Silviaitisi Posted November 20, 2020 I know that people "invest" in it and "trade" with it. But what I was wondering is there any traditional use for it. As a currency, you know. 0 Share this post Link to post
AndrewB Posted November 20, 2020 (edited) I have been investing a significant percentage of my income in it for many years, and I made a purchase using Bitcoin just a couple of weeks ago. Let's just say that it's the kind of purchase that I wouldn't want to be traced back to me somehow. 0 Share this post Link to post
AinuTheTaken Posted November 21, 2020 I heard of people using it to buy very small value things on Steam, I think stickers. 0 Share this post Link to post
starlightends Posted November 21, 2020 With Moon and Bitrefill you can buy anything from Amazon using Bitcoin. And yes it is used for untraceable purchases. In addition to that, I hear that PayPal and VISA began cooperating with BTC merchants a while ago, so you probably will be able to pay via PayPal with it. You can always buy it here, for instance, https://btcbit.net/ and later sell it for money. That also counts as use. 0 Share this post Link to post
Biodegradable Posted November 21, 2020 15 hours ago, AndrewB said: Let's just say that it's the kind of purchase that I wouldn't want to be traced back to me somehow. That doesn't sound suspicious or alarming at all. 6 Share this post Link to post
DooM Bear Posted November 21, 2020 Na I don’t. i’d use It if I needed to buy something dodgy but have never understood Bitcoin or other crypto’s and believe it was Warren Buffet who said something to effect of “don’t invest in something you don’t understand” :-P 15 hours ago, AndrewB said: I have been investing a significant percentage of my income in it for many years, and I made a purchase using Bitcoin just a couple of weeks ago. Let's just say that it's the kind of purchase that I wouldn't want to be traced back to me somehow. How does crypto investing work and what are the factors behind its price fluctuations (I.e. how do you know when is a good time to buy and sell)? Do you pretty much have to go into day trading to make a profit as the price of bitcoin seems extremely volatile over the long term (I.e. gaining or loosing 50% in a month or 10% in a day seems not too uncommon). I’m definitely not saying it’s a bad investment as I invest in hard assets (I.e. gold and silver) and am genuinely curious as most stuff I see is either people shilling or those dodgy “send person X all your money. Their whatsapp no is blah”) :-P 0 Share this post Link to post
AndrewB Posted November 21, 2020 (edited) 5 hours ago, DooM Bear said: How does crypto investing work and what are the factors behind its price fluctuations (I.e. how do you know when is a good time to buy and sell)? Do you pretty much have to go into day trading to make a profit as the price of bitcoin seems extremely volatile over the long term (I.e. gaining or loosing 50% in a month or 10% in a day seems not too uncommon). The first time I heard about it I assumed it was a pump and dump scam, but at some point I dug a little deeper. It didn't take long to convince me, and I've been a long term investor ever since. That means I ignore the day to day fluctuations. I've done as much buying as possible after the huge price crashes. Right now I'm not buying any at all. What I could invest would be tiny compared to what I've already gained. The last time the price crashed by 70%, I used that as an opportunity to buy what I could. If you're one of the MMT folk (money printer go brr, debt doesn't matter, this is the new normal, etc) then crypto investing is probably not for you. 0 Share this post Link to post
seed Posted November 21, 2020 Nope, not really for me, just never found much use for it. Got a couple of friends who do use Bitcoin, though. 0 Share this post Link to post
dew Posted November 21, 2020 It's an investment lottery scheme. Bitcoin is inherently created as deflational, so using it as currency is stupid. Hodl & win lambos, who cares about "eating". Unless you're contracting an assassin like AndrewB there. 2 Share this post Link to post
holaareola Posted November 22, 2020 (edited) 17 hours ago, dew said: It's an investment lottery scheme. Bitcoin is inherently created as deflational, so using it as currency is stupid. Hodl & win lambos, who cares about "eating". Unless you're contracting an assassin like AndrewB there. The crypto-believer defense would be gold, which while it has real world uses is valued in a way that has almost nothing to do with them. I think there is some truth to this argument. But bitcoin as some beautiful gateway to libertarian utopia with its insane small-nation scale energy consumption? No fucking way. Every node on the network is frantically generating billions of random numbers to solve the same problem and this takes more energy than actually smashing into the bowels of the earth to haul out metals? I do use the Brave web browser, so I suppose I use crypto-currency every month. Brave has a crypto-currency you earn by interacting with adverts that can be cashed out or automatically distributed to the sites you use most. I'm doubtful as to whether the economics will stack up, but I like the privacy focus, hate on-site ads and am all for anything which fixes the broken model of chasing advertising revenue. As for the straight-up currencies, IMO the volatility is too high for real world use, and I can't see it ever being otherwise as long as crypto is only used on the consumption side of the economy. Barring untraceable purchases, the only useful crypto currencies as currencies are the ones that are pegged to or backed by fiat -- and even then they are risky vs fiat. But these in combination with the immutable nature of blockchain plus smart contracts open up many interesting possibilities. 1 Share this post Link to post
Matias Posted November 22, 2020 On 11/20/2020 at 8:07 PM, AndrewB said: Let's just say that it's the kind of purchase that I wouldn't want to be traced back to me somehow. i'm definitely not buying black market AK's from Russia... No please don't investigate mr. federal agent, it's just a joke! Seriously tho, privacy is the only value i see in crypto, i don't personally use it tho. There is nothing wrong thinking that you don't want your transactions to be traceable, even if it's just buying a monster energy drink from a gas station. Our privacy is already violated so much that holding onto the remaining bits and/or finding ways to increase our privacy should be promoted. I like pulling out lots of cash since it's still the norm and usable everywhere while also breaking this tracking chain. With masses moving away from cash more and more to only card payments i wouldn't be surprised if cash won't be available in the future tho. Only reason why i never got into the whole crypto thing was not knowing what dictates the monetary value or if it's just make believe. I always have assumed that there would be a reason why some people are so into these things, but i never had enough interest to dive into it at all. 0 Share this post Link to post
FractalBeast Posted November 22, 2020 Ever since the SilkRoad got closed down, there hasn't really been a point to using cryptocurrency in my opinion. 0 Share this post Link to post
AndrewB Posted November 22, 2020 3 minutes ago, FractalBeast said: Ever since the SilkRoad got closed down, there hasn't really been a point to using cryptocurrency in my opinion. That's like saying "ever since Napster got closed down, there really hasn't been a point to using MP3" 1 Share this post Link to post
FractalBeast Posted November 22, 2020 2 hours ago, AndrewB said: That's like saying "ever since Napster got closed down, there really hasn't been a point to using MP3" That's true too. FLAC is so much better than MP3. 0 Share this post Link to post
AndrewB Posted November 22, 2020 Although I also use FLAC, the former has nothing to do with the latter. 0 Share this post Link to post
mariopepper Posted December 5, 2020 (edited) I used to have some btc on my wallet. I also wanted to buy litecoin but refused of this idea later. I also can mention bitcoin mixers as an additional method to provide safety for your transactions. That stuff is really necessary for people who use btc/crypto all the time. You also may check cryptomixer how to use etc. Edited December 11, 2020 by mariopepper 0 Share this post Link to post