Anyone here comment "how well they did?" and if you've pulled out or are seriously thinking about pulling out?
I feel silly, but I'm still not going to put my hard earned cash in it any time soon... In fact, I wouldn't really know how.
The technology and ecosystem is very interesting in many ways, buying into it is probably a good way to kick start your interest -- nothing better than having your money on the line to keep you engaged -- but who knows where it's going to be in 10 years. Which would feel worse: buying Bitcoin now and having coins worth nothing in 10 years, or not buying Bitcoin now and in 10 years looking back and thinking "I had the perfect opportunity and I didn't take it, I'm an idiot!"? I imagine for most people they'd take the risk and buy in (hence the price growth) but for me personally it's too consuming and that's why I'm out.
Seems the only reasonable way to do it is with 'fuck money', pardon the term. You know, money you happened to have forgotten about or came about that you didn't budget for.
Also all this wealth is purely speculative. If everybody converted their bitcoins to fiat currency now the exchange rate would collapse quickly.
You can say the same about literally any asset or currency. If everyone sells, and no one is buying, then yes, the value drops to 0.
Or even better: it's nearly impossible to do that with fiat currency, because there are checks and balances in place.
For example, the federal reserve and legislators can manipulate the interest rates and the deficit to encourage people to hold or sell their USD.
It's related to the distinction between investing and speculating. Investing is based on whether the intrinsic value is below or above the price, while speculating is just based on the price.