The current robbery schemes are mostly soak the many to benefit the few. You lose some value every time one of them happens but the perpetrators are really careful not to wipe you out because that would require show trials and witch burnings and all the other trappings of mock justice. Bitcoin thefts are "oops it's all gone, so sorry for you!"
You cant lose your bitcoins though, obviously it would be much smarter to invest in something of real value rather than something only digital. Buy gold, at least you have it in your possession.
What do you mean you can't lose your bitcoin? Of course you can. You can also have it in your possession. Oh and btc has real value.
I li Why did these individuals have so many deposited into Mt Gox? Will banks adopt bitcoins? I mean I cant go to my local bank and deposit bitcoins, correct?
huh? Because they're foolish? I can see some banks eventually accepting bitcoin or becoming bitcoin exchanges. The USPS was considering becoming an exchange. You can print a paper wallet holding any number of btc and deposit it in a safe deposit box at the bank.
I just want to add that it's largely a no brainer for businesses, especially online businesses, to accept bitcoin at this point. There are two well known, trusted services (american companies) that allow you to have any bitcoins going into your wallet to be instantly converted to USD eliminating the risk involved in holding btc. You only pay a 1% processing fee as opposed to the 3-4% you're going to pay to credit card companies and the money is in your bank account that night. The startup costs are minimal - adding code to accept the btc payments to a website or buying a tablet for a brick and mortar store. There are usually news articles written about new businesses accepting bitcoin at this point and people who have bitcoin are actively seeking places that accept it.
Sorry about that, this new forum saves what you previously started typing, when I went to make a new post I didnt see that, that was already in the typing box from my previous use.
Wheels falling off Bitcom ? http://m.heraldsun.com.au/business/...ide-in-singapore/story-fni0d7jd-1226846560794
What it comes down to in the end is: do you believe that the volatility of an unregulated currency makes it a good investment or a bad investment? I think that's what is going to decide the ultimate fate of Bitcoins and all other virtual currencies. My take on it is that if the governments that have monopoly power over their fiat currencies see the virtual currencies as a good thing then those currencies will prosper. If they see them as a bad thing then they won't. I also think that the only way the governments will see them as a good thing is if they provide a benefit to the global asset system that is clearly higher than the risk that they will de-stabilize fiat currencies and remove governmental monopoly power over wealth valuation.
bitcoin is naturally deflationary. That seems like a big thing for you to leave out in your bottom line assessment. certainly if big governments start making it illegal for businesses to deal in bitcoin it will be a huge negative. I doubt they'll do that but you never know. so far the industry around bitcoin is growing very rapidly and creating jobs and innovation ... It would be silly for governments in a struggling economy to try and smoother that growth.
wheels falling off usd? http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/...ry-a-sixth-jp-morgan-exec-jumps-in-hong-kong/
What happens if one or more of the major governments decides to de-stabilize bitcoin and use it as an economic weapon? What happens if one of the major kleptocracies decides to milk bitcoin using government resources to steal and disrupt? What happens if one of the major criminal cartels not in government decides to hack it to death? What happens if the anarchists decide to use it as a weapon against social order? All I'm saying is that the unknowns about a purely virtual currency that is not backed by any major government make it an extraordinarily risky investment and will likely lead to spectacular surges and crashes in its value over time. That makes it a very bad investment for anybody but a gambler. What happens if Goldman Sachs cooks up a scheme to short bitcoin? Do you really think any investor in the world has a way to survive that gambit?
you still haven't addressed the fact that is naturally deflationary. I just find it odd that you'd completely ignore that in your analysis ... Seems like a pretty important detail to me. I've never argued that it isn't risky. It is. The government doesn't control bitcoin and it's decentralized so I don't see how they destabilize it? As for hackers ... People holding large amounts of bitcoin are foolish if they aren't keeping it in cold storage. It would be like carying around huge sums of cash in the hood. If you have your bitcoin in cold storage hacking it becomes impossible. The technology is still in its infancy so ya there are a lot of unknowns.
People have incredible abilities to manipulate the world around them. New ways to manipulate are discovered every day. New vulnerabilities to be manipulated emerge every day. I just don't see how a virtual currency survives that reality for long without the authorities engaging in major steps to keep it alive. This is kind of like the housing bubble. It's too good to be true and nobody is really minding the store. The Bitcoin Bubble. That's what they'll call it. That or the Bitcoin Bust.
unrelated to the current discussion, but some positive bitcoin news http://online.wsj.com/news/articles...0001424052702304815004579418962232488216.html
Im going to take a look at that later, seems interesting..... Someone really spent 10,000 for a pizza? damn I bet back then though 10,000 wasnt much.
