My journey with Bitcoin has been interesting. I bought my first coin for around the $1000 mark, and bought several in the $500-700 range also. I stored two-thirds of my coins safely and then decided to try my hand at some trading. My timing was off however and my coins were stuck in gox. So in order to try and recoup some of my losses, i decided to have a go at mining and purchased some scrypt asic miners from someone who had a very good reputation in crypto circles (litecoin). Unfortunately this gentleman has now decided to not honour his side of the bargain and has disappeared with the funds. So yes, lessons were learnt but at the end of the day it was money that i could afford to lose.
I just find it unfortunate that the crypto world attracts these types of people and yes you will say there are scammers everywhere in life, however on face value there appears to be a higher percentage in crypto circles. At least if my bank account gets hacked and money stolen i can rest easy that i will be reimbursed. This is a problem that needs to be looked at if Bitcoin has any chance of being successful.
I would agree. Well Virtual Currencies really are the wild west still. It's a lawless town so to speak and a lot of men carry guns. But there are honest people out there, and a lot of good people.
And yes a lot of very very dishonest people. I feel, and I am sure I'm not alone here; that it is sad to say that those who hold the largest sums of Bitcoin tend to be the ones who are the least honest and trustworthy. The exchanges that simply vanish. The Ninja Coins, the Gambling sites that claim to be "fair". These people operate under no rules, laws, or oversight.
But I find a lot of the people on this forum are great. I make deals and trades and sell things. I've sent BTC first and gotten my goods, and I've had people pay me first and I send the goods as promised. As anywhere, you have to be careful.
Strato