People Are Taking Out Mortgages to Buy Bitcoin as Price Soars

Megalith

Megalith

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Bitcoin is in the "mania" phase, with some people even borrowing money to get in on the action, securities regulator Joseph Borg told CNBC on Monday. "This is not something a guy who's making $100,000 a year, who's got a mortgage and two kids in college ought to be invested in." Bitcoin has been soaring all year, starting out at $1,000 and rocketing above $19,000 on the Coinbase exchange last week.

"You're on this mania curve. At some point in time there's got to be a leveling off. Cryptocurrency is here to stay. Blockchain is here to stay. Whether it is bitcoin or not, I don't know," Borg said in an interview with "Power Lunch." He also doesn't think futures contracts legitimize the digital currency. Bitcoin futures, trading under the XBT ticker symbol, debuted on the Cboe futures exchange on Sunday night. The CME plans to launch its bitcoin futures Dec. 18.
 
If it hits $100k, it makes them look like geniuses.

Not sure I'd bet the farm on it though.
 
I'd have significant doubts on any investment that was souring so high so quickly. Here is my big question. Of all companies out there, an elite few accept bitcoin. And if there is no easy way to convert large sums of bitcoin into cash or some other means which can then be sold or converted to cash (stocks would be a good example). Then what good is bitcoin?
 
Wow. Don't want to be holding btc when all these people need to sell their bitcoin to get at least some money back to cover the loans. Will be a tidal wave of people scared that btc will crash and they will panic-sell, causing said crash...
Good thing I put the money I can afford to lose into bitcoin...
 
That's a really bad idea. You don't mortgage your house for lottery tickets.

Good on you if you mine. Especially since most of the people I know who do it do it because they enjoy the system building. Spending tens of thousands of dollars on a gamble? Nah.

Of course, I wouldn't mortgage my house to invest in anything. The value of my house goes up real good like.
 
NeghVar said:
I'd have significant doubts on any investment that was souring so high so quickly. Here is my big question. Of all companies out there, an elite few accept bitcoin. And if there is no easy way to convert large sums of bitcoin into cash or some other means which can then be sold or converted to cash (stocks would be a good example). Then what good is bitcoin?
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There are easy ways to convert BTC into cash, though; it's very close to stocks, in that regard. What you can't do is QUICKLY convert it to cash, again, just like stocks. BTC is good as another investment channel. Just as every financial advisor will tell you to diversify your holdings, BTC is one of the methods someone could use to do so. Again, just like you shouldn't put all your money into a single stock (i.e. company; such as Apple, etc), you shouldn't do that with BTC, either. If you ask me, BTC shouldn't be used as currency and that's what's causing the confusion for a lot of people. Combine that with the fact that they call it 'coin' and it's easy to see why people are confused. But, when you think about it, it's as silly to expect to use BTC to buy groceries as it would be to try and use your stock portfolio, Apple stock, oil holdings, or gold to buy your groceries.

Treat BTC like a stock and you're fine. Don't invest anything you aren't prepared to lose.
 
I think Bitcoin is more of a sure thing than a lottery ticket. The more money you can dump into it - the more that you'll get later on. It would be super stressful to mortage your house for bitcoins.

But I wouldn't put my house up to mortage for bitcoins. But then again, Don't listen to me - I didn't take a loan out to get a bitcoin. I would've been out of consumer debt if I had a bitcoin now.

I'd also make a considerable contribution to [H]. Kyle could retire early!
 
NeghVar said:
I'd have significant doubts on any investment that was souring so high so quickly. Here is my big question. Of all companies out there, an elite few accept bitcoin. And if there is no easy way to convert large sums of bitcoin into cash or some other means which can then be sold or converted to cash (stocks would be a good example). Then what good is bitcoin?
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You might have meant soaring, but souring may also really work in this instance.

RogueTadhg said:
I think Bitcoin is more of a sure thing than a lottery ticket. The more money you can dump into it - the more that you'll get later on. It would be super stressful to mortage your house for bitcoins.
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Unless it suddenly loses 50-80+% of its value, like Bitcoin has done on several occasions in the past.
 
Twisted Kidney said:
That's a really bad idea. You don't mortgage your house for lottery tickets.

Good on you if you mine. Especially since most of the people I know who do it do it because they enjoy the system building. Spending tens of thousands of dollars on a gamble? Nah.

Of course, I wouldn't mortgage my house to invest in anything. The value of my house goes up real good like.
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Exactly this.

This is just a scaled up example of people risking their home and families well being on something incredibly volatile and risky. If it works great, but I'm not willing to lose my house on something that can just as easily take a shit. I've built up a 20 GPU mining farm with profits from the past 6 months, slow roll build in a way (I love tinkering/building) but if btc goes to zero tomorrow, I'm out exactly zero dollars. It's great passive income that doesn't cost me a dime outside of some dirt cheap electricity (7 cents per kwh delivered yay)

I've seen smaller scale things like this on craigslist someone will go out at the height of the last crypto fever wave, spend $5K on GPUs/systems, and then realize it will take 6 to 10 months just to break even, so they put the system up for sale on craigslist for some crazy obscene amount.

Hell the whole crypto thing is what's allowing me to pay off my car and house many times faster than I otherwise could, no way in hell I'd risk the very thing I'm trying to pay off.
 
Bitcoin is an investment, not a lottery ticket. If you are responsible, you can make some pretty serious money. But like any fluctuating asset, it has risks. It's the decision of the individual, whether they want to take on that risk or not.
 
Megalith said:
Bitcoin is in the "mania" phase, with some people even borrowing money to get in on the action, securities regulator Joseph Borg told CNBC on Monday.
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When the little people start borrowing money to invest, it's a sure sign we are getting close to the peak.
The big players will keep up the hype for a while longer, hoping to pull in more money from the little guys. Then they will then dump their over inflated investments, and the little guys will be left holding the bag. Just wait until the value starts to fall and these new investors start to panic and find out nobody is buying Bitcoins.
 
Teenyman45 said:
You might have meant soaring, but souring may also really work in this instance.



Unless it suddenly loses 50-80+% of its value, like Bitcoin has done on several occasions in the past.
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The news always has "Bitcoin's crashing" news. The news is the reason why I didn't jump into it before like I had wanted. If you look at the pattern of the bitcoin value, of course it's going to dip. It's going to go horizontal. No value will just go up. Unless you're a day trader, you should put a stop loss at around 30% of it's current value - and continue to ride the wave as much as you can.

I will say though, it's a horrible idea to put your house up, or anything else that you need in the hopes of making it rich. Unless you don't need that house and can lose it. If you need it, the fear factor is going to be many times harder for you than someone who just put in some spending money that they would burn at a fast food joint. You'll going to watch the value like a hawk, bite your teeth and pull your hair out as it goes in it's down stage.

...I know. I used to do the same thing when I started to trade a lot. Fear and Greed. Both of them did me in.
 
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Bet they're wishing they had done Litecoin instead. Dumb thing is up nearly 300% since Thursday of last week.

I'm not salty or anything... not like I dumped 10k on Bitcoin on the 7th only to watch it stay flat while Litecoin shoots up. Oh no wait, I did do that. :(
 
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There's a point where you usve to back off the dutch tulips.

It's way before you sell your house.
 
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A guy named Borg offering up his opinions on the future of technology, gadzooks, the irony is palpable. :D
 
I have 21.5 bitcoin, 51 litecon, something like 1 million Dogecoin left, all in multiple redundant cold storage. I mined them when GPUs were a thing. I made a lot of money (and paid my taxes on it), so I'm going to sit on it. I make a fortune on it or not, either way I'm still way ahead and I'll take the gamble.
 
collegeboy69us said:
Exactly this.

This is just a scaled up example of people risking their home and families well being on something incredibly volatile and risky. If it works great, but I'm not willing to lose my house on something that can just as easily take a shit..................
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I agree, I wouldn't risk my family home either .... which is why I found this stooge that left his work computer unlocked, he's always doing his banking online ... so I just took out a loan on his home :ROFLMAO:



Get the fuck outa here, just joking :p
 
TordanGow said:
I have 21.5 bitcoin, 51 litecon, something like 1 million Dogecoin left, all in multiple redundant cold storage. I mined them when GPUs were a thing. I made a lot of money (and paid my taxes on it), so I'm going to sit on it. I make a fortune on it or not, either way I'm still way ahead and I'll take the gamble.
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congrats on the luck and success holding out :) Nothing wrong with taking the gamble if you are playing with what amounts to "the House's" money. Big or small scale, nothing wrong with rolling profits generated then or now into it, if you feel it's worth it. As much as I enjoy the BTC world, any actual money one puts into out of their own pocket has to be treated exactly as you would a stock purchase. It's not insured, and not guaranteed to win or lose.

I had a small GPU setup (i think 6 GPU's) back in the day 7950's and 7970's made good profit and when the bottom fell out I sold off. *shrugs* I still made money, nobody in the world ever though it would be close to 20K a coin today. I do get a little sad when I sign in and see the transaction history from years ago selling on coinbase lol.


I socked some of my profits into XVG and XRP, XVG has been on a winning streak lately, and I firmly believe XRP has a role to play in the future. Confirmed transactions in 15 seconds vs several hours for BTC is what impressed me the most.
 
This is how the bubbles inflate. Just like the stock market in 29, tech stocks in 98 and the housing market in 07.
 
I need to get in NOW before all the idiots try to get in and jack up the price!

Then I need to get right out before they all realize the mistake they made.
 
Decibel said:
This is how the bubbles inflate. Just like the stock market in 29, tech stocks in 98 and the housing market in 07.
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Except those analogies don't really work.

Bitcoin isn't the bubble, it's the needle.
 
It must suck to be poor . . . or at least feel poor, insofar as wanting so much more than you have now. I'm completely satisfied with all I have in life now. I'm not wealthy by most commonly used definitions, but I feel full. To go chasing something like this at such risk speaks of a miserable existence.
 
Now that Wall Street is coming in, utility of coins matters.

On chain scaling is going to lure away a good chunk of users.

It's inevitable. People like to spend their money.
 
Smashing Young Man said:
It must suck to be poor . . . or at least feel poor, insofar as wanting so much more than you have now. I'm completely satisfied with all I have in life now. I'm not wealthy by most commonly used definitions, but I feel full. To go chasing something like this at such risk speaks of a miserable existence.
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Well anyone can feel poor, including millionaires. What really matters if having some sense of economic security so you can pay rent, buy groceries, and not worry about being out on the street. That is so much more important than anything else that comes from being wealthy. I think part of the reason why bitcoin is so high right now is because there is so much economic insecurity. Thanks to inflation, you lose money if you leave it in a savings account. The stock market is already a casino. Whether bitcoin ends up being successful or not, people are hungry for something they can put their money into that won't make them poorer.
 
NeghVar said:
I'd have significant doubts on any investment that was souring so high so quickly. Here is my big question. Of all companies out there, an elite few accept bitcoin. And if there is no easy way to convert large sums of bitcoin into cash or some other means which can then be sold or converted to cash (stocks would be a good example). Then what good is bitcoin?
Click to expand...

There's a ton of investors yelling caution at this point. The gist is that the currency is currently soaring with no "awesome application" driving it .. there's nothing really new. Usually when something soars, it's because something new has driven it there.

Essentially, people are investing because other people are investing. They aren't investing because they use the product or even know of the product.

Bitcoin itself has issues it needs to work out to be useful in other areas - they may start losing what little ground they've made into e-commerce because of slow transactions and high fees.

Now the tough part is picking when to start jumping off the train.
 
Spidey329 said:
Bitcoin itself has issues it needs to work out to be useful in other areas. Slow transactions and the like.
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Core actually want a bottlenecked main chain to force users to pay economic rent on a side-chain. It's on purpose.
 
Welp, I'll just keep holding my alt coin and hope it goes somewhere lol. Think I'm up to 208 CPU threads now mining. Love my cheap power :), 2.3 cents/kwh. And it heats my house!
 
kirbyrj said:
If it hits $100k, it makes them look like geniuses.

Not sure I'd bet the farm on it though.
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Speculation of this sort is risky and kinda dumb.

I'm sure that Wall Street looked ROCKIN' on Monday, October 23rd 1929.

Sure, if it jumps that far, kudos.

Then comes the problem of CLEARING all that BTC when you sell. And how ridiculous the transaction fees become at that point.
 
Welp, either it will swing in his favor and he gets money, or he loses more than he expected.

Either way, always a firm believer that if you are seeking short term gains, play with money that you can stand to lose.
 
What? This is a new level of crazy. Who would put up their house to buy stocks on it? This is basically the same thing, only worse that crypto is a completely unknown quantity it's not like a company that you can predict the future value of.

I doubt anyone fully understands why is it going up at this rate and how long will it continue. I'm pretty sure if it becomes a real destabilizing factor governments will start cracking down on trading and using it.
 
tetris42 said:
Well anyone can feel poor, including millionaires. What really matters if having some sense of economic security so you can pay rent, buy groceries, and not worry about being out on the street. That is so much more important than anything else that comes from being wealthy. I think part of the reason why bitcoin is so high right now is because there is so much economic insecurity. Thanks to inflation, you lose money if you leave it in a savings account. The stock market is already a casino. Whether bitcoin ends up being successful or not, people are hungry for something they can put their money into that won't make them poorer.
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The stock market is nothing like a Casino.
 
See also: Tulip Mania.

"...the growing popularity of tulips in the early 17th century caught the attention of the entire nation; "the population, even to its lowest dregs, embarked in the tulip trade".[10] By 1635, a sale of 40 bulbs for 100,000 florins (also known as Dutch guilders) was recorded. By way of comparison, a ton of butter cost around 100 florins, a skilled laborer might earn 150-350 florins a year, and "eight fat swine" cost 240 florins.[10] (According to the International Institute of Social History, one florin had the purchasing power of €10.28 in 2002.[37])"
 
bucket said:
See also: Tulip Mania.

"...the growing popularity of tulips in the early 17th century caught the attention of the entire nation; "the population, even to its lowest dregs, embarked in the tulip trade".[10] By 1635, a sale of 40 bulbs for 100,000 florins (also known as Dutch guilders) was recorded. By way of comparison, a ton of butter cost around 100 florins, a skilled laborer might earn 150-350 florins a year, and "eight fat swine" cost 240 florins.[10] (According to the International Institute of Social History, one florin had the purchasing power of €10.28 in 2002.[37])"
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Well that's just stupid. Who would spend 1000x what a ton of butter costs for something that will die in 2 weeks?
 
Teenyman45 said:
You might have meant soaring, but souring may also really work in this instance.



Unless it suddenly loses 50-80+% of its value, like Bitcoin has done on several occasions in the past.
Click to expand...
Thing is it always comes back, and then some...
 
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