well its a fascinating story to me, I bought the book from Elias Ahenon ( great guy)  back in the summer and after reading it I am totally hooked. oh he said he has some hard copies with slightly damaged corner in the San Fran warehouse for very low price. I was curious if anyone remembers what the last sale price was of one of the original 5 1,000 BTC . Also what should one fetch today, like my dad always said its worth what someone will pay for it lol 

The link above showed a set of 20 series two 1,000 BTC which i think some were confusing for the original

how does the escrow work?

will be fine have to expect fluctuation to bad we cant put in sell stops  

most likely due to the improvement of the Chinese Yuan last night

Nasty drop to $885, I noticed it was having $70 swings last night it finally gave way to selling

Hi yes these are beautiful I actually have one I got from west coast crytocurrency I think was their name back in the spring.  I just picked up a couple Casascius I didnt have yesterday. I will be building my  BTC wallet up so I can bid with you guys in the coming months 

Nice video's !

yes thats what I was referring to, series two 1,000 btc in the link

very nice I hope to have a collection like that by end of year

so these were made in China?   Under permission from Caldwell or no?

coolest most beautiful coin ever made 

This is so cool Im such a newb to this, I think .06BTC was pretty much going to be my limit any way and all i have at the moment in BTC

you guys remind me of when the Alien Brains started betting in quatro's for Spocks body lol 

I have this one its a work of art, would like to get a few more of different denominations

Those look great, I might get a couple of them just for the art of it. I keep currencies/valuables in a fireproof safe plus have them insured so kind of takes the worries out of it. The only real worry I have is blockchain broken by hack 

I collected paper money for many years including Confederate notes. Confederate notes were made on very cheap thin paper and ink was of lesser quality than today. The notes are still around and legible after 150 years. Temperature ( extreme heat or direct sun light for weeks on end ) would cause some fading but most retain ink even under tough conditions. Ink on paper can and does last for hundreds of years.

Over $1,000 now great way to start the new year.  I picked some up in the summer for nothing more than an investment and so far doing well. Thinking $2,500 now before the year is over after everything I have been reading last two days. Hope you guys have a great new year !

thanks for input, Bitcoin about to hit $1000 as we speak due to articles out this morning from coindesk etc. Was doing some research on Monero it was the biggest gainer of the year and in a top five spot now. 2000% gainer

Market Capitalization (Beginning of Year): $4,707,521
Market Capitalization (End of Year): $133,545,372
Price (Beginning of Year): $0.448294
Price (End of Year): $10.38
Price (Annual High): $13.50

Bitcoin is the King however and all will bow...  I will be trading it through out the new year.  For you guys gambling I would stay away from gambling sites remember they are structured to make money off of you not to mention it can become an addictive obsession. 

There are 642 crypto currency markets, there are 196 countries in the world.

In your opinion what is the upcoming competition to Bitcoin? Monero, Ethereum, Ripple, litecoin, Dash, Factom etc etc
My investor friends say its Ethereum but I would like to hear from some of you long time experts. 

I remember in 2010 or so getting set up to mine on this new currency I was hearing about with an old gamer desk top I just replaced. To bad I didnt follow through with that lol. I gave it away to someone that needed a better gamer.

If you own bitcoin you are invested in it

If you bought in October you are up 56% on your investment

That's a huge gain in the investment world, if I could get that on a stock I would be elated. Just making 20% on any portfolio in a year is an accomplishment. Keeping your investment from loosing value even takes diligence. So what does the future hold for bitcoin and what are the risk?

Bitcoin is far from mainstream, as with anything demand will increase its value. The current increase in price is due to Chinese Bitcion ATM's
The ATM's are still working their way through the USA where they are more prevalent than any other country. However when you talk with the vast majority of the public they think they have heard of Bitcoin but have no idea how to get it, no Idea how to use it and no Idea why it has emerged.

Transaction Fee's will be coming down and need to in order to gain more of the general populous.
The use of wallets and transactions needs to be simplified
The rise of the many other copycat crypto currencies will have to fade away and they are slowly to simplify the market.
Education, marketing and increased retail acceptance in 2017 will all contribute to demand.

The risk, in a word "hacking" , we already saw what happened when an exchanged was hacked and how long it has taken to " partially" recover from that.
Risk option two: Illuminati the powers that be, whatever you want to call them/it. When there is a profit to be made they want in, they want control. No different from big business wanting a monopoly. Google, AT&T, Intel, The Federal Reserve ( a business), Tesla etc etc. This is where when big brothers toes get stepped on ( loosing money/market share) they find a way to disrupt the rising agitator.   

Conclusion: I think demand will override fears in 2017 as Bitcoin becomes more mainstream through education and tighter security measures. Bitcoin could easily break the $2,000 mark in the new year.

well that stinks I was looking forward to it but wouldn't want to devalue bitcoin