Crypto currency

There's thousands of different projects and broad types of crypto. Very broadly,
Some of them act as a deflationary store of value like Bitcoin .Some are privacy currencies. Some like Ethereum, the second biggest crypto, are protocols on which projects can use digital contracts. there's defi (decentralised finance) which provide services such as lending and borrowing etc... There are projects working on the internet of things and distribution... it's a huge area too big to summarise in a message board but definitely check it out if you are interested.

Some good YouTube channels are coinbureau which tends to cater for beginners more and goes through each project thoroughly, Datadash, although my personal favourite is Chico crypto who comes across as a Californian stoner, but does amazing research on Ethereum projects.

 

Given one Bitcoin is worth about £40,000 , do you own part of a Bitcoin or is the BBS full of rich crypto currency miners

 

I always look at gambling as me spending money, rather than potentially losing money or as a way to gain money.

For example I might spend £5 on a bet which might increase my enjoyment of a football match or a match weekend if I’ve got some reason to care about it.

I don’t bet often on sports for that reason, but I do occasionally play online slots.



Doesn’t apply to crypto though, which isn’t gambling in the same sense. It’s a volatile investment but it’s a level above gambling if you keep an eye on the markets.

I made a lot of money over the years from buying and selling various coins. I currently have about £7,000 in various crypto, which is all profit. I took out my initial investment years ago (I put in about £500) and I’ve also withdrawn money at other times or used crypto to pay for things, which is mainly a gimmick at this point really.

Right now all the markets are quite high, which makes it not a good idea to invest.

In terms of understanding how crypto actually works, personally I don’t think you need to. I understand it to a decent level, but I don’t think that’s a requirement. All you need to know really is that it’s a digital currency that’s decentralised and limited in quantity. It also causes a hell of a lot of Co2 emissions from miners, which is obviously not a good thing.

 

I first got interested in 2017. Was making money and then the bear market followed and about 80% or so got taken out of the market. There are fairly regular cycles.connected to Bitcoin and that was a sobering lesson. So I invest in projects long term which I understand and have good fundamentals. Right now most people see us as mid/ late bull market and that there will eventually be an 80% or so crash again.

The question is, are you happy with your interest rates in traditional finance, or the fact that your pound is going to be worth less and less through quantative easing?

 

Part.

I don't have that amount to buy one bitcoin and I certainly would buy one outright even if I did.

 

So you've got shares in a coin? It must be bloody sparkly.

 

If you don't know what you're investing in, that's a really bad idea. You should at least know what the tokenomics are in a project, what it does , why it's going up or down... Very risky otherwise.

Co2 , again depends on the project. Bitcoin mining is awful and there are projects such as energy web chain which have links to Tesla which are looking at providing networks for people to sell solar energy to miners, for example

 

There’s not such a thing as part of a coin or a whole coin. It’s all just numbers.

1 BTC is just the way that the value is tracked. You can own 0.0000000001 Bitcoin, but you don’t like own part of a coin that’s shared with somebody else or anything like that.

 

I think I've got house in Cryptocurrency bingo

 

Hang on, no one has said money laundering yet.

None of this stuff happens in fiat currency...

 

It’s important to be informed about what’s happening with it yes, but I don’t think you need to know about the intricacies of the technology and the algorithms that calculate it all in order to start investing.

Just like you don’t need to know how to build an iPhone to invest in Apple. Or how to make a vaccine to invest in Pfizer.

 

A question for those who have profited - what do you do about tax on profits? Sorry If I shouldn't be posting this publicly. Just interested if you all have accountants anyway or work it out yourself .. or even keep quiet (though I can't see that being possible)*

 

I couldn’t give a shiny **** to be honest. Unless I put loads into it, which I never would, then it’s not going to make any material difference to my life. Certainly not enough to offset the amount I’d stress about losing it.

 

Do you feel any less broke if you have no crypto currency? I've had no traditional money all my life. If I swap that for having no crypto currency are there any benefits?

 

You could buy a lot of a really cheap coin (some obscure ones are worth like £0.00000001 or some ****) and then you could be a crypto millionaire technically I suppose if you find a coin cheap enough.

 

With large scale quantative easing , the real terms value of your pound is going down. Which means your wage and anything that you receive in pounds is going down. That's why some people care about that

 

I feel that. For years most people were not able to access stocks and shares but crypto has offered people with little money the chance to make gains they otherwise couldn't have.

 

It's counted as capital gains

 

Declared as income when taken out of crypto yes.