Wow. Bitcoin is almost $1,500

Page 101 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,135
2,445
126
Bitcoin seems to be stuck in the $50,000 to $60,000 range for the past month or so. Is the rally over for now?

1616087048711.png
 

ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,135
2,445
126
Doubt it, stimmy checks have just started hitting.

Yeah, I'm hoping for a stimmy bump in both Bitcoin and stocks. That said, I didn't qualify for this stimmy check even though I qualified for about half of the last one. Bummer. I wonder how many fewer people there are who are like me this go around, who didn't really need the money but got some anyway.
 

IEC

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Jun 10, 2004
14,330
4,917
136
At least around here I see evidence that stimmy checks are going to travel, restaurants, and all the other stuff people put on hold during 2020.
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
21,629
10,841
136
At least around here I see evidence that stimmy checks are going to travel, restaurants, and all the other stuff people put on hold during 2020.

Money isn't static. Eventually people will take that as profit (from selling things to people spending the extra $$$) and that's what goes into resolution of debts, paying of bills, or the investment sector: stocks, bonds, crypto, whatever.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,374
12,126
126
www.anyf.ca
It's crazy to think that if I bought 2-3 bitcoins when this thread was originally made, I would now have enough money to pay off my house. Not considering any kind of taxes, then 1 would be enough.

Though in reality it's probably very hard to actually cash out that kind of money without setting off red flags and alarms so you'd want to get a lawyer and accountant to do it the most efficient and legal way possible. Getting such a high % return you probably do lose most of it to taxes I imagine.
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
21,629
10,841
136
Getting such a high % return you probably do lose most of it to taxes I imagine.

Not really. At least in the US, currently long-term cap gains is 20%. Then you'll pay the 3.8% ACA Medicare tax on everything over $200k. So, at most, you'll pay 23.8%.
 

ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,135
2,445
126
It's crazy to think that if I bought 2-3 bitcoins when this thread was originally made, I would now have enough money to pay off my house. Not considering any kind of taxes, then 1 would be enough.

Though in reality it's probably very hard to actually cash out that kind of money without setting off red flags and alarms so you'd want to get a lawyer and accountant to do it the most efficient and legal way possible. Getting such a high % return you probably do lose most of it to taxes I imagine.

Odds are that if you had 3 bitcoins in 2013, you would have sold them a long time ago. Most people cashed out early, many of them at a loss.

It's like a real life version of playing "Who wants to be a millionaire"... most people never stick around for the million dollar question, and cash out early because they aren't willing to risk a life changing amount of money for a chance of making a fortune.

Before you let regret and FOMO take over your investing decisions, you gotta ask yourself... would you have REALLY held onto your Bitcoin in 2018 when it dropped from $18,000 to $3,000? I wouldn't have. Even a "smart" investor would have dumped it early and bought the dip at the end of the year.
 
Last edited:

ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,135
2,445
126
Not really. At least in the US, currently long-term cap gains is 20%. Then you'll pay the 3.8% ACA Medicare tax on everything over $200k. So, at most, you'll pay 23.8%.

Red is Canadian. Looks like his capital gains tax rate is up to 50%. Ouch.
 

brianmanahan

Lifer
Sep 2, 2006
24,237
5,634
136
Red is Canadian. Looks like his capital gains tax rate is up to 50%. Ouch.

i don't think %50 cap gains tax rate is an accurate number.

it looks like canada counts %50 of your individual capital gains as regular income and taxes them under the normal brackets.

per a internet calculator, if you made 80$k in salary in ontario, your total taxes would be 20$k for 2020. if you made 80$k and also sold 100$k in crypto, your total taxes would be 40$k in 2020.

so if canada's maximum federal + province + etc tax bracket is %50, the maximum cap gains tax rate is %25.
 
Last edited:

Roger Wilco

Diamond Member
Mar 20, 2017
3,873
5,720
136
Blockfi offers a compounding 6% APY that gets paid out monthly. I may end up sticking all my coins there.

I'm now trying to figure out how to get my BTC from NiceHash to Blockfi without getting destroyed by transaction fees.
 

gorobei

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2007
3,668
997
136
Odds are that if you had 3 bitcoins in 2013, you would have sold them a long time ago. Most people cashed out early, many of them at a loss.

It's like a real life version of playing "Who wants to be a millionaire"... most people never stick around for the million dollar question, and cash out early because they aren't willing to risk a life changing amount of money for a chance of making a fortune.

Before you let regret and FOMO take over your investing decisions, you gotta ask yourself... would you have REALLY held onto your Bitcoin in 2018 when it dropped from $18,000 to $3,000? I wouldn't have. Even a "smart" investor would have dumped it early and bought the dip at the end of the year.
I went back and read the old g&vc btc/crypto thread around the 2011-2012 era. good lord that was a wild time with the theories/strategies, the micromanaging of miner settings, and the rollercoaster of btc prices from all the drama with the exchanges.

What started as a way to make a few bucks a day for some beer money or to pay off a gaming gpu turned into a full on business venture. the number of miners who cashed out 20 or 30 bitcoins for double/triple digit profits seem insane in hindsight. but i dare say no one back then was even close to fever dreaming of $50k valuations with 100k as a likely future target. so you can hardly blame them. back then the possibility of btc hitting $0 from govt regulation or some exchange scandal was a much higher possibility.

nowadays there is a natural slope history to btc growth absent market manipulation spikes or correction dips. gambling on timing dips with the tax rule changes and general difficulty in buying back means hodling is very in vogue.

eth 2.0 PoS will be entertaining on the miner side but as an investment shouldn't radically change the prospects of eth as an investment.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,374
12,126
126
www.anyf.ca
Not really. At least in the US, currently long-term cap gains is 20%. Then you'll pay the 3.8% ACA Medicare tax on everything over $200k. So, at most, you'll pay 23.8%.

Don't you also need to declare as income on top of that though? So that's another 33% or so. Not sure if the 33% would be calculated after the capital gains or before though. This is where this stuff can get so complicated and you definitely want an accountant.

But yeah it's fun to think of the what ifs but chances are I would have cashed out way before.

I remember when BTC mining was still new and considered getting into it but never did... if there's one thing I kick myself for, it's that. Now days I would not bother because the hardware is just too hard to get. Same with ethereum. I tried but only managed to get 2 cards and then just gave up. For BTC you need asics but even those are hard to get.
 

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,885
2,125
126
Pffftttt....Bitcoin is SOOOO last week. Cardano $ADA is where all the cool kids are these days :D
 

Shmee

Memory & Storage, Graphics Cards Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 13, 2008
7,403
2,439
146
Haha, yeah Cardano has had quite the run recently.
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
21,629
10,841
136
Don't you also need to declare as income on top of that though?

No. Not in the United States anyway.

If by some chance you mined your BTC, you owed income tax on it based on its value at the time that you mined it. You don't owe income tax on the value it accrued while you were holding it (presumably for a year or longer, to get the long-term cap gains rate).
 

Shmee

Memory & Storage, Graphics Cards Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 13, 2008
7,403
2,439
146
None currently. 50,000 Satashi is worth roughly $27 right now at current price of BTC.
 

ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,135
2,445
126
PayPal's implementation for purchasing crypto kinda sucks. Once you purchase it, you can't transfer it to an external wallet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Shmee

Shmee

Memory & Storage, Graphics Cards Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 13, 2008
7,403
2,439
146
Yeah, you can't do crypto transfers on Robinhood either, at least not yet.
 

KMFJD

Lifer
Aug 11, 2005
29,178
42,242
136
I wonder if that's going to impact NFT's as well. Is something that doesn't really have monetary value really a "cryptocurrency"?

Will I have to stop sending Coolcoin (Which is technically an NFT, before NFT's became cool) to India? If I do, will Modi send hitmen out for me? :)
everytime someone tries to explain NFT's and their 'value' i just lmao
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,689
2,811
126
Tesla started accepting bitcoin as payment last night. But it's interesting they're planning on holding on to bitcoin they take as payment rather than converting it immediately to fiat currency. Pretty much all other companies that take bitcoin as payment does the opposite and immediately converts the bitcoins into fiat currency to minimize their risk. So Tesla end goal is not fiat but rather more bitcoin. Very interesting.

 
  • Wow
Reactions: Roger Wilco