Bitcoin was the decade's best investment

[midian182]

Why it matters: As we wave goodbye to the 2010s, it’s time to look back on the best the decade had to offer. You might have read about the top apps, games, and tech, but what about the best investment? Not too surprisingly, it was bitcoin, which, if you bought for $1 ten years ago, would now be worth over $90,000.

According to a recent report from Bank of America Securities (via CNN Business), those who bought into the virtual currency when it cost a fraction of a penny at the start of the decade will have seen their investment skyrocket.

In December 2017, bitcoin reached its peak of almost $20,000—a bad time for PC gamers, who saw graphics card prices rise and their availability decline as people built mining rigs. But just a year later, the price went as low as $3,200. Bitcoin recovered over the last year—at one point, its surge helped drive up AMD shares—and although down slightly, it is now worth around $6,600.

Bitcoin's price since 2013

With more companies accepting bitcoin as a form of payment and the—admittedly troubled—Libra from Facebook further legitimizing digital currency in some skeptic’s eyes, bitcoin could see its price rise further next year.

The report also lists some of the decade’s worst investments. These include kyat—the local currency of Myanmar. Conflict in the nation formerly known as Burma means one dollar invested in kyat ten years ago would now be worth four-tenths of one US cent. Additionally, investing one dollar in the Greek equity market in 2010 would now only be worth 7 cents, but $1 of American stocks would now be valued at $3.46, representing a gain of around 250 percent.

Make sure to check out the top apps and games from the decade, along with the most influential gadgets, which includes three Apple products.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/83245-bitcoin-decade-best-investment.html

 

[Uncle Al]

But it was also the MOST risky and just because it's rated at such a high price doesn't mean you'll be able to find a buyer. Regardless of all the claims, the real value is what another person is willing to pay for it .....

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Once the Government of the USA put its hand into Bitcoin, I knew it was dead.

Ultimately, no government is going to allow "cryptocurrency" to threaten their own ccurrency. China and USA specifically. Russia uses it mostly for money laundering so they aren't a huge anti-Bitcoin factor.

I got in Bitcoin during the rise and got out when it hit $19,000.

When I think back, I can't imagine how many people lost thousands - possibly millions when they started betting on Bitcoin when the media speculation and hype was at its highest in 2017.

I was just fortunate to get in and get out unscathed.

The problem with Bitcoin is it's a speculative asset. It's not like Gold or Silver or evenOil where there is something "tangible" backing your investment. Gold and Silver are precious metals which have anti-microbial and conductive characteristics and will always have a value. Bitcoin has no intrinsic value and stops existing the moment the electricity goes out.

I do, however, like the idea of cryptocurrency helping smaller, third world countries evade the often-racist and discriminatory IMF/ Federal Reserve banking system. But the people who entered in 2017 - 2018 were mostly trying to use it as a Ponzi scheme and had no long-term investment strategy.

The people who got in on the ground floor will probably never sell. Some of them will cash out, but they can't cash out until hype drives the price up or they risk losing potential gains.

the real losers are the people who had many bitcoinsearly on, but spent them before the value went up...on CDs, food and digital services.

There are a number of companies and services who will only sell forBitcoin, but that's because they are trying to get yourBitcoin just in case the value rises.

The early-in money won't sell so the value of Bitcoin may never drop to $0.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Let us have a moment of silence for the dupes who went long into Ripple, Tron and Plexcoin.

Remember when the water-cooler talk was that they'd all be over $100,000 now???

LOL

 

[ShagnWagn]

They destroyed the video card market for gamers. By they, I mean anyone who contributed to bitcoin. Thanks for stifling affordable rigs. The entire industry was stung from this. I haven't built a new rig because of it. That, and microsoft.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

They destroyed the video card market for gamers. By they, I mean anyone who contributed to bitcoin. Thanks for stifling affordable rigs. The entire industry was stung from this. I haven't built a new rig because of it. That, and microsoft.

"Destroyed"?

I'd say that although prices skyrocketed during the crypto speculation, they ultimately returned to reasonable prices and in the mean time, were improved significantly in compute power.

Most people can get away gaming on last generation 1000 series GPU.

Very few people even have the 2000 series - at least according to STEAM's registry which shows the bulk of users have a 1060.

 

[ShagnWagn]

"Destroyed"?

I'd say that although prices skyrocketed during the crypto speculation, they ultimately returned to reasonable prices and in the mean time, were improved significantly in compute power.

Most people can get away gaming on last generation 1000 series GPU.

Very few people even have the 2000 series - at least according to STEAM's registry which shows the bulk of users have a 1060.

Sounds like a "yes, I was part of the problem, but people get by with their old hardware". At least you admit it. Ultimately, yes improvement for those who shelled out thousands of dollars, how many years later? And people are still running ancient hardware. "Improved significantly in computer power", for those who can afford it. The curve of "improvement" certainly leveled out. There was no uptick as there has been in the past. It has slowed significantly. Yes, destroyed. Thanks... /s

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Sounds like a "yes, I was part of the problem, but people get by with their old hardware". At least you admit it. Ultimately, yes improvement for those who shelled out thousands of dollars, how many years later? And people are still running ancient hardware. "Improved significantly in computer power", for those who can afford it. The curve of "improvement" certainly leveled out. There was no uptick as there has been in the past. It has slowed significantly. Yes, destroyed. Thanks... /s

Gaming PC are a luxury device. Dropping $1000 on a gaming card, or even $500 is ridiculous by any measure, but it's always been a high priced market. Back in the early 2000's I spent "2060 money" to get a Voodoo 3 3000 only because I couldn't afford a Voodoo 3 3500 TV.

The average priice of these devices has increased exponentialy since these days, before Bitcoin was even in the picture.

 

[CaptainTom]

But it was also the MOST risky and just because it's rated at such a high price doesn't mean you'll be able to find a buyer. Regardless of all the claims, the real value is what another person is willing to pay for it .....

"The real value is what another person is willing to pay for it." -Yeah that's how all things traded by Humans work lol.

Oh and I gotta just correct here - There are way riskier and more volatile stocks I have traded this year than Bitcoin, and I am completely unsure of what your "find a buyer" point is. There are regulated exchanges like Coinbase that are perfectly safe to use. You don't need to "find" anything unless Googling "Coinbase" is hard for you.

Cheers

 

[CaptainTom]

Let us have a moment of silence for the dupes who went long into Ripple, Tron and Plexcoin.

Remember when the water-cooler talk was that they'd all be over $100,000 now???

LOL

Remember Cardano and the "20 year roadmap" ?

 

[ShagnWagn]

Gaming PC are a luxury device. Dropping $1000 on a gaming card, or even $500 is ridiculous by any measure, but it's always been a high priced market. Back in the early 2000's I spent "2060 money" to get a Voodoo 3 3000 only because I couldn't afford a Voodoo 3 3500 TV.

The average priice of these devices has increased exponentialy since these days, before Bitcoin was even in the picture.

I figured you would keep trying to justify your involvement in promoting bitcoin. Bottom line? People are still having to use 6+ year old cards. Saying prices have increased is ridiculous as there is inflation. They have increased beyond inflation because of bitcoin. Partially fueled by nvidia's love of money, which was fueled by bitcoin. Do we really need to point you to the numerous articles and posts of angry gamers what happened to the video card/hardware market? Bitcoin is a 100% waste of resources. It has done absolutely nothing constructive. In fact, it also drove up electricity bills due to the high energy demands. Just ask Greenland. Trying to defend bitcoin is like trying to run up a sheet of ice.

 

[Porkous]

Even if "might" be used by small nations as a store of value, or a value to transact to other currencies... Is not the biggest factor about it imo.

It's such a ridiculously small market. The wallet total number supposedly was at 30 Million, while active users about 11 Million; binance and coinbase maximum registered user base at 20 Million. Take into consideration that the daily volume is also supposed to be a couple of hundreds, if even 1 billion (fiat to fiat transactions). While people who hold digital currency in 100 to 1000 range are maybe 1 million ( some huge discrepancy) and only a small number of total holders actually control the rest of the network. It is an intriguing phenomenon and network. I'am guessing is used primarily by (intermediaries) exchanging currencies, for example USD to YEN, etcetera, while the rest of the daily volume is accompanied by small trades back and forth between that average 3% to 5% percent difference trading. The miners seems to be a big problem in this network, because they cash out huge amounts of $ in order to sustain their investment, and that means the network adoption has to keep pushing forward, and forward in order to sustain the network fees. What happens if people lose interest in BTC? As actually seems to be a ghost outside its own domain, and if you don't follow the news, is like it does not exist at all. People used to call bitcoin gold. Yeah, right. Gold is so hard to harvest, even the whole human kind putting all the effort to gather it, still would not get enough. Its not thin air. PS: Gold is made out of supernova's carried in by meteorites... How ridiculous to call a code... that can be copied and duped, be named after gold... It only shows how people tuned to those ridiculous ideas of one ecstatic investor's mind.

It's an interesting topic to keep an eye on. Right now the $ involved in the market might turn to be the achilles heel. In the past it kinda was too small to catch the media's attention and "it" trying to spread in bigger markets, along side other money transfer services... Covering more markets might turn out to be in it's detrimental. Also libra might show the actual investors that people aren't so interested in one global coin, and that not the financial aspect of a nation is the culprit of its demise.

My two cents.

 

[PEnnn]

" if you bought for $1 ten years ago, would now be worth over $90,000."

Am I missing something?? How is that possible, considering that the highest it ever got was $20,000???

 

[RedGuard]

" if you bought for $1 ten years ago, would now be worth over $90,000."

Am I missing something?? How is that possible, considering that the highest it ever got was $20,000???

One Bitcoin was 7 cents back in August 2010. Then it skyrocketed to 39 cents on 6th of November the same year.

 

[B5S46M]

One Bitcoin was 7 cents back in August 2010. Then it skyrocketed to 39 cents on 6th of November the same year.

It's poor wording: "Bought $1 worth of" vs. "Bought for $1." The latter implies that one Bitcoin was $1.