Beware of BitCoin scammers

[Hobosapien]

... but your bitcoins are going for 700% over market of the face value ...

That's the problem, bitcoin has no face value or any inherent value whatsoever. Just like tulip mania, people 'invest' as they see the chance of a quick profit then get suckered into 'hodling' through greed, way beyond the point it makes sense to cash out.

It is destroying itself and the quicker the price spikes the quicker that destruction will be.

No one will spend them so it has no future. Why spend today when that pizza slice may have cost millions further down the line, just like has happened already.

It will be interesting to see what happens, with no skin in the game it's all entertainment.

I expect a bit corp to come along and offer a workable alternative that is fit for purpose and gets adopted throughout ecommerce and the high street, eventually. Though just like all those gift vouchers, there's already a universally accepted one, it's called cash.

[_V_]

That's the problem, bitcoin has no face value or any inherent value whatsoever. Just like tulip mania, people 'invest' as they see the chance of a quick profit then get suckered into 'hodling' through greed, way beyond the point it makes sense to cash out.

It is destroying itself and the quicker the price spikes the quicker that destruction will be.

No one will spend them so it has no future. Why spend today when that pizza slice may have cost millions further down the line, just like has happened already.

It will be interesting to see what happens, with no skin in the game it's all entertainment.

I expect a bit corp to come along and offer a workable alternative that is fit for purpose and gets adopted throughout ecommerce and the high street, eventually. Though just like all those gift vouchers, there's already a universally accepted one, it's called cash.

Blockchain can cure cancer, travel faster than the speed of light and lift mankind to the level of a god. All this is true. Keep believing and keep buying!

[Hobosapien]

Blockchain can cure cancer, travel faster than the speed of light and lift mankind to the level of a god. All this is true. Keep believing and keep buying!

Don't forget the new race to the moon. Trump v Bitcoin.

Both of them are backed by a load of chumps.

[lillie421]

I have seen a lot of bitcoin scams go around lately. I got a text message last week saying bitcoin had gone into my bank account and to enter my bank details to receive it.. be careful guys!

[_V_]

I have seen a lot of bitcoin scams go around lately. I got a text message last week saying bitcoin had gone into my bank account and to enter my bank details to receive it.. be careful guys!

Wow, and that was actually a scam?!!?

[tomtomagain]

That's the problem, bitcoin has no face value or any inherent value whatsoever.

The problem for me is that there is no one to intervene or with an incentive to intervene when the price turns.

With a traditional commodity ( gold, wheat, oil, whatever ) if the price lurches downwards then eventually consumers ( producers of end-consumer goods ) of the commodity start buying and the commodity producers merge and/or remove supply from the market to stabilise the price.

If a traditional currency depreciates rapidly there are central banks and governments that will intervene to restore confidence, put a floor on the decline and also you then get inflowing investments into the country who's currency has depreciated. If worst comes to worst, the government simply replaces the currency with a new one.

With BitCoin though, there's nobody in charge & the number of people who like that idea ( anarchists, those that distrust government, as well as the tin-foil hat wearing conspiracy nuts ) - these are the people who will HODL and intervene to keep the price up - are probably a relatively small number compared to the FOMO / Greed / Jump-on-the-latest-bandwagon crowd who are piling in now and pushing the price up.

So if ( or when? ) there is a shock from some unexpected area that causes the masses to start to head to the exit, who is going to maintain market liquidity? Who's going to buying BC in sufficient volume to hold the price at $15k, $13k, $11k, $8k, $5k?

What stops the slide in price in something that is intrinsically worthless?

[greenlake]

Wow, and that was actually a scam?!!?

I know for a fact that, when I wake up on Monday morning, I'll be getting a bag of bitcoins, together with some assorted nuts and a satsuma....

[Lance]

What stops the slide in price in something that is intrinsically worthless?

it's only worth what people are willing to pay for it. Therefore the 'slide' will stop at a point where people are willing to buy it in the volumes required to satisfy the sellers desire to get the best price they can.

Supply and Demand 101.

[tomtomagain]

it's only worth what people are willing to pay for it. Therefore the 'slide' will stop at a point where people are willing to buy it in the volumes required to satisfy the sellers desire to get the best price they can.

Supply and Demand 101.

Yes, yes, yes, I understand that.

But with something with literally zero real-world value. At what point would you buy back in? That's my whole point.

If wheat plummetted eventually a baker would buy some to make some bread. If BP shares fell 75% Exxon would pop-up with a takeover. Both of those things have a real-world value.

If USD falls, the Fed's step in, if they cannot stem the fall, we all step in ( by buying up nice and cheap US assets ). It acts as a break.

But with BitCoin? What's the floor? zero is the floor. If it fell 20% in a couple of days why would you buy-in? Most people would probably hold off, forcing down the price again. And so on, in a vicious circle.

[Hobosapien]

Depends what the cause of the slide in price is. If it's government interference then the price may not recover if those able to still invest decide an alt coin is a better long term proposition.

There is nothing stopping bitcoin falling to zero if the demand disappears in favour of an alternative.

Something like 200 alt coins already. None guaranteed to be winners. The winner may not even have been invented/launched yet.

Conversely the governments may back bitcoin (for whatever ulterior motives they may have) and it conquers the market and all those hodling now turn out to be right.

Feeling lucky? That's all you can base your decision to invest on at the moment.