Are crypto miners/investors gamblers?

[ashapasa]

In general, is the average crypto miners and investors more risk seekers than risk averse. Do you like to gamble, is the thrill of winning worth more than the fear of losing money for you?

I am getting a lot of flak from my wife and friends for investing and mining coins, are you people getting the same objection from family and friends 

[NattyLiteCoin]

Yes. There was a point in my life where I looked at myself and said I need to take a risk. I took out a $26k loan against myself and bought 12 4 card GPU rigs in late 2013. My wife had to co-sign for me taking out my own money. While I've paid myself back, and owning up to 4 Titans, now only share a 6 cube machine...I'm re risking profits in building a physical coin. The money invested is a lot, but its only a small percentage of my worth and I'm in the black. That's the key.

My wife thinks it's crazy too. But this ain't basket weaving. This crypto game is an expensive hobby. Whether it's trading, mining, or physical coins. If she knew the opportunity costs I lost shed literally faint. But guess what, I fucking believe in it and that's enough for her.

Bottom line: you have to take a risk to make you feel alive. Or at least that's what my NaTTyMiNd tells me.

(But the majority of my holdings are in bonds, up 5.6% this calendar year🤑)

[Cboy]

Yes trading/mining cryptocoins is gambling .  A general advice is to invest(gamble) as much as you can afford . I don't see any point to lose all your money and be in debt.

[Fredomago]

In general, is the average crypto miners and investors more risk seekers than risk averse. Do you like to gamble, is the thrill of winning worth more than the fear of losing money for you?

I am getting a lot of flak from my wife and friends for investing and mining coins, are you people getting the same objection from family and friends 

yes mate i was feeling the same but not exactly with mining but with investing in crypto since my wife is not so familiar we always argue because im using part of my daily job earnings to buy btc for investing into an alt he always yelling at me and saying im just wasting money, if she just only knew what i'm into its for my children's future that's why i'm doing it.

[bathrobehero]

I think there are degrees of gambling.

You can say for example that playing poker professionally is gambling. And it's probably right though many people do it for years with (more or less) stable profits because their knowledge, skill, edge (however you want to call it) of the game outweights the element of "luck" or randomness.

Playing a slotmachine is also gambling but you can't profit long term. You have no edge, you're bound to lose money.

With that said, there are miners and investors across the whole spectrum of gambling and while I can't talk about investments, I can safely say that mining can be pretty safe - if done right.

The first lesson in poker is to learn about bankroll management - basically to only ever invest as much as you can come back from even if you hit a very long unlucky period (variance).

So, for example if someone takes a huge loan to start mining they are closer to the slot machine on the spectrum but if someone is planning ahead with having a safety while slowly building their operation up, they can't really burn themselves.

[tintumon]

At this moment in time, I would say it is very equivalent to gambling.

[NattyLiteCoin]

Mining coins is poker in which a calculated risk is assumed, all variables are known except the price of the coin. BTC/LTC aren't going away anytime soon:

Trading altcoins is gambling, pure luck, or insider information. From the casual Observer, it's fucking chaos. The Sharks will kill the minnows in this game.

Physical coins are a blend of the two, you know the metal will have value and you can multiply it with digital currency, however people have to want to buy your coin. So you gamble on what you think people want or like.

As previously stated, don't EVER risk what you cannot afford!

[c789]

Remember the university study where a monkey that threw darts at a page of stock listings to choose its stocks and ended up performing good as professional investors?

So this is not limited to crypto. It's virtually any investment. This doesn't mean they're all bad. Obviously, many people make fortunes trading $ or B or land or sugar or ____. Many more fail at it. Study long before making any decision to increase your chances of a positive return. Avoid impulse and quick decisions.

[bbc.reporter]

In general, is the average crypto miners and investors more risk seekers than risk averse. Do you like to gamble, is the thrill of winning worth more than the fear of losing money for you?

I am getting a lot of flak from my wife and friends for investing and mining coins, are you people getting the same objection from family and friends 

It's not gambling. You need to have good and wise decision skills to make money out of this. If you are not clever enough, you will not make it. So it is better to cut your losses now while it is cheap. This game is a marathon and it will take a long time to achieve good financial gains. But I have to say there is a little gamble in it just like starting a business.

[robelneo]

In general, is the average crypto miners and investors more risk seekers than risk averse. Do you like to gamble, is the thrill of winning worth more than the fear of losing money for you?

I am getting a lot of flak from my wife and friends for investing and mining coins, are you people getting the same objection from family and friends 

There are a lot of risk involve both on mining and trading but the rewards out weights the risk if you hit the jackpot or you have been trading effectively and as long as you are making money and you are getting back what you have invested I doubt those objection will persist..

[CoinHoarder]

The word gambling to me equates to playing a game that the house has an edge. A game that, mathematically, if you play it long enough you will always lose, but there is still a possibility to win in a small sample size if you get lucky.

Investing and mining in cryptocurrencies is different. Just as I don't consider poker gambling, investing and mining in cryptocurrencies profitably requires intelligence along with obtaining skills and knowledge.

To be a highly successful cryptocurrency investor takes considering hundreds to thousands of factors, figuring out how much weight each factor playa into each decision, and at the same time spend hours doing research on cryptocurrences.

I have begun to record my thoughts on cryptocurrency investing, but I admit that the OP hardly scratches the surface. It is a very complicated game, heavily dependent on knowledge, critical thinking, skill, and intelligence. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1354698

In summary, no, investing and mining cryptocurrencies is not gambling.

[SmirkinPepe]

Dictionary(gambling) says:

-to stake or risk money, or anything of value, on the outcome of something involving chance.

So there you go.

[ashkanb]

i dont think average crypto miner/investor is taking more risks than "the risk averse."
that is if the average crypto miner/investor does their math/research/homework properly first!

if you have other people telling you you're taking more risk than you should, try & communicate you method to them, make them understand why you're doing what you're doing;
if you agree with them thinking they might be partially right about you acting too risky, assess your method & optimize it to your liking, then try & and communicate your method to them!
if they are only bugging you because either they're ignorant of what you're trying to have them understand or they simply just want to bug you, long term, you'll probably end up choosing between you're love of cryptos & your peace of mind!

lastly, i understand why your family feels the need to be opinionated about what you're doing with your money;
but why would your friends "flak" you for being involved in cryptos? what's it to them?!

[ICOcountdown.com]

Always remember that risk=reward this goes for literally anything you do in life. Gambling is a totally different thing than what we are doing here.

[European Central Bank]

of course they are. they're all betting on price movement. how many shitcoin buyers actually care about how the thing they're buying is used? not too many is my guess. they want that pump and then they're gone again.

[amacar2]

Yes pretty much gambling if you are altcoin investors because in some case luck also become factor on your loss and profit. For example sometime your sell/buy order didn't get completed by few satoshi and you will not be able to catch that range again, this is purely a bad luck example. However it is not purely gambling if you don't throw your bitcoin in cryptos that only make promise and can't deliver new things.

[socks435]

Yes trading/mining cryptocoins is gambling .  A general advice is to invest(gamble) as much as you can afford . I don't see any point to lose all your money and be in debt.

trading or mining is not gambling i think they are just other method to make a money but its not a gambling..
Those gambling are very risky than trading and mining crypto..

[grajson]

For me it was surely gambling at the beginning, the furure of crypto wasn't as clear as now. The longer I am here, the more I think about it as a long term investment rather than a gamble.

[Rick M]

no way this shit is a gamble.....spend 5 years in this thing n you will understand perfectly how this gamble works...

maybe if you spend 5years paying attention to a slotmachine you would learn something

[BobBarker]

In general, is the average crypto miners and investors more risk seekers than risk averse. Do you like to gamble, is the thrill of winning worth more than the fear of losing money for you?

I am getting a lot of flak from my wife and friends for investing and mining coins, are you people getting the same objection from family and friends 

I believe the term is "speculation".

Buying altcoins should rarely if ever be considered an "investment".