is just a hedge against destruction of society so the rich can trade among themselves. I need to study on it, I guess.

the underlying “value” is not clear.

While bitcoin has risen from $60k to 100k in the last five years but it’s probably never going to rise like it did initially from pennies literally to $30k +.

If somebody bought just $1 of BC when it first came out they would be multimillionaires or even billionaires.

asking questions about this because TSF is talking about insinuating BC into our economy. And it seems scary.

Only if it’s converted to dollars can it be deposited. In its original form it is stored in digital wallets which can be “lost” or stolen. I read some who own bitcoin fortunes spend time hiding their wallets in mountains and remote areas.

The use of it in government is scary. It’s just not ready for prime time yet.

and you can buy and sell fractions of coins.

say, 50/96,833ths of bitcoin?

I've got an Ivy League science PhD

It looks like all verbal gobbledegook to me

I won't dabble with that which I don't understand.

Like an earlier post today said - it's like the Tulip fad. This too shall (hopefully) pass

They have a bitcoin machine.

about liking to hold what I buy in my hands.

I've heard it's a serious currency there.

Back in 2011 I was listening to some internet radio shows and they were talking about Bitcoin. I had a small online business and thought it would be interesting to also take bitcoin as a payment method.

I was going to buy about $400 dollars worth but it turned out to be complicated as you had to sign up for a 'wallet' account overseas. Also the bitcoin went from 2 to 4 dollars and seems shady.

If I had actually bought and hung onto that $400 worth it would now be 'valued' at about 20million dollars. Oh well.

and signed up. Tried to make a small purchase ($20 US worth was the smallest purchase the app would allow i.e. a v small fraction of one Bitcoin) but I backed out when they asked for my debit card # (no way I was providing that - I thought you could pay & receive funds via PayPal but maybe not).).

on DU that knows bitcoin to start a bitcoin 101 class for those of us who are interested in trying to understand it. It would have to be someone who is patient.