Bitcoin

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What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a digital currency or cryptocurrency.I think it was the first cryptocurrency.The Bitcoin bros hope that bitcoin will replace the U.S. Dollar but I highly doubt it. Many people dont trust the U.S. Dollar because its a fiat currency.All currencies these days are fiat. The younger crowd prefers bitcoin to gold and silver. I highly recommend you stay away from Bitcoin because many people have been scammed out of all their money because it.I would not invest in crypto if i were you.I would just google Jack Bogle if you want to learn about investing and securing a nest egg.A index fund would be a safer bet than Crypto. Crypto is typically a get-rich-quick scam.

Bitcoin is the OG, the pioneer of cryptocurrencies. Imagine digital money, but without banks or governments calling the shots. It's like your rebellious teenager in the financial world.

You can exchange USD (United States of America Dollars) for some number of EUR (Euros). You can exchange EUR for Japanese yen (JPY). These are called Currencies. Some people and online stores will except them in exchange for goods and services. Bitcoin was invented to be the same idea but it is not tied to any country or government. Now a days it is possible to exchange USD, EUR and JPY (etc) for Bitcoin. Some people and online businesses will accept Bitcoin in exchange for goods or services.

This article talks about Bitcoin from the point of view of the math and cryptography that makes it go:

https://websites.umass.edu/Techbytes/20 ... miners-do/

This article talks about Bitcoin from the point of view of an investor:

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/inve ... is-bitcoin

You can also check the Wikipedia.

It's a commodity capped at 21 million official units and 100 million 'satoshis' (exchangeable units) per each BTC. In that sense it's a cryptographic accounting ledger, so that's a total of 2,100,000,000,000,000 units of exchange. So far 19624587 are in circulating supply and the reward for mining Bitcoin (solving cryptographic puzzles to earn the privilege of adding the next block - known as 'Proof of Work') will cut in half every four years until 2140. The idea is that it's independent of any government, any company, has it's own founding myth (Satoshi Nakamoto - mythic / pseudonymous founder), and thus forces different countries around the world to reckon with a commodity less inflationary than gold as a reality for investors to put their money into if their local currency isn't working out.

The SEC just approved 11 of 14 ETFs (exchange-traded funds) for Bitcoin back in January which included Blackrock, Fidelity, Ark, and Grayscale. This is where there's a bit of a shakeup right now - ie. people trying to predict how much the price will go up in 2024 all the while considering that the next 'halving' of mining rewards is in early April of 2024 which typically coincides with a crypto bull-run roughly 12 to 18 months after the halving (although there seem to be macro liquidity cycles behind it the fluctuations so it's hard to say whether it will stay on it's typical course with this much increased institutional demand).

I don't know if its price has exceeded its value.

It has something to do with massive calculations to find a unique key. That key is then somehow linked to other IDs in a server farm that serve as currency. It is a commodity, as in more unstable than the stock market trading commodity type. Which means that its actual currency rate is almost always in fluctuation.

The calculation of a new key is enormous, because it creates more bitcoin (or other cryto-currency, depending on who finds it first) to expand its ... um ... spread?

I don't really get it either to be honest. I just ignore it and hope it goes away.

Until such time as it can seamlessly handle millions of transactions a second around the world and there is some way to effectively handle issues such as losing your password to your wallet instead of losing all of your money, I don't consider it to be a valid currency. If you aren't careful, you can lose your life savings real fast.

As far as I can tell, it's principle use for now is for illegal transactions and for scammers.

It is a speculative investment that requires, at all times and without any interruption, a worldwide infrastructure of internet, satellites, radar dishes, transmission towers, data cables, and computers, operating 24/7 and 365 days a year, always and forever without any technical difficulties at all.

In the event of any unforeseen problems, the value of Bitcoin will become $0 instead of what it is today.

It is something I would avoid, personally.

Curiously I happened to meet a bitcoin investor this morning. He told me he was happy today because Trump winning the election has sent the value of bitcoin up. He seemed to be living a lovely sort of life, beautiful house in a nice location, 2 dogs - the sort of life I dream of, all upper-middle-class comforts.

I know it's all speculative, but if you know what you're doing I guess there's a lot of money to be made.

What I'd say to anyone whose sizing it up - watch BlackRock closely. While they're not the only Bitcoin ETF they're the most muscular as far as government lobbying.

A couple interesting things happening:
1) Options and derivates on Bitcoin are coming soon - initiated by BlackRock
2) While not conclusive and seeming to be a rumor between nation states right now - national Bitcoin reserves as a hedge against debt. Cynthia Lummis has been talking about that, one of the Chinese papers talked about it suggesting that the CCP is considering it, may end up being nothing but with or without it we end up in the same place with only the options and derivatives but faster if there's nation state FOMO.

My guess is that it will go up significantly, possibly hit 150K-200K next year and part of that is Trump getting elected and likelihood of SAB121 getting repealed which means banks would be able to custody crypto for people. Also having BTC proliferate to more institutions, to state and federal pension funds which is slowly starting to happen based on dynamics already set in motion.

What makes BTC valuable is game theory. It really has to be looked at from that angle of zero inflation past 2140 and very little inflation / mining until then. It's sort of like gold but gold that can be sent around the globe within five seconds without the need to go through customs. The biggest obvious downside - coins in dead wallets are either gone for good or gone until quantum computing can pick locks on old wallets, and yeah - if the dead wallets all get picked that could be a big price drop if it ever comes to pass.

Here is an example of how bitcoin investing can backfire:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/british- ... n-landfill

In the above story link, a guy in England accidentally tossed out a computer storage drive a decade ago. It had his collection of bitcoins on it. The local government will not let him dig to find it, so he is now attempting to sue them for the value of the currency. Even if the drive could be recovered, there is a large risk that it would have been erased or damaged to the point that the bitcoin would be lost forever.

In other words, do not throw your digital wallet into the trash if you want to use it someday.

http://amp.coincodex.com/article/35103/ ... l-bitcoin/


There is such a thing as a physical bitcoin. The article discusses pros and cons and some specific examples.

I have one physical bitcoin in my coin collection. It did not cost me much at the time (early 2017), as I traded some vintage car parts for it. I probably had two hundred dollars in the parts from buying them out of junkyards over the years. If I sold them on eBay, they would have been sold for a thousand or so on the market. The guy needed the parts to get one of his project cars running, so it was an even trade. I think he had a few bitcoins that he redeemed to get the physical bitcoin. He probably had paid much less than what I had in the parts overall. It freed up needed storage space, so it was a win-win in my book.

Do I trust bitcoin? No way. I just wanted to have a physical coin to put away. If it became worthless, I would still have a piece of history to talk about.