Is Bitcoin Safe To Invest In? - YouTube

Channel: LifesBiggestQuestions

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Bitcoin.
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Bitcoin is word the majority of avid internet users has come to know, but few of us have
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come to truly understand.
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Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that works without a bank.
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You may have noticed from the many headlines over the latter part of 2014; Bitcoin is steadily
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increasing in value and some people have made A LOT of money from it.
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But….how safe is it.
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Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest Questions…I am Rebecca Felgate and today
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I am asking: Is Bitcoin Safe to Invest In?
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Before I get right into the nitty gritty details of this video, I want to remind you to leave
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thumbs up on videos you like and to leave comments so we can continue our discussion.
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Also, to all of you who are new here, please do feel free to go ahead and subscribe to
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our channel.
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Bitcoin was established in 2009 and allows people around the world to trade via a cryptocurrency.
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The creator of Bitcoin goes by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto, but of course, that is a
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pseudonym and nobody knows who that person actually as.
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Initially, people were sketchy about Bitcoin, possibly due to its lack of an accountable
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creator, and largely due to the link between cryptocurrencies and drug purchases on the
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dark web.
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However, the world has changed since 2009, with more and more people seeing the benefits
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of a paperless, nonphysical money system as opposed to fractional reserve banking.
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Now, over 100,000 merchants accept Bitcoin as a form of payment.
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These days, the value of one bitcoin is skirting around the 17,000 dollar mark – at the end
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of 2013, a bitcoin was worth 1000 dollars, and at the beginning of 2011, it was worth
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just a dollar.
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With these kinds of highs…a lot of people are interested in investing… but just how
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safe is it?
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- At this point I just want to make it clear that I am in no way a crypto expert or financial
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analyst, I am just giving you some factual highlights from hours of research on the topic.
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So….
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In many ways, Bitcoin is safer than placing your money in a bank or building society.
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For one thing, banks are notoriously corrupt, we have seen numerous banking crises and meltdowns
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thing.
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Bitcoins are in some ways more secure than cash too; you cannot forge a bitcoin like
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you can bank notes.
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Similarly, unless you give someone your private key password to your bitcoin wallet, it is
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pretty difficult for someone to steal your money.
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Also, with the process of mining, public ledgers of all bitcoin transations are created…which
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means there is a digital record of every payment.
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However, there are a few issues with the Cryptocurrency that are worth noting at this stage in the
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game.
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One of the problems with Bitcoin is the hype.
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A lot of people are buying into the currency for some kind of hipster street cred validation,
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which is a terrible reason to invest in something.
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The currency hasn’t yet stabalized, which is why we are seeing such huge rises and falls
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in the value over the past few months.
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With such wild swings, it is difficult to affix a goods to currency value, making trading
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with bitcoin, at the moment, anyway…a slight risk.
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People are also feasibly concerned that the inflation bubble will burst, leaving investors
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who joined at, say , 15 thousand dollars to the bitcoin, out of pocket If the value crashes
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back down to its earlier US dollar exchange rate.
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The other issue with Bitcoin is that it is stored in online wallets.
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These wallets have pin numbers and if you forget that pin number, you cannot access
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your money.
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Also, you cannot reverse a transaction.
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If you send your money to the wrong person, you can’t get it back.
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Banks have safeguards for wrong payments, but Bitcoin doesn’t.
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There is no buyer protection.
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The other potential risk when it comes to Bitcoin is that governments are suspicious
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of it, partly due to its chequered history with the drugs market and partly because they’re
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suspicious of tax evasion.
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Bitcoin is currently illegal in Iceland, Russia, China and is a huge grey area in the United
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Arab Emirates.
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There are economists who have better understandings of crypto than I do, but so far as I see it,
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Bitcoin has its pros and cons…its areas of safety and its areas of risk.
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Right now, things certainly seem hot for bitcoin, and as we move forward into the future, I
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would imagine a cashless world to be a beneficial one…however the concept of Cyrpto needs
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to become a bit more tangible for it to truly take off.
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Do any of you guys have a bitcoin?
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What do you think?
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Can you help continue the debate in the comments section below?
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What do the rest of you think?
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Are you interested in investing?
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Let me know…as honesty, I would love to get a sense of what people think on this topic.
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For now, that’s all I have…I am your host Rebecca Felgate, please do leave a thumbs
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up on this video and click on the notification bell to be the first to hear a big answer.
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I’ll catch you in the next video, but for now stay curious, stay alert, and never ever
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stop questioning.
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If you want to continue on your questioning binge, why not check out our biggest What
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Ifs Playlist and our Biggest Science Questions playlist.