Do you use cryptocurrency?

[milestogo]

A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange wherein individual coin ownership records are stored in a ledger existing in a form of a computerized database using strong cryptography to secure transaction records, to control the creation of additional coins, and to verify the transfer of coin ownership. It typically does not exist in physical form (like paper money) and is typically not issued by a central authority. Cryptocurrencies typically use decentralized control as opposed to centralized digital currency and central banking systems. When a cryptocurrency is minted or created prior to issuance or issued by a single issuer, it is generally considered centralized. When implemented with decentralized control, each cryptocurrency works through distributed ledger technology, typically a blockchain, that serves as a public financial transaction database.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency

46 votes, 1 pass | Time left: Unlimited
	Yes
	7 (15%)
	No
	39 (85%)
	Huh?
	0 (0%)
	1 DU member did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[Shermann]

1. No but I do have to listen to "that guy" at the office who dreams of getting rich quick with it nt

[underpants]

3. I wish I'd bought some

Damn.

[Bristlecone]

18. Me too. My "guy" just got his clock cleaned last week.

A complete dreamer imo.

[Shermann]

19. Did he fess up to it?

You usually only hear from "that guy" when he's on a winning streak.

You then can deduce when "that guy" lost a bunch of money from his sudden silence on the subject.

[Bristlecone]

21. I asked how it was going; He didn't want to talk about it.

I let it go.

[róisín_dubh]

40. Mine too. He didn't sink much into it though.

And he’ll just let it sit and see what happens. We talk about it daily.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

2. No, and I can't imagine the circumstances under which I ever would.

It just reeks of an especially long "long con."

[FakeNoose]

20. Exactly right

It's a digital pyramid scheme for nerdish gamblers.

[PBC_Democrat]

4. I still believe they are a scam ...

They have nothing backing them ... the folks that control the currency generation algorithm can simply tweak it and create a flood of new 'coins'.

This is nearly as bad as the GameStop scam that bilked millions from greedy day traders.

One day, and soon I believe, the entire cryptocurrency market will collapse.

[Kablooie]

5. I bought 1 Bitcoin in 2015 just to see what it was.

I paid 300$ and planned to spend it right away.
I bought one computer program for 20$ but couldn't find anything else to buy so I gradually forgot about it.

Recently I checked my password and it worked! Its been up to $60,000 recently.

[SergeStorms]

6. It smacks of a pyramid scam to me.

Those who started it, or got in on the ground floor, are going to make a killing. Everyone else.........

Of course there's the distinct possibility that I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

[Kablooie]

7. It's being used primarily as an investment tool today.

But it was originally meant to be a currency to buy things with not simply an investment used to get rich.

[PETRUS]

11. Perhaps it was "meant to be a currency," and perhaps it wasn't.

This is an interesting take:

https://cepr.net/bitcoin-and-baseball-cards/

[SergeStorms]

13. Interesting read.

I participated in an online baseball card and sports memorabilia auction two weeks ago. People were paying exorbitant amounts of money for totally sub-par items. I logged off. People are freaking nuts.

[Bucky]

22. Yes, it's unknown territory

I thought about buying one a few years ago, but decided I didn't have a scratch to spare. I can sit around thinking about what a tactical error that was. But in the end, Ponzi scheme or no, cryptocurrencies are a fiat currency with no fiat. It's a bubble bigger than Dutch tulips, and it's going to pop eventually.

[DFW]

8. No, but I use something completely exotic that most people seem never to ever have used

Cash!

[WarGamer]

9. I don't use it but I trade it.

Last year I started "day-trading" crypto.

Pretty simple actually. Start with a round number, like $10,000 and buy/sell several times a day to take advantage of volatility.

Look at a chart. There are maybe 8 swings a day where you can make 1-2% profit each time.

Pretty easy to make $500 a day. If you get stuck in a downturn you hold the crypto until it regains it's value and starts a new upward trend.

It's fun.

[SergeStorms]

14. No transaction fees?

And obviously, no reporting each transaction on your tax returns, like day-trading stocks.

[tandem5]

30. plenty of transactions fees and yes you do have to report every single trade

just like day-trading stocks.

[SergeStorms]

31. Beaucoup paperwork.

Just sayin'.

[WarGamer]

32. Not really

Robinhood has no-fee trading

You MAY pay a bit more than market because of pay flow, though but not as much as a fee like Coinbase.

And I think he was referring to IRS "Wash-Rule" and Crypto is immune to "Wash-Rule" regulations.

It's taxed as property, not currency so you pay Capital gains.

[tandem5]

37. I've been trading crypto for 8 years...

If you trade cryptocurrency exclusively on Robinhood and never move it off-site and that service offers you a consolidated 1099B then, yes, that alleviates your tax reporting and, yes, in addition the lack of the wash-rule spares you any extra exception reporting, but if you trade across multiple exchanges or you move your crypto off-site then it's up to you to keep a record of all your trades and to establish a tax basis and to report them on 8949 and this can get quite lengthy for a frequent trader.

[WarGamer]

38. I just do it on RH...

scalping.

Use a 10k stake and trade 10-12 times a day.

And I don't hold any crypto in a wallet so no problem there, either.

I just gave my accountant my whole RH file and he took it from there.

Right now I'm 4k upside down waiting for ETC to get back to 64...

[tandem5]

39. BTC is building a shoulder right now, so it will do

some sort of retest of 55k to 60k and in the process bring all the alts with it so you probably wont be upside down for long.

[WarGamer]

45. you're right... I'm almost back.

[Hekate]

10. No. We tried to tell our son about the great tulip mania in 17th century Holland...

... when he told us about this great fabulous thing about 4 years ago. He didn’t seem to think the story was relevant to this day and age, oddly enough. But he’s a big boy, now over 40, so whatever he’s doing I’m sure he has given it his earnest consideration.

[Celerity]

16. Massive systemic flaw in the tulip analogy. Tulips lack fungibility.

They also involved a monstrously difficult supply and distribution chain. Crypto is completely fungible and can be redeemed globally in a spilt second.

[Bucky]

23. Of course the fungibility of cryptos is another way of saying pass it on to the next sucker

Without a tangible work product or a tax collecting government to back up that fiat, cryptos are an IOU.

I just hope they don't become big and powerful enough to demand a bailout once they finally pop

[Celerity]

24. you clearly do not understand blockchain and crypto

I just hope they don't become big and powerful enough to demand a bailout once they finally pop

there is nothing to bail out, it is a de-centralised blockchain-powered ledger

there also is finite amount (21 million) of BTC, 18.5 million have been mined so far, and of that number 4 to 5 million are permanently lost. At current pace, the final BTC will not be mined until 2140, as the complexity of the algos keeps increasing. Of course, quantum computing could speed that timeframe up.

BTC is not a pyramid scheme as it is not an open-ended system.

also, ALL fiat currency is an IOU.

the USD is backed by nothing other than faith that the US can keep 'printing money' (ie not default), relatively (at least atm) unconstrained by its huge debt, due to the petrol dollar matrix (which is why the US needs to maintain its global superpower status) and other systemic factors.

I cannot think of a worse non-RW political board than DU for any discussion of blockchain and crypto

it is so fundamentally driven by a profound lack of understanding of the tech, which is fermented/exacerbated with a more than fair dosage of Luddite mentality

years upon years of dodgy 'imminent demise' predictions (as shown in past threads by posters who far outdate me here tossing up links to old OP's that are pure cringe)

and finally a huge amount of bitterness (it's human nature) emanating from deep down in various psyches

the same thing has been exhibited (obvious this is not limited to this board) for ages with stocks and commodities

I do not trade crypto, the delta is far beyond my comfort zone but I do have a sizeable holding (triple digits) of BTC (my private keys are stored on hardware, on offline, redundant IronKey flash drives, so zero chance of any hacks), back from a birthday gift from my father in 2012 (so you can imagine the increase in value versus my cost basis)

I have never redeemed any of my BTC, and I have seen huge crashes, huge gains in price, far outstripping anything at present

I have zero need to cash any in

I sit and wait

[Bucky]

26. The difference between currency backed by governments versus backed by Dude On Internet

...is that a government can levy taxes to address outstanding debts. It's revenue source is the productivity of its own citizens. So the value is grounded on the value of the actual work that people do. The notion of human labor creating value goes back before Adam Smith. I think we can trust it. It's more dependable than gold.

I have yet to hear an explanation of cryptocurrencies that explains what backs up the fiat of bitcoin, dogecoin, or next month's inevitable Qcoin beyond the curiosity of future investors.

[Celerity]

27. The US government can never cover the debt via taxation

The actual amortised total debt, on books, off books, drawn out to 2050, when all mandated transfer payments (Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, etc) are factored in is over 135 trillion USD. No amount of taxation can cover that. It is all based off faith that the ball can be kept going and that a default will not occur.

[BannonsLiver]

28. Thanks for trying to explain it to us plebs

It’s always fascinating to get a glimpse into the life of the rich. Where do you summer?

[TraceNC]

34. LOL

And your username is hilarious too.

[Celerity]

35. I do not consider myself rich in terms of a material measurement of wealth, so you will have to

enquire elsewhere to gain that glimpse that you seek.

[WarGamer]

33. you're 100% correct

[FlyingPiggy]

46. Well said. I tried explaining this to some people but was nowhere near as eloquent

[FlyingPiggy]

12. I sure wish I had listened to my cousin and bought last year.

I would be retiring now. But aI am getting on board now.

[RandiFan1290]

15. yes

[whistler162]

17. Nope and didn't buy into tulips either

[Celerity]

25. that tulip analogy, as I stated above, is profoundly flawed

[Ron Green]

29. The fact that mining it sucks up an enormous amount of energy

ought to be reason enough for caring people to avoid it.

[The Revolution]

41. This

No one should feel bad about "missing out" on a chance to make money. It's terrible for the environment. What's the difference between getting rich off cryptocurrency or getting rich off drilling oil? Both are doing long term harm for the gain of a small number of people.

[In It to Win It]

36. I don't use it nor do I invest in it. As a finance professional, I don't quite understand how to

value it.

Every investment that I or my group takes part in undergoes some amount of underwriting, analyzing, and research. Almost everything derives its value from some underlying thing and we can quantify that underlying thing. That is not the case with cryptocurrency.

It is valuable because people believe it is, and no other reason. I can't quantify people's beliefs so I don't touch it.

I remember a college professor introduced me to Bitcoin (and cryptocurrency in general) back in 2013. The pitch that I heard then was that it would replace the dollar (and the euro, the British pound, etc) as the primary currency. That is a belief that I thought was unrealistic. The pitch I got when this was introduced to me was so unrealistic and that shaped my opinion of cryptocurrency. My opinion never really changed.

However, I will say that I see tremendous potential in blockchain technology outside of the use of cryptocurrency. To me, blockchain technology has value in other things, but not in cryptocurrency.

[milestogo]

42. Thank you.

The reason I posed the question was I met a young man who told me he is trying to only use cryptocurrency. He said he gets paid in bitcoin, and that a lot of tech companies were moving to using it for payroll.

I thought that was amazing, but maybe I'm just not plugged into it. I don't want to be paid in bitcoin.

[In It to Win It]

43. It would be extremely difficult for crytocurrency to gain a foothold as a use for everyday currency

For myself, having cryptocurrency would be nothing more than a storer of value for me. It would have no other utility in my life. Nowhere that I shop takes cryptocurrency. No service that I consume takes cryptocurrency. To be paid in cryptocurrency would add an extra inconvenience in my life that I’m not looking for. I guess that depends on circumstances. I can see how it’s useful to send money abroad if that’s something that someone does regularly.

It’s possible that cryptocurrency can become a widespread or mainstream medium of exchange. I don’t see that being likely but it’s possible. The powers that be would definitely try to slow down the adoption of cryptocurrency as the primary medium of exchange until they get in the game themselves.

[Tommy Carcetti]

44. Cryptocurrency has been around for a few years now and I'm still not convinced that it isn't...

...the absolutely stupidest, most inane and ridiculous concept in the entire world.