I really missed the boat on bitcoin

[_EAllusion]

So bitcoin, as you might guess, has been a darling of libertarian circles for many years. My favorite libertarian publication, Reason, has been pimping it from the get go. If you do a search on the term in their archives, you get 17 pages of articles since it debuted. I've read positive articles about bitcoin on the regular for years on end now. I read an article from a few years ago at Reason celebrating how it was now trading at an all-time high of $31. (It's nearing $20k right now.)

As early as 2010 or so I remember thinking I should buy a little bitcoin on a lark, but never got around to it. Every nerdy libertarian type like me is supposed to have gotten a little bitcoin at the beginning of his decade. That's peak stereotype. But I was lazy and I didn't.

Now that it's undergone an insane climb in value this year, fueled by wildly irresponsible speculation, I'm starting to get pangs of regret about how much money I could be rolling in right now if I was slightly less lazy. I try to console myself by thinking I'd have sold well before it got this high, but that has only dulled the regret.

[_Black Moclips]

But what if it gets to $40K by the end of next year as some predict and you could have gotten in at $17K? Still a great return. And remember, you don't have to buy a full bitcoin at a time. You can buy it in fractions (at least 4 decimals out I believe).

I only found out about crypto currencies and ICO's this summer. I was going to buy 4 coins at about $2500 per, but didn't get my account up in a timely manner (lazy). When I finally did, bitcoin was up to just below $4K (damn!) so I bought 1, and watched it appreciate up to almost $7K, before I then used it on a lending platform that is paying me on average 1% per day (talk about some crazy math there). By going the lending route, I've given up the appreciation on bitcoin itself in favor of a more consistent interest payout tied to the bitcoin market.

I also bought 10 Ether about a month ago at $300 per coin and that is now at $739 per coin. I bought 10 Litecoins the other day (after hearing the gaming site Steam now accepts it) for $170 per coin, and I honestly thought I missed on that one. But now it is up to $331 per coin in less than a week!

I honestly don't know what will become of all this. I'm prepared to lose 100% of all of it though. That is the kind of mindset you have to have with something so new and so hyped. But just like when the internet popped on the scene and was new, a lot of money was made in those first few years. It will eventually stabilize and you wont see these types of gains. But just getting into it a little bit has been fun. As countries blow out their budgets and jack up their debt levels to unsustainable levels and central banks devalue their currencies by keeping the printer going 24/7, people will inevitably look for other options. I love the fact that it drives governments nuts and is something they cannot control.

[_Xenophon]

You would probably be in the same boat as me. At the start of November I pulled 2/3 of what I had invested out (I bought back in '16). I still came out way ahead and I didn't totally miss the huge spike but if I had just hung a little tougher I would have made WAY more money. I just had a set exit strategy that was designed to protect me and that was the correct choice but man does it sting a little bit. I like Moclips idea of utilizing it on a lending platform for a bit of stability, I'll have to do some research on that (I'd appreciate any sources you like).

I still suspect a lot of people are going to lose their shirts when cryptos level off and they got too greedy. I know a couple people who got in when I did and they seem content to ride this out forever with no exit strategy in mind. Perhaps they will prove me even more the fool.

At least you aren't one of those 4chan chumps that thought LINK was going to be the hot thing. Then you could be losing money while simultaneously watching everyone else rake it in.

[Reflexzero]

I bought 10 Litecoins the other day (after hearing the gaming site Steam now accepts it) for $170 per coin, and I honestly thought I missed on that one. But now it is up to $331 per coin in less than a week!

I kept kicking myself for choosing to hold onto my Litecoin when I had to sell off some currencies to pay for some sudden expenses about two months ago. I kept watching Bitcoin go up, and up, while the Litecoin just stayed pretty steady -- I kept kicking myself for holding a lemon. Then I hop into my Coinbase account yesterday evening and almost faint.

ETA: On a related "kicking myself" note. When I first started mining Monero, it hovered around $1. Right now, it's just south of $300. I have exchanged/sold it along the way as I mined. If only...

[_subgenius]

You are aware that bitcoin is just a ponzi scheme and you will ultimately lose your money?

[_Xenophon]

I kept kicking myself for choosing to hold onto my Litecoin when I had to sell of some currencies to pay for some sudden expenses about two months ago. I kept watching Bitcoin go up, and up, while the Litecoin just stayed pretty steady -- I kept kicking myself for holding a lemon. Then I hop into my Coinbase account yesterday evening and almost faint.

ETA: On a related "kicking myself" note. When I first started mining Monero, it hovered around $1. Right now, it's just south of $300. I have exchanged/sold it along the way as I mined. If only...

I think the important part in this kind of volatile ventures is just finding a strategy that you are comfortable with (read as "I can afford to lose this") but also generally makes you money. For some they can choose to be very risky with their funds, if you're like me you just can't/won't. Because of this I often find myself maybe missing out on the bigger gains but I also don't have to jump out of a building after every bubble burst.

[Reflexzero]

I think the important part in this kind of volatile ventures is just finding a strategy that you are comfortable with (read as "I can afford to lose this") but also generally makes you money. For some they can choose to be very risky with their funds, if you're like me you just can't/won't. Because of this I often find myself maybe missing out on the bigger gains but I also don't have to jump out of a building after every bubble burst.

Wise words.

Whenever I start getting too down about it, I just remind myself that this little hobby has paid for itself several times over.

So, while I might not be buying myself a private island any time soon, I've got a few fun toys to play with for "free."

[_Doctor Steuss]

You are aware that bitcoin is just a ponzi scheme and you will ultimately lose your money?

[_EAllusion]

But what if it gets to $40K by the end of next year as some predict and you could have gotten in at $17K? Still a great return. And remember, you don't have to buy a full bitcoin at a time. You can buy it in fractions (at least 4 decimals out I believe).

If there was any reasonable guarantee that would happen, it would already be priced in now. It could just as, probably more easily, collapse. Where Bitcoin currently is at has speculative bubble written all over it. I want no part of gambling with that.

My lament was more about not having bought it when it was a a novelty that was crazy popular among the specific type of person I am and in the sources I read on a daily basis. I probably would've sold quite some time ago, but it's fun-slash-horrifying to dream about what I could have now when I was contemplating buying a 100 bucks or so back when it was selling for nothing. If you're not a regular Reason et. al. reader, it's hard to appreciate just how big of a deal cryptocurrencies are and have been in the libertarianverse.

[_Xenophon]

I didn't really do any research on cryptos until late 2015 or so, invested not too terribly long afterwards. I can imagine that the what-if game can be particularly devastating if you were aware of this further back when costs were only in the double digits, before that first big leap in 2013.

One of my favorites was reading about the first transactions of buying something with bitcoin.

The value of the first bitcoin transactions were negotiated by individuals on the bitcoin forum with one notable transaction of 10,000 BTC used to indirectly purchase two pizzas delivered by Papa John's.

That would only be worth like $167 million today...