Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC • Hacker News Board

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#211

Post by dia80 » Mon, Apr 01, 2013, 5:25 PM UTC

lolcraft wrote: post #176

Some people here seem to think that this is temporary, that sometime in the future Bitcoin will stabilize into a glorious future global currency -- never mind the new class of cryptobarons it will have created from its inner circle, through shameless hoarding. My question is, what then will happen when Bitcoin stabilizes, that is, when the time to new coin mined approaches practically infinity? Let's assume the globa…

> cryptobarons it will have created from its inner circle, through shameless hoarding.

This isn't 1941 England and bitcoins aren't sugar. Early adopters in the right thing often make money. Usually on HN they are called investors and congratulated. Sour grapes on missing out? (I did too)

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#212

Post by dragontamer » Mon, Apr 01, 2013, 5:26 PM UTC

BrianEatWorld wrote: post #196

dragontamer wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USD changes at a rate of 3% per year, according to the CPI. Bitcoin is currently changing at a rate of 50% per month . Volatility is a bad thing for currency. Bitcoin has too much of it right now. And sorry, as long as BTC keeps changing by 50%+ per month, it will only be a proxy currency. If BTC is to become a true currency, it will need to settle down to ~3% / year volatility, like the other major currencies of the…

Thats a bit of a logical fallacy. Just because modern currencies tend to not exhibit volatility, doesn't mean its a bad trait for a currency. In the past, ideas like "menu costs" might make it less favorable because of sticky prices not aligning with a free floating currency, but that isn't as much of an issue anymore. The real issue would be if the underlying fundamentals, IE the supply and demand of the currency, d…

Have you even read the parent post? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5473508

Scribophile cannot sell services based on BTC at the moment, because the BTC market keeps swinging by 50% or more each month. It is impossible to peg the price of anything to BTC right now.

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#213

Post by alexchamberlain » Mon, Apr 01, 2013, 5:27 PM UTC

rytis wrote: post #143

dragontamer wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A new domain name has been 10 USD from Namecheap for the last decade. A new domain name in BTC however, has varied between 1 BTC and 0.1 BTC in just the past two months. BTC as a proxy for USD is still useful IMO, it gives us a way to avoid Paypal and other online processors. But for it to be a USD replacement, it needs to first settle down and stabilize.

"settle down and stabilize." Depends how you look at it. From BTC point of view it is the USD that's highly unstable and dropping in value... It's all relative.

It's common to value a currency against a basket of other currencies; you would still see BTC's volatility be huge.

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#214

Post by noloqy » Mon, Apr 01, 2013, 5:27 PM UTC

Eliezer wrote: post #110

acabal wrote: post #72

I added a Bitcoin purchase option to Scribophile to test the waters. But I'm interested in a Bitcoin economy, not a USD cash alternative--the situation where a Bitcoin has its own value, not a value dependent on a different currency. For that reason, I decided to fix the price of an upgrade to 2 BTC, not peg it to the dollar like most other sites do. Unfortunately it seems like that's just not going to work at this p…

As ever: Bitcoin is a lovely medium of exchange, a horrible medium of account and hence a purely bubbled store of value.

It has the potential to be just as good a medium of account as any conventional currency. The common measure of value of bitcoin will stabilize when it is a more generally accepted medium of exchange.

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#215

Post by aneth4 » Mon, Apr 01, 2013, 5:28 PM UTC

lolcraft wrote: post #176

Some people here seem to think that this is temporary, that sometime in the future Bitcoin will stabilize into a glorious future global currency -- never mind the new class of cryptobarons it will have created from its inner circle, through shameless hoarding. My question is, what then will happen when Bitcoin stabilizes, that is, when the time to new coin mined approaches practically infinity? Let's assume the globa…

You are espousing one form of economics which many consider unsustainable.

Regardless, many assets are deflationary. Rich people buy real estate and commodities because they are deflationary, or at least not inflationary. There is nothing wrong with assets that grow or maintain value.

Bitcoin is a liquid and easily transferrable deflationary value store, just like gold. Telling people they should submit to inflation for the greater good is ridiculous. Inflation works because it keeps those too poor to have real assets on the gerbil wheel. The wealthy (or smart) just store their money in non-inflationary assets and sit pretty.

Besides, if you can't get better than a 4% return, you probably shouldn't be investing in whatever it is you're considering anyhow.

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#216

Post by drcode » Mon, Apr 01, 2013, 5:28 PM UTC

lolcraft wrote: post #176

Some people here seem to think that this is temporary, that sometime in the future Bitcoin will stabilize into a glorious future global currency -- never mind the new class of cryptobarons it will have created from its inner circle, through shameless hoarding. My question is, what then will happen when Bitcoin stabilizes, that is, when the time to new coin mined approaches practically infinity? Let's assume the globa…

Clearly, since new land isn't being created anymore, everyone is going to shamelessly hoard real estate. Why would anyone ever buy or sell a house anymore? REAL ESTATE IS ALL A BIG DEFLATIONARY SCAM- You heard it here first.

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#217

Post by cynicalkane » Mon, Apr 01, 2013, 5:28 PM UTC

jamoes wrote: post #188

lolcraft wrote: post #176

Some people here seem to think that this is temporary, that sometime in the future Bitcoin will stabilize into a glorious future global currency -- never mind the new class of cryptobarons it will have created from its inner circle, through shameless hoarding. My question is, what then will happen when Bitcoin stabilizes, that is, when the time to new coin mined approaches practically infinity? Let's assume the globa…

> shameless hoarding Hoarding is a derogatory term, intended to evoke an emotional response from the reader. I prefer the term "saving". > Why lend, why build new companies, when simply storing it is more than enough? Take shocks such as bubbles and demand-side crises. Most bitcoin proponents to indeed reject Keyensian, demand-side economics. I, for one, think entrepreneurs would typically benefit from not relying on…

Increasing the money supply helps one class of people: the bankers. It doesn't help the middle class, it doesn't help entrepreneurs, and it definitely doesn't help the common person. It's an insidious hidden tax.

I don't understand how something completely unsupported by the data is repeated as truth.

Historically, deflation is disastrous for everyone, and high inflation also disastrous for everyone. Moderate inflation has the effect of redistributing wealth from capital to work, and tight money the effect of redistributing wealth from work to capital. Compare Australia (loose money) to the Eurozone or America or Japan (tight money) for example.

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#218

Post by deelowe » Mon, Apr 01, 2013, 5:30 PM UTC

lolcraft wrote: post #176

Some people here seem to think that this is temporary, that sometime in the future Bitcoin will stabilize into a glorious future global currency -- never mind the new class of cryptobarons it will have created from its inner circle, through shameless hoarding. My question is, what then will happen when Bitcoin stabilizes, that is, when the time to new coin mined approaches practically infinity? Let's assume the globa…

There are a few replies here that seem to be reacting negatively to the OP due to the tone of the submission instead of the content. To be clear, deflation is categorically bad for a currency. It's terrible, like great depression terrible. The reason it's bad is that deflation makes it more profitable to do nothing than to invest. When this happens, people react by not spending money. The market dies. While inflation can be bad, it's at least manageable. In fact, some inflation is actually heathly as it encourages investing.

If that doesn't make sense, think of it like this. Inflation is similar to nuclear fusion and deflation is like nuclear fission. When the former goes critical, you can just shut off the spigots and things more or less fix themselves(albeit with some collateral damage) without the whole system crashing. However, with the latter, there may be no fixing without dismantling everything and starting over.

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#219

Post by jcfrei » Mon, Apr 01, 2013, 5:33 PM UTC

lolcraft wrote: post #176

Some people here seem to think that this is temporary, that sometime in the future Bitcoin will stabilize into a glorious future global currency -- never mind the new class of cryptobarons it will have created from its inner circle, through shameless hoarding. My question is, what then will happen when Bitcoin stabilizes, that is, when the time to new coin mined approaches practically infinity? Let's assume the globa…

I believe we'll see some form of inflation through the introduction of new currencies. when the price (ie. deflation) of one cryptocurrency becomes too high other currencies will jump in. the outcome however is unclear, because we are now at an unprecedented point in history. because of the openness of the bitcoin protocol everybody has now the possibility to create his own currency - and the price of adopting a new currency will become marginal for businesses, thanks to new APIs. I have no idea what the long term equilibrium will be.

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#220

Post by deelowe » Mon, Apr 01, 2013, 5:33 PM UTC

drcode wrote: post #216

lolcraft wrote: post #176

Some people here seem to think that this is temporary, that sometime in the future Bitcoin will stabilize into a glorious future global currency -- never mind the new class of cryptobarons it will have created from its inner circle, through shameless hoarding. My question is, what then will happen when Bitcoin stabilizes, that is, when the time to new coin mined approaches practically infinity? Let's assume the globa…

Clearly, since new land isn't being created anymore, everyone is going to shamelessly hoard real estate. Why would anyone ever buy or sell a house anymore? REAL ESTATE IS ALL A BIG DEFLATIONARY SCAM- You heard it here first.

The realtors were lying to you when they said real estate always goes up in value. ;-)

Jokes aside, any sort of investing in illiquid assets is fraught with risks. We are talking about a currency here which by definition requires liquidity to be useful, these are two very different things.