Do You Envy Those Who Got Rich on Bitcoin?

Trying2SaveABuck on 07/02/2021 - 11:43
Last edited 11/02/2021 - 14:22

By envy i mean i am happy for them but i have a massive regret feeling of why da faq didnt i jump on this earlier

Bitcoin is now worth ~$40,000 USD (~$51,000 AUD) - I cant help but feel like a missed out on the ultimate golden ticket in which bitcoin started a $0.08 USD ($0.11 AUD)

I know a few people that sold out around- the $10,000-20,000 AUD mark and are now kicking themselves

But for me personally i am just like the ultimate missed opportunity - I am someone who plays the lottery, home raffles, takes a guess on speculative shares etc Not once has it ever paid off.

But the biggest gains in history has slipped right past me and i cant help but feel shattered ….

I guess a lot of people dont mind and good on you, perhaps I can learn a lesson for that thanks.

Financial Cryptocurrency

Comments

  • brendanm on 07/02/2021 - 19:29
    +4

    why da faq didnt i jump on this earlier

    Would you also feel this way if it went to zero and you lost all your money? For every thing like this where people have made a lot of money, there are many when people have lost a lot.

    Hindsight is 20/20, and it's very easy to say "I should have bought Bitcoin", now you know it would have been successful.

    • whooah1979 on 07/02/2021 - 19:46

      It can't technically go to zero. CEX won't allow a zero value spot trade.

  • mr_asstight on 07/02/2021 - 21:04
    -3

    I used to feel envy because I thought investing was all about luck.

    Luck is a tiny part of it. I spent years honing my edge in ASX equities, and crypto.

    It's finally paid off and now I don't feel envious because my strategy gives me an edge that I don't get FOMO or care about other's luck. Luck you can't always repeat but strategy you can apply over and over.

    If you want to be a successful investor it's bloody hard work. But all that is required is interest in it. I guarantee anyone who strikes out over and over again but keeps coming back will end up finding their own edge and succeed in the long term. It's those setbacks that teach you the most.

  • Tiredman on 07/02/2021 - 21:31
    +1

    Bitcoin will be at 50k before you know it, then hit 80k before end of the year.

    • [Deactivated] on 08/02/2021 - 08:01

      No it will be worth 1 million as it will replace all physical assets.

      • Tiredman on 08/02/2021 - 11:24

        Why the hell not.

  • [Deactivated] on 07/02/2021 - 22:14
    -2

    Im coming to realise a load of people on Ozbargin have a very boomer-barefoot investor mentality - in which is get wealthy slowly, never really live rich and always play it safe. - you will essentially end up with a decent net worth but live your entire life on a shoe-string budget thus on paper you're doing well but practically your life is boring af

    Preach it! Index funds can suck my nuts. Never going to get rich with that shit.

  • netsurfer on 07/02/2021 - 22:22
    +1

    Don't get upset. Apparently, an OZBer actually owned a handful of bitcoins ages ago (when they were dirt cheap), didn't expect them to take off. Put his ancient portable hard drive with the private key of those bitcoins into the bin.

    Anyway, there will be other opportunities. Work hard, do more research. A lot of my mates did a fair bit or research last year. They bought AfterPay, Tesla and other shares last year after Covid-19 crash. Rather than feeling sorry for missing out, it is better to be positive and do something constructive.

  • justwii on 08/02/2021 - 01:33
    +1

    Being rewarded from effortless opportunities is never my lifestyle, so no. I reject all these gambling, lottery, bitcoin, even stock: your gain is someone's loss, I will not feel happy knowing I am only taking money from some others hands.

    • mitchalbrown on 08/02/2021 - 10:31

      I find this a strange view of stocks… bitcoin I understand (but still don't agree) but stocks? the stock market is just a vehicle which allows the free market to allocate capital where it feels it will be best served. when you buy a stock, you are essentially becoming a part-owner of that company and aligning your interests with the companies interest and as a reward, the company shares their success with you through either dividend payments or an increase in the share price (your asset). If you were to cash out this asset (shares) and someone was to buy - they are buying with the understanding that the asset will continue to appreciate through the company's continued success. Assuming that person has done the same due diligence as you to correctly value the stock when purchasing, they will also win.

      To view the world through terms of "for someone to win, someone has to lose" completely dismisses thousands of years of human civilisation built on people building great things through mutual interests.

      • justwii on 08/02/2021 - 13:29
        +1

        No its not strange at all. Put it this way: whoever holds onto the stocks last loses. If it is not someone from somewhere, it is someone from the future generations, ultimately who can't cash out is at loss. Gambling has been there for ages too, that doesn't dismiss the fact that gambling is bad.

  • Cluster on 08/02/2021 - 01:35
    +3

    I had bitcoin in the early days. Sold it for a very nice profit, but nowhere near as much as I could have received in 2021.

    Do I have regrets? Not really. You can tie yourself up in knots of 'coulda, woulda, shoulda'. It's not healthy.

    I recently met someone who still owns 17 bitcoins, so he's sitting pretty. I asked if he's thinking of selling: "No way, I won't sell" came the answer. Bitcoin doesn't really know what it wants to be. Is it a currency? In that case, it's a failure. Over the past 10 years the dumbest move you could make after receiving a bitcoin is spending it. Hoard all you can and never spend one was the right move. That's not a currency.

    Is it a store of value? Clearly, yes. It's volatile, but you can store a lot of value in just one bitcoin. But to use a bitcoin you must sell it. If US$40k isn't enough to cash in, then what? US$100k? US$1M? US$10M per bitcoin? The latter may seem fanciful, but 10 years ago bitcoin broke US$1 each.

    There was a story from late 2014 about a Norwegian guy who bought bitcoin early, forgot about them, found them, and cashed in when bitcoin hit US$1k each. He bought a nice Oslo apartment. Great deal, right? Nope. The guy was a fool. He could have bought forty apartments if he only waited 6 years. Maybe in another 6 years he could have bought 4000 apartments.

  • balloontree on 08/02/2021 - 07:31
    +1

    I envy those who got rich on Dogecoin…….

    0.007 to 0.07……..

    • nephilim on 08/02/2021 - 09:33
      +1

      Pretty sure you got a free coins from just posting on the subredidit 3-4 years ago.
      Maybe I would have $10 now if I posted there everyday, super rich

      • beebul on 09/02/2021 - 12:00
        +1

        Yeah I posted on the reddit back in 2017… not sure I got any coins though, but do remember that being a thing.

  • this is us on 08/02/2021 - 07:51
    +5

    I envy people who came from very rich families and were born with billions in the bank, and didn't have to struggle to decide about the professional life at age 17, have a nice house, buy the desired car, and so on. They didn't have to worry about bitcoins and be lucky enough to see the money multiplying. Someone might have done something similar for them in the past, but it's done. Once you are 18 and has billions, you have to make wise decisions to keep it, or multiply even more, but you can do that without the pressure, without counting on luck.

    Many of them are stupid though, not sure what's the cause or the consequence here.

    I also envy people who migrated to Australia in the 70s and had money to buy a few 100k properties that now value millions of dollars.

    I don't usually bet, don't put my money on high risk investments of any kind. Bought some crypto in the past, not the right time to make a lot of money, unfortunately.

    I don't regret because regret is a waste of time, and it's easy to say "I should have" or "what if" after the past has already happened. What is hard is to make decisions in the present and risking something you worked hard to get in something totally uncertain.

    I know people who lost a lot of money with risk investment, including crypto. They lost the money that they struggled to earn along many years, they money they didn't have anymore.

    As I was not born rich and am risk avoidant, I have to work hard and make wise decisions, and only bet the amount I accept I can lose. This behaviour is unlikely to make me a billionaire but won't leave me bankrupt either.

    • TEER3X on 08/02/2021 - 20:26
      +1

      I envy people who came from very rich families and were born with billions in the bank

      I don't at all, what's there to achieve when you have it all?

      Most of them are on coke all the time and are running swingers parties with models. On 2nd thought…

      • this is us on 09/02/2021 - 08:00

        Money is not the only thing to achieve in life, so you don't have it all only because you are rich.

        There is still a lot to achieve from there, and the good thing is that you can do whatever you want in life, and work doing what you like, without having to worry about income.

        Also, stupidity happens in all social levels.

    • macrocephalic on 10/02/2021 - 14:24

      I've have this same discussion with a work colleague who's made a decent amount of money off a speculative buy in a lithium mining company a year or two ago; his $600 investment is now worth tens of thousands. He even admits it was entirely luck as he holds a lot of similar investments in penny stocks which are still worth what he paid for them.

      My investment strategy is to put a decent amount of money into safe investments and let it grow. Doing this I won't ever be 'rich' but I should have enough to never be 'poor'. Given the marginal happiness returns on higher incomes, I think this is a safe strategy.

  • HelpMeiCantSee on 08/02/2021 - 08:06
    +2

    Yea. #FML

  • Tidy on 08/02/2021 - 08:17
    +1

    Bitcoin is near record highs, as are house prices, the stock market, used cars, well anything which can't be created at whim.

    Envy will eventually be replaced by a realisation that the rules have changed. Governments will ensure that all asset bubbles will inflate into perpetuity, and bitcoin is simply an unintended beneficiary of that.

  • juventino on 08/02/2021 - 08:24
    -5

    I AM TELLING YOU RIGHT NOW OP, DOGECOIN IS THE RIGHT PLACE TO BE. IT WILL AT LEAST
    MULTIPLE 40×

    OP, DONT MISS OUT THIS TIME. IM SURE YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS

    LEARN FROM YOUR PAST EXPERIENCES

  • MrRichie on 08/02/2021 - 08:26
    -1

    Find new opportunities like theta token 😅 (gentle schill) but honestly the tech will change the planet…

    Thank me later.

  • MontyMacaw on 08/02/2021 - 08:46

    Nobody was envying the losers in the stock market when it crashed last year. Everybody was panicking. Getting in on anything at the right time is often described as trying to catch a falling dagger. If you know a bit about what you’re doing you will have a chance of making money. If you don’t then chances are you will lose money. The Australian stock market is pretty much the same as it was a year ago. In a time of uncertainty that’s a pretty good result. As for Bitcoin who cares really? It’s a niche market based purely on speculation and greed. Nobody knows where it will go. When it was $1000 I told some friends of mine to buy one each for their grandchildren. None of them did of course and neither did I. Life is about averages. If you take risks all the time the chances are high you will lose. Slow and steady wins the race. Forget about what you might have had and focus on what you have and what you can do to minimise the risk of losing it. Then perhaps you can take some risk with what you can afford to lose. Isn’t envy just a way to feel miserable? Count your blessings because tomorrow you could be dead or in a wheelchair.

    • gromit on 08/02/2021 - 11:07

      Everybody wasn't panicking, a section of the public that didn't understand the market panicked, some investors that were over leveraged panicked, some retirees panicked as they probably should not have been so heavily in shares at that life stage. The rest of us took it as an opportunity to buy up big, especially on companies that had relatively minor effects from Covid shutdown yet still took massive share price hits. Unlike Bitcoin this was actually a highly predictable outcome with the sharemarket.

      • MontyMacaw on 08/02/2021 - 16:43

        No pretty much everybody was panicking. Same as the GFC when the world financial system almost fell over. If they weren’t panicking they were probably just stupid. This will happen again and again and again. And pretty much everybody will panic. Check out the VIX to show how much they were panicking. But I get it some thought they looked cool and hid their panic - birds do that as a defence mechanism btw. I myself switched my super from property to shares when things were low but then back to property. I did well because I got a ride up in shares, I missed the drop in the property indexes I was in and bought back in when they corrected back up several months later. But I DID change my undies a few times. I’m not ashamed to admit it.

  • WheresMeDeal on 08/02/2021 - 09:05

    If you bought in at $1000 and sold at 10 to 20k, you've still made 10 to 20 times as much back as you put in. It's still a win.

    • MontyMacaw on 08/02/2021 - 16:46
      +2

      There are a lot of people who back a horse to win and miss a great place price when it runs a place. They feel like losers. Then the same people put it each way and complain that they could have won more as the horse won. Greed knows no bounds. So does stupidity.

      • Fredfloresjr on 10/02/2021 - 08:17
        +1

        this is me unfortunately. Fck horses

  • MisterX on 08/02/2021 - 09:28
    -1

    Why don't you set yourself up by getting into the next big thing?

    Research, plant seeds, put $500 here, put $500 there. Continue grinding on. There's big gainers almost every year, and not only in crypto.

    There's two things you can do:
    1. Do nothing. Sit in envy and regret.
    2. Take action. Make it happen for yourself.

    • Trying2SaveABuck on 08/02/2021 - 09:29

      I have just gutted i missed the biggest banger of all

      • pharkurnell on 08/02/2021 - 10:02
        +1

        You and billions of others.

        This might help.. a Bridge building kit
        https://www.amazon.com/hand2mind-Bridge-Building-Classroom-P…

      • Windows98 on 08/02/2021 - 10:40
        +2

        If you did get in at 8c, wouldn't you have sold it at $1? Or $20?
        You wouldn't have held it for this long, and I doubt anyone has. Everyone who has Bitcoin now has paid a lot of money for it. They might get some profit but not millions unless they invested millions already.

  • Bob Svargis on 08/02/2021 - 09:41
    +1

    There's always someone worse off than you. No, I don't feel envy, jealousy or regrets, because I lacked the balls to invest in Bitcoin early up. That's my fault and having regrets about that sort of thing is not good for your health. For all those who made a crapload, there's a lot who didn't and you're not seeing that.

    It's kind of like seeing wealthy people. Why be envious? We all return to dust at some point, and they might have taken significant risks and sacrificed a lot to get where they are.

  • BigBirdy on 08/02/2021 - 09:48

    Cryptos have no intrinsic value, just a buy/sell price based on speculative interest by those prepared to gamble on them. If you get in and out at the right time, you can make a profit. Maybe a big profit. But the one certainty about the current crop of cryptos (current meaning not created by a govt or business as an actual currency backed by real assets) is, they are ultimately worth nothing. And that’s where they will end up, $zero.

  • anglais on 08/02/2021 - 09:57
    +8

    Everybody who had Bitcoin at 10c has done one of two things:

    • Sold at $10 and enjoyed good returns
    • Lost their private key and feel bad everyday (bonus points if they remember their public key and can see the millions lying there)

    The chance of having Bitcoin at 10c and still having it now are one in a billion.

    • Cluster on 08/02/2021 - 10:55

      I personally know someone who mined 100 bitcoin very early on using his laptop. The laptop broke and was thrown away along with the bitcoin, as they were worth a handful of dollars back then and not worth bothering with.

      Now those bitcoins are worth US$3.8M

  • lint on 08/02/2021 - 10:04
    +1

    i have a massive regret feeling of why da faq didnt i jump on this earlier

    Because it's a risky ass bet, especially when it was 8c. The price could've gone either way back then and if it didn't work you'd be posting something like "why da faq did i put 50 grand into a worthless virtual coin"

    If you're full of regret, Dogecoin is the perfect place for you right now. But don't cry if it doesn't work out.

  • mitchalbrown on 08/02/2021 - 10:11
    +2

    A lot of people don't quite understand how Blockchain works and focus too much on the cryptocurrency which serves it. This is the secret to massive gains in this space. Gain an understanding of blockchain, then look at different blockchain protocols (ethereum, polkadot, Bitcoin etc) and understand the real world problems that these solve or how these support the blockchain ecosystem. You can find these on each blockchain projects page - it's called the white paper.

    This is not much different to investing in shares…. You understand how the economy and industries work, you research companies and their operation and financial structures and then you understand the real world problems that their products and services solve.

    There is still plenty of money to be made in the crypto space but unless you understand the concepts of blockchain, decentralisation and the underlying problems with the current financial system, you will have a hard time knowing what to invest in.

    I couldn't recommend watching nuggets news on youtube. Alex saunders has a fantastic way of explaining macroeconomics and how different cryptocurrencies address issues.

    there's still projects that explode as much as bitcoin - some even faster, like YFI which went from $3 to $40k in a couple of months (though it has gone back down to $25-26k) and this was just mid last year.

    • TEER3X on 08/02/2021 - 20:28
      +1

      Shut up and just tell me what to buy.

      • [Deactivated] on 09/02/2021 - 21:50
        +1

        Only Bitcoin but dollar cost average weekly or daily to reduce volatility. Don't mess with alts. Play stupid games win stupid prizes.

  • hopper on 08/02/2021 - 10:12
    +4

    my story in a line. A friend of mine advised me to invest $5000 on the bit coin in year 2012 and I dismissed the idea. and now I check the price everyday just make myself feel bad. End of story.

    • [Deactivated] on 09/02/2021 - 21:53

      U r Still not late.. U already waited 10 years and still didn't learn a lesson. Time to accept you were wrong and start dollar cost averaging into btc..

  • OzHunterNSW on 08/02/2021 - 10:36
    +1

    For those who experience envy, bitterness, jealousy, resentment, spite, over someone else's good fortune, are not of good character in themselves and would no doubt recall flashbacks of sandpit fights, leading into narcissistic adulthood traits.

    No I don't envy, I am not bitter, I am not so narcissistic to wander around and hate all those dressed better, driving a better car, sailing in a better yacht, vacationing in a better locality.

    Where would it stop?

    • lookingforTV on 08/02/2021 - 10:49
      -2

      Sounds bit judgmental to me. I'd go as far as calling people, who are envious others, unhappy with their current life.. But, I wouldn't go as far as calling them narcissistic..

  • Windows98 on 08/02/2021 - 10:37
    +3

    When people got in at .08c, most would have sold it when it reached $1 from fear of the value dropping

    When people got in at $1, most would have sold when it got to $20 from fear

    When people bought it at $20, most would have sold it at $100..

    You see where I'm going here.
    Sure the value is high now, but hardly anyone would still be holding onto something they bought years ago, because at what point do you sell? Who would still be holding onto thousands of coins from 10 years ago and just letting them sit?

    Most people would have bought in not go long ago and at best tripled or more likely less than doubled their profit. So unless they invested a large amount, it's not that great a profit.

    • whooah1979 on 08/02/2021 - 11:15
      +2

      When people got in at .08c, most would have sold it when it reached $1 from fear of the value dropping
      When people got in at $1, most would have sold when it got to $20 from fear
      When people bought it at $20, most would have sold it at $100..

      On-chain data shows that the humpbacks (>5k BTC), whales (1k-5k BTC) and sharks (500-1k BTC) with wallets dating back as far as 9 years have only ins and no (or few) outs. There are 1000s of these wallets.

      The people that sold early are the ones like the pizza guy that didn't understand how disruptive this technology will be.

  • lookingforTV on 08/02/2021 - 10:42

    Do you also envy people who lost money investing in bitcoins? You only hear about those who made fortune but those who lost money, don't really speak out.

  • Freitag on 08/02/2021 - 10:50

    All you can do is learn from the past and focus on the future.

  • [Deactivated] on 08/02/2021 - 11:05

    Do you envy someone else's relationship because you didn't keep faith in the worst times imaginable when everyone else didn't think your partner was any good? Despite everything you learnt and knew people talked against them. Your friend did have faith and hope despite all odds. He deserves the reward for his risk. He did something crazy and he would've been burnt but he got lucky, not everybody does, most people would burn. Do you have that in you?

  • Tiredman on 08/02/2021 - 11:25

    True hodlers are rare. Most will sell at 2x or more or panic sell at dips. Patience pays.

  • shamid202 on 08/02/2021 - 11:37
    +1

    Let me be honest with you. You dont need to be jealous.
    Theres always opportunities around today that can make you super rich in the coming years that when you look at the 5years later you will tell your self i saw that opportunity 5years ago and i didnt pay attention to that.
    Start looking today!
    Also bitcoin is going to be 200,000 so its still not late.

  • manbearpig on 08/02/2021 - 11:46
    +2

    Boo hoo. Having this mindset makes no sense. There's no point in dwelling on stuff like this. You're only kicking yourself because the value went up. Had it gone the other way, which it has been for the past few years, you would've been making a post about how lucky you were that you either didn't buy or sold while you had the chance.

  • Mark1159 on 08/02/2021 - 12:18
    +9

    If you have your health, family, friends, born in Australia you’ve already won life’s lottery

    • Danger on 08/02/2021 - 13:19
      +4

      If you have your health, family, friends, born living in Australia you’ve already won life’s lottery

  • BertieBrown on 08/02/2021 - 12:35
    +1

    Here’s the thing, money or lack of it I think can be a significant psychological impact on people. Which is problematic, because the pursuit of it can become overwhelming. People no longer focus on life as a means of living but rather as a means of just attaining more money. More things. More stuff. More objects.

    This Bitcoin as an example. If you missed out, well how does that impact the psyche? It’s problematic because largely many of these kinds of investments are unpredictable. Yes now it’s worth a lot, but others have pointed out it’s not always so.

    So, where does it end? Do you focus on just constantly finding more money? How does one measure themselves if they missed out? If they’re not wealthy?

    I think the answer is that money is often incidental. Do the things that make you happy. That leave you fulfilled. Money comes and goes.

    Yes money management is important, but if I envy those that have made money incidentally through things like Bitcoin then how do I feel about the countless greater number of people who’ve lost everything through terrible investments?

    That’s just my thoughts. Money is important, but it can quickly become all consuming, and destructive to people’s well-being.

  • varun17 on 08/02/2021 - 13:04

    Build a time machine ;-)

  • Rialonda on 08/02/2021 - 13:13
    +1

    Hey,
    If you had PERFECT prediction of the share market, you could turn like $1 into $1billion in 1 day, just by buying & selling at right time transitioning from one share to next.

    But that's not reality.
    So don't worry about what could have happened, and learn to enjoy what you do have - money is a means to an end (e.g. happiness, health etc), and if you can find a shortcut to that end (e.g. finding happiness in what you have, exercise at no cost, etc.) then you don't need the money to get there.

    To have the POTENTIAL to earn billions+ is always there. But so is the potential to loose it all.
    Focus on what is important in life, and strive to have the means to earn enough to get at least that much.

    As to your financial decisions? People only report about their gains. There are more than enough stories out there of people who have lost their savings investing as well. So just as you don't envy those that lost a lot (and a good amount I'm sure through no fault of their own, with their investment reasonings being sound), so too you shouldn't envy those that gained alot. People also sometimes swing on the wealth scale from one side to the other side (and back again) multiple times in their lives.

  • dcash on 08/02/2021 - 13:41
    +1

    Considering the ridiculous environmental impact bitcoin "mining" has due to the insane amounts of electricity required, no, I don't envy anyone.

    • whooah1979 on 08/02/2021 - 14:17
      +1

      This form of mining could be the most environmentally friendly mining.

      https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/mining/china/#:~:text=Ch….

      A very large portion (if not the majority) of Bitcoin’s energy comes from China, and most notably in “green” powered areas like Sichuan and Xinjiang where renewable sources like hydroelectric, solar, and geothermal are common.

      In many cases, the energy produced by these wind farms and dams is higher than the local grid can take. This means that they are producing energy that would otherwise not be used by anyone since the local grid, which takes energy and distributes it accross distances, cannot hold it.

      https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-mining-farms-are-flourishin…

      Built during the Cold War to power Soviet manufacturing, the Bratsk hydroelectric station in Eastern Siberia is now fueling another energy-hungry industry: bitcoin mining.

      Several large mining farms have set up shop in Bratsk, an industrial city on the bank of the Angara River, taking advantage of the region’s low temperatures, which keeps cooling costs down, and the hydro plant’s abundant, inexpensive electricity.

      The electricity in Siberia, generated mostly by hydropower, is some of the cheapest in the world, around 4 cents for kilowatt-hour,

      • dcash on 08/02/2021 - 15:44
        -3

        The point is that there is nothing to mine. It's just bits and bytes in computers. Yes, once upon a time we mined gold and the like for the purpose of currency, but nowadays our money is just numbers in computer systems, requiring no "mining" whatsoever. As to Bitcoin "mining" using green power, well, we all know that for the most part it's coal derived power. You'd have to be a complete nut-job to believe otherwise.

        • whooah1979 on 08/02/2021 - 16:10
          +2

          nowadays our money is just numbers in computer systems, requiring no "mining" whatsoever.

          The current monetary system that Australia uses for digital transactions is stored on private ledgers powered by electricity. This electricity network is according to a 2017/18 report by the DEE generated using >60% coal. There is no way to compare the energy usage between the BTC ledger and these private ledgers because it's almost impossible to quantify their input and output.

          Anyways, the cat is out of the bag and there is no telling how far this will go. People can either get some skin in the game or stand on the sideline.

          • dcash on 08/02/2021 - 20:35

            @whooah1979: If you really think data storage of financial information compares with Bitcoin "mining", in terms of power requirements or anything else, then it's clear you don't understand the technology at all. But good luck with your Bitcoins. Maybe you should buy some GME stock while you're at it.

            • sghetti on 08/02/2021 - 23:49
              -1

              @dcash: Like every single financial institution that requires data centre's, some multiple, to host their core banking systems, reconcile/backup every night? Tape backups, delivered back and forward by trucks etc. yeah that all still happens. Systems so severely outdated and inefficient but continue to chug along. Those dev environments required, some with 5/10/20 to serve multiple projects working on complex integrations with outdated infrastructure?

              The complex front-ends the require… more servers to allow you to access your money, via messaging layers that are most likely as outdated as the core system that your "numbers" are sitting on.

              All of the above, with tacked on capabilities that allow these outdated systems to give you instant payments, alerts for balances.

              Yeah, it more than compares with mining…

              • dcash on 09/02/2021 - 07:13

                @sghetti: It doesn't compare for many reasons, not the least of which is that one is using power to enable you to process transactions (ATMs, online banking systems, and so forth), and one is using power to simply "create" a bitcoin (and 99.999999% of the power used doesn't even do that!)

                • sghetti on 09/02/2021 - 09:05
                  -1

                  @dcash: It's not just creating a bitcoin, it's securing the network too. The reason the processing is required is that the processing power involved keeps the network secure. The more people that mine, the more difficult the calculations become, requiring more effort to find the right calculations.

                  I work in finance and I can tell you what, I value the way that Bitcoin is transparent and highly secure at the same point. There are scams, there's no denying it, but that's from an end user perspective and not keeping their digital wallets safe. I also agree that it's not very user friendly in many cases. But the underlying network is extremely secure, the effort and expense required to even attempt an attack on the network would be virtually impossible.

                  I would be highly surprised if the total power currently exhausted on Bitcoin mining even came close to what is used by all financial institutions keeping their ledgers in check, backups, all of the computing resources used to verify balances manually etc.

                  • dcash on 09/02/2021 - 09:27

                    @sghetti: You said it yourself. For every new bitcoin that is mined, an ever increasing amount of electricity must be consumed. And that is entirely separate from the power consumed when verifying transactions on the blockchain. I never said it wasn't secure, I just said it's the biggest waste of power in the history of civilisation, because you get essentially nothing for it. Nothing that isn't already provided in any other fiat currency. As to security, what issues do you have with traditional "money"? If someone steals your credit card details and goes on a spending spree, it's your bank that wears the cost, not you. Worried about the government knowing how much money you have? So you're deliberately trying to defraud the tax system. Nice!

                    I would be highly surprised if the total power currently exhausted on Bitcoin mining even came close to what is used by all financial institutions keeping their ledgers in check, backups, all of the computing resources used to verify balances manually etc.

                    I think you'll find Bitcoin consumes far more power in this scenario, on a per transaction basis. You are making a comparison based on billions of transactions per day in traditional finance, to less than half a million daily transactions for Bitcoin.

                    • sghetti on 09/02/2021 - 09:45
                      -1

                      @dcash: I never said it's an ever increasing amount of electricity. That is definitely not the case. It becomes exponentially more difficult as more people try to mine. When mining drops off, the difficulty rating drops with it. There are peaks and troughs in mining due to various factors.

                      You get nothing from it? How about a decentralized ledger that no one entity controls? No one entity can say shut it down.

                      Where did I say anything about hiding money? Not one of my posts said anything about hiding from the government, not one. Cryptocurrency is taxed the exact same way as any other asset and like I said in another thread elsewhere, is easily tracked. All on-ramps and off-ramps from crypto are highly regulated.

                      • dcash on 09/02/2021 - 11:16

                        @sghetti:

                        I never said it's an ever increasing amount of electricity. That is definitely not the case. It becomes exponentially more difficult as more people try to mine.

                        You just said it again. As it becomes more computationally difficult to mine coins, the amount of electricity required to do so increases exponentially.

                        You get nothing from it? How about a decentralized ledger that no one entity controls? No one entity can say shut it down.

                        So zero benefits at all, because all you have mentioned is no one entity controlling a "ledger" and no one entity being able to shut it down. Nobody is going to shut down the NAB or ANZ or CBA or Westpac and take your money, because it's guaranteed by the Australian Government. Who guarantees your Bitcoin when you lose your USB or forget your password etc?

                        Where did I say anything about hiding money?

                        I never said that you did. I was just posing an example, trying to think of possible reasons someone might want to use Bitcoin. So far you haven't provided a single valid reason for supporting mass pollution.

    • [Deactivated] on 09/02/2021 - 22:07

      How much env impact is caused by gaming and tiktok and facebook and cat videos.. have U thought abt it. Nobody talks about that..

      • dcash on 10/02/2021 - 07:25

        Because those things, questionable though they may be, are providing some form of entertainment, and may therefore be more or less justified. Bitcoin is just consuming power for the sake of consuming power.

        To put it in perspective, the whole of Australia uses around 230 tWh of electricity per year (including people using their employers computing power to mine Bitcoins xD). Globally Bitcoin mining is estimated to consume around 70 tWh per year (a third of what Australia uses, and more than a lot of small countries), and all for what?

        • whooah1979 on 10/02/2021 - 07:52

          People can either invest their time in exchange for 📈, convert energy for 📈 or do both.

          The majority of the energy used for BTC mining comes from unused sustainable energy that would otherwise go to waste. The miners set up shop as close as possible to the energy source which could be solar, wind, hydroelectric and sometimes fossil (expensive) fuel power stations.

          • dcash on 10/02/2021 - 08:15

            @whooah1979: If the power used to "mine" Bitcoins was "green", then you'd be closer to the starting block. But the reality is that most of it is not. Countries like China and Russia burn coal to produce electricity for a fraction of the cost we pay for it here, so in some cases it pays off in terms of the Bitcoins they "create". Granted it's getting harder and harder to make it pay from fossil fuels, but it's still happening in a big way. For all the talk of how to make Bitcoin "green", very little has come of it.

            If you want to do something useful with "unused sustainable energy that would otherwise go to waste", there have been (at least pre-Bitcoin) efforts to use distributed computing to aid medical research. Far better use of computing power (and hence electricity) than wasting it on creating a new, unnecessary and extremely cumbersome fiat currency.

        • [Deactivated] on 10/02/2021 - 08:28
          +1

          Just because you don't use Bitcoin doesn't mean it's useless. You like Cat videos I prefer hoarding on future of money. Besides the power used by miners is not necessary for functioning of Bitcoin network. They do it to make profit if they don't do it, anyone can mine of low powered devices, regardless Bitcoin network will mine a block every 10 mins. It's just capitalism.

          Make electricity expensive and the miners will disappear.. but it won't stop the network.

          • dcash on 10/02/2021 - 08:49

            @[Deactivated]: Unless something has changed, "miners" absolutely ARE required for the network to function, because it's miners who provide "proof of work" in terms of verifying transactions on the blockchain. The Bitcoins they receive are their "reward" for doing this work.

            You're wrong about something else. I don't like "Cat videos".

            • [Deactivated] on 10/02/2021 - 09:14

              @dcash: there were no miners when Bitcoin was created still blocks were being created.

              Mining can be done on regular computers. Just the difficulty is high which requires specialised computers to compete for reward. If the miners will go away(hashrate reduce) the difficult will reduce which will allow regular computers to compete and wont require much computation due to low difficulty of mining.

              Anyways, Elon Musk had mentioned the same regarding waste of energy. His company Tesla purchased $1.5B worth of BTC over 40k. He is the richest man on the earth do you think he is dumb.

              At what stage are you going to admit you are wrong? after every rich person has bought it?? Your money your opinions your decision. If you still dont get it. Have fun staying poor.

              • dcash on 10/02/2021 - 09:20

                @[Deactivated]:

                there were no miners when Bitcoin was created still blocks were being created.

                Perhaps they weren't referred to as "miners", but the blockchain still worked the same way. Processing power is needed to perform "proof of work". I suggest you do some research.

                Anyways, Elon Musk had mentioned the same regarding waste of energy. His company Tesla purchased $1.5B worth of BTC over 40k. He is the richest man on the earth do you think he is dumb.

                I don't think he is dumb, but I also don't think he cares about the environment, which was the entire point of my first post, wasn't it? How could anyone who launches rockets into space care one iota for the environment, given the amount of fuel they burn (which can never be replaced with batteries).

                At what stage are you going to admit you are wrong? after every rich person has bought it?? Your money your opinions your decision. If you still dont get it. Have fun staying poor.

                Admit I'm wrong about what? How much power Bitcoin wastes? I'm not wrong about it. I'm also not poor.

  • MondaySleeper on 08/02/2021 - 14:06
    +3

    Lol… Cant help but laugh at comments from OP.

    (In your terms)You already missed the boat. Why would you want to think over it again and again and lose your sleep again? That will make double loss.

    Now if that makes you a bit happy. I do play lotto but well within the limits($5-10). 2 weeks ago, bought a ticket for $5.95, and do u know what happened.? I missed $10 mil just for 1 number, that too close to the picked number. I got around $4100 though.

    If I were to lament on the missed number, that will have greater toll my mental health than what i gained with that $4K

    • amazonaddict on 08/02/2021 - 14:10

      wow.. really? God.. I have always had nightmares about this happening to me. Jesus..

      • Cluster on 08/02/2021 - 14:52

        The OP won $4100. Why would he or she feel bad, and why would this be a nightmare?

        The best winning move is to simply not play the lottery. You're guaranteed to come out ahead, as most lottery players lose most of the time. The pay out to players is only one third of the gathered money.

        • [Deactivated] on 09/02/2021 - 01:45

          Imagine one number reducing your payout by 99.99959% (effectively 100%). You're lying if you think that won't affect you. It is definitely nightmare worthy.

          • MondaySleeper on 09/02/2021 - 12:24

            @[Deactivated]: Lol.. no lying. Its same as glass is half -full or half-empty situation. I can think over it again and again and get depressed or i can be happy with $4100 I got. As i mentioned before, if i think over it, its a double loss. I chose the 2nd and decide to put that money into future lotto tickets(guilt free) and a few hundreds to charity.

            Life is simple. Being alive and living in the moment itself is the great thing.

        • Architechtonics on 10/02/2021 - 11:39

          Exactly. Whenever you think about buying a ticket, play this and realise your money is better off kept in your pocket.
          http://adamlamers.com/lottery_simulator

  • amazonaddict on 08/02/2021 - 14:08
    +1

    Someone is becoming a multi millionaire almost every day in Australia, just by buying lotto tickets for $10. Bitcoin is the same. It came into the picture as a replacement of fiat currency and it failed really bad in that aspect. Most of those who bought into those coins were behind the “lets replace the dollar” propaganda. Now it is not the case. Now it us just a value holder, like gold. They all just got lucky.

    As for me, Telsa, Bitcoin, Gold and Gamestop all are just pyramid schemes. We just don’t know when the scheme will collapse. Like gold, bit coin might last for centuries.

    Early birds make a lot of money in these things. And people who chase the bandwagon get trampled. I am an emotional investor, so my peace of mind is more important than the potential of becoming a millionaire by pure luck.

    • Cluster on 08/02/2021 - 14:55
      +3

      Gold is a pyramid scheme? If it is, it's one heck of a scheme. Its been used as a store of value for around 2700 years.

      • p1 ama on 08/02/2021 - 16:19
        +2

        It's one heck of a pyramid scheme, but it is a pyramid scheme. The only reason gold is valuable is because other people perceive it to be valuable. It's not the same as iron ore, oil, copper…etc. where prices are driven by their intrinsic value as a metal.

  • blorx on 08/02/2021 - 14:15

    No, but I enjoy the excitement of dabbling in crypto within my means and learning about trading.

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