Did you invest into cryptocurrencies?

[Liutauras Vilda]

Have you considered investing into cryptocurrencies? Or might already did so?

[Tim Cooke]

I have not but given the recent rise in value I sure do wish I had just a few years ago. I'm sure I'll be getting to know them a little better soon as CME Group have announced their intention to launch Bitcoin Futures. That's a pretty big deal.

[Liutauras Vilda]

That's a pretty big deal indeed, Tim.

Banks also trying to keep-up with stuff, and today American Express and Santander teamed up to make some of their international payments through Ripple's blockchain network (using Ripple's internal cryptocurrency XRP).

That might will put more trust for those who are still pessimistic about this technology.

I invested a bit in Ripple's XRPs several months ago, so only today seen a slight growth after this announcement, but more often than not there are ups and downs, so not anywhere close to celebrating mood yet.

[Paul Clapham]

Not me. Too far above my risk tolerance level.

[Tim Cooke]

It does make me think it'd be worth taking a punt on some things in the future. I read on another CME article (I can't find it now, might not have been a public one) that since 2010 the price of Bitcoin has increased 60,000,000%. That's sixty million percent!! If only I'd bought just $100 worth, hell even just $10 worth! Life in hindsight is wonderfully depressing sometimes.

[Paul Clapham]

Well, as my financial advisor says, "Past performance is not an indicator of future performance." But he's a boring old fart like me.

[Campbell Ritchie]

Paul Clapham wrote:. . . "Past performance is not an indicator of future performance." . . .

They have to make that disclaimer, otherwise you will sue them for incorrect advice when the shares go from $37456932587 to 2¢ within the week.

Twenty‑five years ago the “penny shares” salespeople advertised something like,

Where were you when Polly Peck was 11p?

And ten years after that, they were back to 11p and the company's chairman was facing ten years' gaol for fraud.

[Liutauras Vilda]

Paul Clapham wrote:Well, as my financial advisor says, "Past performance is not an indicator of future performance." But he's a boring old fart like me.

Hm. Good saying actually. But I'm still surprised how many tech people didn't see possibilities of profit in blockchain and its first cryptocurrency Bitcoin. But that is probably true about everything.

As Tim says, even small investment of 100$ today would have made a profit of half of a million or more (by my records it says in 2010 it was 1.12$ per unit).  Another good saying is: never invest more than you are willing to lose. 100$ hardly can change someones life dramatically bad. Hm... I think risk was worthwhile, but I'm not sure too where I was at that time. I remember I was (actually with my friend) thinking about buying some, because my friend was studying in The University of Edinburgh and they had a professor who were investing into Bitcoin and were saying to his students - buy guys, it is a new big thing. Of course very few students listening their professors carefully :)

[Liutauras Vilda]

Campbell Ritchie wrote:
Twenty‑five years ago the “penny shares” salespeople advertised something like,

Where were you when Polly Peck was 11p?

And ten years after that, they were back to 11p.

Surely that is what people waiting now to happen with Bitcoin, so they could buy some. But probably train left the platform already.

[Liutauras Vilda]

Tim Cooke wrote:I'm sure I'll be getting to know them a little better soon as CME Group have announced their intention to launch Bitcoin Futures. That's a pretty big deal.

https://www.ccn.com/cme-bitcoin-futures-exchange-is-officially-live-inflow-of-10-billion-expected/

[Tim Cooke]

I wonder if this will stabilise the recent wild variations in price?

Hold on, I have some issue with this opening statement from CNN:

CNN wrote:CME Group, the world’s second-largest options exchange behind Cboe

It's misleading to suggest CME is inferior to CBOE by comparing Options. CME Options account for ~20% of total volume, where CBOE (Chicago Board Options Exchange) Options account for 100% of total volume.

Why make this comparison at all when the article is about the Bitcoin Futures contract and nothing at all to do with any Options contract?

[Joe Ess]

Paul Clapham wrote:Not me. Too far above my risk tolerance level.

I concur.  Bitcoin has serious problems.  First off, the fees for doing transactions are skyrocketing .  While a $20 transaction fee might not be a big deal if one is moving a kilo of cocaine, for more mundane transactions, it is a serious impediment.  Also, transactions are not instantaneous. This means, with a wildly fluctuating value, by the time one receives their bitcoin, it may not be worth what they requested.  And with the rapidly increasing value, people are less likely to actually use the currency as currency (exchanging it rather than sitting on it).  In my own estimation, these issues make Bitcoin effectively worthless for its own purported function.  
As for bemoaning the fact that there are bitcoin millionaires and I'm not one of them, I've missed plenty of speculation opportunities (I was an early fanboy of Amazon - before one could safely transmit a credit card information across the internet! - and I sat out that IPO). I have no regrets because I've never had to lay awake at night wondering when the bubble was going to pop!  My portfolio is boring and profitable.