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Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

taylorpearson.me

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Re: Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

#21

Post by anticodon »

hal9000xp wrote: post #7

Back in 2004, I lived in shithole country called Uzbekistan, I wanted to buy some US stocks but my bank refused to transfer MY money because of strict currency control in Uzbekistan. This was probably the first time in my life I realized that I don't actually own money stored at bank, it's just bank temporarily allows me to use my money and at any whim bank would reject to do so. In 2010, I lived in a little bit bett…

Oh, so, half of the world is shit because it's not US (and I guess you haven't even lived in US but you're 100% sure it's the best possible country in the world).

But how exactly does cryptocurrency solve your problem?

Is it possible to legalize crypto you earned? Nope.

Is it easy to accept payments in cryptocurrency? Nope.

I don't see any advantage over "shitty" old banks.

Re: Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

#22

Post by bsaul »

hal9000xp wrote: post #7

Back in 2004, I lived in shithole country called Uzbekistan, I wanted to buy some US stocks but my bank refused to transfer MY money because of strict currency control in Uzbekistan. This was probably the first time in my life I realized that I don't actually own money stored at bank, it's just bank temporarily allows me to use my money and at any whim bank would reject to do so. In 2010, I lived in a little bit bett…

Do you think that once/if crypto currencies become mainstreams, they won't be regulated just as much by shite governments ?

To believe that the most fundamental social human issues can be solved by technology is a bit of an utopia imho. Greed, lust for power, envy, etc. Those are part of human nature, i don't think they will disappear thanks to some elaborated algorithm. Unless you want algorithms to take control of social interactions (which is another kind of shite society).

Re: Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

#23

Post by qeternity »

oskarla wrote: post #2

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are currently the perfect products to sell to people who want to get rich, preferably quickly. That will always be a huge market in our economic system.

"But this time, it's different!"

- Every scam victim ever

Re: Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

#24

Post by foepys »

nsomaru wrote: post #15
foepys wrote: post #5

Why do all crypto currency enthusiasts assume that when a government cannot guarantee monetary stability there will still be reliable, always on, high bandwidth internet connections to sync distributed ledgers across the globe? Also: Does any crypto currency have anything in store to protect itself against bad nodes? I don't mean nodes that send invalid packages but nodes that act like real nodes but just eat transac…

> Flood a network with a few million of these nodes, don't relay addresses of valid nodes and the network will split eventually. Could you direct me to the theory supporting this assertion? Was considering doing a simulation of this but need some kind of model.

That's a thought I came up with a couple of months ago but I wasn't able to find time to test it out myself. From my point of view this seems like a very viable, albeit expensive attack vector without any potential to make money. The only result is destroying confidence in the network, so state level attacks might be the only reason to apply it.

Re: Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

#25

Post by grondilu »

bsaul wrote: post #22
hal9000xp wrote: post #7

Back in 2004, I lived in shithole country called Uzbekistan, I wanted to buy some US stocks but my bank refused to transfer MY money because of strict currency control in Uzbekistan. This was probably the first time in my life I realized that I don't actually own money stored at bank, it's just bank temporarily allows me to use my money and at any whim bank would reject to do so. In 2010, I lived in a little bit bett…

Do you think that once/if crypto currencies become mainstreams, they won't be regulated just as much by shite governments ? To believe that the most fundamental social human issues can be solved by technology is a bit of an utopia imho. Greed, lust for power, envy, etc. Those are part of human nature, i don't think they will disappear thanks to some elaborated algorithm. Unless you want algorithms to take control of…

Maybe not but even if you're right, it will push governments, or governments-approved organizations, to offer a decent alternative to what people were seeking for in the first place.

Consider file sharing. When P2P came out, the video entertainment business was in a serious crisis. Arguably, platforms like Netflix came out and offered a decent legal solution.

I believe governments will eventually approve a form of cryptocurrency, allowing more freedom and transparency to the way people own and exchange money. Not all features of cryptocurrencies will be available (full privacy won't be completely allowed, for instance), but most of them.

Re: Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

#26

Post by shard972 »

bsaul wrote: post #22
hal9000xp wrote: post #7

Back in 2004, I lived in shithole country called Uzbekistan, I wanted to buy some US stocks but my bank refused to transfer MY money because of strict currency control in Uzbekistan. This was probably the first time in my life I realized that I don't actually own money stored at bank, it's just bank temporarily allows me to use my money and at any whim bank would reject to do so. In 2010, I lived in a little bit bett…

Do you think that once/if crypto currencies become mainstreams, they won't be regulated just as much by shite governments ? To believe that the most fundamental social human issues can be solved by technology is a bit of an utopia imho. Greed, lust for power, envy, etc. Those are part of human nature, i don't think they will disappear thanks to some elaborated algorithm. Unless you want algorithms to take control of…

At least for now his side is winning the arms race so he can benefit from it until that day potentially comes.

Although I still think it's going to be a very long way off if western government's can't work out how to make unauthorized use of crypto illegal.

Re: Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

#27

Post by NHern031 »

bsaul wrote: post #22
hal9000xp wrote: post #7

Back in 2004, I lived in shithole country called Uzbekistan, I wanted to buy some US stocks but my bank refused to transfer MY money because of strict currency control in Uzbekistan. This was probably the first time in my life I realized that I don't actually own money stored at bank, it's just bank temporarily allows me to use my money and at any whim bank would reject to do so. In 2010, I lived in a little bit bett…

Do you think that once/if crypto currencies become mainstreams, they won't be regulated just as much by shite governments ? To believe that the most fundamental social human issues can be solved by technology is a bit of an utopia imho. Greed, lust for power, envy, etc. Those are part of human nature, i don't think they will disappear thanks to some elaborated algorithm. Unless you want algorithms to take control of…

I agree that human nature is corrupt at its core, but the blockchain is not. Placing cryptocurrency's aside and realizing that distributed entities will allow us an attempt at curtailing the effect of these negative human qualities is what I value the most. The blockchain is a perfect example of a publicly accessible ledger that is resistant to manipulation after the fact, inherently making it a source of truth. Blockchain technology will not change the entirety of society (in our life time) but it has definitely become a catalyst for social change.

Re: Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

#28

Post by ThomPete »

Karnickel wrote: post #12
hal9000xp wrote: post #7

Back in 2004, I lived in shithole country called Uzbekistan, I wanted to buy some US stocks but my bank refused to transfer MY money because of strict currency control in Uzbekistan. This was probably the first time in my life I realized that I don't actually own money stored at bank, it's just bank temporarily allows me to use my money and at any whim bank would reject to do so. In 2010, I lived in a little bit bett…

I think your comment raises some very interesting points, but that you go too far. There are costs (in the wider not just monetary sense) and benefits to various approaches. The reason you had to resort to crypto-currency first of all seems to me to be the problems in the countries you lived in. If they had working institutions, if you had lived in a Western country and had had access to the banking there, would you…

“but it also enables a lot of very questionable businesses and people.“

So basically like cash.

Re: Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

#29

Post by matt4077 »

hal9000xp wrote: post #7

Back in 2004, I lived in shithole country called Uzbekistan, I wanted to buy some US stocks but my bank refused to transfer MY money because of strict currency control in Uzbekistan. This was probably the first time in my life I realized that I don't actually own money stored at bank, it's just bank temporarily allows me to use my money and at any whim bank would reject to do so. In 2010, I lived in a little bit bett…

That’s an argument for better government, not forgoing government altogether, and reverting to anarchy.

I’m one of those “bloody conformists”. And because my country is full of then, and we elect sensible politicians, I am welcome at any bank in the world.

Re: Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

#30

Post by oelmekki »

foepys wrote: post #5

Why do all crypto currency enthusiasts assume that when a government cannot guarantee monetary stability there will still be reliable, always on, high bandwidth internet connections to sync distributed ledgers across the globe? Also: Does any crypto currency have anything in store to protect itself against bad nodes? I don't mean nodes that send invalid packages but nodes that act like real nodes but just eat transac…

I consider myself a cryptocurrency enthusiast (I regularly browsed bitcointalk forum since 2013, even if I did not buy anything until 2015), but I have no problem with, nor fear about, governments managing money: what I'm interested in cryptocurrencies on the long run is to replace banking services for individuals, which I find to be of lesser and lesser quality with the years.

But I get why you think this is "all crypto currency enthusiasts", given cryptoanarchists are a prominent group. The distinction was clear during the fail of the DAO [1] from ethereum in 2016. When ethereum core devs decided to fork to revert the blockchain and "erase" the steal, there was basically two groups of people: those who were happy that it meant fraud can be dealt with (a not-so-small minority group, which I was in) and those who thought it meant manipulation, regulation, intervention, everything they despise from governments.

Granted, the later are way more numerous, but please don't assume it's just all cryptocurrency enthusiasts :)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_DAO_(organization)

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