NWR Selling bitcoin

I think Chris sums it up well. If your happy with the current cica 40k price per Bitcoin then take the real cash and use it for something tangible.

A few years ago when the price was under £1000I did think about buying a few Ks worth but it all seemed very complicated, unregulated, which is the idea I know, and just a complete faff. I probably would have bailed way before now.

I spoke to somebody about this in 2019 as well and they suggested Coinbase in answer to your question. Given others more involved suggest coinbase then that looks the way to go.

Its now much easier of course and you can even trade or hold without a wallet through bank cards like Revolut

So will you be buying any nice wine to celebrate :)
 
This has given me the kick to sign up with Coinbase. I remember why I didn’t sign up in 2019, the identification procedure worried me. Trust issues I know.
Now for a casual user do you think the Coinbase wallet would be easiest way to go or are there other simple options.
 
I have a Ledger wallet - it's an actual piece of hardware, so you don't have to worry about something happening to your coins if something happens to the site where they're being stored.

TBH, now seems like a terrible time to be investing in BTC. The pirce seems enormously inflated and unsustainable, which is why I'm probably giong to cash out. Of course, I could be completely wrong - I thought $10,000 was unsustainable - but a lot of the current inflation seems to stem from a couple of tweets by Mr Musk.
 
Geordie Torr said:
I have a Ledger wallet - it's an actual piece of hardware, so you don't have to worry about something happening to your coins if something happens to the site where they're being stored.

TBH, now seems like a terrible time to be investing in BTC. The pirce seems enormously inflated and unsustainable, which is why I'm probably giong to cash out. Of course, I could be completely wrong - I thought $10,000 was unsustainable - but a lot of the current inflation seems to stem from a couple of tweets by Mr Musk.
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Yea agree. When it went to 7K I thought I’d missed the boat so left it. I won’t be taking the 40k either but lots of traction on many platforms and more mainstream activity. Will be interesting see where next 2-10 years takes the whole crypto scene.
 
To answer the original question - if you're not highly specialized in this area, sell. Bitcoin is a very interesting phenomenon as are cryptocurrencies in general, but one with many risks. It acts as an alternative store of wealth like gold - and like gold you can't buy a loaf of bread with it. It is not really a currency. You should note that governments are forever wary of any store of wealth that it is outside their control and which may provide long term competition to their fiat currencies. The gold market is essentially transparent, but Bitcoin is not, which also makes it risky from a regulatory point of view. At some point governments may decide that a 'dark web' style store of wealth has no place in an open, taxable and law-abiding society. Even gold ownership has been banned at times in the past, when governments and their own currencies have come under pressure.

Unlike gold which is broadly traded and not too volatile, Bitcoin is highly volatile so why not take your profits and sleep at night. Maybe even buy some gold.
 
Quite interesting to read this thread/general attitudes to the crypto space having been what I would describe as an interested layman for the better part of ten years (still kicking myself for selling dozens of bitcoins for a few quid each to fund myself as a student!)

Personally I believe the exciting prospects for blockchain technology lie outside bitcoin and just being a store of value, although I do see bitcoin as having significant potential upside as the first mover/household name and as an onramp for fiat cash entering the crypto ecosystem.

Despite large technical hurdles still to overcome, things like decentralised finance via smart contracts on blockchains like ethereum are in my opinion potentially game changing. (For an interesting primer on DeFi from the Fed reserve see here)

Overall I'm not a complete evangelist, but this is an exciting nascent technology and you could argue there is risk in not having any exposure to it at all.

Edit - I should probably declare that that I am invested in cryptocurrencies, including a small position in Bitcoin.
 
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For those thinking of investing in Bitcoin right now....do be aware that Tesla recently revealed they'd purchased a collosal amount of Bitcoin to store some of the cash reserves. This appears to be the biggest component driving the upward price pressure. Make of that what you will.
 
Julian Seers-Martin said:
For those thinking of investing in Bitcoin right now....do be aware that Tesla recently revealed they'd purchased a collosal amount of Bitcoin to store some of the cash reserves. This appears to be the biggest component driving the upward price pressure. Make of that what you will.
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Tesla is as overvalued as Bitcoin ;). As someone reminded me the other day, if you own some Tesla stock, you own some Bitcoin anyway. In that case I'm in the crypto-world by default despite my current scepticism concerning whether it is a fit game for an individual investor. I don't own any Tesla stock directly, but several of the technology funds I own do.
 
Geordie Torr said:
If it's the former, it would be worth more than £3000, so yes, probably worth it.
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I did purchase 0.3 bitcoin for a massive £40. Now worth circa £11,000. I sold most of it. From what I can gather I may have retained 0.01 (£400 atm) but as is the case with so much bitcoin it's lost, even if I could find the wallet I wouldn't know the password. Annoying, but at least I didn't throw away £200m like that Welsh guy.

In more general terms, the history thus far has been rapid rises followed by rapid falls. Personally I wouldn't be investing at the moment, it feels very peaky to me, but if there were another large crash down to the $4000 dollar level of a year ago I might be tempted to put a bit in and try to forget it for a while.
 
Julian Seers-Martin said:
Bitcoin’s primary usage [at this time] is for transferring money relatively anonymously. As soon as a sum goes through two or three transfers it becomes basically impossible to trace. That application means it has a value to a certain group of people. As soon as that can be policed, sure, the value will likely drop, but the very point of many crypto currencies is a self regulation component that cannot be altered by outside forces. This is how the concept of Bitcoin came to exist and why statements about it no longer existing demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding about its purpose or function.
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If I'm reading that right, that means the point of Bitcoin is twofold: 1) money laundering by criminal organisations; 2) hiding wine purchases from the missus.
 
Tom Worthing said:
In more general terms, the history thus far has been rapid rises followed by rapid falls. Personally I wouldn't be investing at the moment, it feels very peaky to me, but if there were another large crash down to the $4000 dollar level of a year ago I might be tempted to put a bit in and try to forget it for a while.
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The problem is that it felt peaky two years ago, too. And as a result I didn't buy some then....
 
Well, I successfully sold most of my BTC via Coinbase Pro just now. The transfer process from my wallet to theirs was very slow, which is perfectly normal but also nerve-shredding as it looked as though the inevitable market correction was under way, but as a waited and chewed my fingernails it became clear that a lot of what I was seeing was just the incredible price volatility. I think I managed to sell at the top of one of the morning's peaks, which is a plus. I hung on to a little bit in case things head upwards again, but will probably cash out completely soon.

Anyway, many thanks to all those who offered advice.

Edit: Looking at the graph, it certainly looks as though the market correction really is underway...
 
lots of paper millionaires. Be interesting to see Elon’s reaction this morning when he arises whether to average. Tesla now a double edged sword/ Bitcoin proxy. Diamond hands indeed.
 
David Mansfield said:
lots of paper millionaires. Be interesting to see Elon’s reaction this morning when he arises whether to average. Tesla now a double edged sword/ Bitcoin proxy. Diamond hands indeed.
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So...in view of the huge carbon footprint involved in Bitcoin "manufacture", should I forget about Teslas and buy another diesel BMW? Oh, the irony.....
 
Geordie Torr said:
Slightly random question. I jumped on the bitcoin bandwagon some time ago and bought a tiny quantity that is now worth a not-insignificant amount. I may come to regret this in the future, but I'm thinking of selling most of my stash while the price is crazy high. Does anyone have any experience of selling bitcoins and any advice on doing so?
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Out of curiosity, I would like to know how you get on with selling them. Having read through the thread, like myself, there are those sceptics who would rather invest in something a bit more tangible and the sense of risk seems greater with something which appears to have no real asset. I agree though, crypto currencies are likely to be around for a very long time
 
Rob wilson said:
Out of curiosity, I would like to know how you get on with selling them. Having read through the thread, like myself, there are those sceptics who would rather invest in something a bit more tangible and the sense of risk seems greater with something which appears to have no real asset. I agree though, crypto currencies are likely to be around for a very long time
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As mentioned in a post above, I sold most of what I had (which wasn't actually all that much) yesterday. I'm generally pretty cautious when it comes to investing, so I only bought a small amount for investment (rather than for spending purposes) some time back when the price first started to take off. I then spent a chunk of that investment before eventually deciding that it was time to cash in, with the price now at frankly insane levels. So, in the end, I got a pretty decent return on that small investment - and of course wish that I hadn't been quite so cautious before. I've held on to a small amount in case the price goes up even further (as it actually has since I divested) and will keep an eye on the price so I can hopefully cash out completely while it's still high. The price is extremely volatile, however, so I wouldn't be surprised if it halved while I wasn't paying attention.
 
I did have a look at my coin base account the other night and it noticeable grew in the 30 mins I was looking at it, probably to shrink straight afterwards, it really is very volatile, but if there’s money that you won’t miss it’s an interesting place to have a dabble and learn
 
In the period between sending my BTC to Coinbase and it actually arriving, I effectively lost several hundred pounds. Had I waited about an hour, I could have made that back, plus a few hundred more. If I'm reading this right, today, some $84 billion worth of BTC changed hands. Madness.
 
Geordie Torr said:
In the period between sending my BTC to Coinbase and it actually arriving, I effectively lost several hundred pounds. Had I waited about an hour, I could have made that back, plus a few hundred more....
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Blockchain may be very fashionable at present but being so inefficient and expensive to both mine and trade, it fails the first test of a viable currency...it doesn't work for high frequency transactions or low values. And it seems that you have to share its use with some pretty iffy people. This is not to say that current banking systems of batch processing and set off won't be modernised to create true digital currencies at some point but I can't see how blockchain can get us there, ,and getting involved in all that arcane rigmarole seems very tedious to me, aren't horses more fun?

On another point - long live cash! I say, at least for now.....if we all continue to use it in our smaller transactions we may be able to avoid the ultimate con trick of being charged negative interest rates.
 
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