Crypto coins ...anyone here into it?

[JMR]

Myself lost the train back in 2010 when my financial advisor kept begging that I should invest at least 1000 us dollars into this new internet money thing ( bitcoin ). Even though he was trying to explain it as best as he could ( he wasn't entirely sure himself how that worked though)...I could not get it through my thick skull how the 1000 dollars invested could be worth thousands later down the road. And back then a G in hard cash was worth more than a virtual xxxxxxx dollars down the road.
Since then, lost few other financial trains..what with making my money through hard work and stuff and did not have much time to think of anything else ( 2 babies born 2 years apart, nearly on the dot I was praying that they are not born on the same date ..phewww...just 7 days difference on same month , I was begging my wife to hold on for few more days so each kid could have his own birthday party .
But now that I would like to retire sometimes in the next 5 to 10 years ( getting too old to run from garage to garage , form client to client and fixing cars on the street, be it rain, sleet , snow , hot or cold outside ) and having 2 young children to take care of , FINALLY got on the crypto wagon with a modest investment so far ( a bit less than couple thousands for now) and hitched my money to some crypto coins. I will like to invest maybe 3-400 hundred dollars a month in a few chosen crypto coins ( Cardano ADA , Digibyte , Gala and BNB ), would like to have about a maximum 5k US dollars investment by the end of NEXT year and let it grow for the next 5 to 10 years. So far the the crypto market is in a bear-ish trend and i'm down on my initial investment so far but I hold faith and hopefully will regain down the long stretch.
What about you guys ? Any of you hitched your wagon or a part of it to this crypto trend?

 

[PetrolDave]

Since crypto currency is an unregulated market and has many 'cowboys' I treat all crypto currencies as no more than a scam and refuse to have anything to do with them.

 

[JMR]

Since crypto currency is an unregulated market and has many 'cowboys' I treat all crypto currencies as no more than a scam and refuse to have anything to do with them.

Okay , I agree with this statement and agree that it is a VERY volatile market. But so is any financial stock market regulated or not. It's more like Vegas roulette

 

[PetrolDave]

It's more like Vegas roulette

... and I don't do gambling, it's a mugs game - only the house can win.

 

[vreihen]

A small startup that I did some side consulting for a while back launched a Regulation CF offering a few months ago, and let me buy in with their employees before opening it to the general public. I threw a few Atlantic City casino drink tips (*) into the pot from my play money investing account, purely as a gamble. (Most of my non-play investing account money is chilling out in an index fund that tracks the S&P 500, as recommended by many financial consultants and retirement planners. I also have a few bucks in Manchester United just to be able to say that I partially own one of the largest sports teams in the world, but am well short of the amount needed to get tickets to Old Trafford.) Long story short, the Regulation CF offering introduced me to startengine.com, where small companies are looking for pre-IPO hobby investors. A step above the craps table, because you can do your research on the companies before throwing the dice.

(*) I had a friend who used to be a "whale" (BIG hobby gambler) in Atlantic City and Las Vegas. When you run $100K/day through a casino, they gladly give you comps like $600 bottles of wine for free. The servers expect a 15-20% tip from the recipients based on the retail price of those freebies, hence he thinks of $100 bills as drink tips.....

 

[morris39]

A small startup that I did some side consulting for a while back launched a Regulation CF offering a few months ago, and let me buy in with their employees before opening it to the general public. I threw a few Atlantic City casino drink tips (*) into the pot from my play money investing account, purely as a gamble. (Most of my non-play investing account money is chilling out in an index fund that tracks the S&P 500, as recommended by many financial consultants and retirement planners. I also have a few bucks in Manchester United just to be able to say that I partially own one of the largest sports teams in the world, but am well short of the amount needed to get tickets to Old Trafford.) Long story short, the Regulation CF offering introduced me to startengine.com, where small companies are looking for pre-IPO hobby investors. A step above the craps table, because you can do your research on the companies before throwing the dice.

(*) I had a friend who used to be a "whale" (BIG hobby gambler) in Atlantic City and Las Vegas. When you run $100K/day through a casino, they gladly give you comps like $600 bottles of wine for free. The servers expect a 15-20% tip from the recipients based on the retail price of those freebies, hence he thinks of $100 bills as drink tips.....

Right or wrong I share your strategy re S&P500 ETFs and occasional lurches into small risky stuff. Black swans and fat tails per Nassim Taleb may be good explanation ie lose most times on high risk but rare strike can make up (but you must believe in luck). I can't be bothered to follow prices daily so rarely engage.
FWIW my early attempts to invest in companies which produce good products in my opinion always went south, against the wisdom of crowds.

 

[DV52]

I had a friend who used to be a "whale" (BIG hobby gambler) in Atlantic City and Las Vegas. When you run $100K/day through a casino, they gladly give you comps like $600 bottles of wine for free. The servers expect a 15-20% tip from the recipients based on the retail price of those freebies, hence he thinks of $100 bills as drink tips.....

@vreihen: Without intending any offense to your friend, or to the large number of folk that seem to find casinos entertaining, I have never understood the lure of gambling - IMO, a very odd activity indeed!!!

To my simple mind, a much better (and an infinitely more efficient) alternative to these gambling venues is a huge black box strategically placed in the casino car park. Despite its size, the box has nothing more than 2 x slots; one slot in which the "punter" puts-in large amounts of money and the other slot which spits-out a very small proportion of the input amount (yes, a bit like a humungous version of a slot machine, but with none of accompanying bells-and-whistles and able to accept lots of money)

The punter takes the lesser amount, gets-back into his car and goes home - same outcome as a visit to the casino (and no wasted time)!!

Don

 

[Quintus Rotam]

The punter takes the lesser amount, gets-back into his car and goes home - same outcome as a visit to the casino (and no wasted time)!!

Well, there's online gambling now, where one can lose money betting but save even more time (and fuel). Win-win.
It's even good for the planet. Win-win-win.

 

[DV52]

It's even good for the planet. Win-win-win.

The ONLY kind of "win-win-win" gambling that I will participate-in, is where the 3 x wins are mine!!

 

[vreihen]

@vreihen: Without intending any offense to your friend, or to the large number of folk that seem to find casinos entertaining, I have never understood the lure of gambling - IMO, a very odd activity indeed!!!

Gambling an illness, much like alcoholism. The casino environment is set up with all kinds of subconscious sounds, to bait in new bettors and keep the current ones there. Throw enough money away and they'll also give you free drinks to loosen your judgement even worse.

My friend only played a few specific video poker machines, with a long-term statistical payout of 99.7% if played perfectly. He didn't walk in the door with $100K, just a few grand. He'd put $100K/day through the machines for the high roller perks, but get close to $99.7K back. He would get a 3-hour limo ride to/from the casino, a free premium hotel suite, real kobe beef dinners for his family, $600 bottles of wine, and invitations to exclusive events...for essentially $300/day if he played perfectly.

I am with you in not seeing the allure of luck-based gambling. I've been to Las Vegas twice, and only bet 50 cents total. FYI, I won 50 cents, and walked away while I was ahead.....

 

[JMR]

So...anyone into it ?

 

[Mike R]

I am. Certainly far more than I'm into FIAT. Yes it's volatile.

Gold and Silver haven't really been doing well compared to what would be traditionally expected in such times since about July of 2020.

 

[Adam]

Same here :-) These days having at least a quarter of BTC tucked is mandatory IMO :-)
The idea of having a government-free money is very tempting. If you also love a new tech (like I do)... crypto is hard to pass by indifferently.

P.S. It seems to me that many people are in cryptocurrencies... and at the same time many underestimate them.
Not sure why your thread is so slow ;-) Some people don't like to brag about it maybe?

 

[JMR]

Same here :-) These days having at least a quarter of BTC tucked is mandatory IMO :-)
The idea of having a government-free money is very tempting. If you also love a new tech (like I do)... crypto is hard to pass by indifferently.

P.S. It seems to me that many people are in cryptocurrency... and at the same time many underestimate it.
Not sure why your thread is so slow ;-) Some people don't like to brag about it maybe?

it's not a matter of bragging I think , no one asked confidential sums or wallet numbers..so I would think that while some are into it..many are not..many don't care

 

[Bruce]

I've looked at crypto and am not convinced. I am conservative in a big way when I am so close to retirement. I don't have time to recover losses should I experience them. I also don't feel I have play money where I can just let things play around. So, I am holding what I have in conservative instruments with low growth but good preservation.

I will continue to watch crypto.. I will continue to learn about it. Risk/reward on it scares me at the moment.

@Adam, I get having a currency free of government control but I fear that the unscrupulous could manipulate the crypto currencies and hurt lots of people as there appears to be little control that I can find. Please do not go all in. Please make sure you have a conservative portion of your portfolio as a backup. Yep, I know. Governments can make it all evaporate. Its happened before and likely may happen again. Your family has lived it. US families for the most part have not.

@JMR, I think many are like me... watching and waiting. Maybe those watching will be too late to the game. Maybe I am too late. Each has to assess the risks with which they can live. In these times assessing such risk is quite the challenge.

Good luck with your investments gentlemen. I truly wish all success. I hope my choices are good ones too!

 

[Uwe]

Governments can make it all evaporate.

So can technology. What happens to the value of BTC (or any other crypto currency) if/when the cypher underlying it is broken? Oh, right, it instantly goes to zero.

-Uwe-

 

[Bruce]

@Uwe, I was responding to @Adam's comment:

The idea of having a government-free money is very tempting. If you also love a new tech (like I do)... crypto is hard to pass by indifferently.

I did say:

Risk/reward on it scares me at the moment.

I agree. The risk is that someone will make my investment worthless. Hence my reluctance to jump in. Early adopters had control and have made money. As things mature, it gets harder to get the returns. I do also recognize that my so called conservative investments may also evaporate. It is why I make other arrangements to have some means to live should the monetary system collapse - a distinct possibility in my eyes. Have I enough provision? Who can say.

While I have not written it here, you know full well this bear wants a cave in which he can go hide and make his way without needing much more than skin and skill. Not many wish to be mountain bears in their retirement! Who can say what tomorrow will bring? My advice is forget yesterday, plan lightly for tomorrow, but work the only thing you have - today!

 

[vreihen]

Have I enough provision? Who can say.

You can never have enough ammunition! Everything else will fall in line.....

 

[JMR]

I will continue to watch crypto

Come.on Bruce..we all need a little excitement in our lives , keeps the blood pumping , everyday is russian roulette day !

 

[PetrolDave]

Early adopters had control and have made money. As things mature, it gets harder to get the returns.

Since it's like an electronic form of pyramid selling where the early adopters earn big but the later entrants lose bigtime?