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Bitcoin is a disaster

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Re: Bitcoin is a disaster

#611

Post by xapata »

syshum wrote: post #594
xapata wrote: post #563

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Government isn't a monolith. There are individuals within the government that have altruistic goals. It may be helpful for certain analyses to simplify and consider a government as an individual, but for other analyses that's counter-productive.

Government is a monolith, the goals of the individuals that make up the government are irrelevant. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and the most terrifying phrase in the English language is "We must do _____ for the greater good" Government is not reason, it is not eloquence,it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant, and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible ac…

You're spouting platitudes, which I enjoy sometimes for a dramatic turn of phrase, but they aren't helpful for rational discussion. They're best used for introducing a topic, but then we need a little more structure behind the facade.

Going back to the monolith question, the other day someone at the public utility helped me fix a mistake with my bill. That individual was not irrelevant to my experience with government power.

Re: Bitcoin is a disaster

#612

Post by FabHK »

yunesj wrote: post #402

Bitcoin's value prop isn't in its anonymity. Early adopters weren't enthusiastic about bitcoin because they hoped it would end fractional reserve banking or any other financial product. Rather, it was incredible to see the entire financial industry quickly rebuilt on top of sound money. I agree that small transactions and mining can be (and are being) improved, but not for the same reasons. It's silly to blame bitcoi…

> Bitcoin is simply doing what was always done more efficiently.

Where by "more efficiently" you mean "vastly less efficiently", right?

Re: Bitcoin is a disaster

#613

Post by xapata »

stale2002 wrote: post #599
xapata wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's good to hear. What about exchange controls? How do you see governments adjusting inflation with widespread international Bitcoin usage?

Government can do whatever inflation adjustments that it wants. What it can't do, though, is force people to accept them. If you want your money to inflate, you are free to use any infatuation currency that you want. But other people, who prefer to not be subject to inflation, are now free to not be subject to it.

Can't the government force taxes to be paid in the currency of its choice, thereby making taxpayers (residents, visitors, and their counter-parties) subject to its currency?

Re: Bitcoin is a disaster

#614

Post by ineedasername »

nichohel wrote: post #311
etimberg wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you believe there should be no capital gains on it?

Possibly funny thought: If you have to declare a capital gain on every BTC purchase of a cup of coffee, why can't you declare a capital loss every time you spend dollars that you earned long ago, and which have decreased significantly in value since then, due to inflation?

Technically yes, the same rules apply as if you were trading in any international currency. If you sell yen at a profit to convert to USD & purchase something, you owe tax. What sort of tax can be complicated depending on how long the asset was held. I'm not an accountant, but I think assets held less than a year are taxed as personal income, so marginal rates apply. Assets held longer than a year are, I believe, taxed as regular capital gains.

I'm not sure what would/should happen with extremely short term trades, i.e, you convert to Euros from USD for a vacation, the USD crashes, you convert back upon return from your vacation. I doubt the IRS worries too much about it, but I suppose technically you should file Form 8949 along with a Schedule D.

Re: Bitcoin is a disaster

#615

Post by exclusiv »

oblio wrote: post #230
radiator wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just pointing out; there exist also those who consider the possibility of a collapse of cash/dollar more likely than your estimate.

There exist those who predict the collapse of everything. That's not a valid answer. Who are they? How many are they? What insight do they have that we don't have? Is this chance higher than the possibility of collapse for Bitcoin?

Seriously. Will it do the equivalent of being ~20k then go to 3k. Then come back to 29k? Highly unlikely. As much as people want to predict a collapse, you can't store a ton of money safely outside of Treasuries.

Re: Bitcoin is a disaster

#616

Post by aik »

cambalache wrote: post #304

I agree with most of the points raised by the author but as a Venezuelan Bitcoin is a godsend. If you live abroad and want to send remittances to your friends and family it can be pretty easy in a normal country , with wire transfers,western union and so on. If your family lives in Venezuela your options are extremely more limited. These are some of the options Venezuelans have had to use: 1. Ask the money to be sent…

There are options like SureRemit that has extremely low fees built for this exact purpose (at least that’s what it’s being built for). Hope this purpose of blockchain tech pans out and improves compared to other existing options.

Re: Bitcoin is a disaster

#617

Post by shawnz »

arcticbull wrote: post #607
shawnz wrote: post #513

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that wrong? What other new asset class was developed this rapidly?

Think about what other technology is 12 years old you’d call “nascent” - 12 years is an eternity in tech. The iPhone is 12 years old and bears only a passing semblance to what was launched. Bitcoin is practically identical. The first ETF launched in 1993, and 12 years later they had 400 billion in net asset value - 533 adjusted for inflation. Your argument that the growth is unprecedented is specious.

Yeah, but I believe it's the economic side which is moving slowly, not the technological side. People have been working on improved technologies for cryptocurrencies for a while now but the problem is that none of them have gained the same trust as Bitcoin.

Re: Bitcoin is a disaster

#618

Post by ineedasername »

chii wrote: post #584
nichohel wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly funny thought: If you have to declare a capital gain on every BTC purchase of a cup of coffee, why can't you declare a capital loss every time you spend dollars that you earned long ago, and which have decreased significantly in value since then, due to inflation?

you can and would declare capital losses on gold sold at a loss. Cash does not have gains/losses, as they are themselves the unit of accounting. The inflation effect causing cash to lose value is something you suck up - it's incentive to invest the cash.

US cash doesn't have gains/losses, but assets held in foreign currencies & converted to USD are subject to capital gains/losses.

Re: Bitcoin is a disaster

#619

Post by chii »

progval wrote: post #310
spottybanana wrote: post #184

If you think Bitcoin is bad, don't use it. Bitcoin is free market protocol. Often in free market it comes down to preferences, and this kind of opinion pieces are just a statement that I don't like what other people don't like, and other people shouldn't like what they like.

Bitcoin is also bad for you even if you don't use it. Greenhouse gas emission affects everyone, for example. So it makes sense to try to convince others to stop using it as well.

regarding emissions - there needs to be a carbon tax for energy. that will solve this externality pretty well imho.

Re: Bitcoin is a disaster

#620

Post by firekvz »

nootropicat wrote: post #463
cambalache wrote: post #304

I agree with most of the points raised by the author but as a Venezuelan Bitcoin is a godsend. If you live abroad and want to send remittances to your friends and family it can be pretty easy in a normal country , with wire transfers,western union and so on. If your family lives in Venezuela your options are extremely more limited. These are some of the options Venezuelans have had to use: 1. Ask the money to be sent…

Why are they using bitcoin rather than dollar stablecoins? Too new?

Localbitcoins doesnt exchange stables.

Binance does exchange USDT to VES but is not that popular

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