Bitcoin....come on.....really

[BirdDog]

Isn't it like Monopoly money? Basically only worth what someone is willing to value it at.

So, I want to sell an iPad at 1000 bitcoins and some idiot is willing to pay that amount then a sale is made. Doesn't really mean the bitcoin has true value outside the virtual world.

I'm so confused what the heck is happening in the world. An unreal currency, with nothing backing it up like gold, can purchase things just because people on the Internet assign value to it?

Please help me understand this. All comments welcome. Older I get the more I'm amazed what is going on in the world.

[MarkJFine]

As far as I know it's backed by itself, which is kind of like the Fed expanding and contracting the money supply based on promises, but worldwide. As you said, zero intrinsic value, driven by artificial demand.

Bottm line: It's a sham that is getting a lot of press. Wouldn't go near it. A lot of fools are going to get taken by it.

[maratsade]

"Isn't it like Monopoly money? Basically only worth what someone is willing to value it at."

The courts are also struggling with the definition of what cryptocurrency actually is.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2016/08/26/what-the-heck-is-bitcoin-the-law-struggles/#6aa...

[GabeU]

It looks like the bottom may be falling out for Bitcoin.  

[BirdDog]

Personally no way I'd get involved with it. I like to change the "B" to an "Sh" in Bitcoin.

It seems to be a Millennial and younger thing. I have zero faith in it. Honestly have no idea what is even driving it.

Again seems like smoke and mirrors monopoly money to me.

[MarkJFine]

It's like everything else: it goes up, it goes down, it goes up, it goes down. The problem is that the swings are yuge [sic] and unstable. Great for day traders, bad for normal investors.

[maratsade]

"It seems to be a Millennial and younger thing. "

I think you may have hit the nail right on the head.

[MarkJFine]

Actually, in saying this, I'm more concerned the bottom has finally dropped out of the bull market. Has been a great year for the market, but this month has been relatively *meh*. Hopefully it's just holiday profit-taking and not skittish reactions to the tax bill.
When you're retired on IRAs, 401(k)s, CDs and pensions, all of that is based on interest/dividends/cap gains, so I'm also really concerned what this new tax bill does to that... nothing really addresses it.

[GabeU]

Yep, that bottom is falling out.  I pity anyone who was ignorant enough to buy into it, thinking it would continue to rise, and you just know there are people out there who did just that.  

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-markets-bitcoin/bitcoin-set-for-worst-week-since-2013-as-c...

Kind of like all those people who invested in gold when it was getting really high a few years back.  We see what happened with that.  

Whenever anything rises greatly in value very quickly, like Bitcoin and gold did, it WILL come back down.  It always does.