Bitcoin Forum

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or Finra, on Tuesday issued an investor alert on bitcoin, saying digital currencies are "more than a bit risky." The agency said the alert was intended to caution investors about the risks inherent in buying and using digital currencies like bitcoin. That includes risks from speculative trading and potential fraud related to bitcoin companies, the alert said. The move came after the collapse of the bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox in late February, which filed for bankruptcy in Japan and the U.S. said it lost customers' bitcoins. "Digital currency such as bitcoin is not legal tender," the Finra alert said, which also warned about the lack of safeguards in place for consumers, the irreversibility of bitcoin transactions, and its association with illegal activities.


http://www.marketwatch.com/story/finra-alert-says-bitcoin-more-than-a-bit-risky-2014-03-11?reflink=MW_news_stmp



Goodbye Wall Street/Institutional Money..

Oh well, they can keep their paper!!!

http://www.usdebtclock.org/  ::)

BTW, what is there that isn't highly speculative these days?
The derivatives market?  :D :D :D

? its just a warning, they were aware of this

It's a damn shame apple stocks are not legal tender or they might be worth something.

The thing that makes bitcoin risky, is it's history. For the first years, bitcoin was mainly a tool for black market trade, and there have been plenty of situations where a large number of coins have been stolen by computer crackers and confidence man.
This creates this situation, where in all probability, most of the coins are actually owned by criminal minded people. To invest in bitcoin, means that you are trusting these anonymous criminals to hold their coins, instead of dumping and acquiring your wealth as their own. No serious investor will take this risk with serious sums of money.
I think that this will mark the final demise of bitcoin, when the regulators see that you can't have any certainty about the past history of bitcoin. It means that there will probably be a new digital currency, that will be sold from an already regulated market system and by that, creating a more transparent and trustworthy ownership history.

dude, why are you even still here? don't you have better things to do with your life if you truly believe all the dark negative shit you constantly spew about bitcoin? why are you pissing away your life on this forum? seriously. you only have x number of moments in your life. why waste them here?

Do you think Financial institutions will ignore an alert from Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
2014 was supposed to be the year of Wall Street adoption. That's how > $1,000 a coin was sold to late comers.
It might turn out to be a year for the bears.

I hope so, more time to stock up on coins. Either scenario works for me.

Or, you know, The Man could just be trying to scare off weak hands to get a better start position.

I don't believe all the dark negative shit, but I believe the things, that I myself have been saying for some time now. I mostly come here to balance things out and to give some criticism to all this senseless cheering. I think that I'll probably get banned soon, so you probably don't have to see my name again. Can't be sure on not seeing my criticism again tho.

you didn't answer the existential question. you only have x number of waking moments in your life. why do you waste them with relentless negative trolling here?

at least fonzie seems sort of young and stupid. my guess is your days are more numbered.  tick tock, my friend.

That's my decision how I use my time. Some people see it as good use of time to cheer mindlessly about bitcoin, but I use my time to bring them back to earth.
I think that it's better when illusions break sooner then later. I actually see that I'm doing a good thing here by warning people about the dangers they are involved in.

New York’s Superintendent of Financial Services, Benjamin M. Lawsky, has issued a public order that confirms the state is now accepting applications for digital currency exchanges. You can find article in Bitcoin Discussion under Bitcoin news every day latest post. This will be a leap forward. Now we are talking "Consumer Protection". People are used to keeping currency in a bank this will serve that purpose. Exchanges you can trust that changes everything and leads to more people adopting BTC.

The FUD is strong in this thread. FINRA is not going to be leading the cheering for the use of bitcoin. It may be more guardedly optimistic once there are more professional and safe exchanges.

You really think laws will keep the exchanges secure?

Well of course they did. They want to make sure that people don't buy in too fast too soon. Need to keep to the plan...

The orchestrated replacement of pesky untraceable cash with a perfectly auditable digital alternative.

This idea was floating around well over a year ago, and the longer it goes on and the more 'perfectly' the charts rinse and repeat, the more obvious it looks.

If you was the gubment you'd do it too. They know that nobody is stupid enough not to take profits on the way up... Nobody! ;)

Yeah, and?  What, a large volume of traditional currency hasn't?  


Some more BS pulled out of your ass.  What gives you the impression that criminals are sitting there hoarding their bitcoins?  They're probably cashing them out ASAP to pay for their criminal activities and rich lavish life styles.


Second Market?  Trade Fortress?  Winklevii?  This isn't looking too good for you.


What about the crash of 2011? 2012? 2013?  GTFOH.  


Like the hundreds of alt-coins that already exist?


Try harder.

I believe this is a warning in the sense that it says don't invest until there is proper regulation and some form of investor protection mechanism implemented for digital currencies.

For sure the wall street investments are delayed. But I think they aren't scared by it, just more cautious and gearing towards regulated bitcoin investments.

Meanwhile...

New York to have regulatory framework in place and accept bitcoin exchanges no later than June 2014...

http://www.dfs.ny.gov/about/po_vc_03112014.htm

If you try really hard, then you can see the difference in illegal trade taking a fraction of currency movement, and illegal trade actually creating the base of an currency, with criminals owning most of it.


Because criminals are attracted to easy money like most others here, and there are very few public figures who have publicly stated their stake in bitcoin. "Somehow" the bitcoin owners like to remain anonymous. DPR was caught with (some of?) the coins he was holding, but there is a low probability that this was an isolated case.


Second Market isn't an investments into bitcoin, but into services that can function with all kinds of digital currencies that we will probably see in the future.
Investment groups like Trade Fortress knowingly and routinely take these high risk gambles, that have potential for high rewards but low probability of success. Bitcoin wasn't the first and won't be the last gamble they made, and $20 million isn't exactly a big sum to them. For instance, Fortress once lost $125 million purchasing fraudulent promissory notes from fraudster Marc Drier who was operating a Ponzi scheme, so they aren't known to be extra careful with their investments.
And Winklevii? Well, I consider those guys to be better rowers then businessmen. Sometimes, when I hear some things that come out of their mouth, then I sincerely wonder on how the hell did they graduate Harvard.



Those crashes meant little, because people were actually only selling because others were selling. There still was potential left in bitcoin. Now it won't take long since bitcoin will just run out of it's potential. It will try to utilize itself on roles, that are too complex, for it's financially overly simplistic nature.
But I agree that bitcoin could have about 1 or 2 bubbles still left in it before the final demise, because the hype still seems to be pretty strong.



If you'll read my text again, then you'll see that I was pointing at new currencies, that will be sold on already regulated exchanges. That means that there will be lower chances of shenanigans like pre-mining or criminals getting their hold of the coins. It's all about trust and transparency. Having blind faith that all the former criminals are good folks, who wouldn't dump their coins to get your wealth, is for the cultsists, not for serious investors.

Wow Bitcoin is a high risk investment? Who would have known? You don't say? Surely nobody will invest now.

It's healthy to have opposing views on here. If you strongly disagree with someone it is still a good idea to take in their ideas and analyse them and their reasoning.

Obviously when someone is emotionally invested in an opinion it will be very hard to change them, facts or no facts, but healthy all the same to have differing opinions.

I agree. The truth mostly comes form the balance of different opinions.

I'm a believer in crypto but I'm not delusional either that a lot of early big stake BTC holders probably ARE criminals or at the least dabbled in small level black market sales, I don't know why people get emotional about pointing that out, it's completely fair to say Las Vegas was built by mobsters. However such elements can be weeded out over time when the general public buys in.

I think people are smart enough that they can make their own decisions. Most people who lose simply lacked the facts.

Rather than warning people about Bitcoin, which in itself is extremely safe; perhaps they should narrow the list down a bit and warn people about specifics while reinforcing safe practices. Mainly proper security, common mistakes, known bad actors, international wire transfers, etc...

These warnings aren't productive because everybody knows that there are two sides to the story with only one being mentioned...

Bitcoin isn't going anywhere. It's not going to fall to zero unless SHA-2 is cracked.

"Warning: alert on life! Living is "more than a bit risky." The alert was intended to caution unborn children about the risks inherent in living. This includes risks from eating and breathing, the alert says. The move came after the death of a living human in late February, who died for no good reason, apparently they lost the ability to live. "Life is not safe, if you choose to live, we can't protect you from death" the alert said, which also warned about the lack of safeguards in place for living people, the irreversibility of death, and its association with scary things. It's safer to avoid living under any circumstances."