Bitcoins, anyone buying?

[hoosierdoc]

News Headlines

These are an online virtual currency, I'm curious if anyone uses them and for what purpose. They were hit with an attack that torched the value for a bit.


Bitcoin

 

[HeadlessRoland]

Thought about it. Backed out.
I don't trust banks because they're electronic numbers on distant machines.
I don't trust bitcoin for much the same reason.
Gold and silver are only slightly less worthless than paper, but at least I can touch gold and silver.

Also, the exchange rate is ridiculous right now. As of yesterday, $120 USD only bought 1 BTC.

 

[bobbittle]

Never heard of them.
Read about them.
Don't want anything to do with them.
Moving along now.

 

[Benny]

I had one person on my FB that was obsessed with them until I got annoyed seeing 12 posts a day about them and hid that person's posts. The whole concept is ****ing retarded if you ask me.

 

[Brandon]

Never heard of them.
Read about them.
Don't want anything to do with them.
Moving along now.

 

[Magneto]

Interesting idea, but I'll pass.

 

[jkaetz]

Seems like any other monetary scheme. Those that got in early are making $$ off those that try to get in now. So long as the flow of new $$ keeps coming in the value will keep going up. If those that got in early decide to cash out the value will go down and those who bought in later will be left holding the bag.

 

[hoosierdoc]

You can "mine" them yourselves though, don't only have to buy. Very strange concept.

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-mine-bitcoins-2013-3?op=1

 

[NiDanHeno]

Just not worth the risk, not soley monetary risk as pointed to earlier but also this market is dominated by those moving money on the downlow. So if you take a few minutes to think about it you will realize the groups of folks around the world that you would now also be trading and laundring currency alongside.

 

[Dead Duck]

Is this for real?
You might as well just throw your money away.



Why not also get a broken heart from cyber dating with a virtual girlfriend.
Or starve from eating virtual food online.

If I can't Taste, Feel or Poke it - Then it doesn't exist. *except for farts and God*

 

[forgop]

Thought about it. My habano dealer gives a discount for bitcoins.

 

[SaintsNSinners]

Is this for real?
You might as well just throw your money away.



Why not also get a broken heart from cyber dating with a virtual girlfriend.
Or starve from eating virtual food online.

If I can't Taste, Feel or Poke it - Then it doesn't exist. *except for farts and God*

Some farts you can taste and feel

 

[CPT Nervous]

Is this for real?
You might as well just throw your money away.



Why not also get a broken heart from cyber dating with a virtual girlfriend.
Or starve from eating virtual food online.

If I can't Taste, Feel or Poke it - Then it doesn't exist. *except for farts and God*

You can taste a good fart...

 

[LEaSH]

That's insanely gross, Captian Nervosa.

On bit coins: I would consider it a decent experiment. I'd no doubt have to look deep into it before I gave any value to it.

It's trying to revolt against the current method of currency control. And that is not a bad thing.

 

[spirit390]

From my understanding alot of people are using it for untraceable black market money. I know I know you can use it for legit purposes too. And when the government figures out it's not getting it's fair share of taxing revenue someone will be left holding the bag. It won't be me

 

[VikingWarlord]

The time to buy was last week. It's still possible to make money at it but you'd be better off mining instead.

 

[HeadlessRoland]

Is this for real?
You might as well just throw your money away.



Why not also get a broken heart from cyber dating with a virtual girlfriend.
Or starve from eating virtual food online.

If I can't Taste, Feel or Poke it - Then it doesn't exist. *except for farts and God*

Not arguing with your point, but in your mind is the difference between this and banks?

It's literally the exact same concept, albeit in a novel, electronic fashion.

It's that I don't trust either one that keeps me from putting my faith in another electronic-based system.

Coinbase.com, along with perhaps a dozen (or more, no expert) other interchanges, will absolutely cash you in - or out. As HoosierDoc was mentioning, all transactions are stored in the blockchain, which simply lists what BTC was transferred from what BTC address to which BTC address, and in what order. The problem was that early on, the system was vulnerable to injection and therefore you could dual-spend or spend the same BTC purchasing goods/services from two or more different people, a problem unique to online transactions. I believe they remedied that with confirmation of the blockchain to prevent this sort of fraud.

It's newer than banks, and has yet to be widely accepted, but I remember the same thing being said of Peter Schiff's PayPal, and PayPal was only marginally disruptive. BTC is completely disruptive to the current banking system, as an almost parallel market. I say almost parallel because there is yet to be widespread adoption of BTC. But really, it's identical to banks. Imaginary numbers on distant servers. Exact same concept save the physicality of it, no little green BTC rectangles, but it's really the exact same as a wire transfer. I have no faith in either, but if you have faith in one, there's no difference in either. If you trust banks, you should trust BTC. I fully realize that all wealth may be seized or stolen, whether via robbing armored trucks or SQL injection attacks.

There is of course money laundry with BTC, just as there is in real life, except that given the decentralized nature of it, BTC is much, much easier to launder than physical currency. Two clicks easy, once you've cashed in, from what I understand of it. It's also possible to be completely anonymous with BTC, which lends it to being used for some unsavory, perhaps even illicit stuff, but the same holds true for USD. Crack dealers will still accept little green rectangles for illicit drugs, prostitutes will too, and so forth.
If you utilize VPNs/high encryption networks such as TOR, etc., it's virtually impossible to trace any transaction to any one person, merely the BTC address, which if you utilize the same during cash in, has no name associated with it, making it about on par, or slightly better, than the confidentiality offered by most Swiss banks. (Swiss being slightly worse since they've signed agreements with the US national government to reveal non-Swiss-citizens' account holdings and transaction details.)

I simply don't have enough faith in anything I cannot hold or touch or use to convert it from one imaginary set of numbers to another, so I have no use for it, but neither do I have any use for banks.

Imagine, there exist billions of people in this world who let other people charge them some of their own money for storing it and transacting in it! How bizarre!

 

[HavokCycle]

couple thoughts

you really think it would change anything? as soon as the powers that be see the trend they'll snatch up vast holdings of it. its no different than any other currency. which one holds the most value, they will hold.

if it gains traction, soon there will be regulation and government involvement.
no. ill continue to practice financial diversity. while some goes into stocks, some goes into things. things are a great investment, as long as it is things that retain value. guns, for instance, tools, anything that is a GOOD well made product that will have a lifetime of service, and can be USED.

 

[mbills2223]

Thought about it. Backed out.
I don't trust banks because they're electronic numbers on distant machines.
I don't trust bitcoin for much the same reason.
Gold and silver are only slightly less worthless than paper, but at least I can touch gold and silver.

Also, the exchange rate is ridiculous right now. As of yesterday, $120 USD only bought 1 BTC.

So...if gold and silver are also "worthless," what do you consider currency?

 

[gunworks321]

Seems like any other monetary scheme. Those that got in early are making $$ off those that try to get in now. So long as the flow of new $$ keeps coming in the value will keep going up. If those that got in early decide to cash out the value will go down and those who bought in later will be left holding the bag.

I think there was a guy named Ponzi that did something similar once years ago.