Hi Philter,Thanks for your message. To answer your question why it isn't a good idea to leave a large portion of your profits as Bitcoins I'd have to say that they have no inherent value in and of themselves and the value attributed to them by those who trade on SR for example is constantly up and down. That doesn't mean to say you can't profit from the Bitcoin directly, for example by buying them from one exchange for a certain price then selling them in another - or indeed simply buying a shed load of them and waiting until they appreciate in value but in my opinion it smacks too much of throwing one's eggs in one basket.You're absolutely right in saying that it would make sense to convert Bitcoins to another e-currency such as Pecunix or to precious metals but there are fees involved in so doing and even if you end up with a neat stack of gold bars under your bed, it's a far cry from that to nicely laundered funds sitting in a bank account in your name which you can use towards improving your lifestyle and/or a comfortable retirement.I joined SR as I realised that decent and successful vendors could well be sitting on a mountain of Bitcoins, the value of which could fall away any second - withdrawing the money as cash/bullion attracts hefty fees and also draws suspicion to them. In my view what's needed is a way to invest Bitcoins and receive it as cash plus interest in regular instalments into one's bank account.Would love to hear all your thoughts on this.V.Quote from: philter3 on April 03, 2012, 10:56 pmQuote from: vlad1m1r on April 02, 2012, 04:11 pmWell said my friend - I have been putting out feelers on another thread for people interested in investing their Bitcoin earnings but response has been lukewarm to say the least. I work for a Hedge Funds company and we avoid currency fluctuations by spreading investments over a basket of currencies, a significant portion of which are sunk into tangible assets. (This obviously is nothing new and many e-Currencies do the same - google "Ven")It would seem however the criminal underworld are happy to live free now and not have a care for the future. Of course I suppose any dealers interested in cashing in could just withdraw 100K into a briefcase and keep it under their bed but it sounds like a rather stressful way to spend your Twilight years!V.Vladimir, What are the likely downsides to simply leaving the Bitcoin as Bitcoin. What is the longterm likely direction of the Bitcoin?It seems to me that one perfectly good option is simply to keep one's Bitcoins from vending (or at least a sizeable chunk of them) as Bitcoins and wait to see where the chips fall?Another simple option is convert them to Pecunix. Gold is performing quite well and can be expected to continue to appreciate.Lastly one could simply convert the Bitcoins to physical bullion. I am not an investment professional.. but is there an obvious reason NOT to leave part as Bitcoins, part as digital gold currency and the rest as physical metals.. assuming one is more interested in growing drugs and selling them than in portfolio management??