Hello
@Sophie I'm going to take the chance to derail my own thread. I was wondering how the haunted doll acquisition has fared for you. Still alive, unless it's the doll typing? Any strange occurrences?
нет. Пока ничего. I've put her in my display cabinet for keeping... and to avoid my bunny's fur from sticking on her. Ha!
But talking about cryptos... there's one major problem right now. That is... manipulation from whales:
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/beware-of-whales-manipulating-order-books.1001167/
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/whale-wars-1478-btcs.1002242/
This is bound to happen since it is an unregulated market.
I don't know how to put this eloquently but here it goes: weren't cryptocurrencies created and supported by people who first lost their faith in paper money?
In fact, this whole bitcoin thing was an idea by that Satoshi guy right after the 2007 financial crisis - it was the distrust in the whole banking system. But the problem with cryptocurrencies, as some members have pointed out, is backed by
nothing but faith in it. Cash used to be backed by the gold standard before it became a fiat currency (thus, just backed by the government and central bank), so even if your bank or country's economy collapses your government will step in to prevent their people from losing faith in their money. In fact, if your bank suddenly goes bankrupt one day at least you'll be compensated by FDIC. Cryptos, on the other hand, if a majority of its users loses faith in it then it would be valueless. Cryptos, bitcoin in particular, had value because of the faith people put in; but right now it is purely greed... people think it is a great way to get rick quick so they buy it, creating demand. The greed is so overwhelming that cryptos seem too overvalued now. Without the "HODL" mentality and investors whom have faith in some altcoins projects, the whole cryptos would have been wiped out by now. It is, again, greed that makes people think bitcoin at 9.3K or 10-11K now is still cheap and thinking it will go up in value soon so they could profit from it, thus they buy it and the market revitalises. And anyone with just $500 can still buy a fraction of bitcoin (this, again, sets cryptos apart from the tulip mania). In fact, there's even a story about how BTC went from $xxx to $xx,xxx all due to manipulation (though, can't be certain). I don't want to touch too much on this as it will be against BHW's rules for discussing politics.
Is it gambling? Why.. I wouldn't say it is gambling. Let's face it... everything we do in life is about probabilities (I'm a fanatic on probabilities). It is whether the odds are in our favour or against us. When you play the lottery, the odds are pretty much against you (1 in a million or more). When you smoke or live an unhealthy lifestyle, the probability of you dying early or catching cancer or some diseases increases. When you invest in the stock market, sure, you can do all the fundamental analysis or apply Benjamin Graham's teachings, but unexpected events can always happen, so you're pretty much playing with the odds too. The 2007 financial crisis was pretty unprecedented, isn't it? If you're a stock investor who does all the analysis on all kinds of good stocks (blue-chip stocks and what not) you wouldn't expect the crash, which manifested from the subprime mortgage crisis, to happen. In fact, Facebook stock was once believed to be a bubble. When it dived, everyone said the bubble has popped. And now it is valued at $187. If there's one thing I've observed and learnt that would be "never be too quick to judge" and "never be too certain". We don't know this whole cryptocurrency would just pop, or just keep booming. Despite I've gotten into cryptos at early Dec 2017, I bought most of my altcoins at cheap prices and am still 'in the money' despite all the previous crashes. I'm simply riding the wave and will evacuate soon if the market shows any signs of collapse.
I could go on and on, but.... meh. Everyone has their opinion and perspective, and I respect that. Whether is it mockery, criticisms, or just plain opinions I would read it. Please do take note that what I've written above and in my previous posts are just my opinion. My 2 cents (or 0.000002 Bitcoin). I don't know how to put it more eloquently and I may have omitted some important parts to back my point; or I could be ignorant on some points. So, again, just my opinion and hope no one takes offence to it.
The reason why I never like debating with others is the fear of creating enemies (hence, like my brother imparted the rule to me: silence is golden, sometimes); and to have constructive argument both parties need to be willing to listen to each other, but so far all I've seen is either party are so defensive that they wouldn't listen to the other party and would throw personal insults. And no, I'm not referring to anyone here. In fact, I love~ reading mockeries about cryptos because it always makes me laugh
And the other reason why I've been posting less in the crypto section all of a sudden is that... today I may be right, tomorrow I may be wrong, then I am right again later. With the volatility of cryptos and the uncertainty of the market, we can never be sure. I used to introduce altcoins to other members but I've also stopped doing so because everyone's appetite risk is different. And again, because of the volatility, today it may be the right time to go in but later it will be a bad time. I feel the guilt when some members who decide to buy the coin later (overpriced or missed the perfect timing) only to suffer a market dip later (like the previous crashes that were unprecedented, pretty much like the stock or futures market with unexpected events). Also, sometimes I didn't do a full research of a particular coin. Kodakcoin, is the epitome of my mistake... I was and am very glad that Asif and Waterworks pointed out the huge flaws in the coin; thus I humbly asked Zwielicht to lock the thread to prevent it from bumping it over and over (also, the fear new crypto traders would only read the opening post and rush to sign up for it), and to edit the opening post to include Asif's and Waterwork's findings (thanks again all!).
Lastly, and again, just my opinion. My post wasn't referring to anyone. Most importantly, stay happy and be positive. TGIF!
P.S: This is me, after coffee, again. If it is not coffee, then it is the wine. Ciaoz!