Crypto Buy Bitcoin if it crashes

I've been watching how volatile Bitcoin is at the moment. Many analysts believe the bubble is about to burst. Would you invest in Bitcoin if it crashes?

If I live abroad but my money is in Oz, what's the safest / most reliable means of buying Bitcoin. If any esteemed members currently own Bitcoin what exchange did you use?

 

I still do not understand bitcoin, I've watched videos, read up on it, spoke to people that own it, and I still don't get it. So no, I wouldn't.
If bitcoin can pop up out of nowhere, I wonder what will pop up next.

 

Very speculative play IMO.

Worth asking yourself what is the true value of a string of electronically stored characters? Maybe I'm missing something?

 

Bitcoin is becoming a safe-haven. A bit like gold. You'll find when there is financial uncertainty...ie Greek crisis, war etc.. that Bitcoin should rise.

The flip-side is that weird and wacky things happen to it that cause it to rise and fall in a very volatile fashion.

It is definitely maturing as an idea..there's no doubt about that, you've just got to see its use in commerce now..to the point where it is arguably a "valid" investment.

There are also only a certain amount of bitcoins that can exist so rarity over time should increase.

Anyway, I think it's worthwhile considering in the "play" section of your portfolio..i.e have 1 or 5 bitcoins just hanging around. This wouldn't be stupid.

Basing your whole investment strategy on it though would be like putting a million bucks on "red"....

 

What's the value of those electronically stored characters in your bank account?

 

A few things with bit coin from my perspective:

The things I like
- Considering instability in certain places in the world, such as third world countries, it can serve as a defacto currency. Perticularly where the greenback would be seen as political not acceptable. I'm thinking of Venezuala and Zimabwe where the currency is worthless. This, along with the fact that there is a limited amount of the currency could push up demand.

My biggest concern
- Bitcoin was the first
Many innovative or first time tech ideas are replaced by better versions. Google, Facebook, Uber etc. None of these companies invented the idea, they just perfected it. This, along with the fact that there are already other crypto currencies around has me concerned for its long term viability.

Personally, I think it's worth a small investment. But nothing you can affordto lose.

 

From what I've read, I think its better to defer buying until after 1st August....

The User Activated Hard Fork (UAHF) is a proposal to increase the Bitcoin block size scheduled to activate on August 1. The UAHF is incompatible with the current Bitcoin ruleset and will create a separate blockchain. Should UAHF activate on August 1, Coinbase will not support the new blockchain or its associated coin.

The User Activated Soft Fork (UASF) is a proposal to adopt Segregated Witness on the Bitcoin blockchain and could result in network instability. It is scheduled to activate at the same time as the UAHF.

 

Bitcoin is old news. Look into Ethereum. Still a hugely speculative play.

 

Bcash now.

 

I'm not sure that Bitcoin is old news.

It just had a severe threat to its status as the premier digital currency with the Bitcoin cash fork.....and it didn't blink. It was incredibly stable throughout the whole process.

I think, if anything, that it has matured.

 

Old news in the sense, it peaked for now. Where it goes next is anyones guess. Some say it'll reach $100k per BTC and others ...

 

Decentralization brings with it a different set of problems. Accountability, Regulation etc

Single Trader with Enormous Bankroll is Manipulating Bitcoin Price, But to What End?

 

Unless it becomes legal tender I would not buy bitcoins.
Once you delve deep into the technical side, it starts looking like a hitech ponzi.

 

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it really is, so if u get in early and get out early its all good, just like all greed and gambling stuff how greedy and patience are you.

bit coin is expensive atm because no one is actually selling bitcoin, majority of btc in circulation are mined and sold in small bit sizes less than 1 bitcoin.

The main reason why i dont invest in bitcoin because i cant see a way to spent it "legally". outside VPN,forums and C2C, i dont know any major one that accepts it openly. even newegg accepts it only to a certain extend and not openly. many retailers accept them because of its increasing value but non of them is spending it. so basically you have allot people holding bitcoin but no one is spending it. abit like diamonds is how i explain it to people. very expensive to buy it but kinda useless once you have it. there is pay down system, retailers accept it but cant pay it to their suppliers and employees, its kinda useless once its lose its high value.

 

I personally hold a very small, negligable amount of XBT/ETH just as a punt/speccy alternative asset. Just for ***** and giggles

However, the distributed ledger technology that underpins these currencies is quite remarkable and has much broader implications across multiple industries.

 

There are other uses for cryptocurrencies though.
Things like transferring money to and from countries where the banking system is expensive, slow, corrupt or a combination of the above. People use it extensively to get money out of China.
It may be in developing countries where the most effects are seen.

Another thing is that it may become the cash of the digital age - with the move towards electronic transfers, anonymous transactions are becoming a thing of the past (see the phasing out of large denomination notes in many countries).
With coin mixing services or the newer cryptocurrencies with an obscured blockchain (like Monero), you can get pretty truely anonymous transactions.
Remember, it's not just for illegal purposes that you may want anonymous transactions (some are distasteful but not illegal such as to hide extra marital affairs, etc)

 

The gov has and will keep legislating against cryptoFiat making it very difficult to trade it.
The banks do not like money being laundering through other methods.
Which is why gov is more concerned with bitcoin than CBA

 

i agree with all these, and they are FACTS. but the problem is these bitcoins are not legal tender and are not backed by anyone (apart from demand and supply or speculations). when the speculation ends OR its used in tandem with our currencies there is no suggestion its worth anything. if you want to speak about developing countries. 80% of them have enough access to food and water let alone have to worry about bitcoin. taking money out china above 50k usd a year is illegal so bitcoin is being used as an illegal vessel to beat traditional means of capital flight. if you are not doing anything illegal you don't need to worry about anonymous transactions apart from privacy ( how many people value this enough to only want to use bitcoin solely,unfortunately not enough)

Once the world central bank accepts bit coin as a currency and it can be measured, it will be very hard to value any of these as a legitimate replacement (or tandem use) currencies.if it changes it will make allot of people rich, but if it crash it will also have the reverse effect. so until now i will only use it as a place to make a quick buck and get out.! just like a casino with slightly better odds

 

If it's accepted in value on both sides of a transaction, then it can be used to trade regardless if it's legal tender or not (just like frequent flyer points or casino chips). If it's cheaper than the traditional banking system, then it will have a chance at being preferred in commercial transactions

I was thinking of situations like remittances, where it could be cheaper then using Western Union, Moneygram, etc.
Then there are also situations like Venezuela, where the local currency is collapsing due to hyperinflation and there's still stuff like a mobile phone network

Of course it's a high risk, non regulated wild west, that's what makes it fun! (provided you keep your wits about yourself). It's like skiing the black diamond runs - sure they are dangerous but they are also fun, provided you can handle them.

It's also where you get to see the bleeding edge of fintech. I've been impressed with services I've been trying out like like various exchanges and wallets.
You get to see innovation being tried out - what works and what doesn't in a pretty direct manner.
It looks like the sector has attracted some brilliant minds where finance, computing and mathematics meet and if I was in finance or banking I'd be trying to tap that talent pool - acquihires, poaching, etc.
These setups are dwarfed by the big financial institutions but a lot of their stuff is on par with the big boys in user experience, speed (security also seems not bad with 2 factor authentication widely deployed).
I also think of it in somewhat like what Paypal could have been without all the sucky bits - the high fess, arbitrary account suspensions, etc.