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Muskie
12-03-2013, 11:50 AM
Link (http://www.chrisnorstrom.com/2013/12/confession-i-could-have-made-128-grand-in-bitcoin-but-lost-1500/)

Interesting article for those interested in Bitcoin.

Anyone have any? I don't and have never thought about getting involved. I'd be interested in hearing other points of view.

ammtd34
12-03-2013, 12:23 PM
This weekend, Bomani Jones tweeted: I like my money to have an army behind it.

It just seems too volatile.

Kahns Krazy
12-03-2013, 12:25 PM
Buying an unbacked "currency" is like Amway, but without the good parts. For every dollar "made" in Bitcoins, someone else lost that dollar.

The guy who wrote that still hasn't learned a thing, because he is referring to his gamble as an "investment".

blobfan
12-03-2013, 12:34 PM
Some guy just through out a hard drive worth several million dollars in bitcoin currency.

chico
12-03-2013, 12:35 PM
Bitcoin, beanie babies, baseball cards, : beets, bears, Battlestar Galacta

floorsweeper
12-03-2013, 12:44 PM
Buying an unbacked "currency" is like Amway, but without the good parts. For every dollar "made" in Bitcoins, someone else lost that dollar.

The guy who wrote that still hasn't learned a thing, because he is referring to his gamble as an "investment".

Investing in currencies isn't the same thing as gambling. Sheeesh....................Although I will admit Bitcoin is sort of a dumb concept.

waggy
12-03-2013, 12:49 PM
I personally don't view it as a currency. Others might, but if I can't physically possess it, then it's not a currency to me.

XU 87
12-03-2013, 01:00 PM
Investing in currencies isn't the same thing as gambling. Sheeesh....................Although I will admit Bitcoin is sort of a dumb concept.

I'm sure Kahn's can speak for himself, and he will, but I think that's why he put "currency" in quotes.

On top of that, most of us don't want asshole fans from other programs giving crap to any of our posters.

X-band '01
12-03-2013, 01:11 PM
Bitcoin, beanie babies, baseball cards, : beets, bears, Battlestar Galacta

Muskie!

boozehound
12-03-2013, 03:15 PM
I still don't think I really understand how it works. It's just a fictional 'currency' that is not backed by anything or recognized by any government as legal tender, right? There's no way to take your bitcoins and buy a car or anything, unless you find some other idiot that wants to sell you their car for your bitcoins, right?

Jumpy
12-04-2013, 06:42 AM
I still don't think I really understand how it works. It's just a fictional 'currency' that is not backed by anything or recognized by any government as legal tender, right? There's no way to take your bitcoins and buy a car or anything, unless you find some other idiot that wants to sell you their car for your bitcoins, right?

Really, bitcoins aren't much different than any currency. Since the end of the gold standard, the only thing that keeps currency stable is the general faith of the majority of the population. Sure, it helps traditional currencies to be backed by actual countries, but if the popular faith in a currency fails, there is little that government could do to stop it.

At the moment, bitcoins are largely used for nefarious dealings on the Darknet because they are annonymous and untraceable. However, because they are not backed by any individual nation-state and are truly ubiquitous on the net, people are starting to put more faith in them. They are not linked to the unstable, volatile future of one nation but rather are created, or "mined", by the very people that are keeping the books. In very general terms, people set up "mining" computers that crack cryptographic algorithms. As these algorithms are solved, they create more bitcoins that are awarded to the owner of the computer that cracked them. Built into these algorithms are the banking transactions of the digital movement of the coins. So, as people are "mining" for new coins, they are completing the work of a traditional bank in moving the currency around from payer to payee for each transaction made. As time goes on and more transactions are being made, the equations have (by design) gotten harder to crack and, as a result, fewer bitcoins have been born into the currency. Here is a good overview of how they work. (http://www.forbes.com/sites/investopedia/2013/08/01/how-bitcoin-works/)

The bottom line is, as long as there is a population of people that place their faith in the currency, it does have value. I don't necessarily think that bitcoins are worth over $1000/coin, as they are priced now, but they are worth something. More and more mainstream people are jumping on board because it is a different currency altogether than what we have traditionally known. The fact that it is digital and controlled by a worldwide peer-to-peer network appeals to many people that believe in the idea of a borderless currency for the digital age.

GoMuskies
12-04-2013, 07:09 AM
I wonder if my online sportsbook would take bitcoin.

Kahns Krazy
12-04-2013, 02:54 PM
Really, bitcoins aren't much different than any currency. Since the end of the gold standard, the only thing that keeps currency stable is the general faith of the majority of the population. Sure, it helps traditional currencies to be backed by actual countries, but if the popular faith in a currency fails, there is little that government could do to stop it. .

I'm curious how that works. If the "inventor" of bitcoins suddenly floods the market with 10 million bitcoins, is that a crime? In what country? Who regulates this, and could it just be the greatest pyramid scheme of all time?

chico
12-04-2013, 03:10 PM
I'm curious how that works. If the "inventor" of bitcoins suddenly floods the market with 10 million bitcoins, is that a crime? In what country? Who regulates this, and could it just be the greatest pyramid scheme of all time?

From what little I know about it, apparently there is some sort of computer program the inventor wrote that makes it harder to produce bitcoins over time. Eventually no more will be produced. I guess theoretically he could revise the program but if he suddenly flooded the market with bitcoins they'd be about as valuable as German Marks after WW2.

Kahns Krazy
12-04-2013, 03:20 PM
After he already sold all of his bitcoins for real cash. Laughing all the way to the real bank.

Maybe I'm being stubborn here, but I just don't get it.

GuyFawkes38
12-04-2013, 03:54 PM
Here's an interesting article on bitcoins:
https://medium.com/money-banking/2b5ef79482cb

So yeah, if your computer gets hacked, your bitcoins can be stolen and, by design, there is no way to retrieve them (of course, this is a big feature for cash earned through crime).

Call me crazy, but I prefer a solid money market account.

Jumpy
12-05-2013, 06:19 AM
From what little I know about it, apparently there is some sort of computer program the inventor wrote that makes it harder to produce bitcoins over time. Eventually no more will be produced. I guess theoretically he could revise the program but if he suddenly flooded the market with bitcoins they'd be about as valuable as German Marks after WW2.

This. And apparently they are capped at 21 million. I'm not sure how people know that, but I've heard it from numerous sources.

Kahns Krazy
12-05-2013, 07:26 AM
What I read is that it is "open source", so those who know these things can see how it works.

Still, if stealing them is either not a crime (because no government acknowledges that they are currency) or an untraceble crime, I'm not that excited about it.

Also, what exists to stop me from doing the same thing and creating bitcoin2?

I just don't see how any of this is like any modern currency system.

Jumpy
12-05-2013, 08:35 AM
What I read is that it is "open source", so those who know these things can see how it works.

Still, if stealing them is either not a crime (because no government acknowledges that they are currency) or an untraceble crime, I'm not that excited about it.

Also, what exists to stop me from doing the same thing and creating bitcoin2?

I just don't see how any of this is like any modern currency system.

For a lot of people, that is the enticement.

The odds are against Bitcoin becoming the cog that drives the revolutionary wheel towards a unified, widely-accepted digital currency. It is an important step in the process, however. It is getting regular people like you and me talking about the concept. I tend to agree that the idea is still too new and foreign to create substantive change in the currency markets, but it is doing a service in breaking the ice.

If and when Bitcoin fails, another digital currency will undoubtedly be created later down the road. Perhaps even by a source that is less opaque and mysterious than Satoshi Nakamoto; a guy that most likely doesn't even exist. When this digital currency 2.0 is born, the mainstream population will be more receptive because they've had time to mull the idea and are more accepting of it. Really, Bitcoin is just a social experiment that is pushing us to where we need to be. Physical, paper-based currency is an old and outdated system that cannot survive forever. Bitcoin is simply helping prepare the general population for its demise.

vee4xu
12-05-2013, 08:12 PM
Simple, as an investment person, my advice is if you don't understand the instrument, don't invest in it. If you think you understand it and the instrument isn't mainstream, you're better off heading to a roulette wheel and placing your money down on red or black. I am with Kahns all the way on this topic. Bitcoins are junk. Stay mainstream. At this point, you're better off shorting 3-10 year bonds if you're looking for some excitement. You at least know that when the fed quits QE3, you'll get some sort of pop.

Jumpy
12-06-2013, 11:12 AM
Apparently you can now buy cars with Bitcoins, at least at one Lamborghini dealer in California (http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/6/5181864/lamborghini-dealership-starts-accepting-bitcoin).

paulxu
12-06-2013, 02:42 PM
Ruh-roh.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/06/bitcoin-crashes_n_4400392.html

Kahns Krazy
12-06-2013, 03:13 PM
For a lot of people, that is the enticement.

The odds are against Bitcoin becoming the cog that drives the revolutionary wheel towards a unified, widely-accepted digital currency. It is an important step in the process, however. It is getting regular people like you and me talking about the concept. I tend to agree that the idea is still too new and foreign to create substantive change in the currency markets, but it is doing a service in breaking the ice.

If and when Bitcoin fails, another digital currency will undoubtedly be created later down the road. Perhaps even by a source that is less opaque and mysterious than Satoshi Nakamoto; a guy that most likely doesn't even exist. When this digital currency 2.0 is born, the mainstream population will be more receptive because they've had time to mull the idea and are more accepting of it. Really, Bitcoin is just a social experiment that is pushing us to where we need to be. Physical, paper-based currency is an old and outdated system that cannot survive forever. Bitcoin is simply helping prepare the general population for its demise.

Interesting idea. I'm skeptical of a society getting away from government backed currencies, but I also never would have believed that anyone would pay for a digital bathroom wall to write 140 characters on ($24B market cap), so what do I know?

Caf
11-28-2017, 04:44 PM
I'm unearthing this thread because I have a bitcoin/finance/economics question. Plus it seems like it's all the rage to give your hot take on bitcoin.

My question is: Can a deflationary currency work? If a currency increases in value relative to the prices of goods, won't that discourage trade and undermine the very purpose of a currency?

I've seen that bitcoin discussions are as divisive as politics nowadays, so I'll acknowledge that it has obviously been a great way for some people to make money. I'm really just curious about what the end game here is.

waggy
11-28-2017, 09:23 PM
I'm really just curious about what the end game here is.

Child please. The end game is to take your real money and give you bit coins in return.

Snipe
11-28-2017, 10:53 PM
I have read some stuff saying that block-chain is the future of all transactions.

I guess Block-chain is at the heart of Bit Coin and you can trace every transaction bit by bit back to the source? Or not?

I have no idea. But that block chain stuff is supposed to be heavy metal.

I wish I would have bought lots of bit coins when they were cheap, and I don't know why people that have made millions aren't selling them off now.

Maybe they don't want to pay taxes.

I like Bitcoin because I like something other than the fiat currency of government.

I think the mining for bitcoin stuff seems odd, and that it is capped at 21 million bitcoins. I read an article that bitcoin mining using more electricity than over 100 nations.

I don't get it. But apparently to the true believers, the Block-Chain is going to be transformative and a big deal. But you really can't get a blowjob in Rio with Bitcoin, so it has nothing to do with my retirement plan.

Caf
11-29-2017, 08:01 AM
It's gone completely vertical this morning. Up 12% on the day.

Lamont Sanford
11-29-2017, 08:05 AM
It's gone completely vertical this morning. Up 12% on the day.

Are you referring to Snipe's BJ with Bitcoin in Rio?!?!?

MuskieXU
11-29-2017, 10:47 AM
I wonder if my online sportsbook would take bitcoin.

It’s the best way to cash out online winnings.

As for Bitcoin, people are buying it just to sell it at a higher price, not to use it. This is the most textbook definition of a bubble imo. I think we see the price crash in the not too far future.

American X
11-29-2017, 12:38 PM
As for Bitcoin, people are buying it just to sell it at a higher price, not to use it. This is the most textbook definition of a bubble imo. I think we see the price crash in the not too far future.

Balderdash. Use your Bitcoin earnings to buy tulip bulbs.

DerekMarquardt
09-09-2018, 11:16 AM
Buying an unbacked "currency" is like Amway, but without Phenq avis france (https://www.outlookindia.com/outlook-spotlight/phenq-avis-meilleure-pilule-de-perte-de-poids-2023-phenq-france-canada-french-2-achet%C3%A9s-1-offert-news-316639) the good parts. For every dollar "made" in Bitcoins , someone else lost that dollar.

The guy who wrote that still hasn't learned a thing, because he is referring to his gamble as an "investment".

You're quite right. Gamble and Investment are poles apart - gamble pays sometimes (odds) whereas a good investment pays most of the times.

GoMuskies
09-09-2018, 12:07 PM
I wish I had bought Bitcoin when this thread was created and sold it the first time this thread got bumped.