I’m note sure if bitcoin can be a viable currency if the price movements are so volatile. It’s all good the the volatility moving the price up, carrying it in any big amount without insurance feels like gambling right now
Bitcoin hits $10,000
201–210 of 389 posts
Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
Errrrr.... Bitcoin is a fiat currency, so be careful with your generalization. And whose job is it to investigate bitcoin fraud and theft? No one.
Any police organization that investigates ordinary theft would absolutely investigate a theft of Bitcoin.
See: Mt. Gox.
Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is nonsense. This is being driven by speculation / minuscule interest rates / greed. Very little of the demand for btc in the past year is due to lack of faith in institutions.
Sure, that's how it started. But as the adoption increases and price skyrockets, more people will understand the value of the concept of decentralization.
If the value prop of Bitcoin is that it is a store of value comparable to gold (which is now what it is being sold as as far as I can tell), it doesn't need to skyrocket in price. It needs to hold value during a recession. How in the world is that going to happen when so many people holding it right now are speculators looking to make a buck? They will flee and the price will tank. How is that a store of value?
Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000
#204“Rosenstreich at online trading firm Swissquote said bitcoin’s surge harks to the surprises of the U.K. referendum on European Union membership and President Trump’s election. “We have underestimated the populist movements,” he said. “There is growing unease on how central banks and governments are managing fiat currencies. Ordinary people globally understand why a decentralized asset is the ultimate safe haven.”” Th…
`100k puts the market at cap at a trillion, it’s not that crazy if you remember that Gold is several times that`. Similar things heard during every irrational bubble. I believe people often trot out the 'actual worthlessness' of fiat currency, to support a misguided idea that btc must be the democratic antidote which will free countless millions from the financial enslavement of the global financial machine. Currency…
>Currency is currency BECAUSE its sponsored by government. And the payments system only works because you are indemnified. By the FDIC. By Chase Credit Cards. That is, the evil banks. How so for btc?
I'm not sure that's true. What makes a currency is it's usage. If enough people agree to the value of something, it's irrelevant whether a government sponsors it. You see this all the time with small towns using local "currencies" for specific usages [0]. It's the same idea.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_community_currencies_i...
Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000
#205I’m note sure if bitcoin can be a viable currency if the price movements are so volatile. It’s all good the the volatility moving the price up, carrying it in any big amount without insurance feels like gambling right now
The way it is being pitched now by the community is that is isn't a currency, but a store of value.
Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000
#206Be careful. There is evidence that certain parties are issuing fake dollars called USDT / Tether from which they buy cryptocoins (incl. BTC) to artificially increase the price: https://mobile.twitter.com/bitfinexed (One of the people monitoring the situation) https://np.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/7g5yml/my_investigation... (Some more info) Make sure you are able to get out on time if needed. Investigate and decide for…
The Friedman memo showed they were 1-1 cash/usdt back in September, and they've stated clearly it's institutional money coming in. In fact, that's exactly what I would expect for large buyers trying to spread their purchases across exchanges who don't use USD directly. "I agree that if no one was able to get fiat in or out of Tether and USDT were still being issued that would be a huge problem. As it stands, however,…
If you believe them you must believe that they've received $250 million dollars in the month of November alone.
https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/
This on a daily pattern that looks like a step function. Where could this money possibly be coming from? Anonymous millionaires?
Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Bitcoin is a fiat currency Please expand. Which state is forcing people to pay their taxes in Bitcoin, and/or authorizing it as legal tender?
The key quality of a fiat currency is that it is spun out of air without intrinsic value.
Honest question: why does gold have intrinsic value?
My understanding is that it's scarcity is the prime driver of its value, at least in monetary terms, and bitcoin shares that quality. Of course gold does have physical qualities that are useful, but so do many other metals that are not used as stores of value.
Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000
#208“Rosenstreich at online trading firm Swissquote said bitcoin’s surge harks to the surprises of the U.K. referendum on European Union membership and President Trump’s election. “We have underestimated the populist movements,” he said. “There is growing unease on how central banks and governments are managing fiat currencies. Ordinary people globally understand why a decentralized asset is the ultimate safe haven.”” Th…
I wish Bitcoin was as decentralized as everyone says it is.
Unlike fiat cash or gold, you can't spend it without an internet connection (in order to sync up the public ledger and submit the transaction).
You're subject to miners to approve your transactions, which in theory should be democratized, but isn't really since it's based on computing power, which in turn can be bought or centralized in mining pools.
You're subject to a small cabal of developers' whims in having to use the reference client and hardforks to patch up bugs in the protocol. In theory that should also be democratized, with people free to use whatever forks they want, but in practice it's centralized with everyone fleeing to whichever fork all the mining pools go with.
Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000
#209Earlier quoted context omitted.
The key quality of a fiat currency is that it is spun out of air without intrinsic value.
> The key quality of a fiat currency is that it is spun out of air without intrinsic value. ... as imposed (that is, "by fiat") by some governmental organization. Bitcoin's "true" value may be dubious, but it's most definitely not a fiat currency.
The type of organization that created it doesn't matter.
Re: Bitcoin hits $10,000
#210Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let me try to make the case for why Bitcoin could be a useful beyond greed. I can't really think of many reasons why you would use crypto to pay for a coffee or a sandwich if you live in the West (or frankly, even most developing nations). On the other hand, I can definitely see the utility in a censorship-resistant digital medium to store wealth. To me, this latter use case has much, much more potential to serve the…
> You are from Venezuela or Zimbabwe – The government has issued capital controls and is devaluing currency by the day. You transfer your wealth into Bitcoin in order to offset capital erosion due to hyper-inflation. When the situation stabilises, you transfer your Bitcoin back into fiat. How exactly do you transfer your wealth to BTC in this scenario? There aren't many people willing to sell BTC in exchange for a ra…
People in Venezuela are actively trading lots of bitcoin every day, in person. You can see this in the LocalBitcoins data: https://coin.dance/volume/localbitcoins