Question for those educated about Bitcoin.

[Exit308]

There is an app for phones that connect to a financial database at CNBC.
It has a cryptocurrency section that shows the current dollar exchange rate for crypto’s. Some of you are prolly familiar with it.

On the crypto page are listed three or four Bitcoin entries.
The current exchange rate is sometimes close in values, but never identical, and sometimes quite a bit different.
I assume that the entries are for different Bitcoin ‘exchanges’.

Am I correct in that assumption and why is the dollar exchange rate different across the various exchanges?

Thanks in advance.

[Highground]

Not a user of cryptos but very likely since the buy/sell goes through their version of a brokerage house there is some type of commission fee. If you sell to them then as in most house transactions you sell to them at a lower price than the "buy", some call it the "spread" and may also invoke a commission or trade charge.

I just stick to metals.

[V guy]

Like all the Wall St Brokerage Houses and Hedge Fund managers..................they make all the profits, seconds before you ever hear about some sort of profit potential coming to light.

The big boys are using bitcoin to cover political payoffs, and other illegal activities and making a bit of a profit from the little guys who think that they can beat the system.

Think that China is not playing the game?
Currency traders have existed for years.

Real Estate deals, distress sales, insider trading, are the hallmarks of big cash and corruption.
As is said a man's labor is worth fair payment.
An insider or Wall St guy who makes money off you while you sleep and leaves you no richer by day, is a thief, not a laborer.

Jesus had a thing about the money changers, not the laborers; it is said that it is easier in the afterlife for an elephant to pass thru the eye of a needle, than for a corrupt rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Most of them, like very very rich, dead Epstein, prefer hell anyway.

[bubbagump]

Originally Posted by V guy

Like all the Wall St Brokerage Houses and Hedge Fund managers..................they make all the profits, seconds before you ever hear about some sort of profit potential coming to light.

The big boys are using bitcoin to cover political payoffs, and other illegal activities and making a bit of a profit from the little guys who think that they can beat the system.

You don't 'beat' the system. You work it. Personally I'm ok with the big boys making the big $$, the small $$ are plenty big enough for me.

To the original question, the exchange rate is different across different exchanges because they are different exchanges. It may help to understand that the quoted 'exchange rate' is normally listed as the rate for the latest transaction. And to appreciate what that really means ya need to understand how the floor works. There are commonly three prices involved, 'bid', 'ask' and 'last'. 'Bid' is what a potential buyer is offering, 'Ask' is what a potential seller is advertising, and 'last' is what the last transaction completed at.

To be honest buying bitcoin is a lot like buying gold, except without the gold. Doesn't make it useless, but it's not what bitcoin is for.

[raubvogel]

Short version

[Mebsuta]

I'm too dum to understand bitcoin, so I would want to know about who is making the equipment or generating the electricity to mine it. Kind of like I don't want a bunch of missiles, but I might want some Raytheon.

[bubbagump]

Originally Posted by Mebsuta

I'm too dum to understand bitcoin, so I would want to know about who is making the equipment or generating the electricity to mine it. Kind of like I don't want a bunch of missiles, but I might want some Raytheon.

My understanding is the Chinese have pretty much cornered the mining and blockchain validation activities at the moment. Power costs are the big thing right now, unless you have access to free power it is not cost effective to do right now, not even with dedicated mining machines.

[meltblown]

Originally Posted by bubbagump

My understanding is the Chinese have pretty much cornered the mining and blockchain validation activities at the moment. Power costs are the big thing right now, unless you have access to free power it is not cost effective to do right now, not even with dedicated mining machines.

That's the way I have understood it. The capital to get it at this point in time is real with respect to hardware and power consumption. Some large state enterprise in China with extra blockchain capacity on a supercomputer used in surveillance and stuff can just be shifted to mining.

[Mebsuta]

Thanks. I will leave it for the Chinese and the Dark Webbies.

[Bawana jim]

Might want to be careful.

"Those arrested today are accused of deploying elaborate tactics to lure thousands of victims with promises of large returns on their investments in a bitcoin mining pool, an advanced method of profiting on cryptocurrency,” Paul Delacourt, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office said. “The defendants allegedly made hundreds of millions of dollars by continuing to recruit new investors over several years while spending victims' money lavishly.”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3800028/posts

[bubbagump]

Originally Posted by Bawana jim

Might want to be careful.

"Those arrested today are accused of deploying elaborate tactics to lure thousands of victims with promises of large returns on their investments in a bitcoin mining pool, an advanced method of profiting on cryptocurrency,” Paul Delacourt, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office said. “The defendants allegedly made hundreds of millions of dollars by continuing to recruit new investors over several years while spending victims' money lavishly.”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3800028/posts

The math is pretty simple to do. I actually looked at buying a couple of mining machines, and even scamming power from an undisclosed location or two it is not all that lucrative right now. Used bitcoin miners are up on ebay for a reason. And the reason is even with free power your ROI is in terms of years assuming BC stays where it is, which is a long darned way from assured.

Nope, the way to mine BC is not to fund someone else's mining operation, the way to do it is to get some dedicated mining machines, hook 'em up to a free power supply and most importantly, join a mining co-op. Because your odds of uncovering a single BC on your own are vanishingly small.

Ain't worth it, at least not for me. The S&P has a better return, although I'm mostly watching that one too atm.

[Bawana jim]

At least with PMs they have some value even if the price is rigged. I get amazed folks invest in bitcoin when it has nothing behind it at all.

[bubbagump]

Originally Posted by Bawana jim

At least with PMs they have some value even if the price is rigged. I get amazed folks invest in bitcoin when it has nothing behind it at all.

Really? What value would that be, and how is that any different than any other sort of value?

[Bawana jim]

Originally Posted by bubbagump

Really? What value would that be, and how is that any different than any other sort of value?

Gold to me is worth scrap prices as jewelry. It's metal and you can make things out of it. What can you make out of bitcoins?

[bubbagump]

Originally Posted by Bawana jim

Gold to me is worth scrap prices as jewelry. It's metal and you can make things out of it. What can you make out of bitcoins?

Gold is truthfully is of pretty limited use as a structural metal. Iron is better, especially when mixed with a bit of carbon. But when you talk about value the conversation gets a lot more complicated, and things like perception get involved.

The question remains, what does gold bring to the table that magically confers an intrinsic value to it, other than perception?

[Bawana jim]

Originally Posted by bubbagump

Gold is truthfully is of pretty limited use as a structural metal. Iron is better, especially when mixed with a bit of carbon. But when you talk about value the conversation gets a lot more complicated, and things like perception get involved.

The question remains, what does gold bring to the table that magically confers an intrinsic value to it, other than perception?

Like I said, gold can be made into jewelry that adorns the wearer. Try wearing your bit coins I brought back some beautifully crafted gold that came from India that made my wife really happy. I used to wear a wedding ring of gold that symbolized our relationship. Gold is over priced but at least you can turn it into something. Bit coin is electronic money backed by nothing and you can't do anything with it.

Heck even when tulips were money you at least had a bulb.

[bubbagump]

Originally Posted by Bawana jim

Like I said, gold can be made into jewelry that adorns the wearer. Try wearing your bit coins I brought back some beautifully crafted gold that came from India that made my wife really happy. I used to wear a wedding ring of gold that symbolized our relationship. Gold is over priced but at least you can turn it into something. Bit coin is electronic money backed by nothing and you can't do anything with it.

Heck even when tulips were money you at least had a bulb.

Adorning the wearer, well chicken bones can do that too. Not what most folks normally think of as 'useful'.

[Bawana jim]

Originally Posted by bubbagump

Adorning the wearer, well chicken bones can do that too. Not what most folks normally think of as 'useful'.

I pity your wife if you think chicken bones are adornment, she deserves better.

[bubbagump]

Originally Posted by Bawana jim

I pity your wife if you think chicken bones are adornment, she deserves better.

She doesn't wear either one. Just pointing out that chicken bones have been used the same way as you suggest, and somehow the magic doesn't fall on chicken bones the same way it seems to on gold. And was wanting to explore this further.

Because I for one don't think there is any magic, beyond convincing a herd to go this way or that. And it's worth recalling that herds will famously stampede right off a cliff if pointed in that direction.