have multiple ongoing exponentially increasing tops.

Next top projected between 85K to 280K over the next year or two.