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Anyone here invest in cryptocurrency? I've been interested for a while but i don't really understand it. Speaking to a friend he was adamant that Orchid $OXT will "explode" in the next few months. I've taken his word for it and bough a small amount just to test the waters. Depending how this goes i might look at further, larger investments.

Obviously another Bitcoin scenario isn't going to happen but whats people experience/thoughts?

Well, when the ads in my Junk folder offering Bitcoin etc outnumber the ads for erectile dysfunction, I’d say steer clear.

I think you've missed the boat.

I also thought crypto currency was never going to be a winner. But many people made money from the bubble.

It's when you get Junk ads for Vagisil creme you should start to worry :eek:

I guess a follow up questions would be, if not Cryptocurrency, whats a good way to invest these days short to mid term.

I have a few investments that have traded quite well in the last 5 years. But please do be careful as there is a whole host of shit out there. Depends on if you just want to make a quick buck, and be out as quick as you went in or looking more long term.

The one thing I was continually told when I got involved was definitely don't invest on a whim or even what a friend may say. Just research any investment and keep researching it (DYOR). Don't think that if you don't invest right now that you won't get another chance (FOMO). You will in most cases.

I'm in long term on most assets but I do trade on one or two. A lot of them can be very unpredictable/volatile but if you spend enough time watching several of them, there are a few that are fairly stable. They give great opportunities to trade in and out, say once a month.

I don't think BTC will have another BTC scenario and it isn't really worth investing in it now, because unless you already have a lot of disposable, it is essentially a SOV (Store or Value) and a rich man's toy. I personally wouldn't want to put in £10k worth to see the value drop several thousand but it's all relative to the individual.

I really on't see how anyone can claim any crypto or digital asset will "explode" or go on a bull run, in terms of a significant peak. Many of them may but quite equally they may drop quicker than Neymar too.

Look around, be savvy, take your time and try not to get sucked into any shillers that just want you to part with your cash. Also several schemes are purely that and dodgy as fuck.

Happy to discuss further in DM but as said above, think about the project you might be investing in, for example no one buys loom bands anymore because kids have moved on so you wouldn't invest in LoomBandInc (LMB ;) ) but you might invest in Apparel brand "Hype", even if a little late now. 

Just do your own homework first and see whether anything interests you. There are several gaming payment style projects that use a digital asset to make in game purchases quicker. But genuinely there is a huge amount of crypto on the markets so it's very much needle in a haystack.

One thing I'm certain of though, is that some of them are around and will be here to stay and I think some will gradually change or be a big part of how our banking works in the future.

Give that nice Steve Lansdown a call.

Bamboo has a financial advisor? Hope they don't charge him by the hour  :)

I think closer to the truth, Jimmy Quinn fucked up quoting

Nah, mine charges me by the paragraph the cunt  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Cheers man, thats a good read. I might hit you up for a chat at some point soon.

Mo problen. As with anything, genuinely genuinely do not constitute this as financial advice.

But sure, definitely anytime Chubbs :)

Never invest in something you don't fully understand, unless it's money you can afford to lose. That goes for all investments to a certain extent, recommendations even more so.
What are you currently invested in out of interest? Right now I'm in ZOE, EUA, AA, and SYME.

I use a financial advisor to look after my investments and things did take a nose dive in March,April & May but have recovered well since early July

What do you mean😁

Absolutely. Simple advice but very rarely followed.


I have had a few regarding Graphene, and a minerals one but not EUA. SYME did interest me funny you mention that but noticed it rise back to near launch price levels so, if someone bought £1ks worth in July, you'd have a nice 800% profit. Not bad for a month or twos work. Although I did miss that.

Buying anything at the initial Covid outbreak certainly will have been an investors dream. Had the stock been around a fair while, you'd be confident that it could survive. Growth then would normalise. In this instance the growth would look abnormal to many due to the "crash". Yet it's purely just an initial correction that would happen in most cases.

I have a few legacy investments that won't be touched and are linked to former employment.

Of course, have a few crypto and digital assets. Some are just pure fun and if they grow they grow, if not we are talking very small stakes. Others are also mid to long term but try and take advantage of a trade as and when I can. One thing you know, is that crypto definitely will be hanging around when regulators, governments, banks and ECB, BoA, SBI etc are all looking at ways of implementing it.

For me it is about interoperability and helping the unbanked have access to some form of account. We all know FIAT as we know it is dead. You can continue to apply QE but in the long term all that does is devalue your currency and subsequently, economy. I also look at projects that can not only transfer a payment quick (we kind of have that) but also settles quickly too (we know that the banks and traders do not necessarily like that). In a constantly quickening world where everything is on tap, people are wanting their money to move just as fast, and at as little a cost to them as possible. I believe that at least a handful of crypto will emerge to do that.

Crypto = speculating, not investing.

Not necessarily true for all crypto or digital assets.

I have tracked one in particular for the last 18 months to two years on a month by month basis and I can confidently tell you that there is zero speculation (or gambling) going on there. Consistent trend value measurable of 10% swing (5% up - 5% down) or thereabouts. Even a complete Joey could trade in and out of that once a month. More consistent than several FIAT currencies.

Had you started with a £5k investment 12 months ago, and simply trading out and reinvesting back in each month, the year end (allowing for the initial £5k and deducting CGT) would have seen a compounded profit of around £50k. This is before we even talk about any speculative potential and what the particular asset is capable of doing in terms of the tech.

In terms of risk in just that one year you would either be stuck with the asset (no big deal, it will be around for the long term) or have a bunch of dollars/pounds to off ramp into your bank account if desired.

I think the trouble is, there are several Financial Advisors who have not adapted or much too cautious. Caution isn't a bad thing but to not adapt, well in anything those who can't or won't adapt get left behind.

The same can be said for banks too. An antiquated system (SWIFT messaging) that is much slower than the facade it keeps trying to believe that it is quick. Tell that to folk who need to pay and settle funds with cross transfers and how long it can still take to wire funds or the costs involved in doing so. Yet when you tell them there is an asset that can pay AND settle in a few seconds and also cost a very negligible amount, regardless of the amount of funds sent, is it any wonder several businesses are turning to other options instead of using the more traditional methods.

Take today/this weekend for example; you urgently need to send funds to someone/business but they aren't in the same banking network or messaging system as  yourself. You can send the funds but they won't receive them until Tuesday at the earliest and you will also have the funds pending in your account (aka not settled), plus if it is outside of SEPA then your bank will charge a hefty fee to you for this "privilege".

Imagine you have staff worldwide who need these funds on the day they are paid, who don't recognise the same bank holidays as your native country, and subsequently will have utilities and other bills go out. They can't afford to wait - so why should banking stop because life certainly doesn't?

But of course, crypto/digital assets are pure speculation and nothing else.

I’ve got 2.5m shares in SYME as a punt, gone up about £20k in value in the last couple of weeks.

You realise I'm one of them, right? And it's adviser, please. We're not american.

As confident as you may be about certain cryptocurrencies, I still can't call that investing. Just because your example made a nice return doesn't make it an investment, it means you speculated well.

I agree that as a method of transferring value and having the ability to do so without the need for a banking system, crypto (blockchain) is the future. But that's nothing to do with investing or speculating. We could transfer value between each other with carrots if we wanted to, it doesn't mean I need to speculate on their future value.

*Awaits typical bamboo 500 word reply*

Yes, of course I do, which is why I mentioned it. However don't take it personally when I said "several financial advisers", I certainly wasn't meaning all.

Apologies for the Americanism, it was either on purpose (I do it with colour/or sometimes) or may just have ben an auto correct (INTL Keyboard).

Ok, so I didn't acquire my asset(s) with the main goal of generating income or appreciation in the future? :) I would say many people who invested in Alphabet Stock did so purely as a speculative punt and not as a long term investment. I certainly didn't with this particular asset.

I agree, or at least to start with as a compliment to enhancing the banking system. Too many people still around who won't let traditional banking die and they won't let others in unless they have a piece of the proverbial.

For sure, we could trade in smarties or tea leaves but the point being, the more people that trade/transfer in a particular medium (or peg themselves to it) then naturally it has a value that tends to appreciate. Like the gold standard used to be and how the $ & £ are (yet losing value with continued QE) today. More so if that medium is limited. You know the drill regards supply, demand and scarcity of assets.

*Not surprised at the confirmation bias in action* For Reference: 269 words  :D

You obviously know your stuff and have confidence in what you do where as I have quite a lot of funds invested through an advisor I personally know and trust as I wouldn't know where to start

Absolutely and very sensible to do so. I'm not for one moment rubbishing FAs though - I took some myself.

From experience though, it also seemed that several and especially around 5/6 years ago that when I even mentioned the words cryptocurrency or digital assets, they didn't really seem to have any idea. One or two shrugged and mentioned BTC but any ideas beyond that seemed alien. Some didn't even want to discuss them.

Must stress though, that my point was several and not all and the knowing part is a combination of listening to what some were saying as well as what they weren't. Remember that sometimes there are those that don't want you to know about a certain stock/investment/speculation and will rebuff anything about it; all the while though they are happily filling their bags with it ;)