Bitcoin reaches an all-time trading high of over $33 • Hacker News Board

Re: Bitcoin reaches an all-time trading high of over $33

#121

Post by kybernetikos » Thu, Feb 28, 2013, 1:21 PM UTC

bayesianhorse wrote: post #110

kybernetikos wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, with modern software bitcoins are among the easiest way to transfer money between people. I load up my phone app, point it at the relevant QR code and the money is transferred securely and quickly, usually with no transaction costs. If I want to receive money, I can just give the person my QR code (or show them on the screen of my phone) and they can give me money just as easily. I have been wishing for my…

Easy, maybe. Cheap, no. The costs associated with the currency risks are huge, and you ignore them at your own peril.

If you buy and hold certainly. While bitcoin is pretty volatile, you can turn dollars into bitcoins and then transfer them or transfer them and turn them into dollars quickly enough that the risk is pretty small.

Sure, holding bitcoins is a risky proposition - like holding gold, or anything else of similar volatility.

Re: Bitcoin reaches an all-time trading high of over $33

#122

Post by Sayter » Thu, Feb 28, 2013, 1:25 PM UTC

neilxdsouza wrote: post #70

glesica wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Illicit plus grey market and a few special cases. Fine, you win the Pedant's Prize for nitpicking. The point is that they don't make a good general-purpose currency. Just because they're awesome for buying drugs and secret VPNs doesn't mean very much in the grand scheme of things (most transactions, at least in the developed world, do not take place in the grey market). Also, just because some people do something doe…

Bit Coins represent trade in an Economy independent of the Rot Schild banks. There is no proof that the 2007 financial crises was not orchestrated on purpose. There is also no proof that that 2007 financial crises was orchestrated on purpose. But we do know that Goldman Sachs sold financial instruments to their clients which they betted against. When the clients lost that money the profiteers was Goldman Sachs. 1. If…

Your thought exercise of $1 million turning into $17.2 trillion via 5% over 200 years only works if none of the money (including any of the interest) is ever touched or spent. It is an unrealistic assumption that ignores the complexities of reality.

Here are their recent financial reports if you're interested: http://www.rothschild.com/about_rothschild/financial_reports...

Re: Bitcoin reaches an all-time trading high of over $33

#123

Post by im3w1l » Thu, Feb 28, 2013, 1:30 PM UTC

adambom wrote: post #2

Bitcoin is a deflationary currency since it's supply is limited. Doesn't that mean that it's expected to rise in price? This also ends up being the currency's downfall, since there's an incentive to hoard it rather than spend it.

>rise in prise >incentive to hoard it >downfall

I don't see how these are compatible. Reminds me of "No one in New York drove. There was too much traffic."

Re: Bitcoin reaches an all-time trading high of over $33

#124

Post by tocomment » Thu, Feb 28, 2013, 1:30 PM UTC

Question I've been wondering. What happens to lost bitcoins? Say your hard drive dies and you didn't have a backup.

Are those coins out of circulation forever? Will this gradually decrease the supply of bitcoins?

Re: Bitcoin reaches an all-time trading high of over $33

#125

Post by casidiablo » Thu, Feb 28, 2013, 1:37 PM UTC

guruz wrote: post #86

mrb wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoins are an awesome general-purpose currency for electronically sending "money" to persons or businesses anywhere in the world, instantly. Say goodbye to: middle-men taking their high fees, currency conversion fees, bank holidays, wire transfers taking 3-5 days, wasting half an hour driving to a Western Union office, etc. I think what you meant to say is that bitcoins don't make a good general-purpose day-to-day…

There is actually several bars in Berlin which are supposed to take Bitcoins. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade#Restaurants_and_cafes I don't have an Android+Wallet App (I think you need that), so if anyone with such a phone wants to go with me there, I'm up for it :)

Google Wallet does not support Bitcoins, and I don't think they will support it anytime soon.

Google Wallet is just an easy way to manage your credit cards and, sometimes, pay using NFC.

Re: Bitcoin reaches an all-time trading high of over $33

#126

Post by nacker » Thu, Feb 28, 2013, 1:39 PM UTC

netcan wrote: post #75

downandout wrote: post #19

The fact that Bitcoin has flourished despite numerous high profile incidents of theft and fraud, the relative difficulty associated with buying and selling them, and the rather unsavory nature of many of its most popular uses today, is a testament to its long-term viability as a currency. The Bitcoin ecosystem has a long way to go before it is considered mainstream, but I believe its long-term success is almost inevi…

I read this a little different. I think this is proof of incredible demand. I'd also add poor usability and difficult to understand to the list of hurdles that bitcoin is overcoming. I think this is one of those cases where the demand is so strong that people put up with anything. Online Payments really sucks, for both sides. Merchants aren't guaranteed that the money they get will stay in their accounts. They need t…

The increased demand seems to be largely from current users rather than new users, as this chart shows:

http://blockchain.info/charts/n-unique-addresses

Re: Bitcoin reaches an all-time trading high of over $33

#127

Post by shredfvz » Thu, Feb 28, 2013, 1:41 PM UTC

bayesianhorse wrote: post #107

eof wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well your logic is obviously flawed, because people do use bitcoins for transactions and they have changed by hundreds of percentage points. "No one" is patently false. Besides, illicit transactions are still transactions. And.. you are just plain wrong. Bitcoin is also useful for buying many completely legal things. Including a VPN that can't be linked to your identity. (Illicit you say? What about a journalist in a…

Bitcoins are almost useless for legal and non-illicit transactions. Paypal is cheaper than bitcoins in these situations, if you account for the astronomical currency risk and thus the premium bitcoin-traders and shops accepting btc have to charge in order to not go out of bussiness in an eyeblink.

There's 0% chargeback risk with Bitcoin, and 0% risk of fraud. Counterfeit is impossible.

These factors substantially reduce the cost of selling goods and services with Bitcoin.

Re: Bitcoin reaches an all-time trading high of over $33

#128

Post by nacker » Thu, Feb 28, 2013, 1:47 PM UTC

tocomment wrote: post #124

Question I've been wondering. What happens to lost bitcoins? Say your hard drive dies and you didn't have a backup. Are those coins out of circulation forever? Will this gradually decrease the supply of bitcoins?

Yes. Gone forever.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=109117.0

Re: Bitcoin reaches an all-time trading high of over $33

#129

Post by tocomment » Thu, Feb 28, 2013, 1:58 PM UTC

So if there is ever a bug discovered in the protocol or say the crytography methods get broken, or say we need more than 8 decimal places in the coins.

How do you get all members of a distributed system to upgrade? Would holders of bitcoins have to upgrade as well?

Re: Bitcoin reaches an all-time trading high of over $33

#130

Post by geoffc » Thu, Feb 28, 2013, 2:02 PM UTC

At some point Dominos Pizza or the like is going to take bitcoins for web orders and it will go mainstream. Zero transactions fees and no charge backs make it a no brainer for a big class of normal, nonillict online transactions.