You may have seen this announcement, but Kraken now lets you buy Ripple (XRP) with several fiat currencies including the US dollar. You can see one article on this here:
http://www.newsbtc.com/2017/05/19/kraken-ripple-fiat-support/
But did you notice this comment within this article?
"On May 5, 2017, the platform reported a record 24-hour trading volume of $178,521,474, which was a 25 percent increase from its previous record set on March 17, 2017."
We've already seen cryptocurrency values surging in recent weeks, and the natural question is whether we're in a bubble and we'll see a crash before long. I tend to think the answer is yes because surges this sudden usually need some sort of reset. But there's another question worth asking.
If you're familiar with the concept of the tipping point, things grow slowly until a certain point of momentum is reached. In this case, when enough people are familiar with cryptocurrency ... then get interested to invest in it. Suddenly it can take off without that surge being a bubble. The surge is meeting real demand rather than prospector speculation.
Sure, I think bubbles will still happen because surges don't happen in isolation from things like speculation and competition and government regulation that create bubbles. But a surge like this could have legitimacy.
And what I've described above isn't the only tipping point. The big one to occur will be when it's easy for the average person to understand the world of cryptocurrency and to use it. This is when values could dwarf where we are today.
It's because of this that long-term investors don't try timing the market. Their goal is to get into those things they believe will hold value over time. The current surge in prices could still see a crash. Many people believe it's inevitable. But if you think that cryptocurrencies are here for the long-term and you're willing to risk an investment in that, then you have to decide whether you want to time the market, or simply get in and trust in the overall trend.
In short, buying now holds the risk that you're "buying high"; but that's only true if this is an unnatural bubble. Waiting for the crash could mean that you miss out buying when really we're at the low point of an explosive new trend. You know, some day people may well be saying, "If only I'd bought Bitcoin when it was $2000 per coin."
Where do you stand on this? And why?