Mt. Gox Disappears

[Hamlet]

The question I have is "what useful purpose does bitcoin serve?"

Currently it appears to be mostly a speculation vehicle and a way to hide unsavory financial transactions from prying eyes.

It serves no purpose as a currency currently because its value fluctuates so wildly.

As with any financial transaction, the current issues should be analyzed non-emotionally to determine whether this equivalent to a dollar crisis moment or if this is a moment equivalent to the Confederate currency moment in regards to bitcoin's future. This is in the end a medium of exchange and perhaps might be an opportunity. Certainly I wished I had listened to some of my early adopter friends when bitcoin was at 1$, of course if their money got stolen, that is a serious problem that needs addressing, but theft of money and counterfitting has occured since the first coins were made.

The issues around bitcoin reminds me of discussions in the early days of the internet skeptics when people stated why would I want to look at something online when I can have the catalogue in my house?

 

[clifp]

I think it pretty much serves the same purpose as gold bullion. Interestingly I was discussing with an online friend last week if there was away for her to sell her magic the gathering cards. She has another friend who is really interested in BitCoin and has bought some. I bet if we had this conversation several months ago, she might have used Mt Gox and turned her magic cards into bitcoins.

 

[aja8888]

I'd like to get my hands on a real bitcoin so I can make a die and start stamping them out. When I get enough, I can trade them for real money. Will I need a broker to make the trades?

 

[Derslickmeister]

Seriously, did anyone really think this Bitcoin thing was going to turn out any differently than what we are seeing? This thing has Ponzi written all over it...

 

[gozer]

I'd like to get my hands on a real bitcoin so I can make a die and start stamping them out. When I get enough, I can trade them for real money. Will I need a broker to make the trades?

Many people make novelty bitcoins that are poker chip like things. If you stamp the private key of your digital wallet on one of those, it would be very much like writing your brokerage acct id, password and such on a piece of paper and carrying it around.

Too me the mechanics of bitcoins are superficially like owning stocks at a brokerage. You don't have physical stock certificates. You have an online account that shows you pretty graphs and numbers. And you trust that your brokerage is reputable and that you can actually exchange the online numbers for a hamburger when you get hungry.

 

[gozer]

Seriously, did anyone really think this Bitcoin thing was going to turn out any differently than what we are seeing? This thing has Ponzi written all over it...

Many did and I bet some still do. I think the encryption and mining process are interesting. But I have no idea if it will survive long term. That has been the big question since day one.

Bitcoins are not readily tracked or managed by any governments and this made them ideal for transactions in the nether regions of the web. The Silk Road operated on the Deep Web as an "eBay for drugs" from 2011 to 2013. All the user had to do is trust a criminal organization with their bitcoins. I suppose it would be less dangerous than driving to a bad part of town with cash.

The FBI seized the original Silk Roads bitcoin assets and shut it down. At the time of shutdown the bitcoins were worth around 28 million dollars. I believe this made the US one of the largest holders of bitcoins at least at that time.

A new version started up, but just a couple weeks ago the new Silk Road claimed that the escrow accounts had been compromised and the 2.7 million worth of bitcoins in them were stolen. Many, including myself, believe that it's likely the people running the second version of the Silk Road who actually stole the assets. It is not like the users of the site are going to call the police to report it.