Trading cryptocurrency?

[Marsman 10]

Very interesting programme.

 

But who or what is the final backstop for the currency? with the UK Pound or American Dollar its the UK or American government.

 

Bitcoin appears to be a sort of IOU system for organised crime where some of the general public have been

suckered in with the promise of get rich quick, a sort of Ponzi or Pyramid scheme for computer addicts.

All you have to do is sit at your computer and between sessions of viewing salacious material, buy a few

bit-coins how easy is that? Are you really that stupid?

 

You ask about the 'backstop' for the Bitcoin currency then go on to mention the governments of the UK and the US without understanding that you are possibly taking about the two largest perpetrators of organised crime in the world. One of the main hopes for cryptocurrencies is that they will to some degree curtail the activities of these organisations.

 

---------- Post added 08-03-2018 at 12:11 ----------

 

Listen (via the i-player) to a salutary programme last night on BBC Radio 4 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09tdyjz. Don't get fooled again!

 

I think the lesson (for those who hold criptocurrencies) is NOT to hold the major portion of them in online wallets (like Mt. Gox) but rather in either paper wallets or in a hard wallet (like Trezor or Leger Nano) in one's own possession.

[Cyclone 10]

How do you hold cryptocurrency in a paper wallet? Wouldn't a USB stick be just as good as a very expensive USB stick marketed for holding cryptocurrency?

 

How is bitcoin doing right now anyway? Down from the high of nearly £15k to about £6.5k, steadily falling for the last 3 months...

[Marsman 10]

How do you hold cryptocurrency in a paper wallet?

 

Here's a YouTube which in the second half shows how to generate a paper wallet (for Litecoin). I tried this out and it was fairly easy to do.

 

Instead of having the address and private key on paper this could also be in a USB stick. When the USB stick is plugged in it would be a good move to disconnect the computer from the internet.

Edited March 11, 2018 by Marsman

[Waldo 96]

How do you hold cryptocurrency in a paper wallet? Wouldn't a USB stick be just as good as a very expensive USB stick marketed for holding cryptocurrency?

 

How is bitcoin doing right now anyway? Down from the high of nearly £15k to about £6.5k, steadily falling for the last 3 months...

 

With a paper wallet, you just jot down the 12 or 24 seed words. There are 1024 possible seed words, so you can imagine how many combinations there are for a 12 word phrase. This phrase represents a number which is your private key. To send coins from one address in the blockchain to another, you need both the public key (wallet address) and the associated private key (which is synonymous with the 12 word phrase).

 

Anyone can know your wallet address / public key; but if your private key is found out, your funds are likely to go missing. The big security concerns are in how you store your private key, storing it electronically opens you up to being hacked / malware etc.

 

The very expensive usb sticks could be a Ledger Nano S you're talking about? This is more secure because the private key is never revealed to you (other than once when you setup the device and write down your seed phrase).

Edited March 11, 2018 by Waldo

[Cyclone 10]

Storing it electronically on an offline USB stick that you only connect when you want to use it would be secure though, you can't hack a stick that is disconnected.

[Jim Hardie 527]

Listen (via the i-player) to a salutary programme last night on BBC Radio 4 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09tdyjz. Don't get fooled again!

 

Lol, good to hear that the Virtual Currency Girls' frozen account has been 'defrosted'.

[Waldo 96]

Storing it electronically on an offline USB stick that you only connect when you want to use it would be secure though, you can't hack a stick that is disconnected.

 

Yep, that would be way better than if plugged in to a computer with internet access for sure!

 

The main issue I guess would be if the storage device failed of corrupted somehow. Also, depending on how paranoid you are, you may not be happy cutting and pasting a private key (I wouldn't do it).

[Cyclone 10]

You can keep multiple copies of the key of course, avoiding the risk of a single USB stick failure.

[mossdog 10]

Crypto blown it then?..........anyone lost a fortune on here?

[geared 315]

I doubt anyone would say if they did loose their ass.

 

Bubble does appear to have popped though, or at least a big correction.

Values are still higher than the same time last year.

[mossdog 10]

I doubt anyone would say if they did loose their ass.

 

Bubble does appear to have popped though, or at least a big correction.

Values are still higher than the same time last year.

...that's because it went up so much so fast.Lots would like to take their money off the table while still in some profit but are still seduced by those huge bubble rises which I cannot see happening again,so what money you have invested you might as well leave in as there is no other home at the moment,but the big money has gone from Crypto!

Gold has had a miserable 5 years but the next 5 years are forecast to be better.

[Marsman 10]

...that's because it went up so much so fast. Lots would like to take their money off the table while still in some profit but are still seduced by those huge bubble rises which I cannot see happening again, so what money you have invested you might as well leave in as there is no other home at the moment, but the big money has gone from Crypto!

Gold has had a miserable 5 years but the next 5 years are forecast to be better.

 

Maybe you're right but it's damn hard to know for sure.

Bitcoin has had many large retracements in the past of similar size so history might suggest that it will recover and surge again, but when?

Myself I'm buying at today's prices. One problem is the only Bitcoin ATM in the neighbourhood is on the blink and I don't want to buy online where big brother can see everything.

 

PS listening to a JW Weatherman podcast right now. Well worth a listen for cyber freaks lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDm-9jTWDzk

Edited April 8, 2018 by Marsman