Alot of people talk about bitcoin being in a bubble but thats far from the truth. Bitcoin is a digital currency. It gets its value from the people. As it gets adopted as a payment system in more and more places, the value will continue to go up as more people buy into it. The bitcoin naysayers will tell you "But eventually people are going to sell when the price gets really high, and then it will all come tumbling down" This is the best argument against bitcoin any naysayer can say. It seems perfectly logical that that statement is completely true! ...but it isn't. You see things like tulips, stocks and even houses have to be cashed out when you want to use its value to purchase something else. Bitcoin will not have to be cashed out. You will simply buy what you want with bitcoin. No selling ever needs to take place. You just exchange the bitcoin for good & services and be on your merry way. This is why people who get in now will make money. As long as you don't get spooked by the massive volatility and sell on the downswings, you will make money holding bitcoin.
I finally jumped in on this downturn and figured what the heck, might as well. I've had my account for a couple of months now and finally pulled the trigger.
For us longs, it is actually super encouraging that most people don't yet "get it" or think that it can be "banned" universally . I invite all disbelievers to short it. The Pessimist said glass half empty The Optimist said glass half full The Opportunist took the glass and drank the water.
NY may be the first state to start regulation, policy coming spring/summer for public review, the wording sounds very favorable to bitcoins. Full detail: http://www.coindesk.com/new-york-regulator-impose-technology-restrictions-digital-currencies/ This is probably one of the most important development in 2014, if they can strike the right balance it will provide a legal framework for all the business in the state to start accept bitcoin without fear of breaking the law. And more important, provide a blueprint for other states to follow. Fingers crossed.
Nobody thinks that. But if the 4 most populous contries ban it (China, Russia already did), you can pay with bitcoin in Vietnam or so and between geek and nerd, good luck... So just wait for a US and EU ban and good luck with Bitcoin in India.... And about the title of this thread: Most speculators (in everything) lose money...
Gotta love it when people actually think this is true. Russia allows 1,000 RUR per day and 15,000 RUR per month for people to buy bitcoin. China only said they wouldnt allow financial institutions and payment providers to conduct business in bitcoin. Bitcoin exchanges are allowed to run in China and people are allowed to buy & sell it for CNY. Its funny how the media loves to print complete lies about bitcoin to scare people into selling. Just recently for example with this Mt. Gox scandal and all the media is saying Bitcoin is finished! Thats about the equivalent of after 9/11 the media saying thats it for stocks...nobody will ever trade a stock again.
I read an article that said that one of the main problems of bitcoin is that it is so volatile, and hence won't be accepted universally. And this makes complete sense to me. If you want to use a currency system to pay for stuff, it needs to have small fluctuations. The Canadian dollar lost about 5% of value against the US$ in a couple of weeks just last month and this has caused major headaches. But its only 5%! How the heck can you expect to use a currency that swings in the double digits of % so often? It is akin to hyper inflation one day, and major deflation the next. This is not a stable system. Either the fluctuations have to stop or it can't be accepted as universally as you would like. I don't doubt that many people will make a killing on it, maybe they already have, and there will be major losers, but no large business would deal with this at this stage. Sure I heard a guy paid for Tesla car in bitcoins, but I'm sure it was to a dealer who was also caught up in the craze and most probably the sole owner of the business. Point being, the majority cannot use it at this point.
What do you think the merchants are doing with the bitcoin? They use www.bitpay.com to immediately sell btc for usd. You could argue that the more trade that is done in btc the less volatility there will be.