Four Reasons Bitcoin Is Worth Studying
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Author Topic: Four Reasons Bitcoin Is Worth Studying  (Read 4053 times)
Mehmentum
Icefire9
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« on: April 09, 2013, 02:15:07 PM »

http://www.forbes.com/sites/timothylee/2013/04/07/four-reasons-bitcoin-is-worth-studying/2/

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traininthedistance
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« Reply #1 on: April 10, 2013, 02:43:07 PM »

The deliberately deflationary nature of Bitcoin is going to be its downfall.  As more people pick it up, hoarding will become a serious problem, and the market for actually using it as a currency will seize up.

Likely causing a crash, and either that will be the end of bitcoin, or lather rinse repeat.

Bitcoin will go down as a good cautionary tale for why expansion of the money supply is a necessary thing.
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Beet
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« Reply #2 on: April 10, 2013, 02:54:28 PM »
« Edited: April 10, 2013, 02:57:26 PM by Beet »

This has nothing to do with the expansion of the money supply. It's a good old fashioned speculative bubble (for the second time, with this particular commodity). Get in while the iron's still hot! There's a good chance it'll still be for a while, but you've probably missed most of the opportunity.

(For the idea itself, it's technological, it's beautiful, it's elegant, it's peer-to-peer, it's open source, it's open borders... for all these reasons progressives should like it. Too much attention has been given to the deflationary angle, IMO.)
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Link
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« Reply #3 on: April 10, 2013, 05:48:39 PM »

There's a good chance it'll still be for a while, but you've probably missed most of the opportunity.

Considering you need a $2,500 dedicated ASIC processor to mine coins in a profitable manner most people are out of luck.

Given the opportunities for underworld transactions you would think bitcoin has a ready made global customer base, Syria, Iran, North Korea, the cartels, etc.
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BRTD
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« Reply #4 on: April 10, 2013, 09:54:41 PM »

This is the new tulip bulbs.

I just wish I had bought some earlier.
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King
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« Reply #5 on: April 10, 2013, 11:05:56 PM »

I still had 47 bitcoin cents left on the silk road I bought back when the exchange rate was just $10  a coin.  I cashed in with some free acid.
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DINGO Joe
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« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2013, 06:43:49 PM »

So, Bitcoin apparently lost 80% of it's "value" by the end of the week.  Do the people who lost all their money create virtual skyscrapers that they can jump out of?
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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
Ernest
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« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2013, 11:37:15 PM »

So, Bitcoin apparently lost 80% of it's "value" by the end of the week.  Do the people who lost all their money create virtual skyscrapers that they can jump out of?

Not quite.  While it is down 60% from its peak on Wednesday, it's back to where it was at the start of the month.  Still, it's the ultimate in fiat currency.  It doesn't even have a government backing it.  It's only advantage is that the number of bitcoins is fixed with a predetermined rate of increase in the supply.  Still if a steady supply is your main concern, may I suggest you stick to precious metals?
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DINGO Joe
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« Reply #8 on: April 14, 2013, 11:46:04 PM »

 a random article on how much electricity it costs to create bitcoins

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-12/virtual-bitcoin-mining-is-a-real-world-environmental-disaster.html

It is kind of interesting the parallels gold and bitcoin have.  Supply can only be added by those with specific financial means (though gold requires geographic means too). 

While gold does have some industrial uses only about 10% of gold production is actually used in industry.  Gold's value is far more esoteric than any other metal, almost bitcoinesque.  Admittedly, gold has a long history as being perceived as valuable across a wide range of cultures. 

They're both a hassle to store.  Gold requires unique facilities to store large quantities.  Bitcoin seems as susceptible to hacking and fraud as anything else on the internet.


And they're both tanking right now.  My 80% number came from a CNET article on Friday, but admittedly I don't know where to get "accurate" bitcoin quotes and I'm skeptical that the quotes truly mean anything.  I do believe Gold quotes mean something cause gold is real though how much of the gold traded is actually real is questionable.







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jfern
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« Reply #9 on: April 14, 2013, 11:54:38 PM »

a random article on how much electricity it costs to create bitcoins

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-12/virtual-bitcoin-mining-is-a-real-world-environmental-disaster.html

It is kind of interesting the parallels gold and bitcoin have.  Supply can only be added by those with specific financial means (though gold requires geographic means too).  

While gold does have some industrial uses only about 10% of gold production is actually used in industry.  Gold's value is far more esoteric than any other metal, almost bitcoinesque.  Admittedly, gold has a long history as being perceived as valuable across a wide range of cultures.  

They're both a hassle to store.  Gold requires unique facilities to store large quantities.  Bitcoin seems as susceptible to hacking and fraud as anything else on the internet.


And they're both tanking right now.  My 80% number came from a CNET article on Friday, but admittedly I don't know where to get "accurate" bitcoin quotes and I'm skeptical that the quotes truly mean anything.  I do believe Gold quotes mean something cause gold is real though how much of the gold traded is actually real is questionable.

They're both easy to store. Gold doesn't take up much space in a bank vault, and bit coins take up no space at all. But if people are bullish on the economy it makes sense that they would both go down.
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Mehmentum
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« Reply #10 on: April 15, 2013, 11:00:52 AM »
« Edited: April 15, 2013, 11:03:45 AM by Mehmentum »

Paul Krugman weighs in on bitcoin (and also on gold):
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/opinion/krugman-the-antisocial-network.html?_r=0

On how bitcoin could undermine background checks for gun sales:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/15/bitcoin-guns_n_3070828.html
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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
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« Reply #11 on: April 15, 2013, 12:39:42 PM »


All that remains now to confirm that bitcoins are a fad whose time has passed is for Thomas L. Friedman to write a column about them.
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ingemann
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« Reply #12 on: April 15, 2013, 02:28:44 PM »


All that remains now to confirm that bitcoins are a fad whose time has passed is for Thomas L. Friedman to write a column about them.

Doubt it, it's still a quite useful way for the Russian mafia to white wash money.
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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
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« Reply #13 on: April 15, 2013, 08:00:56 PM »


All that remains now to confirm that bitcoins are a fad whose time has passed is for Thomas L. Friedman to write a column about them.

Doubt it, it's still a quite useful way for the Russian mafia to white wash money.

You mean like how Cypress was a nice safe place for them to store their money?  Besides, TLF hasn't yet written that column.
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DC Al Fine
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« Reply #14 on: April 15, 2013, 09:03:08 PM »


All that remains now to confirm that bitcoins are a fad whose time has passed is for Thomas L. Friedman to write a column about them.

Doubt it, it's still a quite useful way for the Russian mafia to white wash money.

You mean like how Cypress was a nice safe place for them to store their money?  Besides, TLF hasn't yet written that column.

Where is that Friedman column generator when you need it?
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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
Ernest
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« Reply #15 on: April 15, 2013, 10:55:29 PM »


All that remains now to confirm that bitcoins are a fad whose time has passed is for Thomas L. Friedman to write a column about them.

Doubt it, it's still a quite useful way for the Russian mafia to white wash money.

You mean like how Cypress was a nice safe place for them to store their money?  Besides, TLF hasn't yet written that column.

Where is that Friedman column generator when you need it?

Alas, it won't take suggestions for topics.
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King
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« Reply #16 on: April 16, 2013, 02:32:01 PM »

Alas, it won't take suggestions for topics.

In Bitcoin We Trust
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: April 16, 2013


The Internet.

Last week's events in Bitcoin were unbelievable, although we may not know for years or even decades what their final meaning is. What's important, however, is that we focus on what this means to the people. The media seems too caught up in dissecting the macro-level situation to pay attention to what's important on the ground. Just call it missing the desert for the sand.

When thinking about the ongoing situation, it's important to remember three things: One, people don't behave like car salesmen, so attempts to treat them as such inevitably look foolish. Car salesmen never suddenly blow themselves up. Two, Bitcoin has spent years torn by civil war and ethnic hatred, so a mindset of peace and stability will seem foreign and strange. And three, hope is an extraordinarily powerful idea: If ethnic conflict is Bitcoin's glass ceiling, then hope is certainly its flowerpot.

When I was in Bitcoin last January, I was amazed by the variety of the local cuisine, and that tells me two things. It tells me that the citizens of Bitcoin have no shortage of human capital, and that is a good beginning to grow from. Second, it tells me that people in Bitcoin are just like people anywhere else on this flat earth of ours.

So what should we do about the chaos in Bitcoin? Well, it's easier to start with what we should not do. We should not lob a handful of cruise missiles and hope that some explosions will snap Bitcoin's leaders to attention. Beyond that, we need to be careful to nurture the fragile foundations of peace. The opportunity is there, but I worry that the path to peace is so narrow that Bitcoin will have to move down it very slowly. And of course The Internet needs to feel like it is part of the process.

Speaking with a young student from the large Catholic community here, I asked her if there was any message that she wanted me to carry back home with me. She pondered for a second, and then smiled and said, GTFO f****t, which is a local saying that means roughly, "That tea is sweetest whose herbs have dried longest."

I don't know what Bitcoin will be like a few years from now, but I do know that it will remain true to its cultural heritage, even if it looks very different from the currency we see now. I know this because, through all the disorder, the people still haven't lost sight of their dreams.

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Frodo
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« Reply #17 on: May 15, 2013, 11:08:05 PM »

The Feds have just shut down the largest exchange for Bitcoins.
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BRTD
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« Reply #18 on: May 15, 2013, 11:44:23 PM »

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So basically all commerce is prohibited.
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Adam Griffin
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« Reply #19 on: May 16, 2013, 01:18:44 AM »

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So basically all commerce is prohibited.

No. While MtGox is the largest exchange (handles ~75-80% of volume), it being completely shut down would not prevent the flow of commerce in most cases - although for many, it would make converting traditional currencies into Bitcoin a bit more of a hassle.

The real issue was the announcement on 5/14 that ordered Dwolla to stop sending or receiving payments from MtGox. I imagine that intervention led to the discovery of the US-based bank account. I still wouldn't think MtGox would have tons of reserves just sitting in the United States, though. Every other exchange to my knowledge operates completely outside the US (unless they, too, have unknown US bank accounts).
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t_host1
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« Reply #20 on: May 16, 2013, 08:00:57 PM »

I'm at the vary beginning of this Bitcoin theory. I've often thought that the governmental development here needed a value, a currency. It would of been most fitting for this to be originating here... http://www.atlasats.com/index.php/en/
 
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Frodo
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« Reply #21 on: November 07, 2013, 08:58:02 PM »

FEC poised to allow Bitcoin campaign donations

By BYRON TAU | 11/7/13 7:17 PM EST

Political campaigns will be allowed to accept — but not spend — the digital currency Bitcoin, under a proposed federal rule released Thursday.

The Federal Election Commission draft would require campaigns to first convert any Bitcoins collected as donation to dollars.

According to the proposal, the currency will count as an “in-kind” contribution to a campaign — like a stock or bond. The FEC will not consider them currency.

“Because Bitcoins are neither the currency of any country nor negotiable instruments, Bitcoins are not ‘money’ under commission regulations,” the committee concludes. “Therefore, a political committee that receives Bitcoin contributions may not treat them as monetary contributions.”

Bitcoin and other digital currencies are attractive to many because they allow for anonymous, encrypted digital transactions. But concerns about their use in online crime and money laundering has brought new scrutiny from regulators in recent months — who worry about the lack of oversight and the currency’s potential use in crime.

Campaigns are permitted to accept non-monetary contributions like stocks, private stocks, commodities, and equipment— but must list their value in dollars on campaign finance reports.
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Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/bitcoin-campaign-donations-draft-rule-99566.html#ixzz2k104KBsP
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Tetro Kornbluth
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« Reply #22 on: November 07, 2013, 09:41:49 PM »

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And here I was thinking this would be a new and long-awaited chapter to this book

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Frodo
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« Reply #23 on: November 07, 2013, 10:25:38 PM »

This thread is really not as old as you're implying.  It is not like I dredged up an eight-year-old thread from the dead. 
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Tetro Kornbluth
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« Reply #24 on: November 07, 2013, 11:16:21 PM »

This thread is really not as old as you're implying.  It is not like I dredged up an eight-year-old thread from the dead. 

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