Ask HN: How many people here actually invest in cryptocurrencies and why? - westoque
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RichardHeart
If you believe that money is the communication of value and you believe that
communication is an important right of human beings, then giving the power of
currency to the people, without rent seeking middlemen is net positive.

If you believe that interest rates are too cheap and causing boom and bust
cycles, then it could be interesting to see what a deflationary currency does,
and if it does actually generate a death spiral of savings and fear of taking
loans.

If you believe that everything humans value that can be digitized, is, and
successfully. Books, movies, photos, music. Then it makes sense that currency
would become digital in the same way. You can make it at home, you can mix it,
and you can broadcast it, just like all those other things.

If you like the idea of the worlds fastest appreciating
currency/commodity/whatchamacallit... How many things are out there that
actually change the relationship between man and government and man and other
men more than a well adopted crypto currency would?

And how many of those things can you make money on by providing liquidity?

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blakdawg
I have a little bit of BTC left - I mined several years ago when it was still
feasible to make money mining on a desktop PC with a good video card as part
of a mining pool. I've sold off most of it, I have a little bit left that I'm
not especially motivated to sell.

I don't see putting money (as cash, or mining) in cryptocurrency as investing,
but as speculating. See [http://www.thesimpledollar.com/the-intelligent-
investor-inve...](http://www.thesimpledollar.com/the-intelligent-investor-
investment-versus-speculation/) for a classic discussion on the difference. I
don't distinguish to be pedantic, but because the word "invest" is often used
to mis-characterize spending or gambling in an unreasonably positive context.

~~~
ac29
Its possible at the moment to profitably GPU mine altcoins at pools that
payout in BTC, but not very. A midrange GPU like a 1060 or 480 might net you
$2/day after electricity costs, and that is strongly dependent on the recent
rise in BTC price.

Its nothing like years back when a $150 GPU could net you $5-10/day in BTC,
directly. Of course that period didn't last long -- I dont think even this
mildly-profitable altcoin-mining period will last too long either.

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stocktech
I have some play money in ethereum and will be speculating on a few ICOs.
There's absolutely potential for these coins to do 10x or even 1000x. There's
also potential for government interference or worse.

The money isn't meaningful and I'm 100% ok losing every dollar because I can't
justify putting significant money in. That being said, I do know people who
have made very significant money over the last year because everything keeps
doubling.

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Lordarminius
> I have some play money in ethereum .... There's absolutely potential for
> these coins to do 10x or even 1000x ....

Genuinely curious how do you know or assess that etherum or any other ICO will
do well in the future ? Isn't there an equal or greater chance of the
currencies collapsing ?

~~~
stocktech
I wouldn't say there's an equal chance of the "currencies" collapsing. There
seems to be enough momentum behind them that the only true concern I have are
hacking/scams and government interference. I don't mean momentum as upward
price appreciation, just adoption, transaction rates, etc.

My friends, who are more interested in the space than I am, compare where
crypto is now to the beginning of the internet. We're still trying to
determine who's netscape/AOL/amazon/google and to some degree, what the
underlying protocols are (tcp/ip = ethereum?).

Honestly, I don't see the true value of the blockchain yet. Most of the
proposed ideas could be cool, but have no value or aren't practical. What I do
see, however, is increased attention in Japan and Latin America. In the US, I
think it's coming into mainstream attention. And if we find one real use case
that allows mainstream adoption, it will be huge and transformative.

As a former trader, I don't mind speculating on the hype, but if we're still
on the "ground floor" of what crypto could one day be, a little speculation
could be a huge investment one day.

~~~
Lordarminius
It is interesting that you compare ICO to the early days of the internet. Some
people will definitely get very rich on this

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baccredited
I don't invest in cryptocurrencies, instead I invest in the companies who are
building interesting things with them. I put money in this fund:
[https://fundersclub.com/theme-series-bitcoin-
payments/](https://fundersclub.com/theme-series-bitcoin-payments/)

I think it is useful to sell pickaxes during this particular gold rush.

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atmosx
I invested in 2013 I think, in BTC. I doubled my money took everything out and
never looked back.

I did it as a game, because it was fun. When I realised that BTC price
fluctuations keep up at night, I didn't thought it was fun anymore so I sold
everything and never looked back.

I'm more mature now, have a good income from multiple sources which would
allow to spend 10x times more but I didn't so far, no specific reason why.

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tedmiston
Just to kick it off — I don't.

Even as someone working in tech, or _especially_ as someone working in tech,
the idea of investing in an unregulated currency concerns me too much. Besides
that I'd only be willing to put a small amount < 10% of my investments into
it. Anecdotally there are a lot of news stories about bitcoin wallets getting
compromised — maybe it's just the press being sensationalist but you don't
hear the same about more traditional investment accounts.

I'm onboard with index funds and robo advisors and most other types of
financial innovation, but no cryptocurrency has done it for me yet.

~~~
westoque
Thanks. Yes, I am also working in tech, specifically fin tech.

I'm not concerned about investing in cryptocurrencies since I don't invest
that much. I do invest in it because I believe in the ideas of some them.

I would say my investment is probably similar to someone investing in a
Kickstarter campaign.

I do however think people in hacker news are more in the safer investment
side.. but that's why I asked the question in the first place.

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kleer001
1) Some. No one should say. That'd be a dumb way to unnecessarily call
attention to yourself.

2) ideology and or $$$

