I thought Making Money by Terry Prachett gave a nice simple example of fiat currencies.
If you are going to read it James, then I would read Going Postal first.

romansh wrote:I thought Making Money by Terry Prachett gave a nice simple example of fiat currencies.
If you are going to read it James, then I would read Going Postal first.

If you have a point then please make it.

jamest wrote:

romansh wrote:I thought Making Money by Terry Prachett gave a nice simple example of fiat currencies.
If you are going to read it James, then I would read Going Postal first.

If you have a point then please make it.

Try reading Making Money

It's a fun book

romansh wrote:

jamest wrote:

romansh wrote:I thought Making Money by Terry Prachett gave a nice simple example of fiat currencies.
If you are going to read it James, then I would read Going Postal first.

If you have a point then please make it.

Try reading Making Money

It's a fun book

For what purpose? Is it of relevance to this discussion?

I'm not just willy nilly going to buy a book that some relative-stranger recommended because he claims that it's "fun", squire. Especially when the concept of fun is as subjective as it is. You're a smart guy, so if you've got something to say of relevance to the discussion then please say it. PLEASE say it, since I'm craving intelligent responses here.

From the one and only bitcoin thread in this forum, dated late May 2012:

SeriousCat wrote:Well, BitCoin has stayed rather stable at around 1 BitCoin to $5 (USD). It's really more of a currency for maintaining anonymity. For that purpose, it's been quite successful.

http://www.rationalskepticism.org/socia ... l#p1330976

This is 6+ years later, and amidst the second major plunge/bear-market since that post, its price is now close to $4000. 14 months ago its price was close to $20000.

Do the math, ladies and gentlemen, remembering - most importantly - that cryptocurrency is only a decade of age. It's relatively unknown and of those that know about it only a minority of them have any knowledge/clue about the values of it.

Don't let fear and normalcy values dictate your attitudes here. As I said earlier, this is a new revolution on a par of significance with the industrial revolution that happened 2+ centuries ago. Don't let old farts and conservative values prevent you from getting in before it's too late.

getting in before it's too late.

did you coin that yourself Jamest?.....

My business partner....who finances me in part and makes his living brokering bitcoin, does not speculate in it.
Might tell you something.

Would you care to buy a tulip?

Macdoc wrote:

getting in before it's too late.

did you coin that yourself Jamest?.....

My business partner....who finances me in part and makes his living brokering bitcoin, does not speculate in it.
Might tell you something.

Would you care to buy a tulip?

Your business partner is a fucking idiot then. I therefore propose that I become your new business partner. I'll make you richer and you'll also get to go to heaven. Woo-hoo!

Sometime within the next decade, most probably within the next half-decade, what I've said here will haunt you all until your deaths.

Meanwhile, if anyone bought into this crypto-lark before last Feb, 25th then they are currently running at a 10%-ish loss. Such wild swings are another "ramification" of this technology.

Write-up @ techregister:
Crypto Markets See Double-Digit Crash, Asian Markets Soar as Trump Delays Tariff Hike - February 25, 2019

newolder wrote:Meanwhile, if anyone bought into this crypto-lark before last Feb, 25th then they are currently running at a 10%-ish loss. Such wild swings are another "ramification" of this technology.

Your statement is utterly incorrect!! Bitcoin is currently close to $3750 which is a higher price than any other between January 9th and February 17th. Only for a period of about two weeks, after Feb 17th, was the price higher than the current price - and not by much.

Regardless, investors of crypto have their eye on what the charts will be saying in a couple of years. You shouldn't be participating in this thread making stuff up about prices with no understanding of why people are still investing.

jamest wrote:

newolder wrote:Meanwhile, if anyone bought into this crypto-lark before last Feb, 25th then they are currently running at a 10%-ish loss. Such wild swings are another "ramification" of this technology.

Your statement is utterly incorrect!! Bitcoin is currently close to $3750 which is a higher price than any other between January 9th and February 17th. Only for a period of about two weeks, after Feb 17th, was the price higher than the current price - and not by much.

Regardless, investors of crypto have their eye on what the charts will be saying in a couple of years. You shouldn't be participating in this thread making stuff up about prices with no understanding of why people are still investing.

I just googled - Bitcoin now - and a panel appears on the search results that includes :

3,716.06 United States Dollar

and next to that is a graph showing the past month's trading that includes the 10%-ish ($400 drop from a $4000 evaluation) correction on 23rd-24th Feb.

You can remain as deluded as you want. Who cares?

If you google "bitcoin value graph" the results showed a handy little graph with selectable periods.

Only the 1 day and 1 month graphs make it look like anything but a big mistake as a current investment.
5yrs, 1yr, and 5 days all look bad.
The 5yr graph in particular shows clearly that bitcoin spiked in 2017 and has been slumping ever since.

Delusion indeed. To think cryptocurrencies will afford protection from the collapse of the world's fiat currencies is as amusing as the confidence that a sun umbrella will ward off the effects of global warming. In the event of a global economic collapse Jamest will be tossed about helplessly like everybody else, but leave him to it. it makes him feel better about the prospect of its coming until it actually happens. That is worth something, don't you think?

Hermit wrote:Delusion indeed. To think cryptocurrencies will afford protection from the collapse of the world's fiat currencies is as amusing as the confidence that a sun umbrella will ward off the effects of global warming. In the event of a global economic collapse Jamest will be tossed about helplessly like everybody else, but leave him to it. it makes him feel better about the prospect of its coming until it actually happens. That is worth something, don't you think?

Sooo... The the fiat currencies are going to collapse, but, strangely, the healthy world data network required for cryptocurrencies to operate on will still be intact?

zulumoose wrote:If you google "bitcoin value graph" the results showed a handy little graph with selectable periods.

Only the 1 day and 1 month graphs make it look like anything but a big mistake as a current investment.
5yrs, 1yr, and 5 days all look bad.
The 5yr graph in particular shows clearly that bitcoin spiked in 2017 and has been slumping ever since.

Quite so - the peak in December 2017 was followed by "correction" after "correction". The graph below was published in Oct. 2018 and shows an "analysed floor" around the $6200 mark. Sadly, 4 months later and the "floor" has now "corrected" below $4000.

jamest wrote:I have nothing to prove here except that fiat currency is shite (read the links I provided) and that the US dollar is on the brink. Indeed, the whole capitalist enterprise is upon the brink. Remember 2008? Well, guess what, nothing has changed fundamentally since then...

Cool story. Perhaps you can name the places I can go to today to buy some subprime CDOs opaquely tranched and repackaged in a way to attract AA-ratings by corrupt/inept ratings agencies.

jamest wrote:From the one and only bitcoin thread in this forum, dated late May 2012:

SeriousCat wrote:Well, BitCoin has stayed rather stable at around 1 BitCoin to $5 (USD). It's really more of a currency for maintaining anonymity. For that purpose, it's been quite successful.

http://www.rationalskepticism.org/socia ... l#p1330976

This is 6+ years later, and amidst the second major plunge/bear-market since that post, its price is now close to $4000. 14 months ago its price was close to $20000.

Do the math, ladies and gentlemen, remembering - most importantly - that cryptocurrency is only a decade of age. It's relatively unknown and of those that know about it only a minority of them have any knowledge/clue about the values of it.

Don't let fear and normalcy values dictate your attitudes here. As I said earlier, this is a new revolution on a par of significance with the industrial revolution that happened 2+ centuries ago. Don't let old farts and conservative values prevent you from getting in before it's too late.

If it's gone from $5 to $4000, I'm interested in what your definition of "too late" might be that includes the present as "not too late".

zulumoose wrote:If you google "bitcoin value graph" the results showed a handy little graph with selectable periods.

Only the 1 day and 1 month graphs make it look like anything but a big mistake as a current investment.
5yrs, 1yr, and 5 days all look bad.
The 5yr graph in particular shows clearly that bitcoin spiked in 2017 and has been slumping ever since.

That's something I pointed out in post #19 on page one of this thread. The feature you refer to is commonly known as the dead cat bounce.



In that post I also likened the bitcoin peak to the tulip mania of 1637. The comment went straight to the 'keeper.

Bitcoin has been through several significant bull/bear markets within its lifespan and the charts all look very similar albeit with ever-increasing values for both tops and bottoms. We're currently still in the latest bear market though there are signs that the bottom is in or close to being in. If you're going to invest, buy near the bottom, don't wait for the next high.

If this was March 2015 you'd have been saying exactly the same things (as above). Look what happened 2+ years later.

Of course investing in cryptocurrency is a gamble. So is trusting in our governments and banks.

I did consider investing in shares/bonds/etc. instead, but my research has led me to believe that another 2008 is on the horizon, so fuck that.

jamest wrote:
If this was March 2015 you'd have been saying exactly the same things (as above). Looked what happened 2+ years later.

Do you have any idea what a person with real investment knowledge would say to this statement? This is exactly what a gambler would say. You’re out of your depth, once again.