Investing in Bitcoin is ‘plain stupid’

ANSWER this for me.

A door-to- door salesman (think Avon, vacuum cleaners etc) comes to your home and says;

“I have a great new product I reckon you’d be interested in. It’s a crypto-currency called Bitcoin.

It’s like a normal coin except it’s digital and is mined by super computers which generate a Bitcoin every time they solve a complex puzzle.

We don’t know who the miners are but these Bitcoins were originally used by drug cartels and arms dealers to launder their money and trade between each other to avoid the authorities. You see, everyone who buys Bitcoins is anonymous.

Instead of a bank account you hold it in a numbered digital wallet.

Then normal people started to invest and the value has skyrocketed.

This year alone the value of one Bitcoin has risen from $US1000 to $US18,000.

You can trade your Bitcoin on a market on the internet but none of them are regulated by governments or securities authorities so if anything goes wrong you have no protection. And those dinosaurs at the Reserve Bank reckon it’s a dangerous mania ... but what would they know. So would you like to buy a Bitcoin for $US18,000?“What would your answer be? I have to say this is one on the craziest investment fads I have seen. And stories of average Australians borrowing to invest is so high risk and just plain stupid. It’s almost like a financial computer game targeted at young investors who are treating it a bit like a gaming app on their smartphone ... but involving lots more money. If you have spare cash you can afford to lose (punting money), and you want to have some fun, then go ahead. But remember to withdraw profits to cover your initial investment and just play with the excess. Otherwise don’t get sucked in to another getrich- quick scheme which always end badly.