Do any of you guys have a link that could be a crypto for dummies type tuing. Say like explaining it to grabdma so she can get involved.
I like the idea, but it all seems absolutely fake to me. The definition of speculation, except there is nothin physical. Which goes against every cell in my body.
But lets say i save some money, put $1000usd into it (i HATE gambling, but my friend bought 100 bit coin years ago…so…ya). Where do i read?
I am an old school guy in manufacturing. I dont gamble or risk money i worked for. But i have been told off by many friends and close family i need to let loose a bit and consider investing. Coming around to the idea. So i decided 1k usd i will risk and willing to throw away. If it fails, at least its an i told you so to family haha. But i do want to do it all educated like
I don’t have a specific link offhand. At this point there are thousands of pages online about this. But I’ll take a shot at a brief explanation.
Blockchain is a record of transactions, but it’s decentralized. It lives simultaneously on numerous computers, and transactions are checked and double-checked against each other, to verify and ensure that the record is not tampered with. In this way, there is no central authority such as a bank or government who verifies ownership or transactions, instead it’s recorded in the blockchain. It’s new and revolutionary because (1) the record can’t be easily broken or tampered with (if at all), and (2) the record is decentralized, so no one owns it, but everyone can verify it.
Crypto is nothing more than a blockchain record of how many units of value you own. The “granddaddy” of crypto units is called a bitcoin.
There is no physical coin or paper note, or store of value, that backs up bitcoin. But people who own bitcoin had to–at some point–pay fiat money (dollars or pounds) for their bitcoin, and they can re-sell bitcoins for dollars or pounds again.
The complication: After you purchase bitcoin others may see the value and are willing to pay more for the same number of units, making bitcoin more valuable. When that happens, the units you are holding have suddenly gone up in value and you can profit (if you sell). Note, this measure of profit is still measured against dollars or whatever unit of currency you usually use for transactions. But it’s not a fake profit, because there is a real market where people will buy your bitcoin: it is somewhat liquid.
This raises a question that has been debated a great deal: is bitcoin a currency, or is it an investment vehicle? When you buy bitcoin, are you investing in something? Or engaging in currency trading? Or is it just like changing U.S. Dollars for NTD at Taoyuan airport, because you want to spend a different currency? Maybe it’s all of the above.
Now add another complication: Etherium is not just another type of coin. Etherium is a ledger or record of transactions written on blockchain, but it is also a decentralized computer operating system that can run other programs, securely, in a decentralized fashion. By using Etherium it is possible to create not only a ledger, but also a self-executing contract, and even apps and programs that run remotely and record transactions, events, and can’t be tampered with.
Imagine a business or sale contract where, if one party meets the terms, or the other party defaults, then pre-determined events (payments or transfers) will be triggered. With such a contract there would, in theory, be no need to demand payment or go to court for a lawsuit. Instead one could simply realize the benefit of the bargain through a pre-agreed process that transfers ownership of property, or makes payments or restitution, as agreed by the parties.
This could create big changes in banking, finance, and legal systems. For the time being, the potential is unrealized, but there are a lot of people who see the potential and are working on various uses. Getting the big players in banking, finance, and legal to agree or even understand is another issue and will take time. And the big players have legitimate concerns: what if people create self-executing contracts that are immoral or illegal or somehow fraudulent? Who would you complain to about such a thing?
There’s likely to be at least a few more years of hemming and hawing and people saying it’s not real. But at some point individual businesses, and then perhaps larger financial or legal players, might start using Etherium style blockchain contracts and transfers, and the more it is legitimized the more valuable it will become.
Blockchain, crypto, and Etherium-style apps have the potential to usher in a new era of computing and, in theory, could even change social organization if regular people don’t need banks and lawyers and governments to handle their transactions. But that gets into a grey area trying to foresee the future.
People get giddy with a sense of freedom when they realize that, not only can they transact in crypto / blockchain, but no government or bank can stop it. That giddy optimism and freedom is a bit unhinged, but there’s a note of truth there as well. This is more than just another currency and it’s worth paying attention. For now the message is: there’s great potential in blockchain and crypto, and there are so many people who see the potential that it’s driving up the price to own a piece.
Could it all come crashing down? Maybe. If an authoritarian dictatorship outlaws crypto and blockchain, they could put a damper on the party. But due to the decentralized nature of crypto nobody can really stop it. Just as with any currency or investment: if a large enough group of people agree on the value, then it has value.
As people finally realize that no government or bank can stop us from transacting in crypto, then they tend to go all-in and invest/buy a lot more.
If you want to spend $1,000 to buy and hold I’d recommend you buy $600 Etherium and $400 bitcoin. Go to Coinbase, create account, buy, put it in a “vault,” and forget about it. And name a beneficiary or put it in your will so someone you care about can inherit it.
If you invest more I recommend creating a crypto investment account inside of a Roth IRA. Without such a precaution, any gains will be subject to taxation (for U.S. people). The Roth can avoid taxation upon withdrawal / cashout. Maybe not worth it for $1,000 but for someone who is young, and wants to invest a lot, I always preach the virtues of the Roth IRA.
Good explanation of how crypto works, but this bit really isn’t true. Governments today have made it clear that they can do absolutely anything they like without any reference to what is lawful, sensible, or morally right, and that they’ll do so on a whim. China literally shut down bitcoin mining overnight, and most countries have imposed even more complex regulations upon crypto than they do upon traditional banking. If crypto becomes anything other than a vehicle for speculation - particularly if people start using it to evade the use of up-and-coming digital currencies issued by governments - they’ll shut it all down with extreme prejudice.
Yeah, it’s painful to watch BTC sitting just below its all-time high, how horrible, how will I ever survive on mere lowly BTC?
Let’s take a look at some of your others:
And IOTA, of course, is notorious for its devs telling someone who wanted to sell that he was an idiot for buying it and that the point was for him to hold it forever.
Well, “crypto” is for dummies, with 99.999999% of them being assholes shilling garbage to each other, trying to find bigger fools to buy their bags.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, is being adopted by banks, remittance networks, credit card processors, and national governments. So, yeah, your choice whether to go with the “crypto for dummies” or Bitcoin.
And you need to look at the quoted text to see when the reply is to someone else who was just quoted, rather than to you who was quoted before the other person.
Oh well, I’m done with you. You can lose your money any way that you want, and I’ll get a good laugh out of it, just like Brian’s claims that he’s a super-trader who jumps in and out and makes tons of profits.
You guys go right ahead and listen to the guy who was telling you to buy IOTA and EOS at their tops.
Yes, true. I was probably getting g a bit giddy as I described a few paragraphs earlier:
On my more optimistic days I think “they can’t stop the block chain!” Then I realize we all depend on legal systems of money, banking, and law, which depend upon government support, so that I can buy etherium. The government can do all kinds of things to control actions of the citizens, exactly how this will play out with crypto remains to be seen, but there is tension there.
My personal bias / investment: I’ve only invested play money in bitcoin, etherium, and coinbase stock. My retirement isn’t betting on these things. I’m more diversified than that: I put most of my money in real estate (because I understand it) and my business (best return on investment, and I see the returns next month instead of waiting for retirement!)
But crypto /block chain is interesting and fun to speculate on as long as you don’t put all your chips on one hand.
You seem to not be very happy in your posts - if you have made tons of money with your Bitcoin, as you have implied (or did I misread that as well?), please go buy something to cheer yourself up.
I am curious, what brought you to Taiwan exactly? And why Forumosa? We all need a place to vent I suppose, but most of your posts just seem angry or unhappy. But each to their own I suppose; maybe this is a coping mechanism you have developed? Whatever floats your boat I guess.
So I love that with pretty much anything that you want to hold for any period of time you can stake for a “variable” (withdraw at any time!!) period. Or if you want to hold for a while (looking at you Bitcoin and Ethereum), you can lock in for 1 or 3 month terms. All of these are paid weekly for the percentage of the annual earnings.
My variable term locked in cryptos are Polkadot (6% P.A.), Polygon (6% P.A.) and Solana (1% - because why not?).
I have Ethereum and Bitcoin locked for 3 months and a rate of 5.5% and 4.5% respectively. I have no intention of selling either of these any time soon, so it makes sense to me.
These rates are for Crypto.com, if you are wondering.
On a side note, the CRO I am holding just jumped after being listed on Binance. Cool.
My crypto.com credit card (well debit actually) should be here any day now. I love that Crypto.com has made it easy to access your crypto gains in the real world through a card. Awesome!
XRP
Potential of 500%-800% profit within a few months.
When you look at XRP price, it is lagging big time compared to most cryptocurrencies, historically it’s been very volatile. I will start selling above $5.
I don’t like XRP personally, I wouldn’t put too much in it. Highly centralised and they could sell you down at any time. I like Kucoin , it’s been doing well and the market cap is quite small compared to its transaction volume relative to other exchanges.
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