Of course he did....except that it was with BTCurroCoin....

LOL! I want my Illuminati decoder ring!

Thanks DieJohnny, for the thoughtful response.

You make a good point about trust and access....and yeah, if TrowePrice offers a bitcoin fund, folks will flock to it, and if BankAmerica offers a Bitcoin VISA folks might be willing to try it.

Which will probably happen, sooner or later the big boys are going to want a piece of the action.

I have noticed that Coinbase will let you print out a paper wallet - I understand the possibility of them hanging on to the keys, but it seems like a more "seamless" way to buy bitcoins for the newcomer.

But yes, if I could get that kind of service through one of my current brokers, I'd use them.

Thanks!

Ah, now I'm starting to get it....part of the appeal of bitcoin is the complexity, just like the early microprocessor hobbyists.....(which I was one of).

I guess navigating wallet creation, protocols, security methods, etc. is the fun part for lots of folks on the forum, but if it's going to be widely accepted and used, access to the bitcoin system is going to have to be a "point and click" application just like paypal.

Fortunately, just like the micro revolution, I suspect businessmen will move in and make it usable for "the rest of us". It'll be much more boring for the bitcoin hobbyists, but lots better for the general populace.

This strikes me as an odd discussion....if I want to buy a share of a stock, I don't go to the pit on wall street and start waving my arms, I just log onto TrowePrice or Vanguard or whatever and set an order, they buy it and I'm good to go.

As far as I can tell, Coinbase does the same thing- yes, it would be nice to set limit orders etc., and I'm sure that will come, but basically it's a financial service that takes care of all the details.

DieJohnny, why didn't you send him to Coinbase to buy a few coins? Yes, Coinbase could be hacked, etc. but so could a Vanguard account - it's all about the reliability of the company, and the methods they use to safeguard my investment.

Yes, I get the whole "setting up a digital wallet safe from any intrusion" aspect....but most folks like myself are going to buy and sell and move bitcoins like we move stocks and bonds, through a service that handles the technical mumbo-jumbo.

Is there something I'm not understanding here?

LOL, stan! Pretty much past the corruption stage....I "lived large" for a few years, and while it's fun in a "theme park" sense (Big House! Shiny Car! First Class Seats!), it didn't feed my soul. So I live pretty simply these days and work at making connections with people.

But I'm not a monk, so a certain amount of cash is needed to fund that lifestyle- Bitcoin is one of several binary "bets" I've made, with a little luck one of them will pay off.

(OK, I really liked the First Class Seats.....  )

You are totally correct, but I'm looking at it in a different way than just numerically. I have an extremely long investment timeframe (10 years or more), and modest desires, so any kind of "large gains" will create a life-improving situation for me.

So 10K, 50K, 1000K per BTC it's all fine....although I'd be concerned about the high end. Frankly, I've read and seen what "wealth beyond avarice" does to people, I don't assume that I'm going to be the one who would resist that.

I understand your logic, gandhibit, but for me, I've bought enough BTC (small amount) that at a BTC price of 50K (which I believe is possible) my life will be very comfortable. Yeah, having twice that would be fun (due to buying BTC at, say $500 instead of $1000), but it's not going to significantly change my lifestyle (my desires are pretty simple). And avoiding the stress of trying to time the dips and daytard to get more BTC is priceless to me.

Thanks for the comments!

I'm with wachtwoord on this.

I'm in BTC as a binary investment, it goes to $0 or >$50K before I really care, and at that point whether I bought in at $500 or $1000 per coin really makes little difference, either I've lost my gambling money or I'm very comfortable (I'm pretty modest in my needs, no lambo for me).

So while it's fun to watch the chart, I'm not too worried about the dips and rises, it's all about the trend.

Just my .02BTC

Regarding early adopters-

Picture the folks in Cyprus, who are suffering a %100 haircut of their deposits above 100K.... a potential 50% loss due to Bitcoin volatility doesn't look too bad to anyone facing a bank "bail-in".

I think buying Bitcoin is actually a flight to safety.

I've seen the price of gold and silver be depressed by naked shorting - is there something in the protocol that will prevent the same happening to BitCoin, once there are ETFs involved?