Crypto Overlanding

[Mojo]

Now that there are 2 countries that have adopted bitcoin btc as official currency (El Salavador and CAR(questionable))..curious to know how many members on here have wallets and whether in many many years to come it may be the preferred way of int.payments for fuel and even parts etc.

 

[karl2000]

I think crypto's biggest problem is that people don't understand it, which leaves room for scare stories, fraud etc.

 

[Higgy]

Watch the Bit coin/Crypto coin Documentary on Netflix... (Trust No One).. Then make your own mind up...... Me i prefer £20 notes in 'me' Pocketsies...

 

[GeekOKent]

Exactly what @karl2000 said. Crypto isn't just regular cash and the value is still badly handled.

That may change as countries like the UK ratify it, as they introduce tax and regulations around it. But let's see.

 

[karl2000]

Me i prefer £20 notes

20 because it reminds you of your favourite LC?

 

[Higgy]

Ah!.... well they don't do a £80 note

 

[Higgy]

Its ok until it goes Tit's Up... As in the case of the Documentary.... Then when you go crying to the FBI, Saying someone has defrauded me of $500,000. There is No Trace, No Bank Account, No Proof, Its your Money sat inside someone's Lap Top... That seems to leap from one Lap top to another at the Click of a Button.... Then the invisible money is Traded around the Globe, For some other idiot to be Taken in by it all and say Oooo! yes, Can i put $500,000 inside your lap top Please..... But don't take my word as Gospel, I have No idea what im talking about...... Its what i came up with after watching the Documentary..

 

[Shayne]

I dread the demise of cash because i have no doubt at all once everything goes digital there will be a charge for lending a mate a fiver or giving the kids a quid for sweets .

Nobody overspends in cash , when somebody is struggling on a monthly basis i tell them to do the math , pay the bills , divide whats left by 4 and withdraw only that amount in cash once a week . It always shocks them to realize how much junk they buy just because card payment gives purchases a sort of detached value . Its guaranteed they will grow more reluctant to impulse buy as their pocket money dwindles .

Crypto , nah i don't even attempt to save pics on a computer any more because the next update will likely move them some place the whole world but me can find them .

 

[karl2000]

Its ok until it goes Tit's Up... As in the case of the Documentary.... Then when you go crying to the FBI, Saying someone has defrauded me of $500,000.

The problem is, its complicated... I don't claim to be any sort of expert on it by any means, but I have been following it for a while

There is No Trace,

Not true - theres more trace then a bank account

No Bank Account,

Sort of, your wallet is the equivalent

No Proof,

There is proof.

Its your Money sat inside someone's Lap Top...

It's not

That seems to leap from one Lap top to another at the Click of a Button....

Sort of

Then the invisible money is Traded around the Globe,

its not invisible

For some other idiot to be Taken in by it all and say Oooo! yes, Can i put $500,000 inside your lap top Please.....

Well....

Crypto transactions are more open and visible than normal bank transactions. The transactions dont live in someones laptop, they exist on the blockchain. The blockchain is a ledger (a list) which has every transaction thats ever happened. It's open, and its visible - everyone can see who has made what transactions, for how much and to whom. Everyone can see the blockchain, there are millions of copies of it, so it cant be manipulated. The blockchain system is decentralised - no one person / organisation is God.

Contrast that to a bank. The ledger is private, nobody can see what transactions take place on people's accounts, its all secret. The ledger exists inside the banks computer, and nowhere else. If someone wants to manipulate it, they can do it on the banks computer because there is no other copy. The bank is a centralised system, the bank is God. If the bank decides to put your account to £0.00 one day, you rely on the bank putting it right.

Scammers take advantage of the fact that people dont know what crypto is and how it works. The same happens with cons of all kinds, they play on what people don't know.

If you're scammed at the bank, you can get onto the bank. Theres a phone number, a bank manager, someone to shout at, someone to appeal to and ultimately someone who can reverse the transaction.

Crypto is decentralised. It doesn't have a bank, or a phone number, or someone to shout at. The main thjing is, crypto transactions cannot be reversed. So if you make a crypto payment to the wrong person or are scammed, that money isn't coming back. Unless you persuade the person to send the money back to you as a new transaction.

The bank has been replaced by some (very) clever mathematics. That mathematics looks after the transactions and makes sure they are secure and cannot be reversed - but the mathematics cant ensure you're making a payment to a legit person, and mathematics can't answer the phone when it all goes tits up.

Trading crypto is very similar to any trading, but the markets are generally very volatile compared to shares etc

 

[Higgy]

In the Documentary, One guy sold his house and all his Possessions and put $400,000 in the crypto Bank..... The man running the Crypto Bank Did a runner to India Pressed Delete on his Lap Top Then Mysteriously Vanished / Died.??? .... Then his Girlfriend turned up Back in the USA.. Millions of Dollars Just, "Poof" vanished... Along with The poor Chaps $400,000.... Never to be seen again... Not a Trace.... Gone!......And there was not a thing The FBI/ Fraud Squad/ Lawyers could do... .. You can only Laugh..

 

[Higgy]

Tell you What Karl.. Sell up and put all your Money into Bit/Crypto Coin Then...... Good luck.... Im no expert either, Like i said earlier its what my Brain came up with after watching the Documentary...... Guess im just relating what i saw into Layman's Terms....

 

[karl2000]

The thing about that is that a lot of the crypto exchanges have been fraudulent. It's just like a fraudulent bank.

For someone to keep proper control over their crypto money, they need the 'keys' and the wallet. The key is like a password. If you have the keys and the wallet, the crypto money is yours and nobody can take it. If someone gets the keys (you write them on a piece of paper and lose it), they get your crypto money. If you lose the keys, you have lost your crypto money.

Because keys and wallets are hard for people to handle, they leave their crypto money on exchanges (coinbase etc). The exchanges hold the keys, not the person who has the crypto. When the exchanges hold the keys, they can do whatever they want, including fraud.

There's a saying in crypto: YOUR KEYS YOUR COINS.

 

[karl2000]

Tell you What Karl.. Sell up and put all your Money into Bit/Crypto Coin Then...... Good luck.... Im no expert either, Like i said earlier its what my Brain came up with after watching the Documentary...... Guess im just relating what i saw into Layman's Terms....

Its fair enough mate, I am just saying its complicated

Im planning on selling up and putting all my money into a tank of diesel atm

 

[Shayne]

I did toy with the idea of buying like 250 quids worth and gambling it on a monthly basis . If it grew to 1000 then id gamble 500 , 2000 id gamble 1000 .
If it went tits up i've lost my 250 but nothing more or nothing less .

The idea never came to pass simply because trying to gather information about it bored me to tears , might be better odds than the bookies give on a horse but when i go to the bookies once a year for the national at least i know what i'm doing - and i do bet to lose just because it would be fun to be the only winner in the pub with a high odds outsider .

Smiling here remembering my mum who talked me out of betting £20 on a white filly to win the national at maybe 25 to 1 all those years ago , she didn't know i was at the other end of the pub watching her scream at the tv "please fall down PLEEAAAASE"

I might be wrong but if memory serves it was Calamity Jane and she led the race only to fall at the last fence maybe 30 years ago .

 

[Tractionman]

Didnt one of those women millionaires on Dragons Den make her fortune from bit coin and then sell out ? Fill year boots Higgy !

 

[Higgy]

Its an Illusion created by Illusionists, Im not trying to be Derogative, Im trying to Save You, Take all you Know and all you have ever read about Crypto, Tear it up and Throw it in the Bin. Go outside and give your head a good Shake and Polish your Truck... Forget about the whole Thing.. The illusion is that You will make a lot of Money, Thats what Draws people in.... Then "Wham" they got you and your Money... Its No more than a modern Day Jumped up Pyramid Scam, Or the good old 80's Time share Nonsense

 

[Mick W]

The whole financial market is a huge risk not just crypto currency. What happens when the banking system you use fails (which they often do) or becomes hacked. You cannot access any of yours funds or monies, you even can't buy fuel or groceries because the store can't connect to your banking institution. There's no backup plan except hard cash, its in your hand you know how much you've got and you have control over where it goes.

 

[Higgy]

What is the Dragon's Den Bitcoin scam? - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]...... Oh! this you mean, That's The Illusion.......

 

[karl2000]

My main interest in crypto is in the technical aspect of it - it is quite clever and interesting once you get into it.

Trading it is just like gambling though, the markets are *very* volatile - personally I don't trade it

 

[Dave_S]

To Shayne's point on managing your money... many years ago when I first moved from being paid weekly to being paid monthly, I got into a mess managing my finances (basically running out of cash 3 weeks into the month). So I got into the habit of only withdrawing £80 from the cash machine each week - that had to cover all my "running" costs - fuel, food, etc, etc. And it worked. Funny thing is, 3 decades later, if I pop to the cash machine I generally still withdraw £80 at a time...