Bitcoin Forum

I love the Bitcoin concept.  Which is the best way to invest in the currency?

Is Bitcoin mining a profitable venture?

What about Litecoin?

1. Opinionated. Someone else will tell you.
2 and 3. http://www.coinish.com/calc/ and http://www.coinwarz.com/cryptocurrency to see how profitable (or not) mining is.

If I buy an Avalon ASIC for $1300, I will make $80k/year?  What's the catch?

the difficulty increase by about 10-15% every 12 days, thus you wont get $80k in one year

You would make $80k a year if you'd receive your ASIC now, and nobody else would, and mining difficulty would stay the same. The mining difficulty is how much processing power it takes to mine a block, which depends on the total processing power in the network, which will significantly increase as soon as ASICs are actually being used in the field.

Having said that, I think Bitcoin is an extremely profitable investment. More so than Litecoins or other altcoins, they're just cheap spinoffs, Bitcoin is by far the largest and most popular. But I just simply buy my bitcoins directly, rather than going through all the trouble of mining them, which isn't even cheaper in the end (not even accounting for my time involved).

The BTC/EUR currency rate has been kinda volatile, but I'm in it for the long term and I expect a great future for Bitcoin (and the huge price rise that comes with that). The time, technology and social conditions for Bitcoin are ready. Everybody hates banks nowadays, but so far we've been highly dependent on them, well here's an alternative.

Bitcoin profitable or not depends on how early you had them

It sounds like maybe mining isn't the way to go.  Kazimir, how would you recommend buying Bitcoins for investment purposes?  coinbase.com?

Try daytrading/speculation to invest.

This is the best place to invest your bitcoins  http://rommel.2truth.com


Is Bitcoin mining a profitable business. Yes, contrary to what mainstream media is spreading, it is profitable.

Online wallets like coinbase is not recommended to fetch your roi . Cold storage is the way to go.

Yes, that's right. Online wallets can't be guaranteed to stay safe.

best way to invest in Bitcoins is simply to buy bitcoins

Hi,

is there a offline wallet that is free? The current one I am using always ask me to pay for transaction fees.

There are a few wallets but I thought most let you decide if you want to pay the transaction fee. That fee is meant to speed up your transfer so, if you want the coins to get there today, pay the fee I gather.

The fee is optional, but without it miners have no incentive to include your transaction in the blockchain. They may just abandon it and leave you with a hassle. You should pay the tiny fee, it is still the cheapest way by far to send money.
As far as investing... That is tricky. "Investing" in BTC is extremely risky and you should be prepared to loose everything. Bitcoin is not designed as an investment, it is a payment system and I would recommend thinking of it that way. But if you want to do it anyway for fun or whatever. Then start with 1 bitcoin and try selling it high, then buying it back low. Make a game of it!
Remember to also track what you put in and the value when you sell. You will be required to report any profits you make and pay capitol gains.
Good luck fellow peer!

I would invest in bitcoin companies, such as ASICMiner, or loans such as Graet Loan.

How would you recommend I do this? 

How does that work?

I'm just trying to buy and hold some Bitcoins.  What should I do?

me too

Hello fellow forum members,

I'm a long time lurker that decided to get into BTC and LTC investing / trading after doing some very simple mining at home for the past few months.

As to bitcoinrocks question:

How do you acquire bitcoins? Join an exchange like Mt. Gox or BTC-e or Camp-BX or similar (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Buying_bitcoins)

Be prepared to wait for a while to get verified (due to Anti-Money Laundering requirements, also referred to as AML), and be prepared to wait for a while for your bank deposit or transfer to show up. A lot of people put money into a fund transfer service like Dwolla, and then send their money on to the exchange, where you change those dollars or euros into BTC or LTC or whatever currency you're interested in.

How do you store your BTC? You need a wallet, check out this "getting started" (http://www.weusecoins.com/en/getting-started) or this site (http://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet). Keep in mind that you have to have different wallets for BTC and LTC because they are different coins based on different blockchains. Its like having a USD denominated bank account, and another for EUR or GBP.

How do you make a profit with BTC and LTC? Simple - buy low, sell high... same as it has always been. You build a portfolio with a variety of risks, watch the markets for trends, crunch your own numbers, build experience, and be blessed with more good luck than bad.

That's it  8)

And there is my first post!

better buy bitcoins because mining difficulty will skyrocket

you can see it here http://bitcoindifficulty.com/

There are all sorts of convoluted ways to buy bitcoins. For your first purchase i would recommend www.bitinstant.com or localbitcoins.com.

When I have used bitinstant, here is what I do.
First set up an account at Mt.Gox. Now when you go to bitinstant they are basically walking you through a deposit into Gox's bank account. You will be given the info you need to hand over cash at one of many locations, such as a Walmart. By the time you drive home your money is likely already sitting in your Mt.Gox account. (Don't lie on the forms or it may not work) Now that your account is funded you can try to get a good price buying BTC at Gox. It is not a cheap way, but *easy.

Localbitcoins is a different idea altogether. Here you try to find a local person to sell you bitcoins in person. You arrange to meet at a coffee shop or something and bring your laptops. You hand over cash and the sellers sends the coins right there. Then you have coffee together and talk bitcoin.  :)
  

Where do you get an Avalon ASIC for 1300 $ ??? Its June 2013 by now

Not to pick a fight with RodeoX, but I would completely disagree with that assertion. Yes bitcoin is used as a payment system, but like all currencies, whether fiat or virtual, they have some nominal value beyond their use as a form of payment, which fluctuates over time in relation to the other currencies. If you can trade currencies, and exploit fluctuations to your advantage, then it is a perfectly reasonable investment vehicle, just as if you were trading USD-GBP, EUR-JPY, or leathermugs-tin hats. Yes it has risks, as all investments do, and you certainly don't want to over-extend yourself or lose more than you can deal with. But you can always manage risk as well, for instance when trading you can put in a stop-loss order, so that you only risk X percent. I think that bitcoin today is on par with some of the riskier fiat currencies, so I say educate yourself, then go for it.

Also

+1 for bitinstant and localbitcoins

No worries brother. :)
I will stick to my assertion based on the word "designed", but I think you are right about investments. A cool thing about btc is that it can do anything money can do and more. Using it as an investment vehicle is perfectly reasonable. Just be careful. Bitcoin is a hyper liquid experimental market that swings wildly. And unlike a big bank, if you loose your money the government won't come in and reward you with my tax dollars. hehe

As much is true regarding swinging wildly, IMO. The volatility was somewhat distracting and disturbing for me at first.

How about NASDAQ:SIVB as an investment in Bitcoin?

So they own silicon valley bank? Hmmm... interesting. I believe that was the bank that was going to handle Gox's USA book via coinlab. If they find a way to facilitate dollar exchanges it could ramp up their share price nicely. Unlike some bitcoin businesses, you would have legal recourse if they just took your money. I like your idea man!

Like People say, Buy what you can afford to Loose, I purchased 1 Bitcoin at Satoshi Square Meetup in Union Square New York city and i have had some Bitcoin for quite some time. Just making Small purchases with them and saving the Large 1 BTC denominations..

Mining isn't worth it unless you buy ASIC devices, and the waiting lists are long on those right now, I would just buy coins directly.

Is this still the best way for a newb to buy bitcoins, given the recent changes at Mt.Gox?  I'd rather not use localbitcoin.  I'm also not sure how to store them.  bitinstant gives me the choice of a wallet address or email?

I'm curious why I was recommended bitinstant.com (4%) instead of coinbase.com (1%)?

Because the of the huge delivery line Butterfly Labs & others have, I honestly think we are too late to start mining.

There are easier ways of investing in Bitcoin ventures - more or less risky but with a positive and verifiable history. I'm not going to nominate, but you can search for yourself - and always invest money (BTC) you can afford to loose.