Quote from: Elwar on July 25, 2011, 11:05:59 PM

I had looked into Bitcoin back when it was around $1/BTC and thought it was great, tried to mine but it kept giving me errors so I moved on.

Then I read a few articles here and there, read the one about how Bitcoin had gone from pennies to a couple of dollars and how that was a 2000% increase. I tried mining again, it again gave me errors and I moved on.

Then I read an article in June about how it had been worth $10 at the beginning of the month and skyrocketed to $35 before dropping to $20. At that point I knew that I should no longer wait on the sidelines.

I sent out an e-mail to my family telling them that they should seriously check out Bitcoins, as the family geek to the family I was giving them helpful advice, hoping they might invest a little bit and see it go up to $100 or more.

My brother wrote back asking if this was one of those Nigerian scams. I told him a bit about it and he just responded with some Guardian article about how some legislator wanted to ban Bitcoins and how once that was known the price dropped to $17/BTC. I just responded that of course governments will try to make it illegal, it is competition for them. I also mentioned that $17/BTC was up from $10 just a few weeks prior.

My brother-in-law e-mailed me a link to a libertarian talk show that he listens to and said that they talk about Bitcoins once in a while.

I explained to my wife that we needed to get in on Bitcoins now before it goes up any more. She did not understand it but I told her that it would most likely at least double by the end of the year. We have a $35k balloon loan coming up next year and we are racking our brains on how we will pay for it.

I ended up taking $10k from my Roth IRA and buying Bitcoins.

Normally, I wouldn't feel the need to respond to such stupidity, but this decision doesn't just affect you. Have you even read the posts on this forum? Even the more realistic Bitcoin devotees admit that, with the speculators clearing out, the price will never be as high as it was during the bubble's peak. I hope for your wife's sake that you don't get wiped out.