Cryptocurrencies

[rayray]

I don't know if I'd consider Fiat price exchange rates as drastic as cryptocurrency price fluctuations. As a usable currency, cryptocurrency is not stable for everyday life purposes.

For something that was meant to be more efficient, private and less constrictive became a speculative investment. Very few people worldwide are using cryptocurrency as it was meant to be used.

Having said that, I also believe that the right way to invest is the way one feels most comfortable with, if that's what one likes and they get the results they want then that was the right decision.

[crimsonghost747]

All of the above is true. And right now I wouldn't really consider using cryptos as an everyday currency... simply because it's not ready for it yet. But it doesn't mean that the day won't come when they will be used for everyday purposes, not to replace fiat (I don't see that happening) but rather to compliment it. With time the technology should improve and hopefully the exchange rates will also stabilize to a more acceptable level.

I've made some decisions as to what I'll be going with. Though I still haven't made most of these purchases due to having to wait for account validation from the exchanges.

Monero ~25%
QASH ~25%
Bitcoin ~17%
Ethereum ~17%
Litecoin ~17%

Monero balance will be increasing slowly with the mining that is being done, however it's such a small increase that it alone won't unbalance this "portfolio". I still haven't decided what would be the appropriate timeframe to look at rebalancing.

[Roadmap2Retire]

Nowwe are starting to ask the important questions: "What is money?"

Is it a store of value? Is it a store of labor? (i.e., is it proof-of-state or proof-of-work) Or is  it a medium of trust (in the government)? Note that I am using money and currency interchangably here -- as any strong gold bulls will acknowledge that only gold is money and all the rest of the fiat world is just currency, a big difference. Or is "money" just a story that we tell ourselves?

To the questions posed earlier in the thread -- whats the point of these cryptos if you cant pay for a coffee or a mortgage -- its just a matter of time before the technology improves. Same questions were asked about email and exchange of information a couple of decades ago, horses-vs-cars about a century ago. Doesnt mean that technological improvement will not be able to overcome such problems. Technology improves at an exponential pace. Humans have always been terrible at guesstimating exponential growth due to evolutionary reasons.

The bottom is this: blockchains are an ability to exchange value just as the internet is an ability to exchange information. That should tell you everything there is to know about this technology and extrapolate as to how you envision the future.

[rayray]

I agree....Blockchain is the ability to record and exchange value, it's the digital ledger. Assuming that a crypto is a currencey, (we all know that not all so-called crpyptocurrencies or alt-coins are actual currencies, they might be something else) which adds to the confusion. I also believe that crypto's are here to stay but I'm in the camp that viable, strong governments will dictate what is the standard. Because, to be a legitimate every day currency it has to have stability. We're going to a moneyless society, eventually. The big and strong always win, and here I see the strong governments dictating what will be their viable currency, even if it's their crypto.

[crimsonghost747]

Finally my bitcoin transaction went through. I didn't get the allocations exactly where I wanted them, mainly due to the fluctuations in the price of the coins and the fact that I'm using a couple of differnet exchanges (just so I don't have all my eggs in one basket) And I decided to let go of bitcoin completely, I might transfer back to it at some point but currently I'm too skeptical about the network. (took me 7 days and over $20 to get my transactions through, a regular bank transfer would be faster and cheaper)

QASH ~40%
Monero ~30%
Litecoin ~15%
Ethereum ~15%

[rayray]

Good luck Crimson!

I'll admit I find the medium very interesting as I was reading a lot about it last night, again. One of my previous posts was a little harsh about the scammers and crooks, I should have clarified more clearly that I believe most are legit; however, being a decentralized industry lets very smart characters take advantage of the situation. In fact, that's one thing I have learned about reading this cryptocurrency sector is that there are A LOT of smart people with a few that really stand out above the crowd. Funny, last week as I was eating a brunch at one of my favorite diners a group of local business-owners were talking about crypto's, specifically Monero.

Yea, my brother-n-law was telling me some of his investments/exchanges would take a week or so to complete with an "x amount" of fees. He was very very excited taking his son for a ride to boot, I didn't have the heart to tell him I felt the time frame with those fee's was unacceptable, IMHO. I also didn't like how one of his investments keeps his investment locked up for almost a year. Years ago I had 25K locked up in a real estate deal and hated it, even though I'm a long term investor I do like having fairly instant access to my dollars.

It's also interesting how some of these crypto's and or investors come across as so anti-fiat yet talk about their value increases into some fiat rate? I find that odd. Why not relate to what you own as to what you own if you believe in that system? Worry about the exchange rates when or if the time comes to exchange that crypto into something else. I also notice a few crypto's poking holes into BTC's system referring to it as slow and expensive, found that interesting too since BTC is supposed to be the gold standard.

It's going to be interesting to see how this all plays out and if I was a gambler other then the 2 to 4 dollars I play a month in the lotto I'd try it out for fun. Buying something that seems slow and possibly more expensive, then advised to store that digital investment on a hard wallet seems, I don't know, for something being the "new way" seems cumbersome and not as safe and efficient as having my funds in a regulated bank or brokerage account.

[crimsonghost747]

(01-14-2018, 11:41 AM)rayray Wrote: I also notice a few crypto's poking holes into BTC's system referring to it as slow and expensive, found that interesting too since BTC is supposed to be the gold standard.

I'm new to this world of cryptos but I certainly wouldn't consider BTC to be the gold standard, it's not the biggest because it's the best, it's the biggest because it was the first one that started spreading. It's the oldest one, it's the most used one, it's the one all the news talk about. 

Here is a good website that draws the charts of the average transaction price of a lot of the currencies.
https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/tra...c-xmr.html

As you can see the fares for BTC are ridiculous because the network is overloaded. In fact that is the case for most of the cryptos since the beginning of 2018. Part of this, for BTC, is also because it is the "main" currency and as such it is used a lot. For example a person going into cryptos will very likely make a USD -> BTC transaction, then move that BTC from his wallet to an exchange where he splits it to different cryptos. Take me for an example, I had those bitcoins standing around and had to move them to an exchange before I could switch them. I currently own the 4 cryptos mentioned in the post above but I've only made two transactions while acquiring them, both being BTC transactions when moving my funds from my wallet to the exchanges.

I have to say that I'm a bit concerned about the fees for Monero too but I do love them because of the privacy approach. But something like litecoin? It's currently the 6th largest (by market cap) crypto at over 13 billion and yet we are still talking about an average transfer fee of $0.3. That's $0.3 to move the money anywhere in the world in a timeframe that is significantly faster than an international bank transfer. And that's also historically a very high transfer fee for litecoin.

[rayray]

I drive myself nuts reading about these crypto's!! But I do find it all interesting to say the least. First you read the basics, then about the different types of crypto's and what they do, then it's blockchain, then it's forking, then it's traditional companies involved, then it's the people behind the scenes, then partnerships among the financial sector/whatever and crypto's, then it's governments, then the various exchanges, then of course, last but not least the IRS and the crackdown of not paying your taxes lol....it's ENDLESS!

If I would have known I was going to spend so much time reading about this technology the first time I heard about it, I would have plunked down the 100 bucks

If I had to invest in one, it'd be Stellar-Lumens.

[Roadmap2Retire]

If you are looking to go further down the rabbit hole, here's a good starting point.

Also podcasts. I have learned much about the space by listening to podcasts. Check out the Hash Power miniseries podcasts from 'Invest Like the Best' (there is a 3-part series, although he just put out a couple more episodes on this front lately) and 'Blockchain Innovation'. Also, follow and read @naval on Twitter -- he drops some amazing gems in tweetstorms.

rayray, curious to see why you think XLM is the one you would pick. Hopefully not just because CNBC and McAfee are pumping it lately, but because there is something uniquely interesting about the project?

[rayray]

R2R,

Regarding Stellar, it's a combination of the talent behind the scenes and it's platform. I like it's run by a non-profit organization that is staying more true to the decentralized thought process using open-source applications to benefit those who want to use it. Stellar is not a closed door operation, the platform truly wants to make transferring something of value available to others through an efficient process at a very reasonable price. It's goal is not to replace fiat or what is of value, but to enable different people/groups/corporations to transfer something of value using it's platform in a timely economical method benefiting the involved party's. And that manner of transfer is very liquid within the network, meaning that it has multiple facets to get the transfer completed, it's not locked into one method. You have the non-profit side, the network side, the community side and the lumens to glue the whole thing together--it's a open-source network.

I also DON'T think that Stellar is set up to make one rich, it's a method/platform that has a purpose in which a cryptocurrency was meant to be used. And, IMHO, this is what makes Stellar very intriguing to what's going on in the crypto community as a whole. I believe the Stellar organization knows who and what they are and how they will move forward in a benefiting way. The value is not here today but here tomorrow, IMHO.

I don't know if say, buying lumens would be an investment or more of supporting a better method that is not exactly implemented in today's global economy. I do believe in this network because of the people behind the network utilizing this type of technology.

[rayray]

Question for you guys...

Have you transferred dollars to anyone and or bought anything, if so, what crypto did you use?

I'm thinking about trying it out using my nieces as guinea pigs. Ones in college and the other is in Europe.

[Kerim]

Buy the dip!!!!

EDIT: Sorry, got caught up in the excitement for a moment there....