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Author Topic: Cautious as serpents, innocent as doves. You have been warned.  (Read 1789 times)
Duffer1 (OP)
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November 30, 2013, 07:24:39 PM
Last edit: February 26, 2014, 12:03:16 PM by Duffer1
 #1

There's too many landmines in this space to count.  All it took to finish me off was two.  Here's what happened.  Why it matters to you should be pretty damned obvious by the time you're done reading.  I guess it's the fate of the bagholder to sound pathetic, but keep reading anyways and pay attention.

I'm 31, disabled, and fully dependant on my mother and the U.S. govt.  That's not relevant except to explain why I got into Bitcoin investing.  I received an inheritance recently, enough to buy a new car.  What good is that going to do me?  What good are phrases like: "never invest more than you can afford to lose" when you have no choice; where $25k is the same as zero in your situation?  I'll put that money to work for me, in Bitcoin.  So I did.  I bought in @ $120ish.

And here was my first, and biggest, mistake.  I was thinking of BTC as fiat, not as a commodity itself.  So I started buying BTC-TC securities imagining dividends and stock appreciation would do better than normal NYSE regulated securities.  Never imagining that BTC itself would easily outpace all offerings, and worse, That it's rise would put proportional downward pressure on the value of my securities.  

I was going to get out completely when an offering called Labcoin took off like a rocket, and I made my next huge mistake.  I looked over the offer, the contract, the principles.  The devs TheSeven and Howard Wang seemed solid enough so I went all in, I'm on the new ASICMINER train.  Nope.  Hindsight is a mean old witch that makes my chest hurt when I look at her.

The 900+ page Labcoin thread was a circus of pure fud and to-the-moon noise.  It wasn't possible to find the signal.  The daily cycle of up/down swings caused by the fud led to the destruction of massive amounts of wealth.  The stress of watching the swings was physically painful.  By the time the FUD became tangible fact the shares were worthless and BTC-TC had shut down and halted all trading.

What happened?  Alberto Armandi (sound familiar?), Fabrizzio Tatti, and Alessia Tatti abused the reputation of TheSeven to take the community for 7,000BTC.  They used a portion of that to buy 25 Bitfury rigs to make it look like they were getting something done.  (Once the scam was blown open the hashing stopped, we found out why a few days later).

182 of those BTC were once mine.  

There are and will be projects worth supporting, but if you want to support them, or even *ghasp* buy stuff with BTC, then consider the potential future value first.  Of the dozens of offerings and countless alt coins to "invest" in I can count the success stories on one hand, and BTC itself has outperformed all of those.  

That's the story of my loss, Spring to Autumn.  Apparently I am the cliche.  Don't discount the value of those words because you cannot face the abrasiveness of the one saying them.  Note the lack of success stories, then re-read the comments mocking mpex for having so few actively traded assets.  

Pay attention.

Edit: I have been corrected about assets that have outperformed BTC for certain periods of time.

S.MPOE, S.DICE, S.BBET, ASICMINER (arguable, but undeniably profitable), btcbond, xbond.  That's probably not the whole list but the general point stands when so few come to mind when talking about BTC denominated assets.
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nicomekl
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November 30, 2013, 07:29:16 PM
 #2

Thanks for the tip!
Gator-hex
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November 30, 2013, 08:04:08 PM
Last edit: November 30, 2013, 08:17:30 PM by Gator-hex
 #3

Just get a bitcoin wallet
http://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet

buy a bitcoin
www.localbitcoins.com

and hang on to it. That's all you need to do to invest in Bitcoins.  Roll Eyes

Numinous1
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November 30, 2013, 08:21:33 PM
 #4

I think your tale illustrates just how tenuous and uncharted this whole cyber currency thing is. I recently sold 2 bitcoins out of my wallet at Coinbase, and I have not received the funds back into my bank account.  I'm beginning to wonder how much protection, and what recourse there is, if your coins are ripped off.  Does anyone know how one would go about changing your wallet to another, and how would you know if they were trustworthy or not?
Gator-hex
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November 30, 2013, 08:42:22 PM
Last edit: November 30, 2013, 09:05:33 PM by Gator-hex
 #5

I think your tale illustrates just how tenuous and uncharted this whole cyber currency thing is. I recently sold 2 bitcoins out of my wallet at Coinbase, and I have not received the funds back into my bank account.  I'm beginning to wonder how much protection, and what recourse there is, if your coins are ripped off.  Does anyone know how one would go about changing your wallet to another, and how would you know if they were trustworthy or not?

Try the link I gave above "choose your wallet", as you hover your mouse over them an explanation pops up about each one.

Although Bitcoin is generally unregulated the S.E.C. will take action against bad actors within reach of their jurisdiction. (anything .com passes through the US and potentially comes under wire fraud) They cannot reach people in Russia/China or other places without an extradition treaty though.

Quote
“Fraudsters are not beyond the reach of the SEC just because they use Bitcoin or another virtual currency to mislead investors and violate the federal securities laws,”
http://www.sec.gov/News/PressRelease/Detail/PressRelease/1370539730583#.Un-nYiejN3U

Coinbase is based in San Francisco, CA so it's probably a better place to exchange than most. It is storing your Bitcoins for you so you are relying on a third party's honesty, like a bank, but unlike a bank they're probably not insured. You don't need to trust a bank with Bitcoin you can be your own bank and take responsibility for the security of your own money by using one of the PC based or phone wallets. However you can only really exchange for $ by using www.localbitcoins.com

Duffer1 (OP)
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November 30, 2013, 09:37:30 PM
 #6

I think your tale illustrates just how tenuous and uncharted this whole cyber currency thing is. I recently sold 2 bitcoins out of my wallet at Coinbase, and I have not received the funds back into my bank account.  I'm beginning to wonder how much protection, and what recourse there is, if your coins are ripped off.  Does anyone know how one would go about changing your wallet to another, and how would you know if they were trustworthy or not?

Your money is fine.  Going from BTC to USD with Coinbase is usually processed right away.  The amount of time it takes to post to your account is entirely up to your bank.  I wouldn't worry unless it's been more than a week.
Bitcoin Oz
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December 10, 2013, 07:48:43 AM
 #7

Alberto Armandi is one of the biggest bitcoin scammers here. He scammed thousands from glbse as well.

Duffer1 (OP)
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December 10, 2013, 09:16:00 AM
 #8

Alberto Armandi is one of the biggest bitcoin scammers here. He scammed thousands from glbse as well.

Ya, too bad we didn't know he was involved until it was too late.
cunixion
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December 10, 2013, 06:26:07 PM
 #9

If it is possible to trace any transaction up to the point it was cashed,  how feasible and effective would be a function in bitcoin that would freeze a transaction?. This could be activated by a group of regulator nodes. This feature might deter the scammer comming back with a new scam and fresh identitiy.
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December 10, 2013, 06:40:18 PM
 #10

thx 4 the tip
MysteryXx
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December 10, 2013, 06:56:22 PM
 #11

The only mistake you did was *react* to the ups and downs of the market. If you just would have stayed with BitCoin, their value have sky-rocketed. Whenever it falls down, it goes back.

Those who lose panic when it goes down and buy when it goes up.

Those who win buy when it goes down and sell when it goes up.
Bitcoin Oz
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December 11, 2013, 12:24:04 PM
 #12

Alberto Armandi is one of the biggest bitcoin scammers here. He scammed thousands from glbse as well.

Ya, too bad we didn't know he was involved until it was too late.

There needs to be more investigation of offerings before people go full retard with investing in them.

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