Okay geniuses, what is cryptocurrency?

[GetX'd]

I wonder what would happen if the "Bitcoin billionaires" decided to pull their "value" out of the cloud in order to realize the gains from initial investments?
Is the increased "value" from early investing only something to have in concept and not to be actually spent?

No - they could cash in and spend the money in real terms. They are now actually trading bitcoin futures on the currency exchanges. It’s the real thing and is gaining legitimacy. I don’t know if you’ve ever read about the tulip bulb crash of the 1700’s. People actually made market in tulip bulbs and bought and sold them as though they were cash. They developed an enormous value but inevitably and famously crashed down to the worthless value they started with - one of the most famous crashes in economic history. Still often referred to. Bitcoin could end up that way but for now it’s gaining credibility. Not for the faint of heart. Put your hard earned money in something solid like 3MMM or Apple etc. Bitcoin is still extremely volatile and speculative.

 

[ws23jrt]

No - they could cash in and spend the money in real terms. They are now actually trading bitcoin futures on the currency exchanges. It’s the real thing and is gaining legitimacy. I don’t know if you’ve ever read about the tulip bulb crash of the 1700’s. People actually made market in tulip bulbs and bought and sold them as though they were cash. They developed an enormous value but inevitably and famously crashed down to the worthless value they started with - one of the most famous crashes in economic history. Still often referred to. Bitcoin could end up that way but for now it’s gaining credibility. Not for the faint of heart. Put your hard earned money in something solid like 3MMM or Apple etc. Bitcoin is still extremely volatile and speculative.

I do remember the history of --tulip bulb money. One of many history lessons that need to be relearned.

 

[Photon440]

I wonder what would happen if the "Bitcoin billionaires" decided to pull their "value" out of the cloud in order to realize the gains from initial investments?
Is the increased "value" from early investing only something to have in concept and not to be actually spent?

What would happen if everyone started to sell? The same thing if everyone sold all their shares in Boeing, or IBM, or Microsoft... the value would go down. That's the whole risk with speculation - not knowing the future.

 

[BeeKool]

Nothing beats hard assets.
Silver, Gold, Gems, Dirt, or cash.

 

[ws23jrt]

Nothing beats hard assets.
Silver, Gold, Gems, Dirt, or cash.

Or seashells or beads or cow pies to burn for heat---etc. Trade is trade--

 

[BeeKool]

Or seashells or beads or cow pies to burn for heat---etc. Trade is trade--

As long as there is a demand for it.

And if I ran out of wood, cow pies will work.

 

[mopar 3 B]

As long as there is a demand for it.

And if I ran out of wood, cow pies will work.

Or just burn some methane off at the hog house.

 

[BeeKool]

 

[mopar 3 B]

View attachment 555181

I would like to see how that works in the spring time when the new grass comes out.

 

[GetX'd]

The new grass is coming out today 1/1/18 in CA. Most people call it pot, weed, maryjane, etc, etc.....

 

[YY1]

What I don't understand is the "mining" aspect.

Basically you use your computer and distributed computing to solve an extremely complex algorithm (block chain), and you receive crypto currency in return from the "organization".

What service are you actually performing/providing?

People are building "mining rigs" consisting of high powered computers with multiple video cards which are used to off load the math from the main processor (remember math co-processors?).

 

[super-bee_ski]

It is a method of currency that is essentially "untraceable" therefore allowing investments/purchases to go un-noticed by watchdog agencies such as IRS