What trading platform is recommended for buying cryptocurrencies?

[MoYS]

I don't see how. Baseball cards vary in value by which card and condition. The valuable ones were purchased in randomly packaged packs and only 1 in many got the rarest cards. The rare valuable cards of today were often manufactured and distributed decades ago and many of those cards are no longer extant or not in mint condition.

What part of bitcoin or crypto is analogous?

I think what he means is in terms of worth, baseball cards are not intrinsically worth something, like food, clothing, material and land etc. they are merely pieces of paper which have been ascribed worth by the market.

[AsherO]

If someone reads the white papers and understands what practical values specific projects hold, there are cryptos with value far beyond being a collectable item.

That value is in the blockchain technology (distributed immutable ledger etc), I don't see where the individual coins play into the technology's value. In fact, without all the speculative interest this technology is inefficient, the amount of electricity/computing power needed to support it would be cost-prohibitive without the speculation.

[Lurker]

Agreed, maybe i can clarify what you mean. you can buy futures which are also speculation, or even invest in a start-up which is speculation, and speculation does drive the price, but in those cases you are taking a calculated risk of foreseeable worth, in cyrpto speculation not only drives the price but it is the worth (besides for the worthless ones and zeroes stored on a computer somewhere).
I agree, they are not worthless, but the worth is only the confidence of the market, which happens to be quite strong at the moment

1- I believe there is a crypto bubble, and that we are near the end of this one. That has been stated here (Bitcoin thread) by many repeatedly.
2 - Futures are about as calculated a risk as crypto. Some things you know more about, some less. To ignore current uses and say its value is purely speculation in what it could possibly do is wrong, IMO. There are "worthless ones and zeros" being used to transfer funds around the world in seconds, where the traditional banking system can take 3-10 days to process the same amounts.

[AsherO]

I think what he means is in terms of worth, baseball cards are not intrinsically worth something, like food, clothing, material and land etc. they are merely pieces of paper which have been ascribed worth by the market.

But their collectible value isn't analogous to cryptos. Even the extrinsic value isn't, some collectors value their cards for their inherent/sentimental value (especially true for lower-value cards where there isn't this outsized market value), the same can't be said about cryptos.

[Lurker]

That value is in the blockchain technology (distributed immutable ledger etc), I don't see where the individual coins play into the technology's value. In fact, without all the speculative interest this technology is inefficient, the amount of electricity/computing power needed to support it would be cost-prohibitive without the speculation.

For Bitcoin, maybe, but this is not true of many crypto projects. To say the value is in the original technological theory without differentiating between what the individual projects bring to the table is like saying all internal combustion engines should have the same value, because the science behind them is the same.

[MoYS]

2 - Futures are about as calculated a risk as crypto. Some things you know more about, some less. To ignore current uses and say its value is purely speculation in what it could possibly do is wrong, IMO. There are "worthless ones and zeros" being used to transfer funds around the world in seconds, where the traditional banking system can take 3-10 days to process the same amounts.

Im not sure i understand. Do you mean to say that they are an efficient currency/banking system in one? Im not sure why that means they have value? (im really no expert, and im asking sincerely)

[MoYS]

But their collectible value isn't analogous to cryptos. Even the extrinsic value isn't, some collectors value their cards for their inherent/sentimental value (especially true for lower-value cards where there isn't this outsized market value), the same can't be said about cryptos.

I never thought about it in terms of 'collectible value', i guess that would depend whether most people buy cards because they like them, or because they can resell them.

[AsherO]

For Bitcoin, maybe, but this is not true of many crypto projects. To say the value is in the original technological theory without differentiating between what the individual projects bring to the table is like saying all internal combustion engines should have the same value, because the science behind them is the same.

I didn't say they all have the same value. But by and large crypto is cost-prohibitive without the speculation. And that includes cryptos like Ethereum that support smart contracts and other value-adds.

Blockchain and distributed ledgers are amazing technologies, which IMHO are best served decoupled from the coin/mining speculation and should either be institutionally funded or paid for by reasonable transaction fees. The technology would be designed with this in mind so that over time the costs of adding to the ledger don't keep increasing exponentially.

[AsherO]

I never thought about it in terms of 'collectible value', i guess that would depend whether most people buy cards because they like them, or because they can resell them.

Many people find boxes of cards in an attic somewhere that someone collected once upon a time, and search through them for cards of value.

[Lurker]

Im not sure i understand. Do you mean to say that they are an efficient currency/banking system in one? Im not sure why that means they have value? (im really no expert, and im asking sincerely)

I'm also no expert. I don't have a tech or finance background, so my understanding of these things is lower-level layman's at best. As I understand it, there are thousands of "crypto" projects out there. There are many different goals and uses for the different projects. There are some whose goals are to address inefficiencies within the current banking system, while working with currently existing currencies. There are others who aim to decentralize the banking system altogether, creating new stores of value and systems for transacting. There are some with goals somewhere in between, or altogether different. There is no "one-size-fits-all" description for all "crypto" projects, other than a common technological theory which these projects utilize. If a specific project finds success, in that their objective is reached and is adopted into mainstream usage, and there are finite tokens or keys needed by the general public to utilize the system, those now have value. How many current projects have actual case use and how many are still purely speculative... I don't know.

[Lurker]

I didn't say they all have the same value. But by and large crypto is cost-prohibitive without the speculation. And that includes cryptos like Ethereum that support smart contracts and other value-adds.

Blockchain and distributed ledgers are amazing technologies, which IMHO are best served decoupled from the coin/mining speculation and should either be institutionally funded or paid for by reasonable transaction fees. The technology would be designed with this in mind so that over time the costs of adding to the ledger don't keep increasing exponentially.

This article address some of that: https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/21/the-debate-about-cryptocurrency-and-energy-consumption/

There are also differences in the projects that use PoW vs PoS. Not everything is equally cost prohibitive.

[aygart]

I'm also no expert. I don't have a tech or finance background, so my understanding of these things is lower-level layman's at best. As I understand it, there are thousands of "crypto" projects out there. There are many different goals and uses for the different projects. There are some whose goals are to address inefficiencies within the current banking system, while working with currently existing currencies. There are others who aim to decentralize the banking system altogether, creating new stores of value and systems for transacting. There are some with goals somewhere in between, or altogether different. There is no "one-size-fits-all" description for all "crypto" projects, other than a common technological theory which these projects utilize. If a specific project finds success, in that their objective is reached and is adopted into mainstream usage, and there are finite tokens or keys needed by the general public to utilize the system, those now have value. How many current projects have actual case use and how many are still purely speculative... I don't know.

Of course any advantage a non-currency blockchain technology has for non-currency encryption and transactions brings down the inherent value of blockchain currencies.

[MoYS]

Of course any advantage a non-currency blockchain technology has for non-currency encryption and transactions brings down the inherent value of blockchain currencies.

That would seem right, but even non-currency ones would need way to monetize when they have a viable product, isnt the currency just a way of pre-selling the tech (assuming any of them reach a point where they can turn a profit from the actual tech)?

[AsherO]

That would seem right, but even non-currency ones would need way to monetize when they have a viable product, isnt the currency just a way of pre-selling the tech (assuming any of them reach a point where they can turn a profit from the actual tech)?

The currency is a way for them to make bank even though their "product" will never go anywhere, which is their entire point, to cash in on the hype.

[MoYS]

The currency is a way for them to make bank even though their "product" will never go anywhere, which is their entire point, to cash in on the hype.

I was being hypothetical, if they become viable products, which you say will not happen (and i dont know enough to agree or disagree) that i dont see a difference between the ones that have currencies and the ones that dont

[Flavored Seltzer]

Getting back on topic, I found a article online, wikipedia.org/wiki/BitLicense (in the history section it lists the platforms that are available in New York State).
 I really want to try out Kraken or Voyager and possibly a few others, but they aren't a option for me. I think I'll try out Gemini.
Any other NYS residents in a similar situation?
PS, I think I might also try Coinbase, I'm going to first look into what the fees are.

[YitzyS]

Alternatively, you can probably invest your money here with similar results:

BUMP

[aygart]

BUMP

Coming from the guy who bought the stock of a company he never heard of based on a tip. Rich.

[YitzyS]

Coming from the guy who bought the stock of a company he never heard of based on a tip. Rich.

As I expounded on, a stock is backed by a real asset. Crypto is backed by an intangible phycological feeling. Yes, you can make money off people's insanity, but IMO it will eventually crash.

[YitzyS]

Coming from the guy who bought the stock of a company he never heard of based on a tip. Rich.

Also coming from a guy whose crypto portfolio fell from $35 to $6.