Can I short bitcoins? If this guy is buying, I'll take the other side of that deal.
Why I’m Putting All My Savings Into Bitcoin
141–150 of 201 posts
Re: Why I’m Putting All My Savings Into Bitcoin
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Gold is intrinsically similarly useless as bitcoin. That is incorrect on many levels. Gold has applications in MANY things. I bet the device you used to type out that comment has a bit of gold in it. The comparison to BitCoin and paper money makes more sense, but it doesn't. This is because BitCoin has no one backing it. If the dollar drops, well the US is backing it; and they will be forced to deal with the consequ…
>Gold has applications in MANY things. Yes, but that's not what makes it so valuable. This was discussed elsewhere but copper, for example, has many more industrial uses than gold but because it's not this one special metal it isn't worth as much. Essentially, there are real applications for gold but those alone do not account for its high value.
Take Macs for example. The hardware does not warrant the price tag; same for the OS. Most of it is marketing and perceived/symbolic value(I'll use these terms interchangeable). Gold gets its value from many sources.
Gold is expensive not only because of its applicational value(medical, space, electronics) but also its perceive value(jewelry, shiny, ect). BitCoins are perceived value.
Also, gold is used in different conditions than copper. Remember copper oxidizes which increase resistance and can even stop a circuit from functioning.
I think the price of gold is ridiculous- 1,500GBP a lbs- but it still has real value with some of that perceived- social status- value tacted on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lONRZNCuZc4 starts around 1:30
I am not a gold advocate, but a raw resource enthusiast. Copper and its alloys are 100% recyclable and very easy to do! However, gold is not as easy to recycle as copper; and usually very harmful. I think mining is horrible, but there are reasons to the madness. ...until there is a better way.
Re: Why I’m Putting All My Savings Into Bitcoin
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The key to the system's security is that as long as 50% of the bitcoin nodes agree on that the current difficulty level is you can't inject 'fake' money into the system. Isn't it quite easy to spawn a few million malicious nodes?
You have to have the computing power to beat 50% of the network - given the current size of the bitcoin network that's certainly not trivial.
The individual in control of the DeepBit mining pool already has about 50% of the network's computing power.
http://www.bitcoinminer.com/post/5328668205/deepbit-50-perce...
Re: Why I’m Putting All My Savings Into Bitcoin
#144"They built a house of straw. The thundering machines sputtered and stopped. Their leaders talked and talked and talked. But nothing could stem the avalanche. Their world crumbled. The cities exploded. A whirlwind of looting, a firestorm of fear. Men began to feed on men. On the roads it was a white line nightmare. Only those mobile enough to scavenge, brutal enough to pillage would survive. The gangs took over the h…
Where's that quote from?
Re: Why I’m Putting All My Savings Into Bitcoin
#145This violates two simple, and obvious, tenets of investing: 1. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. 2. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
The basket many people are holding all their eggs in, is the USD. That has depreciated significantly in the last few years, with a very good chance that it'll continue to do so. My home currency isn't the dollar but my app is priced in dollars and that sucks. I'd far prefer to have Euro earnings and earn a few bitcoins a month as a speculative investment.
"with a very good chance that it'll continue to do so."
That's not what extraordinarily low interest rates in the bond market say.
Re: Why I’m Putting All My Savings Into Bitcoin
#146Re: Why I’m Putting All My Savings Into Bitcoin
#147"There is currently about USD 50 million in the bitcoin system, and just over six million coins in circulation, valued at $8 each. Up until now, demand has largely been driven by enthusiasts. The value of a bitcoin can’t be held constant — if 12 more million dollars is exchanged into bitcoin, the value of a coin will rise to $10. The more people who want to use the system, the more people will need to exchange a port…
Thanks I didn't catch that myself.
Sounds awfully much like real estate where suddenly everyone was feeling rich because some idiot bought a house for too much money. (in this case aggravated by the fact that the idiot put zero money down.)
Re: Why I’m Putting All My Savings Into Bitcoin
#148Even if this were an otherwise good investment, I want know know: What stops the guys who run bitcoin from simply shutting it off?
EDIT: And before people reply, "it is P2P", someone runs the web site. Someone owns the code repository. Or some group. There will always be a small group with power to muck with the system. What stops abuse?
Re: Why I’m Putting All My Savings Into Bitcoin
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
True, but if you break down the value of gold then it's maybe a dollar an ounce from practical uses and 1500 dollars an ounce from the fact that it's a seven-thouand-year-old asset bubble. Or, to put it another way, suppose tomorrow I figure out a way to replace gold with some much cheaper tin-copper alloy in all its industrial applications. That's not gonna decrease the value of gold all that much. (Note that I don'…
gold is used in jewellery because it's valuable, not because it looks any prettier than other metals I'm not so sure about that. Gold is used in jewelry because (a) it looks cooler than silver/tin/copper/etc.; and (b) because it is really rare. So I'm proposing the chain is: Looks good & rare -> Valuable I think if you were missing either "looks good for jewelry" OR "rare", it wouldn't be valuable and it wouldn't wor…
Look at Platinum. More expensive than gold, largely commercial use (jewelry is about 25%).
Re: Why I’m Putting All My Savings Into Bitcoin
#150This violates two simple, and obvious, tenets of investing: 1. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. 2. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
In my experience people who write blog posts like this don't have enough eggs to really worry what happens to the basket. It's either someone with very little life savings or a pump and dumper.
Falkvinge is the founder of the Swedish Pirate Party, so my guess he's willing to personally risk to promote the world's first viable decentralized currency.