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Bitcoin still makes no sense

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Re: Bitcoin still makes no sense

#61

Post by dcolkitt »

silexia wrote: post #22

There have been lots of other currencies privately traded previously, but since the state has the guns the state can outlaw it. If it truly started competing with major currencies you would see it outlawed. It also is not secure as China is controlling a majority of the mining now and the majority can control the currency. Further, Google has a computer that can hack the encryption and you will see a lot more organiz…

> the state has the guns the state can outlaw it

The state has the guns to outlaw a lot things. Yet many of those products, I can still purchase on the local street corner. Simply having a monopoly on force isn't enough to totally stop trade in some good. Especially when that good is easy to hide, and easy to move. Crypto is pretty much the easiest good to hide and move in the history of mankind.

Re: Bitcoin still makes no sense

#62

Post by leesalminen »

dmitriid wrote: post #23
throw1234651234 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"with little positive effects to show for it" It's an efficient store of value. Here is a dilemma - you have 10 million dollars. You need somewhere to park your money. Do you follow the Chinese businessman pattern and buy real estate in Toronto? That seems complicated - picking a property, being subject to the real estate market, etc. Often these houses sit empty, since you are on the topic of wasted resources. Do yo…

> It's an efficient store of value. Here is a dilemma - you have 10 million dollars It's not a dilemma. At all. If you have 10 million dollars just lying around, chances are, uo already know what to do with your money. So your entire premise is based on a combination of assumptions that make it entirely laughable: - that if you have 10 million dollars, you have a problem with storing them - that in order to defend bi…

> Oh, right. Stocks, property, securities, bonds, investments, diversified portfolios.

As the parent poster mentioned, the US’ monetary policy is awful and many believe is on the brink of major problems.

China’s financial reporting is untrustworthy- you never know what you’re getting investing there.

EU is in the middle of brexit, financial crisis in member nations.

So, yeah, some new alternative financial instrument seems attractive to me.

Re: Bitcoin still makes no sense

#63

Post by SrslyJosh »

bawolff wrote: post #39
scoopertrooper wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess the key difference is that less startups have bilked investors by peddling fantastical dreams of post-fiat ancient coin based economies.

Maybe less tech startups, but im pretty sure a bunch of people popped up to bilk other people out of their money during the beenie baby craze.

That's a pretty good comparison, because, like the energy and custom hardware thrown at bitcoin, beanie babies are also intrinsically useless at the scale they were sold.

Re: Bitcoin still makes no sense

#64

Post by bitxbitxbitcoin »

jimmysong wrote: post #14

Posts like these make it clear to me that the author does not really understand money, not Bitcoin. It's hard to reason about what Bitcoin's advantages are without first considering what the purpose of money is and the analysis from this article is mostly just sniping at the edges about some of the perceived flaws and not the actual usefulness which is the good part of the trade-off. For a better understanding of mon…

Heya Jimmy! Glad to see you on HN.

In case anyone would like a YT video so they can listen/watch at 2x instead of read... check out: The Complete Case for Bitcoin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjeXIGWY2DI&ab_channel=Block...

Re: Bitcoin still makes no sense

#65

Post by bawolff »

domatic1 wrote: post #32

I'm still surprised that bitcoin is hated here, such a great technology. It's a decentralised currency, and it's working really well. A lot of big institutions are taking it seriously now. Does paper cash printed by government make more sense?

As an abstract symbol to represent value, yes, government printed cash works better for most people's use cases.

Bitcoin is interesting because of its decentralization, but it definitely pays a high cost to support that feature. If decentralization is not a feature you care about, than a central authority printing cash is a much better system.

Re: Bitcoin still makes no sense

#66

Post by BurningFrog »

codyb wrote: post #21
immigration311 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Making (certain) illegal activities easier is one of the primary positive effects.

I'll assume you're referring to obtaining drugs which many consider to be something that at the very least should not be punished by prison time (myself included), as opposed to say... the distribution of child pornography, ordering hit men, arms trafficking, or the selling of hacked credit card numbers, passwords, and zero days. If that was your idea, wouldn't we be better served by lobbying our politicians to move…

Consider that there are many other countries than the US, where laws are often oppressive and should be broken.

Re: Bitcoin still makes no sense

#67

Post by ThomPete »

Bitcoin makes a lot of sense. Not for physical things but for digital ones.

Bitcoin (crypto) will be used for second hand sales of digital items from gaming characters to digital weapons or other unique items across different games from completely different gaming developers.

Re: Bitcoin still makes no sense

#68

Post by [deleted] »

codyb wrote: post #21
immigration311 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Making (certain) illegal activities easier is one of the primary positive effects.

I'll assume you're referring to obtaining drugs which many consider to be something that at the very least should not be punished by prison time (myself included), as opposed to say... the distribution of child pornography, ordering hit men, arms trafficking, or the selling of hacked credit card numbers, passwords, and zero days. If that was your idea, wouldn't we be better served by lobbying our politicians to move…

[deleted]

Re: Bitcoin still makes no sense

#69

Post by superkuh »

scoopertrooper wrote: post #16
ridaj wrote: post #3

It makes sense to me about as much as the trade in ancient coins, stamps, and other collectibles. These are reasonable asset classes if you like gambling, with a somewhat fixed supply, not a lot of industrial applications, and wild price fluctuations based entirely on subjective appreciation. Bitcoin is more liquid but otherwise the price dynamic looks about the same...

I guess the key difference is that less startups have bilked investors by peddling fantastical dreams of post-fiat ancient coin based economies.

Hardly. The finance bros came from traditional finance based on fiat. That's where the majority of bilking still goes on. All of us using it as a currency since the start are still here. Sure, it's nice that it's worth over 9000 now but what matters to me is being able to send and receive money myself. Besides physical cash there's nothing like it.

And unlike other currencies this one doesn't require the energy expenditures of a full standing army or the diplomatic trades to enter into protection with someone who has one. Seen through that lens bitcoin is absolutely green.

Re: Bitcoin still makes no sense

#70

Post by toolz »

sesuximo wrote: post #7
ridaj wrote: post #3

It makes sense to me about as much as the trade in ancient coins, stamps, and other collectibles. These are reasonable asset classes if you like gambling, with a somewhat fixed supply, not a lot of industrial applications, and wild price fluctuations based entirely on subjective appreciation. Bitcoin is more liquid but otherwise the price dynamic looks about the same...

AFAIK, stamps don’t use our resources enough to move prices for energy/chips/etc

bitcoin uses less resources than traditional banking. I think people should stop judging it in a vacuum and instead speak in relative terms. If energy use is a concern then fiat is the greater offender. https://bitcoinist.com/banks-consume-energy-bitcoin/

further crypto would be a much more flexible domain at working towards reducing carbon emission than deeply embedded and slow changing fiat systems

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