$10,496.00 for ONE BITCOIN!

SALT is a very interesting concept.

Allows crypto holders to borrow fiat against it without selling crypto.

Clearly, the specialized chip makers are "shovels," but those troughs may already have been dug.

Transaction companies? They play a huge part here, too.

The "shovels" are the companies investing in blockchain (IBM, as I pointed out earlier). The technology has uses far beyond creating virtual currencies. IBM designs the software and builds the hardware to support blockchain, which has uses for securing medical records in hospitals, accounting, and inventory management. The scope of its use will unfold more broadly over the next 20 years for sure. 

Crypto currencies, meanwhile, are crashing down to earth. It's clear that manipulation is at play. Yesterday there were people at the gym complaining that they could not sell because the exchanges were "down". Some in limbo for days and days. I could not imagine being stuck in a free falling asset. At least with the stock market, I can sell at "market" if I so choose.

Traditional markets, while perhaps more predictable, and certainly more liquid, are still a mystery, as well.

You talk IBM? It reports it's strongest earnings in many quarters, and what's the street's reaction? Sell off and push the price down by 4.5%.

I dunno, seems as whimsical as the ups and downs in crypto.

IBM, post close but before earnings were reported after the bell, was the leading performer Dow stock of 2018. In just 12 days of trading it was up 10%. Now it's up roughly six percent for the year. Stocks bounce around and IBM has traditionally shed stock value on earnings days. I expected the variance to the down side on earnings no matter the report. The bottom line is that IBM reported solid earnings. Business is improving. The stock is going higher. And oh yeah, as a side point, IBM is the largest company investing the most in Blockchain. Yesterday was an opportunity to buy IBM on sale.

To be fair Detox, paying an 8.4% fee to buy bitcoin and then pay 5.4% to convert your bitcoin to cash is not what I would call a good investment strategy. 

Even you must agree that the fees on Bitcoin ATM machines is crazy. There is no other investment on the planet that has higher entry or exit fees than Bitcoin ATM transactions. 

Bitcoin is falling with more news on multi million dollar hacks and the bitcoin threads have gone the way of chirping crickets. I previously posted that the 6k range would be a decent entry point to trade bitcoin. However, the clumsiness of the coinbase app is a super big red flag for me. How is it that it took me several days to have coinbase return an email in regard to a simple logon issue? While i do believe that a 6k buy might result in a profitable trade, the inefficiency of the app is alarming and is enough to keep me away. The reality is Bitcoin has zero residual value and its price is driven only by speculation. It is my opinion that Bitcoin will never again retrace its 20k highs earlier this year. That opportunity was most likely the result of extreme market manipulation whose key players will never be exposed. Good luck to anyone that plays this game....too many red flags for me! 

36 hours after my previous post Bitcoin price manipulation is exposed! So maybe Draper can enlighten us on what he knows rather than hawking 250K price targets? In the markets, these types of crimes are punishable by law. What's the law in crypto land? The answer is NOBODY knows!

Bitcoin is not for me. With all of the controversy at Coinbase, I don't need the headaches. It took Coinbase nearly an entire week to confirm my password (which was correct the entire time), just so I could log into site. 

After all, Bitcoin has zero intrinsic value and pays its owners nothing in return aside from the hope that someone will pay more for it down the road. At least in the stock market, I collect 2%-3% in dividends independent of the yearly returns from appreciation.

Gamble... Agree with much of what you have said about Bitcoin.    I have come to a similar conclusion about it, and it's a definite no-go for me...  I view it as "digital gold", with the risk that someone can hack my money.  At least with a bank you have recourse and the FDIC at your back.  People love the appeal of an independent exchange with bitcoin, until you've lost your dough and you need help !!!  ...   You're truly  on your own w/ Bitcoin, as I'm sure the losing souls of users on the Mt. Gox exchange can attest to....