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Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

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Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#221

Post by cableshaft »

wbl wrote: post #190
mrb wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" It's like a pyramid scheme in that so long as people keep buying in on the hope of a profit " You just described any investment. FX market, stock market, housing, etc. It doesn't make them "pyramid schemes".

I could buy a bitcoin and hope to sell it later. Or I could buy the S&P 500: a market cap weighted set of pieces of companies that will conduct business and grow by the time I have to sell them, and some will give dividends. Which seems better to you?

Determining that one thing is better than another thing (by however means you determine it, I think both are good for different reasons and have money in each) does not mean the less good thing must therefore be a scam, and definitely not a pyramid scheme, which has a specific definition that bitcoin doesn't fit.

Yes, bitcoin benefits from having more people participating in it, but so does Facebook, so does Twitter, so does Youtube, so does the Internet, so does the US dollar, so does the stock market, etc etc etc. That doesn't make these all pyramid schemes.

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#222

Post by oldboyFX »

toomanybeersies wrote: post #57
dandare wrote: post #3

I keep seeing my non-it friends boasting on FB how much they profited with Bitcoin this week. I am afraid this bubble will get way much bigger before it bursts.

When Paris Hilton started shilling ICOs on Instagram, I was reminded of a very pertinent quote apparently (not actually) by Joe Kennedy > You know it's time to sell when shoeshine boys give you stock tips

That made me laugh hard. I keep seeing more and more non-techies talk about investing in bitcoin and other cryptos.

There's a problem when people invest in things they know absolutely nothing about.

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#223

Post by wolco »

wbl wrote: post #190
mrb wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" It's like a pyramid scheme in that so long as people keep buying in on the hope of a profit " You just described any investment. FX market, stock market, housing, etc. It doesn't make them "pyramid schemes".

I could buy a bitcoin and hope to sell it later. Or I could buy the S&P 500: a market cap weighted set of pieces of companies that will conduct business and grow by the time I have to sell them, and some will give dividends. Which seems better to you?

For the next few months you would be better off dividing the assets based on your risk profile. Based on current market trends the s&p may go down in the short term so bitcoin may allow you to spread that risk

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#225

Post by eigenvalue »

LyndsySimon wrote: post #217
tudorconstantin wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin's value is given by the trust people put in it. Just like with the fiat currencies as a matter of fact, because I don't know of any of them to be backed by anything else than trust. Of course, the US dollar has the whole US economy and the biggest army in the world as its plus, but it also has its minuses: the US treasury can and does print as many as it wants, in the detriment of ALL USD holders. Bitcoin's p…

> Litecoin, zCash, Monero and most of the others are bitcoin forks. Nope. All of these are derivatives of Bitcoin, but none of them are forks. A fork, by definition, shares a genesis block with the parent currency. This is in contrast to a "client fork", where the Bitcoin codebase was modified to create a new blockchain with or without changes in protocol. Most forks of Bitcoin have been intentional, and the "lesser"…

I believe the parent poster meant fork in the sense of forking the codebase, not a currency fork. And in the case of Litecoin at least, that is true.

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#226

Post by slg »

tudorconstantin wrote: post #201
joefourier wrote: post #31

Notice how almost all news of Bitcoin now are about its price. Bitcoin used to be exciting in both technical and economical aspects, but has now become just a store of value entirely driven by speculation. Other technically superior cryptocurrencies (e.g. Monero, Ethereum) have replaced most of its usecases, boasting much faster and cheaper transactions and real anonymity in the case of Monero. Bitcoin takes more tha…

Bitcoin's value is given by the trust people put in it. Just like with the fiat currencies as a matter of fact, because I don't know of any of them to be backed by anything else than trust. Of course, the US dollar has the whole US economy and the biggest army in the world as its plus, but it also has its minuses: the US treasury can and does print as many as it wants, in the detriment of ALL USD holders. Bitcoin's p…

>Bitcoin's value is given by the trust people put in it. Just like with the fiat currencies as a matter of fact

Except fiat currencies also have that fiat behind them that gives them value. If you want to do business with the US government, you do it in USD. If you are one of the millions employed by the US government, you are paid in USD. If you manipulate USD, you have to answer to the US government. Those things add tremendous value and they are something that Bitcoin does not have.

With Bitcoin you only have trust in value of Bitcoin. Fiat currency is given added value by having trust in the power, reach, and stability of the nation that issued it.

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#228

Post by ChrisClark »

tfha wrote: post #187
randallsquared wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has no stake in any of these, it seems to me that Ethereum has a big PR problem no matter how technically superior it is: it's inextricably tied to the story about the DAO, where those who played the game by the rules had their Ethereum redistributed by the developers because said developers didn't like the outcome. (I know that this isn't a neutral phrasing, but it's the perception I'm talking about..…

People who believe that ethereum is technically superior have not studied cryptocurrencies in depth. Ethereum made a lot of reckless design decisions, trading long term stability and security for advantages that only exist over bitcoin in the short term. Their short block time is a sloppy choice. Their focus on gpu mining is a boneheaded mistake. Their scripting system is embarrassing. Proof of stake is nonviable. Mu…

What do you think is better than Ethereum then? We already know by now Bitcoin is garbage. They have refused to do any innovation out of pride, and instead of just a tiny bit of compromise the devs pander to their ego and attack others instead. Directly causing this upcoming 51% attack on the chain (2X).

It is useless as a global currency now, and any more complicated smart contracts built on top of it need trust in a third party, eventually, if it's ever built.

All it has left for it is brand recognition and large transactions as a settlement network.

The current price increase is obviously because people need to be in Bitcoin before this upcoming attack. Because if there is a back and forth fight over the hash power, you won't know who is the winner immediately.

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#229

Post by 110011 »

It's scary to see so much faith in bitcoin given it's horrendously wasteful proof-of-work scheme to avoid double spending.

There are better alternatives that minimize latency nearly a hundred-fold and avoid proof-of-work altogether. Example: Algorand (https://people.csail.mit.edu/nickolai/papers/gilad-algorand-...) Even if this new cryptocurrency is "just" a proof of concept there are many others like it that are much less wasteful than bitocin, and this should make people think twice before piling their faith on an important but ultimately flawed first attempt at a usable cryptocurrency.

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#230

Post by oldboyFX »

brndnmtthws wrote: post #30

To all the naysayers in this thread, I suggest you watch "Banking on Bitcoin" on Netflix, which is a great introduction to Bitcoin. It might change your thinking. Also check out Andreas Antonopoulos' videos on YouTube, which are easy to digest and very informative. Here's the place to start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1si5ZWLgy0

I've watched "Banking on Bitcoin", it's quite propagandist and mostly about crypto-activism.

A bit like "Cowspiracy".

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