# Have you ever bought cryptocurrencies? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 30, 2024, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023 "2024-07-30T20:28:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023/21 "2024-07-31T00:09:29Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Bitcoin in particular, probably more than any other cryptocurrency, can be found as a medium of exchange in numerous places. But not “general use”. Try to buy groceries or gas or pay the mortgage with it- you might at _some_ places. (You can recently BUY a bitcoin at some coinstar locations inside some grocery stores)- I have heard you can use a bitcoin at some Whole foods thru a special app, etc. Nor is gold currency now, unless you want to get face value on a $5 gold piece. We had some money laundering training and each group of 4 was supposed to buy a bitcoin (it was quite cheap back then- like $30?) and spend it _outside illegal stuff_. It was not difficult to get one, but hard to use it, but then we found a place in LV that would take it. So I didnt answer the poll, since my answer would be… weird. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023/22 "2024-07-31T00:23:01Z")
I honestly don’t recall if I’ve actually traded cash money for crypto in the past but I said “Yes” because I figured my case was “close enough”. During the Ethereum boom a few years ago, I had some GPUs mining ETH while not in use otherwise. I wasn’t buying cards FOR this purpose but I had a RTX 3080 and an old GTX 1080 so I figured why not run them while I was at work or otherwise not doing anything GPU intensive. I made a few hundred bucks but then the market started to cool and the mining service was doing something goofy and I just lost interest and cashed out. During that time I did a little speculation on the minor cryptos, converting some of my ETH gains into one of the bajillion minor coins for a few hours or a day, hoping to catch a spike. Never amounted to much but it was amusing. At one point, Paypal had an offer to give you $20 worth of BTC for free. That’s now worth about $260 in my Paypal account. I _might_ have put a few bucks into that account at some point, hence my uncertainly on whether I’ve actually straight-up bought crypto. Otherwise, I haven’t but had enough investment in it that I figured I counted as a yes. I personally think that crypto/blockchain/NFTs/etc as a “currency” or collectible is stupid but, if someone was willing to pay me money to leave an old GTX 1080 running in an ancient Dell Inspiron all day (well in excess of the electricity costs at the time) then I was willing to take them up on that. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023/23 "2024-07-31T00:25:06Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > No disrespect meant; just total confusion on my part. Mine too I suppose. You said you own a crypto ETF, but the first regulated crypto ETF is in the future, which should suggest that the one you own is unregulated. I guess you meant one bundled with different cryptocurrencies though, instead of just bitcoin (like a traditional ETF with different stocks or bonds). Okay, I get what you’re saying. I think. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023/24 "2024-07-31T00:33:15Z")
I think we’re closing on a common understanding. 😉 There are several fully SEC-regulated ETFs out there whose license permits them to own Bitcoin. Period. Nothing else. Others can own Bitcoin proper and Bitcoin futures, but only regulated Bitcoin futures. So it’s essentially a pure Bitcoin play with all the scummy & inconvenient parts filtered out. IIRC there are others in the approval mill for Ethereum, and a couple of others. It’s not a huge percentage of my portfolio, and I’m not a cryptobro, so I don’t follow the industry developments closely. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023/25 "2024-07-31T00:41:12Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > IIRC there are others in the approval mill for Ethereum, and a couple of others. I would have expected Ethereum would likely be the next one, yes, as it seems to have second place for acceptance as a cryptocurrency. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023/26 "2024-07-31T08:55:01Z")
Two years ago, my euro area-based employer seconded me to London, but my salary continued to be paid in euros. My living expenses were in sterling, of course, so I’d have to continuously convert euros to sterling, and I began to look for cost-efficient ways to do this. One of my crazier ideas was to buy crypto in one currency and immediately sell it against the other. To test this, I bought 1,000 euros’ worth of bitcoin and then realized that my employer’s compliance rule allow me to trade in crypto, but with a minimum hold period of 30 days between buying and selling. Given the volatility of crypto, a lot can happen in a month, so I decided that it was too risky to gamble with my livelihood like that, and decided against the idea. I retained the bitcoin, though, and have since put them in a hardware wallet where they’ve tripled in value since I bought them. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023/27 "2024-07-31T11:37:31Z")
I have a small amount of various flavors. I bought it during BTC’s first historic rise and fall. I keep it as a hobby of sorts, playing between standard crypto and ‘stable coins’. I have also managed to buy a few things with it. Overall I’m somewhat positive in my investment, mostly because I went big into Bitcoin Cash which I felt would take off but it fell flat, and it took quite a while to dig out of that hole. I also suspect that crypto is the game for the super rich, able to manipulate the price at will and make a killing doing so (like Musk did with DOGE), and without government regs. So I do plan to keep it small and bank my winnings which I have started so ultimately I’m playing with their money, as it does seem like a pyramid scheme. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023/28 "2024-08-01T12:31:15Z")
I also have a small amount in a crypto ETF and an Etherium investment trust. I cashed out a few thousand during the ether I’m spike a few years ago, and I’m happy to let my remaining stake ride as a small portion of the proceeds. I also don’t buy into crypto has a long term currency solution, but I do think that blockchain technology is really interesting, and crypto is just a big beta test for something down the line. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023/29 "2024-08-01T13:35:12Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > The example given there is when furs were once used as a form of currency. Yes, the “made beaver” (a beaver belt cured in a specific way) was a standard unit of exchange in New France and later British North America. It’s listed as a currency in the Wikipedia article on Canadian currencies. It didn’t have any government backing. > **[History of Canadian currencies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Canadian_currencies)** > > The history of Canadian currencies began with Indigenous peoples in Canada prior to European contact, when they used items such as wampum and furs for trading purposes. The Indigenous peoples continued to use those items as currency when trade with Europeans began. During the period of French colonization, coins were introduced, as well as one of the first examples of paper currency by a western government. During the period of British colonization, additional coinage was introduced, as well ... ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2024, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023/30 "2024-08-03T23:15:27Z")
Yes. I work in the financial markets and have bought and sold Doge mostly. ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023/31 "2024-08-09T23:32:43Z")
I bought Doge partially because I thought it would go up, but mostly for fun. I invested $1000 and got out at $1800 about a year later. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023/32 "2024-08-09T23:41:17Z")
I didn’t answer the poll, because I have not BOUGHT any - but have “mined” a little bit of Bitcoin over the years using phone apps / a desktop app (not a formal GPU setup in any case). My Bitcoin fortune has grown to roughly 200 bucks over the years. Woohoo. I think it has increased quite a bit - I think the value at the time I acquired it, in dribs and drabs, was maybe 30 bucks. I’m playing around with the occasional ad-supported game that rewards you in satoshi (1/100,000,000 of a bitcoin); if I did that a lot, it might add up to 100 bucks a year. Not anything to get too excited about, but I treat it as a game. Honestly, if anyone invests a lot in this, being as insanely volatile and essentially meaningless as it is, it’s silly. A bit here and there for fun, like @Dark_Sponge mentions, is a different thing. My husband works for an accounting firm (in IT, not accounting). There’s an annual “independence” declaration that he has to do showing all our investments. So once a year I have to take a screenshot of my Coinbase account and send it to him to submit. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2024, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023/33 "2024-08-10T00:38:38Z")
> [@Dark\_Sponge](#): > > I bought Doge partially because I thought it would go up, but mostly for fun. I invested $1000 and got out at $1800 about a year later. I bought $100 of Doge. It went up quite a bit so I took back my $100. I didn’t get out when I should have but what I still have is worth several hundred. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023/34 "2024-08-19T20:21:30Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > In that sense, crypto is a commodity, perhaps. But not a currency. No it’s a fad security like a meme stock. I have met no one that can explain to me what drives any cryptocurrency’s value up or down. If you can’t explain to me where the intrinsic value of a thing comes from then I will not invest in it. While there are many factors that will drive the value of any currency up or down, currency values are inherently driven by interest rates in the respective nations of their respective currencies and their difference, as well a purchasing power parity over a long term between two different countries. Crytpocurrencies have nothing like that. In theory, the absolute number of crypto units of a particular cryptocurrency are known, and the amount that are not yet mined is known, so the value of individual unit should be approximately worth the costs to mine the remaining units. But that is not what primarily drives their traded value. As such I would argue they are neither a currency or a commodity. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023/35 "2024-08-19T20:39:00Z")
It’s always been my mantra to never invest in anything I don’t understand. Crypto currency and NFTs top that list. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023/36 "2024-08-19T22:50:46Z")
I would have completely ignored him, as I tend to do taxi drivers, mumbling appropriate noises now and then. I’m certainly not going to get into a discussion with a taxi driver about finance, but I’m also not going to insult him to his face for no good reason. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2024, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023/37 "2024-08-20T05:41:09Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Now I see I should have added a third poll about why you did never buy crypto. As I feel too lazy to propose answers I just ask: why not? > In my case: I believe they are a scam, I never bothered to find out how to buy them, I don’t understand them anyway. That’s me. I regard them as _at best_ a scam, and often a tool for criminal businesses to evade the law. Also I don’t understand exactly how they work, and believe that’s part of the point - being confusing makes scamming people easier. “Incomplete or confusing information” is literally one of [the official “red flags”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme#Red_flags) for something being a Ponzi scheme. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2024, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023/38 "2024-08-20T14:32:37Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I don’t understand exactly how they work, and believe that’s part of the point - being confusing makes scamming people easier. Exactly. I looked up bitcoin mining to figure out how the heck one can “mine” a theoretical construct, and came away more confused than when I started reading. Investing in stocks, bonds and mutual funds is understandable; you can dig into data on the companies involved. ETA: Thank goodness we can edit our posts; I fat-fingered this, and fat-fingered it way worse when I first tried to correct it. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2024, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023/39 "2024-08-20T14:56:39Z")
I can’t say anything good about bitcoin or other so-called “cryptocurrencies”, but being confusing is not one of the problems since precisely how it works it is public published information. Of course, so is, e.g., the USA constitution, and in both cases reading how it technically works does not necessarily tell you how it functions in real life. How one can “mine” a theoretical construct is the simplest thing to understand about bitcoin, but that does not tell you anything you really need to know (like why you would want to do that in the first place— which in fact you would not— and what any of that has to do with currency, money, or practical and legal issues). ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2024, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023/40 "2024-08-20T15:43:17Z")
I found “mining” confusing because it involves doing some weird math that, frankly, comes across as a numbers game for nerds. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-cryptocurrencies/1005023.md?page=3)