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Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

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Re: Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

#31

Post by aaron-lebo »

NHern031 wrote: post #27
bsaul wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. Bloc…

Statements like this sound so religious.

The blockchain is a human construct, entirely dependent on human inputs, outputs, and interpretation to have any meaning at all. As long as that's the case (and if it isn't, then it's not useful to society), it has the exact same weaknesses.

It's entirely possible if not probable given enough time and enough tries at it, someone is going to find a really useful application for it. But it's hard to take statements like "catalyst for social change" seriously when its sole contribution to this point has been a new form of gambling. There's a big disconnect between what the technology is supposed to do and what's actually happening.

Re: Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

#32

Post by zerostar07 »

velcro wrote: post #17

I don't understand people who cite current network speed/overload, transaction problem/cost and co as the reason why Bitcoin (or any crypto) will fail in the future. Nothing is set in stone - its software, all of these things are fixable and are being worked on. Its still so very early in the game. If you compare crypto to a traditional startup project - I'd say user engagement and growth is more valuable than a perf…

> user engagement and growth

I wouldn't compare those. Most of the altcoin trading is completely speculative, not even in the sense that they "believe in the future of the coin", a lot is purely speculative profit-making (e.g xrp), pump-and-dump chasing and herdish behavior. Very few coins have substantial engaged followers (e.g. raiblocks) and only the top 2 have actual users. I 'm a believer in the technologies but they are in such early alpha stage that it's not justified to expect that most of them will even prove to work.

The biggest issue for me is the distribution of coins, with most ICOs unashamedly aiming to make the founders and investors billionaires from day 2. Even if their products prove succesful, i think a forked, clean chain will win over more followers.

Re: Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

#33

Post by hal9000xp »

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…

The governments can only slowdown cryptocurrency revolution but they can't stop it.

BTC, LTC are traceable, so you can still track down owner (although it may be extremely difficult in some cases).

But with technologies like zero-knowledge proof in ZCash, you have untraceable money.

So at some point, when cryptocurrencies hit mainstream, you may see the situation when people start exchange goods and services directly in ZCash or Monero. I just don't see how government can shutdown this.

I don't see how governments can crackdown cryptocurrencies completely. So in long term, impact of cryptocurrencies on global economy is inevitable.

Re: Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

#34

Post by ThomPete »

Bitcoin and any other interpretation of the blockchain is valuable because they create a physical fabric in the digital space. It will take time to implement but its going to be commonplace for the next generations. It allows for an increased complexity regardless of how the individual creator is doing. There is a lot of scams and snakeoil salesmen a lot of fools gold, just like there were in the golddigger years and the wil get booted out sooner or later, but the value of this decentralized fabric especially with regards to bitcoin is invaluable for any future decelopment of infrastructure.

Re: Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

#35

Post by keymone »

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…

mode of operation during war (attack against bitcoin, oppressive regime, etc) would be very different to current mode of operation.

radio to receive new blocks and any means of sending 250-500 bytes of data (sms, radio, morse code, flashlight) is enough to do almost all you will ever need to do with bitcoin, no internet required.

network of trust based acceptance of peers could be a solution to bad nodes flood attack, i think.

Re: Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

#36

Post by makomk »

orionblastar wrote: post #6

Supply and demand curves are what make things valuable or not. Bitcoin has a finite set of coins in its network. Most people only buy fractions of a bitcoin because one full bitcoin is too pricy for them. People used to earn Bitcoins using GPU mining rigs. ASIC miners made that obsolete. GPU mining is no longer profitable but the average person does not know or understand that. I've seen stores like Microcenter sell…

I'm pretty sure that the reason GPUs are sold out everywhere is GPU mining of Ethereum, not Bitcoin.

Re: Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

#37

Post by [deleted] »

MsMowz wrote: post #3

The most interesting part of the cryptocurrency phenomenon has been the rise of pseudo-academic writing to support individual coins or the concept itself. Every time a new coin emerges, there's a detailed advertisement that's styled like an economics journal article. At the same time, there's low-level sophistry like this article to assert that cryptocurrency is going to solve social problem X. People who believe cry…

[deleted]

Re: Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

#38

Post by tonfa »

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…

So you "solved" the transferring money bit, but does it help at all to buy US stocks?

Re: Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

#39

Post by PakG1 »

hal9000xp wrote: post #33
bsaul wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The governments can only slowdown cryptocurrency revolution but they can't stop it. BTC, LTC are traceable, so you can still track down owner (although it may be extremely difficult in some cases). But with technologies like zero-knowledge proof in ZCash, you have untraceable money. So at some point, when cryptocurrencies hit mainstream, you may see the situation when people start exchange goods and services directly…

The same way they investigate individuals or businesses they suspect of lying on their tax returns. Look for suspicious patterns, investigate records, reward guilty ones with fines or jail time.

Re: Why Is Bitcoin Valuable?

#40

Post by ThomPete »

donpark wrote: post #13

It had potentials but none of that matters with lack of protection against overhyped valuation. It's not a currency if it what you paid for a cup of coffee could've bought a Ferrari the next day. And blockchain is more like plumbing than some star-fangled magic. Last time I got excited about plumbing is...never mind.

Why people still make comparisons to bitcoin as a currency is beyond my understanding. It's more like gold than like a currency. Judging it as a currency makes no sense.

The volatility will go down over time and even if we were to compare it to currencies go back in history and you will see plenty of fluctuating currencies. A stable currency is a fairly new phenomenon and it comes with a price (you have to grow the economy)

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