I've read a fair amount about this thing for ages, and it still looks like a scam. Why do we need another fake currency, when credit/debit cards, and paypal are capable of paying for stuff online in any currency you actually need?
If lots of people used them could to hurt the evil uk government. I be from any that hurts the evil uk government.
Provided they are taxable, the government doesn't care.
If we all resorted to bartering, which is the same sort of thing, then if the trade got big enough to hurt revenues, the government would step in to regulate it.
How about you: would you accept wages or benefits solely in bitcoins? I suspect the answer is not!
I've read a fair amount about this thing for ages, and it still looks like a scam. Why do we need another fake currency, when credit/debit cards, and paypal are capable of paying for stuff online in any currency you actually need?
It is all a bit Alice-in-Wonderland, isn't it?
I had no idea that "mining for bitcoins" was a thing, until recently.
I now know that bitcoin miners are moving to custom ASICs, all the better to unearth the loot. I haven't yet read enough to understand why this won't devalue the currency.
Am I missing something, or is it as barking mad as it seems?
I had no idea that "mining for bitcoins" was a thing, until recently.
I now know that bitcoin miners are moving to custom ASICs, all the better to unearth the loot. I haven't yet read enough to understand why this won't devalue the currency.
Am I missing something, or is it as barking mad as it seems?
you're missing something.
I bought some bitcoins a few months back when they were really cheap. theyve since almost quadrupled in value and still going up.
mining bitcoins wont devalue the currency because the algorithm is so designed to ensure that the supply is strictly limited and gets harder and harder to mine the more people try to mine them. The upper limit is set at 21 million, we are currently at around 11 million.
Bitcoins are divisible into small units by the way so there's no problem with value being too great relative to unit. You dont have to buy one bitcoin or trade in one bitcoin, you can buy and use any fraction or multiple. Bitcoin is just the name of the currency.
You can use bitcoins as a store of value, like gold. You can also use them for making purchases. At present take up is low but increasing as word gets round and more businesses accept them.
The other benefit is using them for transaction transfers. Bitcoin bypasses the banks completely, its peer to peer, no need for any intermediary. Its all taken care of by the software. So you dont have to pay bank fees and the transfers are done almost instantly unlike with the banks.
Some people regard bitcoin as a bubble that will crash, others say bitcoin will firmly establish itself over the coming few years as an accepted digital currency.
I trade in forex and on the stock market for many years and Ive never seen anything like bitcoin before. It's technically a bubble at present, and not the first one 2011/12 also saw bitcoin suddenly rise massively in value and then crash again.
So this is the second push bitcoin is making. Its possible that this time it will be more sustainable, given all the media interest and people entering the market this time round. But it still looks like a bubble.
Its only if/when bitcoin manages to stabilise over time - it can still continue to increase in value, but without the massive increases in price, that we'll be able to say that its no longer a bubble.
The outlook is better this time round compared to 2 years ago for various reasons, but I still advise anyone interested in investing in bitcoin to only risk a small amount of their capital at this stage at most, and even then keep an extra close eye on it.
Bitcoin isnt behaving anywhere like a normal forex market so far, and it isnt a normal forex, it's more like a deranged gold market. Or the Dutch tuilip market in the 1600s.
Bitcoin is certainly an interesting phenomena, but you should still beware.
Yes, I realised that after posting, so I went and read up on it. I now know that some of the problems I thought existed were designed out of the system (for reasons you have given), but I'm still not convinced that a purely digital currency designed by somebody whose identity nobody knows and who has now disappeared isn't barking mad.
Here's one reason:
I bought some bitcoins a few months back when they were really cheap. theyve since almost quadrupled in value and still going up.
Didn't tulips once do something similar?
Ah. I see you made the exact same point later in your post!
Bitcoin isnt behaving anywhere like a normal forex market so far, and it isnt a normal forex, it's more like a deranged gold market. Or the Dutch tuilip market in the 1600s.
Bitcoin is certainly an interesting phenomena, but you should still beware.
Am I right in thinking the details of all bitcoin transactions are publicly accessible? Something I read somewhere...
All transactions are cryptographically verified using a publicly accessible log. This means anyone can see the flow of bitcoins between bitcoin addresses. That doesn't tell anyone directly who the owner of a bitcoin address is (it's just a large random number), or the nature of the transaction, but it means that they can potentially be traced if they use the same address for other transactions, or associate it elsewhere with their personal details.
Money launderers and drug dealers need to take additional steps to evade detection...
I heard somewhere those things have risen in value from $10 to $140 in the past 4 months or so ...If that's so, then some smart folk out there are doing pretty well.
I've read a fair amount about this thing for ages, and it still looks like a scam. Why do we need another fake currency, when credit/debit cards, and paypal are capable of paying for stuff online in any currency you actually need?
Because people who sign up for a VPN (torrents etc) want to be able to pay annoymously
Security conscious people signing up to a VPN, that's why
By 'security conscious' is it fair to say that most of the uses you allude to are actually "so we can pay for illegal items"? There are of course other valid concerns about anonymity online.
RickyBarby
Posts: 5,902
Comments
No, never.
I've read a fair amount about this thing for ages, and it still looks like a scam. Why do we need another fake currency, when credit/debit cards, and paypal are capable of paying for stuff online in any currency you actually need?
.....and the translation from Gibberish to English is?
Provided they are taxable, the government doesn't care.
If we all resorted to bartering, which is the same sort of thing, then if the trade got big enough to hurt revenues, the government would step in to regulate it.
How about you: would you accept wages or benefits solely in bitcoins? I suspect the answer is not!
I had no idea that "mining for bitcoins" was a thing, until recently.
I now know that bitcoin miners are moving to custom ASICs, all the better to unearth the loot. I haven't yet read enough to understand why this won't devalue the currency.
Am I missing something, or is it as barking mad as it seems?
you're missing something.
I bought some bitcoins a few months back when they were really cheap. theyve since almost quadrupled in value and still going up.
mining bitcoins wont devalue the currency because the algorithm is so designed to ensure that the supply is strictly limited and gets harder and harder to mine the more people try to mine them. The upper limit is set at 21 million, we are currently at around 11 million.
Bitcoins are divisible into small units by the way so there's no problem with value being too great relative to unit. You dont have to buy one bitcoin or trade in one bitcoin, you can buy and use any fraction or multiple. Bitcoin is just the name of the currency.
You can use bitcoins as a store of value, like gold. You can also use them for making purchases. At present take up is low but increasing as word gets round and more businesses accept them.
The other benefit is using them for transaction transfers. Bitcoin bypasses the banks completely, its peer to peer, no need for any intermediary. Its all taken care of by the software. So you dont have to pay bank fees and the transfers are done almost instantly unlike with the banks.
Some people regard bitcoin as a bubble that will crash, others say bitcoin will firmly establish itself over the coming few years as an accepted digital currency.
I trade in forex and on the stock market for many years and Ive never seen anything like bitcoin before. It's technically a bubble at present, and not the first one 2011/12 also saw bitcoin suddenly rise massively in value and then crash again.
So this is the second push bitcoin is making. Its possible that this time it will be more sustainable, given all the media interest and people entering the market this time round. But it still looks like a bubble.
Its only if/when bitcoin manages to stabilise over time - it can still continue to increase in value, but without the massive increases in price, that we'll be able to say that its no longer a bubble.
The outlook is better this time round compared to 2 years ago for various reasons, but I still advise anyone interested in investing in bitcoin to only risk a small amount of their capital at this stage at most, and even then keep an extra close eye on it.
Bitcoin isnt behaving anywhere like a normal forex market so far, and it isnt a normal forex, it's more like a deranged gold market. Or the Dutch tuilip market in the 1600s.
Bitcoin is certainly an interesting phenomena, but you should still beware.
Here's one reason:
Didn't tulips once do something similar?
Ah. I see you made the exact same point later in your post!
You really need to change the record.
Why don't you just sod off and move to a country with a 'none evil' government....possibly Eritrea or Syria? :yawn:
name anything good the done for the poor people nothing.
Well, you've got housing benefit haven't you? I think I remember reading that on a previous thread?
4 how much longer. with this see you next tuesdays in power
Translator please?
lol. bitcoins are not a store of value. gold will always be worth something. the value of a bitcoin can go down to 0.
we don't need it. it's just another fake currency, and it is doomed to fail.
Money launderers and drug dealers need to take additional steps to evade detection...
What have you done to alleviate poverty? It's not just up to governments to do these things.
Yep . It s called getting up off ones arse .
By 'security conscious' is it fair to say that most of the uses you allude to are actually "so we can pay for illegal items"? There are of course other valid concerns about anonymity online.