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Topic: My $11k bitcoin odyssey (Read 5306 times)

full member
Activity: 238
Merit: 100
We must become the pitiless censors of ourselves.
August 01, 2014, 09:27:12 AM
#92
Can you explain why you bought mining equipment? I think it was pretty clear that people over invested in mining and I'm curious why that happened, why buy mining equipment and not just bitcoins?

Sure:

I was initially attracted to mining based on stories of GPU mining of BTC. I knew I had missed the boat on BTC mining, but I thought that I might be able to get ahead of curve with scrypt, but I was mistaken, clearly.

I also thought it might be a good way to diversify on my investment, things with BTC were pretty shaky around Mt. Gox time, and I thought that I could always sell the scrypt miners, or, if I got hacked, my investment sat in the miners and not in a wallet.


It was a decent diversification strategy in theory, but it underestimated difficulty increases and also the amount of time I had to invest in getting miners running.



 
jr. member
Activity: 297
Merit: 1
MINTER
July 28, 2014, 05:51:04 AM
#91
Same situation as me, were not too late tho - right now you've just bought in before Wall St, before financial institutions are even beginning to implement it, just at the start of the curve where BIG retailers are opening up to accepting it but still mainstream adoption and regular Joe knowledge is low..

Youre at the real start my friend - investing your entire life in it back then would be insanely risky. It wasn't then, what it is now, it could have gone many ways from then.. now is the solid ground floor - hold those 6.5 for 3-5 years and youll be laughing!
jr. member
Activity: 185
Merit: 1
July 28, 2014, 05:31:49 AM
#90
Thanks for sharing your story. I remember first hearing about bitcoin in 2012 when I heard about the deep web. I didn't think much of it, except that it was just a digital currency. If only I had researched it, just like I do with everything else. But oh well, I am a holder Smiley
newbie
Activity: 48
Merit: 0
July 28, 2014, 05:12:46 AM
#89
You have 6500000 bits. Unless bitcoin fails, that amount will make you pretty darn rich in the future.
member
Activity: 64
Merit: 10
July 28, 2014, 04:34:42 AM
#88
So the moral is don't mine? That was a mistake but looking back to 2011, you gotta let that part go.
newbie
Activity: 56
Merit: 0
July 28, 2014, 04:13:29 AM
#87
Can you explain why you bought mining equipment? I think it was pretty clear that people over invested in mining and I'm curious why that happened, why buy mining equipment and not just bitcoins?

Because free money yo.
At least, that's what it looks like until you do the math. I have a feeling though, based on the posts in this sub, that most amateurs have stayed away from mining this year.
newbie
Activity: 53
Merit: 0
July 28, 2014, 03:48:24 AM
#86
Can you explain why you bought mining equipment? I think it was pretty clear that people over invested in mining and I'm curious why that happened, why buy mining equipment and not just bitcoins?
newbie
Activity: 342
Merit: 0
July 28, 2014, 03:41:59 AM
#85
I think it will hit $1k by end of this year with all the mainstream adoption going on. Its going to be a hurdle to get past this BitLicense bullshit, but hopefully the people will prevail and not some government regulatory agency who doesn't understand shit about it.
newbie
Activity: 342
Merit: 0
July 28, 2014, 03:38:04 AM
#84
Oh man, you sound like me trying to do IM. I spent thousands of dollars on software. Then I went back to programming, because it was a waste of money trying to cheat the system.

Hold on to your 6.5BTC, its a respectable amount. If you use some, replace it. Build your savings over time like a 401k, $100/week or month. Whatever you can afford to throw away.
newbie
Activity: 49
Merit: 0
July 28, 2014, 02:04:29 AM
#83
It's easy to look at things in the past as missed opportunities without considering all the 'gambles' and great things you've achieved... eg. your wife/daughter... perhaps if you'd never gambled on chatting up your now wife, you'd not be with her and not have a daughter... maybe if you'd spent an extra 5 minutes in a casino 10 years ago you'd have left and got hit by a car. It's easy to forget about the good things in life and get bogged down by all the things that in retrospect seem like no brainers.... what if I'd bought Coca Cola shares in the fifties, or invested in Microsoft in the 80s or short sold British Airways Stock before 9/11, so many ifs, buts and maybes... try to focus on the things that matter, living life is much more important than counting it.

Toying with the idea of making a "what if" website. Input the date you first heard of bitcoin (or apple or google) and cash you have available right now to spend at a whim (summer 2011, $5 for a latte). Click to calculate what such an investment would be worth today, and weep.
member
Activity: 116
Merit: 10
IPSX: Distributed Network Layer
July 28, 2014, 12:33:09 AM
#82
It's easy to look at things in the past as missed opportunities without considering all the 'gambles' and great things you've achieved... eg. your wife/daughter... perhaps if you'd never gambled on chatting up your now wife, you'd not be with her and not have a daughter... maybe if you'd spent an extra 5 minutes in a casino 10 years ago you'd have left and got hit by a car. It's easy to forget about the good things in life and get bogged down by all the things that in retrospect seem like no brainers.... what if I'd bought Coca Cola shares in the fifties, or invested in Microsoft in the 80s or short sold British Airways Stock before 9/11, so many ifs, buts and maybes... try to focus on the things that matter, living life is much more important than counting it.
jr. member
Activity: 38
Merit: 2
July 18, 2014, 09:46:28 PM
#81
Look at the bright side: In the good old days, you could have mined 10,000 BTC in a week on a cheap laptop...

...and then put them up at MtGox.

...or not.
member
Activity: 109
Merit: 10
July 18, 2014, 05:31:41 PM
#80
OP,

You should take solace in the fact the you have been able to provide comfortable life for your family. You should also be pleased with your participation in a global financial revolution. I'm sure you learned a thing or two through your experiences. I'm a big believer in just buying the coin rather than trying to keep up with the Jones on the infrastructure end. I bet you reach ROI in the next 12 months just by holding your coin despite getting in on the high side. Thank your for the read.
hero member
Activity: 743
Merit: 502
July 18, 2014, 05:10:18 PM
#79
I honestly get where you're coming from. There is always that slight sting of missing out on amazing chances; but all we can do, is move past it. It's not like we all have clairvoyance right? And if we did, these sort of chances would never happen.

I've also missed a whole bunch of chances in the past (both with bitcoins and with altcoins). Now I just bide my time and let things come as they may. After all, there are much more worse things that can be lost other than an opportunity.

This is why im not going to miss the ethereum bus! I will buy some ether.
It's fair that you want to catch another bus. I on the other hand, am not entirely convinced that's a bus worth getting on. But we'll see what happens. That's the beauty of this type of hectic and fast-flowing market, you never know where you'll end up until you're there.

really? You don't think ethereum is the next big thing? I would like to get some insight from you if you don't mind.
why do you think it's not a good bus?
hero member
Activity: 723
Merit: 503
July 18, 2014, 05:05:07 PM
#78
I know you're all gonna doubt me, but you guys owed it to yourself to check out the cryptonote technology and make up your mind about which of its implementation is the best to invest in.

Everything starts there: https://cryptonote.org/ - good luck.
legendary
Activity: 1789
Merit: 1008
Keep it dense, yeah?
July 18, 2014, 03:12:42 PM
#77
Honestly a great vacation with my family now is worth more to me than any financial gains in the future.
Is a great vacation with your family this year, worth more to you than multiple great vacations with your family in the future?

Sometimes I guess life takes over, especially when there are others who depend on you - not that I know this from my own experience.

Perhaps the best solution is a compromise, keep some investment while spending a little more. There are plenty of opportunist trading moments out there - providing that the price doesn't get silly very quickly, again...

legendary
Activity: 1456
Merit: 1001
This is the land of wolves now & you're not a wolf
July 18, 2014, 02:43:10 PM
#76
Honestly a great vacation with my family now is worth more to me than any financial gains in the future.

This is a difficult decision, and is the nature of a highly volatile currency that will eventually be deflationary in nature.

Is a great vacation with your family this year, worth more to you than multiple great vacations with your family in the future?

Yes, but the multiple vacations in the future will probably end up also costing significantly more than they do now since the cost of almost everything keeps going upwards
full member
Activity: 212
Merit: 100
July 18, 2014, 02:36:15 PM
#75
I also heard about bitcoin back in 2009 and did not think much of it... and then again in 2011 I looked at it but did not get into it... and yes now I am kicking my self for not digging deeper.. but I am here now and have been in to it for only 6 months... and still do not have 1 btc but I do have 400+ VRC and other Alt coins... and you never know... in 3-5 years things may look bright... as I do not think bitcoin will be the only coin to make it big in the future...

Also back in 1997 I bought a business online and reg a domain for it and some others... and I thought hey what if I reg some good 1 word and 2 word domain names and hold them will they be worth anything in the future.... but back then at $200 a pop for a domain name I did not want to risk it... well I wish I did... still kicking myself over that one..

So this time I am not going to miss the train...
hero member
Activity: 644
Merit: 500
July 17, 2014, 09:02:06 PM
#74
Well, on the bright side, you could have done what I did.  I bought about 20 BTC a couple weeks ago when the price was $650.  The price has since gone down to about $617, I could have gotten them for about $1,000 cheaper.  Oh well, I'm still confident that it'll go up to above the price where I bought it in the long run.

You still have significantly less loss than me (not to mention all the time and worry--setting up miners, shipping, waiting, pools, etc.)

Does it matter how much someone has lost?

Either way, everyone has lost Bitcoins or money. Some people more than you, some less. Does it really matter? You still lost money. A mystical thought created by humans, so... Yup.
full member
Activity: 238
Merit: 100
We must become the pitiless censors of ourselves.
July 17, 2014, 09:00:45 PM
#73
I m gonna say the only thing I keep repeating these days on this forum: BUY more, don't cry and be a man. Smiley
Bitcoin is going to be huge in the next couple of years and IMO we might NEVER have this kind of opportunity to make some serious money this way in our lifes. Get yourself a couple hundered BTC and wait. Just wait.

I do not have the disposable right now for a couple hundred BTC unfortunately. (If I did, I would for sure.) I may buy one a month or something if it doesn't go above 700--see how many I get with that, maybe 2?
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