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Bitcoin Hits $1 Billion

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Re: Bitcoin Hits $1 Billion

#21

Post by eof »

andrewljohnson wrote: post #4
jstalin wrote: post #2

That article is incorrect, it says there are 109,000 BTC in circulation. It's more like 11 million. http://bitcoincharts.com/bitcoin/

Correct, about half of all bitcoins have been mined, 11 million to go! I wish someone would make a drop in widget for me to sell android apps for bitcoins and PayPal on my website.

There are a bunch of such widgets. mtgox has widgets, bitpay has widgets.. i am sure others do as well. (for the bitcoin side not the paypal side, which there are also countless widgets for)

Re: Bitcoin Hits $1 Billion

#22

Post by waterlesscloud »

niggler wrote: post #16
wting wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right now there seems to be about 15M transactions total. Number of Transactions https://blockchain.info/charts/n-transactions-total Transactions / Day: https://blockchain.info/charts/n-transactions Trade:Transaction Ratio: https://blockchain.info/charts/tx-trade-ratio?showDataPoints...

https://blockchain.info/stats 156,779.62 BTC in the past 24 hours

That's what was traded on the exchanges.

What I think you're looking for is known as Estimated Transaction Volume - https://blockchain.info/charts/estimated-transaction-volume

Re: Bitcoin Hits $1 Billion

#23

Post by tvladeck »

Remember: "What we want from a monetary system isn’t to make people holding money rich; we want it to facilitate transactions and make the economy as a whole rich." - Paul Krugman

EDIT: To be clear - this quote is not intended (by me) to be a knock on BTC. It's just an elegant statement of my own opinion that the value of 1 BTC is not all that indicative of its value to the economy.

Re: Bitcoin Hits $1 Billion

#24

Post by zby »

mrkmcknz wrote: post #17

I want to be able to get behind Bitcoin I really do. I just don't understand the purpose it serves. As an asset class it's far too volatile even for someone who plays naked options. Imagine putting $10,000 into an asset class that swings 20-30% daily on a regular basis. Trading curbs eat your heart out. As a currency it's too impractical and there are serious hurdles involved with turning central bank currency into B…

I've heard online gambling is a huge industry - 30% daily swings is great for some people.

Re: Bitcoin Hits $1 Billion

#25

Post by elmuchoprez »

mrkmcknz wrote: post #17

I want to be able to get behind Bitcoin I really do. I just don't understand the purpose it serves. As an asset class it's far too volatile even for someone who plays naked options. Imagine putting $10,000 into an asset class that swings 20-30% daily on a regular basis. Trading curbs eat your heart out. As a currency it's too impractical and there are serious hurdles involved with turning central bank currency into B…

I see BTC as a proof-of-concept experiment right now more than anything else. And I think it's still too early to tell what it's actually proving.

Re: Bitcoin Hits $1 Billion

#26

Post by aneth4 »

mrkmcknz wrote: post #17

I want to be able to get behind Bitcoin I really do. I just don't understand the purpose it serves. As an asset class it's far too volatile even for someone who plays naked options. Imagine putting $10,000 into an asset class that swings 20-30% daily on a regular basis. Trading curbs eat your heart out. As a currency it's too impractical and there are serious hurdles involved with turning central bank currency into B…

You're totally right. The world is not ready, just like it wasn't ready for e-commerce in 1996. I mean, who's going to put their credit card online? Who wants to buy stuff without feeling it?

BitCoin may always be more volatile than other currencies. That doesn't actually matter much as long as it's liquid with other commodities and currencies. Its primary purpose is transfer, not store value. It will however stabilize the more broadly it is held and the more real commerce it is involved in.

Re: Bitcoin Hits $1 Billion

#27

Post by eof »

mrkmcknz wrote: post #17

I want to be able to get behind Bitcoin I really do. I just don't understand the purpose it serves. As an asset class it's far too volatile even for someone who plays naked options. Imagine putting $10,000 into an asset class that swings 20-30% daily on a regular basis. Trading curbs eat your heart out. As a currency it's too impractical and there are serious hurdles involved with turning central bank currency into B…

The whole beauty is that the people running the world don't have to be ready.

Of course banks are worried. If bitcoin grows just two more orders of magnitude (how many has it grown so far?) It will become a serious threat.

Re: Bitcoin Hits $1 Billion

#28

Post by aneth4 »

tvladeck wrote: post #23

Remember: "What we want from a monetary system isn’t to make people holding money rich; we want it to facilitate transactions and make the economy as a whole rich." - Paul Krugman EDIT: To be clear - this quote is not intended (by me) to be a knock on BTC. It's just an elegant statement of my own opinion that the value of 1 BTC is not all that indicative of its value to the economy.

That's great for us and the economy.

Personally, I'd prefer my money to increase in value.

I'm not going to avoid a currency for the benefit of the economy, nor would that be consistent with expected economic behavior.

Re: Bitcoin Hits $1 Billion

#29

Post by zalzane »

reaclmbs wrote: post #20
mrkmcknz wrote: post #17

I want to be able to get behind Bitcoin I really do. I just don't understand the purpose it serves. As an asset class it's far too volatile even for someone who plays naked options. Imagine putting $10,000 into an asset class that swings 20-30% daily on a regular basis. Trading curbs eat your heart out. As a currency it's too impractical and there are serious hurdles involved with turning central bank currency into B…

OK, let's play a game. Say you had $5mm. How would you manipulate the Bitcoin market and earn a guaranteed return?

A government entity looking to destroy the market wouldn't necessarily care about getting a return.

Even if they were, take a look at what happened yesterday when someone dumped 5k bitcoins onto mtgox.

http://i.imgur.com/K8T4F0Y.png

Re: Bitcoin Hits $1 Billion

#30

Post by zenocon »

reaclmbs wrote: post #20
mrkmcknz wrote: post #17

I want to be able to get behind Bitcoin I really do. I just don't understand the purpose it serves. As an asset class it's far too volatile even for someone who plays naked options. Imagine putting $10,000 into an asset class that swings 20-30% daily on a regular basis. Trading curbs eat your heart out. As a currency it's too impractical and there are serious hurdles involved with turning central bank currency into B…

OK, let's play a game. Say you had $5mm. How would you manipulate the Bitcoin market and earn a guaranteed return?

Invest that money in private ASIC dev. and mine away
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