Live data from Hacker News

Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

blog.coinbase.com

121–130 of 151 posts

Re: Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, in general the price level of bitcoins, how much individual bitcoins are worth compared to other goods, is going to end up being governed by MV = PQ Where M is the quantity of bitcoins, V is how fast they criculate, P is the price things in bitcoins, and Q is the size of the economy that bitcoins are used for. Since the bitcoin design prevents M from increasing that much, and since V tends to fluctuate a lot bu…

I think you need to include speculators in your equation. If S is the number of bitcoins being horded, we would get (M - S)V = PQ. Since the perception seems to be shifting where more and more people believe that Q is going to continue to increase, S becomes larger (and in extreme cases, a bubble).

No need for "S". Hoarding is accounted for by a drop in V.

Re: Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

#122
But not to me :(

"Unfortunately, we have decided to cancel this order because it appears to be high risk. We do not send out any bitcoins on high risk transactions, and your bank account will not be charged."

I have no idea why I was flagged as "high risk", I'd be interested to know.

Re: Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really think the price would change very much if the miner payout was raised or dropped by a factor of ten? Over half the bitcoins have already been mined; expecting the price to be based on the trickle of new ones is unrealistic.

It may change eventually, and the exchange rate does fluctuate dramatically sometimes, but it has been shown in the past that the market value of bitcoins tends to stabilize around the electricity cost of mining.

Does this mean the total value of all bitcoins is similar to the cost of the electricity used for mining them? If so, isn't it worrying that so much electricity has been used because of bitcoin? I have often wondered if a currency could be constructed such that the mining would solve real computational problems, thereby doubling the value produced per energy consumed.

Re: Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

#124
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with all fiat currencies is they have no inherent value; it is all in the eye of the beholder. So what is an "appropriate" price is quite difficult to determine. Most currencies are driven by being effective monopolies wherever they are issued, so the market price remains somewhat stable. Even so, many professional economists have opined that the exchange rates even between major currencies are way too vo…

Well, in general the price level of bitcoins, how much individual bitcoins are worth compared to other goods, is going to end up being governed by MV = PQ Where M is the quantity of bitcoins, V is how fast they criculate, P is the price things in bitcoins, and Q is the size of the economy that bitcoins are used for. Since the bitcoin design prevents M from increasing that much, and since V tends to fluctuate a lot bu…

>you should find that the value of each bitcoin mirrors the size of the economy that uses bitcoins in the long run.

Your equation is actually saying the opposite, that the value (P) of each bitcoin is inversely proportional to the size of the bitcoin economy (Q):

MV = PQ => (refactored) =>

(MV)/Q = P

Hence P ~ 1/Q.

Thinking about it more, I think you may have Q and M mixed up. From a supply/demand point of view, the greater supply of bitcoin (M), relative to demand at least, the lower the value (P).

If we assume aggregate demand can be approximated by overall size of the economy that uses bitcoin (Q), then

P ~ Q

and

P ~ 1/M

so

(QV)/M = P

hence

QV = MP

Right?

Re: Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

#125
post #22

I think bitcoin is an extremely interesting concept, and the economics around it are equally interesting. I bought a tiny amount when the prices were around the $11 mark, and its insane to think of the price-shift. I made a couple bucks off the price shift, but now I'm honestly thinking that the price will fall back down. Despite serving the needs of many SR/SatoshiDice people, I dont think they're quite at the point…

The problem with all fiat currencies is they have no inherent value; it is all in the eye of the beholder. So what is an "appropriate" price is quite difficult to determine. Most currencies are driven by being effective monopolies wherever they are issued, so the market price remains somewhat stable. Even so, many professional economists have opined that the exchange rates even between major currencies are way too vo…

The problem with all fiat currencies is they have no inherent value; it is all in the eye of the beholder.

Apart from the claim on a country's treasury which is implicitly backed by a country's resources. Sure, this isn't always reliable, as in the case of countries like Zimbabwe, but they're very much the exception rather than the rule. Bitcoin's fiat value is posited on the artificial scarcity of something that doesn't have any particular utility in the first place. Gold at least has the virtue of looking nice and having useful physical properties (malleability, non-reactivity, high conductivity).

Re: Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

#126
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have made the Internet-libertarian/goldbug mistake of thinking fiat is a dirty word.

Show me a fiat currency the appreciates over time and maybe I'll look at it differently. Have you ever thought of that the root of our over-consumption society might be caused by the need to keep our money always moving to prevent it from depreciating?

Sure. Bitcoin is a fiat currency that has, so far, generally appreciated.

Re: Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

#127
post #107
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're making the mistake of consulting a medium writable by throngs of InternetLibertarians™. :P There is nothing inherent in the economic concept of a fiat currency of government. What is a law or a government in any case? Bitcoin is created by rules. The rules are embedded in a program instead of a law-book. The governed users opt in by using the software rather than by living in some geography. The rules are enfo…

Bitcoin is created by rules of mathematics and mined by problem solving. Gold is creating by mining and refining and governed by the rules of physics.. What does any of this have to do with the definition of fiat? It's already defined, lookup the latin - 'it shall be'

Exactly. Somebody said "it shall be" and behold, there were bitcoins. Fiat currency means no physical asset backing it. Bitcoins have no physical backing.

Re: Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

#128
post #46
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or poker ( https://sealswithclubs.eu/ ). If you snoop around on the twoplustwo poker forms you will see there is some interest and decent reviews of the site. I imagine for someone that gambles regularly, it's easier for them to leave their bankroll in bitcoin rather than continuously exchanging it back to USD or whatever. I'm no economist but this is how I see a fiat currency like bitcoin deriving value. Even if no…

As noted above, Bitcoin is not fiat currency. It can't be created on demand by any person or government.

What backs it?

Re: Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

#129
post #46
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or poker ( https://sealswithclubs.eu/ ). If you snoop around on the twoplustwo poker forms you will see there is some interest and decent reviews of the site. I imagine for someone that gambles regularly, it's easier for them to leave their bankroll in bitcoin rather than continuously exchanging it back to USD or whatever. I'm no economist but this is how I see a fiat currency like bitcoin deriving value. Even if no…

As noted above, Bitcoin is not fiat currency. It can't be created on demand by any person or government.

Strong cryptography

Re: Coinbase Is Now Selling Over $1M USD Of Bitcoin Per Month

#130
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have made the Internet-libertarian/goldbug mistake of thinking fiat is a dirty word.

Show me a fiat currency the appreciates over time and maybe I'll look at it differently. Have you ever thought of that the root of our over-consumption society might be caused by the need to keep our money always moving to prevent it from depreciating?

Why do you think a currency that naturally appreciates over time is desirable?
Post reply on HN