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| Thinking about putting some funds into crypto. How do I do it? (Page 1/2) |
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otakudude
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MAR 23, 05:48 PM
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With the current upheaval in banking, I'm considering putting some of my funds into Bitcoin as it seems to offer a decent investment opportunity right now. The problem is that I have no idea on how to do this. Can someone more versed in this market point me in the right direction and perhaps give me an idea on what kind of pitfalls I should look out for? Thanks
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Patrick
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MAR 23, 06:56 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by otakudude:
With the current upheaval in banking, I'm considering putting some of my funds into Bitcoin as it seems to offer a decent investment opportunity right now.
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Seriously?  Crypto failure.
| quote | Originally posted Here:
If a bank fails, the government might step in and bail it out. A hallmark of crypto is that it is largely unregulated — buyer beware. Hacks can’t be reversed, misplaced funds can’t be retrieved by calling customer service, and a failing crypto exchange is not likely to get a government bailout. Investors have few protections.
More at the link.
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[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 03-23-2023).]
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shemdogg
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MAR 23, 07:49 PM
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Check out coinbase it has all the decent ones. If you get a wallet you can buy the others. Some folks like binance
shem
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Raydar
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MAR 23, 08:43 PM
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My problem with crypto is that it's not tied to anything "tangible".
I know that argument could be made for credit cards, but I still believe crypto is different.
Personally, I'm not interested.
But if you proceed, I seriously hope you make a killing.  Please remember us little people.
Quick edit - How in the hell can someone "mine crypto-currency", using a computer. Sounds like smoke and mirrors. And bullshit.
Who makes the rules. Who decides whether or not someone - or something - can just "pull the rug out"?
Probably ignorance on my part, but I welcome anyone to try to convince me. I promise to be open minded.[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 03-23-2023).]
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maryjane
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MAR 24, 06:44 AM
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Raydar, I have watched as the little town of Rockdale Texas, where I used to drill oilwells, turn into one of the largest crypto mining centers in the world. I don't pretend to understand much of it, but they are sure doing it big time. They managed it because Alcoa had a big facility there, and then pulled out a few years back, but the electric power grid for that plant was still in place and that helped allow the emmense power reserve for the bit mining operations.
https://www.fox7austin.com/...-to-rural-texas-town
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MidEngineManiac
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MAR 24, 06:47 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by Raydar:
Sounds like smoke and mirrors. And bullshit.
Who makes the rules. Who decides whether or not someone - or something - can just "pull the rug out"?
Probably ignorance on my part, but I welcome anyone to try to convince me. I promise to be open minded.
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Ohhhh....
You mean like the Fiat Money System used by the central banks !!
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TheDigitalAlchemist
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MAR 24, 06:53 AM
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Even if our "traditional" currency's not backed by gold, this crypto stuff seems worse - it was created by...uhhhh...????
Not knowing who even made this thing doesn't fill me with confidence.
We bought 50 bucks of DogeCoin, just to "dip our toes in" and mess around a little, and the next day, it shot up to 570 bucks. Then it crashed back down almost immediately. Everytime Elon farted, or posted a pic, or opened his mouth, it would jump around like a cat with a spider on its nose.
Is there an AI Coin yet?
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maryjane
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MAR 24, 07:32 AM
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Hank is Here
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MAR 24, 08:08 AM
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I thought the proper way to invest included a stack of $100 bills and a lighter. I think bitcoin was invited by PT Barnum. I will say that these crypto currencies are a solid investment when compared against NFT's.
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82-T/A [At Work]
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MAR 24, 10:58 AM
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So... I've got money in crypto, and I'll try to be as unbiased as possible.
At the beginning of last year, I put $1,000 into crypto. I did it through OkCoin. To answer your first question, there are a few places that you can "invest" in crypto. OKCoin and CoinBase are the two most popular ones.
There are 100s, maybe 1000s of tokens that you can buy. Essentially, each one has a slightly different purpose. There's Sushi-Coin, there's DOGE (which was created as a joke), there's Bitcoin, there's Etherium, and many, many others. They all claim to have a different purpose, a different goal, and each has a means of allowing you to invest in them.
There is also something called "EARN," which... this allows you to "loan" your crypto currency to other exchanges where-by you "earn" a return. Often times, this return is paid in other forms of crypto, and it's done in cycles. There is a percentage ratio that allows this, and the cycles might be once every week, daily, or even every 6 months ... for example.
Now, I only put $1,000 into it, because I just wanted to learn how all of this works. I also put $1,000 into FundRise, which does direct real-estate investing as well. FundRise did well to the point that I was gaining a lot during the property rise (because of equity / value increases, as well as dividends). Right now, my $1,000, which at one time was up to ~$1,200, now sits at ~$980. So after a year and a half, I've lost $20 bucks, haha.
The CRYPTO on the other hand, I put in $1,000 (maybe more like $1,200), and I currently sit at about ~$600.
The things I invested in were Bitcoin, MIA (Miami Coin), Etherium, STX, Sushi Coin (just for fun), and a few others. I did EARN on most of these, at fantastic rates... and at one point I was gaining, but quickly, people were pulling out, and my performance doesn't really speak ill of me in particular, but in the overall crypto market as whole.
If you want my personal opinion on this... it's a huge... ENORMOUS waste of money. I do think the technology has some merit, but the truth is that you're still having to give your money to an organization that could potentially fail... like OKCoin or CoinBase (neither are any better than each other).
If you are DEAD-SET on "investing" in crypto, I think the hard reality is that the only two that have any real worth are BitCoin or Etherium... and I would personally stick to Bitcoin. But as others have said, it's not linked to anything... so at the end of the day, you don't really own anything. It's not like the stock market where you at least own a part of the company.
Be willing to lose all of the money that you invest... I'm serious. For more than anything else... it's kind of fun to learn about. I don't think crypto is dead, I really do think that the "future" is crypto... whether I like it or not.
One person told me... "in an apocalypse... what would you rather do? Trade ammunition and gold bars, or use a crypto-wallot and transfer credits?" It kind of makes sense (assuming Elon Musk's global internet link still works after everything else has been destroyed).
One more thing... I think "assets" are really more valuable, when it comes down to it. I also do not like gold, or silver, or any of that other stuff. You can speculate with gold, etc... but in the end, the stock market always does go back up... so at least until such point that the United States actually collapses... the stock market is a better long-term bet. And if it does... we have bigger problems.
But I want to kind of quantify my "asset" comment. There are things we own, we buy, and we store. For about 10 years, I had collected Atari Jaguar games. I bought basically every game that became available. When they'd come out, I'd pay the price. Sometimes they were $20, sometimes they were $50. Generally speaking... I'd sometimes find them at a video game store, and I'd buy them for $5. Before I left Texas to move to Florida... I realized that I hadn't played my Atari Jaguar, really... in several years... even though I was buying them. I sold 96 Atari Jaguar games, out of a total of my 135 games. I made... wait for it... $21 thousand dollars return on what I calculated to be a total cost of ~$3,500 to buy those games. I basically sold all the ones I've owned, that I never played. I kept the ~35 some odd games I had that I actually like and want to play, and I could probably sell those for another $15 grand one day.
Something more relatable. I bought one of those original Fiero "Holley" side scoops. Remember... the ones that simply popped into the air intake side? I think I paid like $20 for it from the Fiero Store back in the day. When they stopped making them, they were highly sought after, and I sold mine on eBay for $150 way back when. Sure... I fleeced some Fiero guy (not really, he knew what he was buying and it was an auction)... but assets are tangible, something that you can hold, and that people want.
Real estate... if the housing market continues to depreciate... it may be a good time to buy something if you have cash laying around that you don't want to otherwise put into the stock market. For example, in 2017, I bought a house in San Antonio for $220k. I put $50 into renovations (I did all the work), and sold it for $400k, minus commissions, in 2021. So that's a return of 130k, with a lot of weekends, minus commission. So I would only do crypto if you just want to learn, I don't personally take it very seriously anymore... at least not right now.
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