They say it takes balls of steel to have held on this long.

I pride myself in my balls of steel thus far.

I believe it would take balls of Titanium to hold on until Bitcoin has propagated enough to be able to buy all your material needs with it.

No longer needing USD may be a long way off.  Just depends how quickly merchants hop on board I guess.

Right now its all mom and pop shops for the most part.

And keep in mind, many people will cash out and put their money into an IRA or a mutual fund which will continue to generate income.

Spending tens (hundreds) of thousands of dollars on things like iPods or free coffee for life, really is a loss.  There's no gain.  Its spending.

Until I can put a down payment on an appreciating asset like a home, with Bitcoin, I'll probably cash out in USD.

Good luck to those with Titanium balls!

It finally struck me the other day that Bitcoin is just the beginning.   Bitcoin (in my opinion) is the coin with the most intrinsic value backing its *utility*.

The alt coins are mostly copycats with minor differences.  (no offense to anyone, and this isn't the focus of my post).  But they don't need to have any intrinsic value really.  The alt coin market is starting to become a way to get rich, multiple times over.   The money making has now branched to litecoin.   And as of last night - Namecoin has doubled and tripled, or more ....

I truly believe that the alt coin market is going to be an environment of pumping up prices on various alt coins, one by one, as people get rich and cash out.  Everyone's a winner.  As soon as the Chinese realize what an effective gambling tool the alt coin market is, I do believe one could easily make tens of thousands on each coin, then cash out.  Resulting in a nonstop flow of mass quantities of investment returns, for the next 1 to 2 years, minimum.   

And there is no reason why it would ever stop.  Its not illegal, and someone else can create a new coin anytime they like.  Investors can pump up the price, cash in like crazy, and move on to the next one.  I really believe this is going to happen, and as such, I am buying ample quantities of each coin now, to get in early.  It seems like it will be an endless, cycling, repeating way to get rich over, and over, and over ....

Thoughts?

I still love this thread more than all the others.

Utility is backing bitcoin.

Usefulness.

It does things that Gold could never do.

It does things that US Dollar could never do.

Bitcoins ability to send money, anywhere in the world, free of charge, and almost instantly, makes it a savings of literally Trillions of dollars to the consumers of the world.

Thats Trillions of dollars of intrinsic value right there.

Add to that the elimination of 3-5% (to sometimes up to 10% if its an international rewards card) merchant fees that merchants pay, and Bitcoin is backed by Trillions more of savings to Merchants.

Amazon.com would save hundreds of thousands of dollars in merchant fees every month just by switching to Bitcoin.

-----------------

Bitcoin is something new.  It isn't "backed" by traditional things (useless things like "Its pretty" or "Govt can print more").

That is only 2 things Bitcoin can do.   And it can do more ....

Bitcoin is backed by its capabilities.  it does something nothing else has been capable of doing before.

At least this is the answer I give people.

You gotta be careful with comments like these, because they get "bumped" back to the top to be mocked and laughed at 6 months later.

Pretty sure when I was buying Litecoin at $2.50 only 4 months ago, nobody on this forum (even the most optimistic) would believe LTC would be at $40 four months later.

Yeah im only making a prediction based on Coinbase.

The timing was just too perfect.

Unless they all have "Registration / bank account verification 3-5 business day wait"

and then a "Must wait 3-5 business days before you can buy any more" wait ....

...

I know the buying was all over the exchanges, not just Coinbase ... but the timing was interesting.

I was wondering why there was a sudden surge in purchases, and price increases a couple days ago.

Someone pointed out:   Immediately after the Senate hearings on Nov 18, a ton of people registered to purchase Bitcoins, and were met with the 1 week verification period.

Then - right on schedule - exactly 1 week later - Boom .... all this happened.

Now get this:   Once you make your first purchase (at least on Coinbase) .... you get your coins (max of 10) ... and you have to wait 3-5 business days for that first purchase to go through before you can buy more.

That takes us to where all my friends currently are:

1)  They purchased their first 1 to 10 a couople days ago
2)  They're now waiting ... until December 2, 3, 4 .... when they can purchase more.

December 3-5 will be the next big surge.  Possibly bigger than this one, as there won't be a 10 BTC restriction.

This is just a theory. 

Thoughts?

The spread is ridiculous.  Over $120 with MtGox

LOL ....

The Chinese are buying more.

Because the Chinese are smarter than we are

"Why dont you AT LEAST cash out your initial investment?!  You're crazy!  So what if its 40% of your current balance, and you'll cut your coin count in half!!"

Me:  You don't get it.

"Take out your initial investment and a little more as a reward for you"

Me:  You don't get it.

"If you cashed out some now, you would probably make up for it in gains over the next week anyways!"

Me:  You don't get it.

"There's got to be a specific number at which you are going to pull the rip cord dude!"

Me:  You don't get it.

"What if it goes to zero?"

Me:  LOL ...

For those in the higher income brackets, you're looking at 30%. 
I believe its only 20% if you hold long term (more than 1 year) and you are not in upper income brackets already.
Im fuzzy on the details, but in my case - making about 100,000 a year after taxes, and selling before 1 year has passed, I was told I'm looking at 30% plus another 3%.
So thats just me.  I know its lower for those making less.

Germany has 0% capital gains.  If I was in europe, I would take a road trip to Germany ....

My criteria has, and always will be, where I feel the industry is going.

If I feel infrastructure is still being built, merchants are still adding it to their stores, conferences are being held in various countries, and new news is coming out (thanks Google news for keyword specific article feeds) ...

Then I will continue to hold.

When I feel the industry is stagnating, or beginning to decline, then I will cash out.

This bewilders all my friends and colleagues to no end.

The peer pressure is too great!

Must retain balls of steel!

Mine wont shut up...

What bubbles?  So far its been nothing but a fucking staircase.

Liteaddress.org has a system .

I am still debating whether to use it, but Bitaddress.org (for bitcions) seems to be very well trusted.

Nothing is 100% but I assume Liteaddress.org has a good reputation too?

I am happy to say it seems that there was no crash at $1,000 .... outstanding!

A bitcoin dominatrix!!!!

So cool.

Yes.  Moon = $1000.

Apparently Mars is being voted in at $10,000 currently.   Looks like that will stick.

This thread has come true for many many people (who have cashed out lol)

Remember - it aint real until its actually in your hands ....

And getting it there isn't super easy.

And Uncle Sam is going to rape you for 20-30% of it ...

Mo money Mo problems ...