Bitcoins in the news again

[ERhoosier]

Where is the best place to buy some?

In LaLa land.

As one well-known guest FA on one of the cable business channels put it this AM, it's a "Ponzi Scheme". From what I know it's hard to disagree with that assessment.

 

[RonBoyd]

... it's a "Ponzi Scheme". From what I know it's hard to disagree with that assessment.

Then we can safely assume the Justice Department has issued Warrants and we can look forward to "Perp Walk" photos appearing shortly? (Assuming further that the JD is apprised of "what you know.")

 

[Texas Proud]

In LaLa land.

As one well-known guest FA on one of the cable business channels put it this AM, it's a "Ponzi Scheme". From what I know it's hard to disagree with that assessment.

I disagree with this assessment.... a Ponzi scheme is where you pay off old investors with new investor money.... the company (or whatever) does not own or invest in anything....

Here, you 'own' the bitcoin... you have the right to keep it on a memory stick like described in one article, or sell it in the open market... IOW, the money goes from the buyer to the seller, just like when you sell stock... it does not go to a company as an 'investment'.... this is more like the tulip bubble or in recent times the beanie babies bubble... they were not, and this is not a Ponzi scheme....


That does not change the fact that it is not a smart place to put your money....

 

[sengsational]

Yep, you're not going to get FDIC protection of you bitcoin assets. And if you keep your bitcoin in an exchange, it can be stolen (you don't have to keep it in an exchange, though). If you keep it on a memory stick, it could get lost or stolen. So that's pretty much the same as money, bank, under your matress. A lot of this news about bitcoin theft is growing pains. This is new territory and operators don't know what they're doing. I think they will get better at it, the currency will stabilize, and governments will try to clamp-down on it when it does become more trustworthy.

 

[Texas Proud]

I just read an article that 1 bitcoin worth $179.00 as of April 11th, 2013. Total bitcoins in circulation are worth about $2 billions.

Yep, you're not going to get FDIC protection of you bitcoin assets. And if you keep your bitcoin in an exchange, it can be stolen (you don't have to keep it in an exchange, though). If you keep it on a memory stick, it could get lost or stolen. So that's pretty much the same as money, bank, under your matress. A lot of this news about bitcoin theft is growing pains. This is new territory and operators don't know what they're doing. I think they will get better at it, the currency will stabilize, and governments will try to clamp-down on it when it does become more trustworthy.

If the above is true, and there are only $2 billion value out there (which is still probably inflated value even with the decline)... that is not enough for any gvmt to worry about....


Heck, when I was a trust officer, I twice got wires of incoming money over $3 billion...


I forget who posted this about Cypress... but the size of bitcoin is a pimple on the butt of an elephant... (heck, smaller really... maybe a virus cell inside the pimple on the butt of an elephant...)

 

[mickeyd]

Bitcoins are kinda like these things, aren't they?


An S&H Green Stamp



S&H Green Stamps.

 

[sengsational]

Bitcoins are kinda like these things, aren't they?


An S&H Green Stamp

Not really. The value of those stamps was set by the issuing company (by telling you that 23 1/2 books were required to exchange for a toaster).

The value of a bitcoin is whatever anyone is willing to pay for it. There is no central place where value is set.

One of the cool things about bitcoin is that the system is designed to ease the currency into existance using a hard crypto problem. But that phase will end; all bitcoin that will ever exist will be minted and that will be that. From then on, it will be in an overall "deflationary" trend for as long as the currency gains popularity and trust. This is sometimes difficult to wrap your head around, since we're all so used to standard currencies becoming less valueable as time goes by (inflationary).

If many, many more people decide that they want to use bitcoin to transact their deals, then the price to buy bitcoin will increase. Right now, almost no one is using the currency, but it would be thinkable that 100 times the current number of people would decide that bitcoin is the way to go. So 2 billion becomes 200 billion. There's nothing stopping this kind of expansion. You just get smaller and smaller fractional bitcoin for transacting business.

--Dale--

 

[RonBoyd]

Well... here is one use for them:

OKCupid says it will accept Bitcoin, as currency falls to recent low | Ars Technica

On Tuesday, as Bitcoin’s exchange rate fell to its lowest level in days at around $64 per bitcoin, OKCupid announced that it would accept the digital currency from users wanting to pay for bonus features on the site. The popular (and free) dating site, which boasts 4 million active users, will now become one of the world’s largest sites to accept Bitcoin.

 

[haha]

Well... here is one use for them:

OKCupid says it will accept Bitcoin, as currency falls to recent low | Ars Technica

I am very interested to know what is for sale on a dating site, with Bitcoins or any other currency.

Ha

 

[RonBoyd]

Bitcoin RIP

Bitcoin Becomes BS-Coin, Mt. Gox Crashes Again - 24/7 Wall St.

Our case is not truly a case against the future of digital currency, or even against virtual currencies. We have supported and would continue support anything that allows the most efficient and most cost-effective method of transferring money from consumer to companies and/or consumers to peers. The problem is that the history of Digicash, eCash and other virtual currencies have never been able to stay afloat. Ditto for micropayments, with most of those exchanges having shut down as well.

Maybe it will be Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), with its own currency, that will win long term. EBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) has the wildly successful PayPal unit, but its fees can be high. Maybe the answer is merely Square and its competitors for transacting credit card payments right through your smartphone. Regardless of what the effort will be in the future, it seems unlikely to us that Bitcoin will rule the roost in the future.

If Bitcoin ultimately goes the way it looks today, we don’t want to take credit for assigning the name “BS-coin” to it. Sadly, “BS-coin” will likely be its name.

 

[obgyn65]

I would be surprised if any ER forum participant uses bitcoins. I don't.

 

[RonBoyd]

There is an article about Canada taxing Bitcoins in MarketWatch yesterday and referenced by AfterDawn who included this video that does an excellent job of explaining Bitcoins.

https://vimeo.com/63502573#