Bitcoin crashes...

This graph reminds me of the dot com bubble - Greedy investors jumping onto a band-waggon that rolls for a while before something causes a realization that the valuations are overstated and then there's a readjustment to reflect more sensible valuations. Predicting that point near to the peak is pretty much impossible for your average investor.

I'm reminded of the adage "it's never a bad time to take profits".

Jon

Ditto the referendum that may not be mentioned and which cannot be repeated. So far that's taken 20% off the pound...

Politicians - I love them all!

As somebody who has done nothing with his money except put in Banks and building societies what benefits does a bitcoin have, if you cant use it in shops etc whats it purpose and should I ever need any, very very unlikely, where would I get it from in the first place.

It would appear to me to be totally unregulated so how does it increase in value, why has it been allowed to exist and who monitors it.

Martin P

I don't think we ever really joined the EU, if you get on board (REALLY get on board) you join the Euro

We never came close, a half hearted attempt at the ERM was a disaster

No one in Europe has faffed about like the UK has, no one

We did trade and the other stuff but never really committed ourselves properly

It would appear to me to be totally unregulated so how does it increase in value, why has it been allowed to exist and who monitors it.

Those are the reasons it exists, it's raison d'être

It is truly independent

Well clearly 34.74% of us did, 37.46% of us didn't and 27.79% were just not paying attention.

regards Martin

What a totally depressing topic!! Of all the things to raise one's spirits, improve one's morale (or morals!!), improve society or generally add value to life, grubbing about with money must feature at the bottom. Its driver is greed and its accomplishment invariably entails someone else's impoverishment. Just one news bulletin, on any day, provides sufficient detail as to why much of the above discussion is degrading to principles of decency. While I, generally, subscribe to the idea of 'each to his(or her) own', this is one area in which I can find no human value.

Bill

Don't know what a bit coin is and don't care, I agree with Cornish Jack

😪

Mick

Really? See here for just one way that Bitcoin benefits humanity.

People should understand more about Bitcoin and not just make assumptions as to why it exists.

Martin.

Edited By martin perman on 06/11/2017 13:09:55

If you viewed the link I included in my previous reply, you'll have seen that some Venezuelans are using Bitcoin to fend off starvation. When I found examples of its use, I started to do my own research and over time I got more comfortable with the concept. Self education is the key.

Martin.

I've read the stories about mining bitcoin etc., and various " explanations " as to how it works, I am no wiser. I know I am thick but the whole thing smells.

I self educate myself every day but the bitcoin to me is still in the void of internet space and unless it is placed in my hand to me it doesn't exist so has no real use, it could vanish electronically tomorrow and I would be none the wiser but regardless of value if our monetary system collapsed I would still have something tangible to barter with.

Martin P

I know Bitcoin takes some effort to grasp, but once Mrs May explained there was no "Magic Money Tree", there was no way I could understand where the Bank of England got its money from.

Martin.

.

Strangely ... since following Martin's link this lunchtime:

[quote] Really? See here for just one way that Bitcoin benefits humanity. [/quote]

I too have started receiving Bitcoin Spam/Scam eMails.

I would, of course, prefer to think that this is pure coincidence.

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 06/11/2017 17:27:10

Michael G , I am convinced that nowadays you only have to think of a subject, not even speak about it, and subsequently spam emails come flooding in from the web. How do they do it? We all know that Amazon track our web movements to bombard us but have they developed the ability to read our thoughts before we even express them. There is evidence that certain internet companies are actually listening to our conversations through software that they implant somehow on our mobile phones and eaves drop on our private conversations when we are face to face without using our phones, somehow the software switches our phones to transmit, makes the prospect of Big Brother more real than we think.

Dave

For what it's worth; both messages were spoofed to look like they were sent from my account, but appear to actually come from Russia.

MichaelG.

Inflation is slow motion theft, government debts are spirited away by having interest rates lower than inflation so eventually your multi million pound debt is worth a Mars bar. Who pays? Old guys like us who have saved for our retirement.

Edited By duncan webster on 06/11/2017 22:00:03

Inflation is slow motion theft

It's actually quite clever.

Inflation forces you to make your money work to keep up, you must risk your money in the big bad world or its value erodes over time

Even the rich can't simply sit back on their bums and smile contentedly, unless they are willing to watch their wealth drain steadily away over time

We're all in it together, rich and poor, and no-one gets a get out of jail free card

Edited By Ady1 on 07/11/2017 09:39:57

I worked in the City of London for 41 years.

I remain a Trustee of a Defined Benefit pension Scheme with £100 million of funds invested.

The Trustee work involves an understanding of pensions law, involved investment knowledge, and much other legislative involvement such as the Pensions Regulator.

So, I have a background in finance.

Despite this, I cannot get my head round Bitcoin, because I always come back to the point that it appears to be a solution to a problem that didn't really exist.

I have always had a rule that you shouldn't invest in something you do not understand.

Wiki has some interesting comments:

Various journalists, economists, and the central bank of Estonia have voiced concerns that bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme. In 2013, Eric Posner, a law professor at the University of Chicago, stated that "a real Ponzi scheme takes fraud; bitcoin, by contrast, seems more like a collective delusion." In 2014 reports by both the World Bank and the Swiss Federal Council examined the concerns and came to the conclusion that bitcoin is not a Ponzi scheme. In July 2017, billionaire Howard Marks referred to bitcoin as a pyramid scheme.

On 12 September 2017, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, called bitcoin a "fraud" and said he would fire anyone in his firm caught trading it. Zero Hedge claimed that the same day Dimon made his statement, JP Morgan also purchased a large amount of bitcoins for its clients. On 13 September 2017, Dimon followed up and compared bitcoin to a bubble, saying it was only useful for drug dealers and countries like North Korea. On 22 September 2017, hedge fund Blockswater subsequently accused JP Morgan of market manipulation and filed a market abuse complaint with Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority.

Until history proves otherwise, I am going with the 'collective delusion' view.

Edite