Oh, I think they're stupid, but they're not worthless. If people are willing to pay (real) money in exchange for them, they have value.
Personally I find the idea of some jaded, old programmer/academic making them up, selling them when they were near the peak, and then retiring hilarious.
Originally posted by Meat187
If it can buy you drugs it's certainly not worthless.
sure, if people are willing to pay for something then that's what it's worth, but as an alternative currency (which is what it has been designed to be) it's fucking worthless.
Dec-04-2011 02:16
Blake
Supreme tranceaddict
Registered: Mar 2005
Location: Hilo, Hawaii
Browsed Silk Road a bit after the first thread was up, but was deterred by how involved the bitcoin process sounded. Glad to know it actually worked out for someone here.
^I was just afraid that I'd put enough money into bitcoin to purchase what I wanted but see it too devalued by the time I made a deal.
Dec-04-2011 03:07
Nrg2Nfinit
ItaloDiscoAddict
Registered: Sep 2001
Location: Ottawa
kind of like chinese currency.
Dec-04-2011 04:34
Meat187
Diese scheiß Katze
Registered: Dec 2007
Location: The Night's Plutonian Shore
quote:
Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN
sure, if people are willing to pay for something then that's what it's worth, but as an alternative currency (which is what it has been designed to be) it's fucking worthless.
What makes you so sure? After all the dollar is also nothing but a worthless piece of paper. The value always comes from trust and acceptance. I think Bitcoin is a pretty clever idea, whether it works depends on the masses now. Certainly Silk Road is the best thing that could have happened for Bitcoin. Now imagine Amazon starts accepting them...
Originally posted by Meat187
After all the dollar is also nothing but a worthless piece of paper.
i think that's overly simplistic. a dollar is guaranteed by a government; all debts and goods/services are available to be paid in that unit of currency. when bad things happen to a dollar, there are mechanisms and central authorities to protect it.
quote:
Originally posted by Meat187
The value always comes from trust and acceptance.
how does one "trust" the faceless and anonymous users of bitcoin, especially considering the most useful things you can buy with it are drugs (and child porn i would suspect)? the article i referenced provides several examples of dodgy bitcoin activity (theft, fraud etc).
quote:
Originally posted by Meat187
I think Bitcoin is a pretty clever idea,
i am sure it is quite a technological achievement. definitely must be pretty clever.
quote:
Originally posted by Meat187
whether it works depends on the masses now. Certainly Silk Road is the best thing that could have happened for Bitcoin.
but its practically the only thing to happen to bitcoin.
quote:
Originally posted by Meat187
What makes you so sure?
a currency needs to provide a relatively stable store of value. thus far it has gone from absolutely worthless to highly unstable. since we're talking about a virtual currency, prices of items would fluctuate wildy every day.
there won't ever (under the current algorithm) be enough bitcoins available to adequately fund consumer needs (if we're talking about it as a competing currency); bitcoins favoured early adopters which encourages hoarding, and exacerbates wild fluctuations in value, and contributes to relatively few individuals having great impact on the market.
bitcoin has no protections. if a bank robber storms my local bank, all my money is insured by the federal government. if someone misuses my credit card, its insured by my bank. i don't lose a dime. if your bitcoins get snatched, its tough titties.
it can't buy shit. drugs. child porn. how can it compete against more useful services which also provide consumer protection?
it is kind of like someone took the worst aspects of fiat currency and married them with the worst aspects of the gold standard and voila, bitcoin.
that's all i can think of right now. im sure there are many other reasons. that article was a good place to start. if you can get in and make some money off it, then why not? but there are far better betting games to be had in life than the creation of fake money that is only worth anything when you exchange it for real money.
Dec-04-2011 14:19
Meat187
Diese scheiß Katze
Registered: Dec 2007
Location: The Night's Plutonian Shore
quote:
Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN
You're mixing up quite a lot of things there.
First, these mechanisms and central authorities can equally fuck things up. See the current Euro crises. Of course a 13 word statement is simplified, but we've seen enough currencies going down in history to know that it's very true.
Second, Bitcoin is a replacement for hard cash, not banks or credit cards, so comparisons with those make no sense. Theoretically, institutions like that could exist for Bitcoin. You're right about its current state and capabilities. What I'm saying that it can either way from now, either becoming completely worthless or establishing itself more (as I said, imagine Amazon starts accepting it).
