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Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

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Re: Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

#101

Post by blhack »

orbitur wrote: post #81

This seems like a decent place to ask: What is the most legit and safe method for creating a wallet and just buying a bit of Bitcoin? I wouldn't mind being able to drop a couple hundred on it and seeing where it goes, but it's hard to trust websites/subreddits that look like posts were written by nerdy 15 year olds.

Coinbase is the only answer here, and it makes me frustrated to still see the "buy a hardware wallet" recommendations.

I recently had my hardware wallet (a trezor, which is the nicest one) fail during a firmware update. Now, obviously I have a backup of my seed, but for those few minutes that backup became a VERY expensive little widget.

When I travel, I have to worry about where my backups are stored. Storing them in a bank vault means I have to worry about the bank vault.

If I have a hardware wallet, I'm essentially betting that I am better at opsec than coinbase, a >$1billion company who devotes a non-trivial amount of resources to opsec. Keeping my own wallet means I am arrogant enough to believe that I can out-opsec the team of security people they have there.

That's absurd.

There ARE reasons for a hardware wallet (which is why I have one). The bCash split recently is why I have mine.

Keeping your own wallet and "being your own bank" is a really fun cyberpunk fantasy, but there are plenty of practical reasons to use banks.

If you are asking the question about how to buy bitcoins in 2017, then the answer is unquestionably that you should both buy and store you coins on coinbase.

Re: Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

#102

Post by blhack »

relyio wrote: post #97
orbitur wrote: post #81

This seems like a decent place to ask: What is the most legit and safe method for creating a wallet and just buying a bit of Bitcoin? I wouldn't mind being able to drop a couple hundred on it and seeing where it goes, but it's hard to trust websites/subreddits that look like posts were written by nerdy 15 year olds.

0. Purchase a hardware wallet Pro-tip: Go for a Ledger Nano S ( https://www.ledgerwallet.com/products/12-ledger-nano-s ), it is (IMO) the best hardware wallet available. Had a terrific experience using it, it is a genuinely great product. 1. Pick a high-profile exchange Pro-tip: I had an absolutely terrible experience with Coinbase. And a far better one with GEMINI (Although I have issues that are +30 days old still…

Absolutely do not do this unless you are buying a very small amount of coins as an exploratory thing into bitcoin, and won't worry about losing them if you mess up your opsec.

Re: Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

#103

Post by macintux »

thinbeige wrote: post #90
orbitur wrote: post #81

This seems like a decent place to ask: What is the most legit and safe method for creating a wallet and just buying a bit of Bitcoin? I wouldn't mind being able to drop a couple hundred on it and seeing where it goes, but it's hard to trust websites/subreddits that look like posts were written by nerdy 15 year olds.

I didn't expect people asking how to buy Bitcoins on HN . Just get an account on Kraken, Coinbase, Gemini or wherever and look that you don't keep your coins on the exchange for too long. Start with small amounts. And those nerdy forums and subs (I think you mean Bitcointalk and Ethtrader on Reddit) are actually good places to get started/informed.

"I didn't expect people to ask how to get started in Haskell on HN."

There's always something people haven't learned. I would have had the same question, were I even remotely interested in getting into the Bitcoin fun.

Re: Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

#104

Post by d0lph »

jack9 wrote: post #91
d0lph wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to your interpretation, wouldn't gold also qualify as a decentralized ponzi scheme? You're just hoping some bigger sucker buys your over inflated metal right?

People actually use gold, as it's optimal (or solely suited) for a number of electric and chemical tasks. Also, it's pretty and used as a status symbol. It has utility, which has been overblown in the market for a long time (like diamonds).

The utility of bitcoin is as a secure currency, it's not possible to forfeit or dilute, and limited in nature.

Re: Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

#105

Post by lr4444lr »

NicoJuicy wrote: post #64
oculusthrift wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hey that's not fair... it's a pyramid scheme, not a ponzi

By the very definition of a pyramid scheme, it can't be one. Who's behind the sceme? And if you say Satoshi, you should think about what stocks are.

Stocks have underlying value even if they could no longer be traded, in other words, non-zero use value, in the form of dividends. What is bitcoin's use value? It doesn't even have commodity applications like gold.

Re: Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

#106

Post by nwah1 »

matthewbauer wrote: post #36
noipv4 wrote: post #3

if I invest in Bitcoin today, am I still an early adopter?

I think invest is the wrong term. Investments have some kind of builtin return like interest or dividends. You're buying bitcoin in the same way you buy gold or a lottery ticket. Maybe you have some solid reasoning on why price will go up but you aren't getting any returns like in an investment.

Very true. The correct term is speculation.

Re: Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

#107

Post by Talyen42 »

blhack wrote: post #101
orbitur wrote: post #81

This seems like a decent place to ask: What is the most legit and safe method for creating a wallet and just buying a bit of Bitcoin? I wouldn't mind being able to drop a couple hundred on it and seeing where it goes, but it's hard to trust websites/subreddits that look like posts were written by nerdy 15 year olds.

Coinbase is the only answer here, and it makes me frustrated to still see the "buy a hardware wallet" recommendations. I recently had my hardware wallet (a trezor, which is the nicest one) fail during a firmware update. Now, obviously I have a backup of my seed, but for those few minutes that backup became a VERY expensive little widget. When I travel, I have to worry about where my backups are stored. Storing them i…

Yeah, it's ridiculous how many people push the "you don't own your coins unless..." philosophy.

Do we really want users to have to understand DevOps six-nines infrastructure reliability, disaster recovery, and stay ahead of the infosec curve in order to hold cash? Not only is the unacceptable for mainstream consumers, i'd argue it's unacceptable for all but the 1% most savvy enthusiast power-users.

Re: Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

#108

Post by jsmthrowaway »

adamnemecek wrote: post #82
deadmetheny wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shh, half the fun of cryptocurrency threads is watching its proponents re-learn every single harsh lesson banking and financial industries have learned over the past couple hundred years! It turns out a lot of regulations and whatnot involved with Fiat™ don't just exist for arbitrary reasons.

Sure but it’s also naive to think that banks aren’t trying to fuck you over.

And surely, nobody in the basically unregulated cryptocurrency world has ever done that, right? Bad actors are bad actors, and it’s disingenuous to point at some and ignore others.

Re: Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

#109

Post by eudoxus »

CPLX wrote: post #12
adamnemecek wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that it will go to like 20k in the next 4 years but there are coins that will grow much more. Bitcoin is the conservative investment.

> Bitcoin is the conservative investment. Now this is what I come to HN in the morning for.

I think he means within the context of the Cryptocurrency market, which he is pretty correct on.

Many other coins have gone up 2x, 5x, even 10x in the last weeks/months.

Bitcoin going from 4K to 20K in 4 years (ie 5x) is relatively tame.

Re: Bitcoin ‘More Than Just a Fad,’ Morgan Stanley CEO Says

#110

Post by nosuchthing »

adamnemecek wrote: post #82
deadmetheny wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shh, half the fun of cryptocurrency threads is watching its proponents re-learn every single harsh lesson banking and financial industries have learned over the past couple hundred years! It turns out a lot of regulations and whatnot involved with Fiat™ don't just exist for arbitrary reasons.

Sure but it’s also naive to think that banks aren’t trying to fuck you over.

Sure but it's also naive to think that exchanges, the bitcoin central bank of tethers, blockstream, market manipulators, dev teams with premined supplies, and early adopters who spent $100 to own 26% of total supply aren't trying to fuck you over.
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