Quote from: odolvlobo on January 16, 2015, 02:22:17 AM

Quote from: Nagle on January 15, 2015, 08:08:44 PM

Quote from: nexus99 on January 14, 2015, 10:30:33 PM

Quote from: mayax on January 14, 2015, 10:28:59 PM

how much have you lost?

You don't lose till you sell.

No, that's delusional. You have to value your assets at market.

Let's say you had $1000 and you bought one bitcoin and now it is worth $200. There are two ways to look at it without being delusional:

1. You have $0 and 1 bitcoin, but "you don't lose until you sell".

In this case, you lost $1000 when you bought the bitcoin. According to you, you have a bitcoin that has no value until you sell it. You have $0 plus a bitcoin worth nothing, so you lost $1000. You may gain some money back when you sell the bitcoin, but in the meantime you lost $1000.

2. Mark-to-market: you have $0 and $200 worth of bitcoins.

In this case you effectively have $200 because you can exchange the bitcoin for $200. You lost $800.

Correct. Stating 'I have 1 bitcoin, which means I still have 1 bitcoin until I decide to sell' is nothing but a philosophical retort.

I can sit here all day and retort with, 'I still have life until the time I die.'

But just having 1 bitcoin in cold storage...still has a 'real world' dollar and utility purchasing power value less than what you purchased it for (if this is indeed the case)

Placing a sentimental or emotional value higher than that might be an offsetting moral victory for some in the face of financial loss. That's certainly fine.

To each their own.