[2018-01-15] South Africans are selling their cars for Bitcoin

[ivanpoldark]

There has been a surge in South Africans selling high-value items for Bitcoin, according to Gumtree SA.

Gumtree stated that Bitcoin’s rise in value and adoption has seen more users “itching to get their hands on the digital currency”.

“There’s been an increase in swops and Bitcoin-only sales on Gumtree.co.za,” said Claire Cobbledick, Head of Core at Gumtree.

“This is particularly true for high-value items like cars, bikes, and boats. Many sellers are willing to take a gamble with their assets in hopes of a large payout.”

This behaviour follows similar trends in the US, where, in one example, a McLaren 720S was put up for sale in exchange for 25 Bitcoin.

Gumtree does not allow the sale of Bitcoin miners or services, but customers can exchange goods for Bitcoin on the site.

They must be aware of the risks, however, said Cobbledick.

“Bitcoin is a volatile currency, so while you could easily see a 50% increase in your investment, you could just as easily end up with nothing.”

Cars currently up for sale in exchange for Bitcoin include a Land Rover Defender, BMW X5, and a 1970 Mercury Cougar V8.

“There are also sellers accepting Bitcoin in exchange for Krugerrands,” she said.

Big growth
Blockchain expert Simon Dingle recently stated that there is potential for big Bitcoin growth in 2018, and for greater adoption.

“This year, the Lightning Network will be made publicly available, offering a decentralised, peer-to-peer payment protocol that makes Bitcoin viable for even very small transactions, without sacrificing its anti-fragility or openness,” said Dingle.

“This movement should kill the erroneous idea that Bitcoin is just a store of value or asset.”

https://mybroadband.co.za/news/cryptocurrency/244723-south-africans-are-selling-their-cars-for-bitcoin.html

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[RodeoX]

I was in Africa a couple weeks ago and saw it myself. Bitcoin is Africa will be huge.

[Kprawn]

As long as these people do not use debt to finance their Crypto currency investments I would be fine with it. Last year some

relatives of mine also sold some assets to buy bitcoins and they made a killing during December, when the price reached a

all time high of $18 000. Bitcoin profits are never guaranteed, but if you sell a second car or some Kruger Rands to risk an

investment in Bitcoin, then you might make some good profits in the future.

[cynical]

now this is the kind of thing that has partly caused the mess we are in at the moment.
the reason i gather for the south korean clampdowns and raids on peer to peer exchanges is because people were doing stupid stuff
and getting into crypto way over their heads.
sounds like this is happening in south africa also.
if it continues and people do stupid stuff the authorities will have to do something drastic "again"
some people have no financial knowledge at all 

[RodeoX]

now this is the kind of thing that has partly caused the mess we are in at the moment.
the reason i gather for the south korean clampdowns and raids on peer to peer exchanges is because people were doing stupid stuff
and getting into crypto way over their heads.
sounds like this is happening in south africa also.
if it continues and people do stupid stuff the authorities will have to do something drastic "again"
some people have no financial knowledge at all 

Oh? Why would selling one of your Land Rovers for bitcoin not make sense? Why is it stupid to sell a depreciating asset for an asset that is seeing growth beyond anything known in investing?

[cynical]

now this is the kind of thing that has partly caused the mess we are in at the moment.
the reason i gather for the south korean clampdowns and raids on peer to peer exchanges is because people were doing stupid stuff
and getting into crypto way over their heads.
sounds like this is happening in south africa also.
if it continues and people do stupid stuff the authorities will have to do something drastic "again"
some people have no financial knowledge at all  

Oh? Why would selling one of your Land Rovers for bitcoin not make sense? Why is it stupid to sell a depreciating asset for an asset that is seeing growth beyond anything known in investing?

"ONE of your land rovers"
absolutely nothing wrong with it at all! as long as its not the only asset!
we all know the saying "only put in what you are willing to loose"

where then does it stop?
"i sold my T.V, sold my clothes and my car, what else can I sell, i know I'll cash in my pension and stop my life assurance, oh hold on, ill sell the house too,
shure it will be all right in the end, I'll be able to buy another bigger one in a couple of months . . .  "

sometimes people need to be protected from themselves  

[Carlton Banks]

sometimes people need to be protected from themselves  

Yeah, that would sound more convincing if you didn't have this (+ hyperlink to a website called *ahem* "bustadice.com") in your signature:


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[secondgarlic]

I don't know why people find this surprising. Bitcoin = money after all. Although, I think the people who sold their cars for btc are pretty unhappy right now, with the price being miserable right now and all that jazz. But hopefully, when the price eventually recovers, they will end up enjoying this courageous decision that they made.

[richardsNY]

I was in Africa a couple weeks ago and saw it myself. Bitcoin is Africa will be huge.

Ok, I was wondering since you have been there, what do the locals there use to conduct micro transactions? Is it a cash economy for the most part, or have there been any forward developments in terms of having a quick and cheap way of transacting that are based on fiat? I even have been reading at how people exchange phone credits as a means of payment in extreme cases. Not sure how much of this is true, but it somewhat makes sense for those who don't have anything else to transact with. Everything is better than using their own fiat currency that becomes less valuable basically with every day that goes by.

[RodeoX]

now this is the kind of thing that has partly caused the mess we are in at the moment.
the reason i gather for the south korean clampdowns and raids on peer to peer exchanges is because people were doing stupid stuff
and getting into crypto way over their heads.
sounds like this is happening in south africa also.
if it continues and people do stupid stuff the authorities will have to do something drastic "again"
some people have no financial knowledge at all 

Oh? Why would selling one of your Land Rovers for bitcoin not make sense? Why is it stupid to sell a depreciating asset for an asset that is seeing growth beyond anything known in investing?

"ONE of your land rovers"
absolutely nothing wrong with it at all! as long as its not the only asset!
we all know the saying "only put in what you are willing to loose"

where then does it stop?
"i sold my T.V, sold my clothes and my car, what else can I sell, i know I'll cash in my pension and stop my life assurance, oh hold on, ill sell the house too,
shure it will be all right in the end, I'll be able to buy another bigger one in a couple of months . . .  "

sometimes people need to be protected from themselves 

I was not assuming that they are poor. There are a lot of rich people in southern Africa.  But yes, your right. Only "invest" what you can lose.

I was in Africa a couple weeks ago and saw it myself. Bitcoin is Africa will be huge.

Ok, I was wondering since you have been there, what do the locals there use to conduct micro transactions? Is it a cash economy for the most part, or have there been any forward developments in terms of having a quick and cheap way of transacting that are based on fiat? I even have been reading at how people exchange phone credits as a means of payment in extreme cases. Not sure how much of this is true, but it somewhat makes sense for those who don't have anything else to transact with. Everything is better than using their own fiat currency that becomes less valuable basically with every day that goes by.

I mostly saw cash being used. However, you are correct that in many places they trade phone mins. Weird huh? They also use M-Pesa in many places.

[zeus376]

what a gamble, he may well double his money... or make it half. Better go to casino and it will be faster.

[greeklogos]

I was in Africa a couple weeks ago and saw it myself. Bitcoin is Africa will be huge.

Such interest awaken due to high price of bitcoin and generally poor salaries in Africa. Maybe it is a smart move, but they definitely make parallel between dollar and bitcoin before to sell.

[jhenfelipe]

what a gamble, he may well double his money... or make it half. Better go to casino and it will be faster.

The question is, are they in a hurry to know whether they'll double their investment or not? For sure they witnessed how the value of BTC increases these past few months and they think it is a good time to buy now because it's cheaper, then just patiently wait for the price to increase again.

Selling a piece of their personal property for BTC, I think that would be fine as long as they are aware of what could happen (positive or negative). Still, for me that's better than having debt or selling everything to invest all in on cryptocurrency. Anyway, in the end, we are responsible for our actions.

[seven2smoke1]

I don't know why people find this surprising. Bitcoin = money after all. Although, I think the people who sold their cars for btc are pretty unhappy right now, with the price being miserable right now and all that jazz. But hopefully, when the price eventually recovers, they will end up enjoying this courageous decision that they made.

It's just a temporary lost, bitcoin price will be recovered soon, when some problems will be fixed like miner transactions fees. Bitcoin community grew more each period, so bitcoin will be fastly increse, It's matter of time.
Really, It's a good idea to sell cars with bitcoin, maybe in something like 1-2 years you will get a profit around 100% or maybe more, as we know that bitcoin price will increase a lot in the future.

[HoleShot]

If a year ago you put 10% of your paycheck into bitcoin you'd be in great shape. You'd also be happy to see substantial pullbacks because your 10% paycheck would be buying more bitcoin.

Market timing can be good luck, can be bad luck. Dollar cost averaging puts the odds in your favor. It puts you in good position to benefit from those overreacting to volatility. I passes a fellow in the hall today who felt compelled to "inform" me BTC price plunged. I said yes I know, I'm buying 40% more this week. That math's not spot on but you get the idea. He raised both eyebrows fully up.

I started structured purchases in March 17. It was the best investment I've ever made.

I've been slowly buying miners. I hope that works out well too. That jury is still in deliberation.

[Kakmakr]

I have friends in South Africa and they are all very positive about Bitcoin. < I might have had a hand in that > 

They say most people in the country do not know about Bitcoin yet, and M-Pesa is growing very fast, because it is a "Africa" thing. M-Pesa are very common in the border countries and there are a lot of immigrants from these countries, living and working in South Africa.

~ Elon Reeve Musk is a South African-born American business magnate, investor, engineer, and inventor. <Tesla / SpaceX>
~ Mark Richard Shuttleworth is a South African entrepreneur who is the founder and CEO of Canonical Ltd., the company behind the development of the Linux-based Ubuntu operating system.
~ South African-born Internet entrepreneur turned venture capitalist, Vinny Lingham recently invested bitcoins in the mobile game - Augmentors that was hosted on Shark Tank South Africa.

*Info provided by my Bitcoin friends in South Africa. ^thanks guys^

[cynical]

sometimes people need to be protected from themselves  

Yeah, that would sound more convincing if you didn't have this (+ hyperlink to a website called *ahem* "bustadice.com") in your signature:


▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬    bustadice    ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
●      INSTANT DEPOSITS AVAILABLE      ●      HIGH LIMITS      ●      NATIVE SCRIPTING SUPPORT      ●
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬     [  PLAY  ]     ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Ok carlton i admit to leaving an important word out of my statement "SOME" people need to be protected from themselves,
in many respects involving finances including gambling, drugs, alcohol and shopping 

[1BTC EQUALS 1CAR]

If this lightning network that will be implemented in bitcoin is going to be very successful then it's going to be like winning lotto or jackpot for those South Africans who sold their cars but if not, it's going to be a long waiting game.