Why hasn't anyone forked bitcoin and started mining a new currency from scratch?
Bitcoin Is Fundamentally Flawed
21–30 of 209 posts
Re: Bitcoin Is Fundamentally Flawed
#22"However, they are wrong because converting $100 into 10 x $10 bills or even 100 x $1 bills does not make you feel richer." This was also quoted in a Forbes article but I don't get it. Can someone explain what this means? What does lack liquidity or limited supply have to do with feeling richer by funging your bills? I'm not joking I seriously have no idea what this has to do with anything...
It's stupid. If a physical currency like physical gold or paper experienced the kind of deflation bitcoin currently is, it would be problematic because those things are difficult to subdivide into (effectively) arbitrarily small pieces. Bitcoins can be divided up, but then uninformed people forget why this is important and then make nonsensical arguments about splitting a $100 bill into 10 $10 bills.
Re: Bitcoin Is Fundamentally Flawed
#23While I don't disagree with the author I would say that the finite supply shines a light on an even more direct problem. What happens to 'lost' coins? The BTC supply is not only finite but in fact dwindling over time, as inevitably the amount of currency is going to diminish due to digital loss. I have personally lost a few BTC due to computer crashes, wallet file lost etc. (In the early days) and considering this th…
Tens of Thousands of Bitcoins have been lost, easily.
Re: Bitcoin Is Fundamentally Flawed
#24Why hasn't anyone forked bitcoin and started mining a new currency from scratch?
Several have.
Re: Bitcoin Is Fundamentally Flawed
#25Sure, this is a flaw if one only uses bitcoins.
As far as I know, there is nothing stopping alternate, new competitors using the same algorithm.
So bitcoins run out and everyone hoards? Start a new currency. A smart implementation can overcome the network effect/firstmover advantage of bitcoin.
Then people trade between the currencies, and hoarding ceases to be as much of a problem.
Re: Bitcoin Is Fundamentally Flawed
#26This is the classic argument you hear a lot, particuarly from Keynsian economists is: bitcoin is bad because it's deflationary like gold. In the past when we were using gold, like during the Civil War, we couldn't pay soldiers so we went to greenbacks (paper money like today). That allowed the soldiers to get paid so we could continue to fight the war. Gold obviously has a physical practical limit that can be traded…
> Everyone knows if you save starting in your early 20s compounding interest it will be worth a ton more in 10 years, 20 years, etc.
How are you expecting to get a ton more after 20 years? Even with a ridiculous constant real interest rate of 5%, you'll get only 2.6x your original investment after 20 years.
Re: Bitcoin Is Fundamentally Flawed
#27Why hasn't anyone forked bitcoin and started mining a new currency from scratch?
they have, one example of this is called litecoin.
Re: Bitcoin Is Fundamentally Flawed
#28This is essentially the "it will become so valuable, no one will want it anymore" argument.
There are uses of Bitcoin that are complementary to traditional currencies, and can survive both volatility and a large level of hoarding.
One example: an enabler of quick, distant, irreversible transfer under software mediation. That is, you get the transactional Bitcoin you need from a trusted source, then engage in a transaction with a distant/less-trusted source in a matter of minutes. Neither the overall level nor volatility of Bitcoin's pricing level matters much in such a scenario, but it still enables new kinds of transactions.
Also, for a post that includes 15 footnotes, one whopper of a claim goes without support: "Bitcoin is not meant to be an investment it’s meant to be a currency."
Sweeping claims about what Bitcoin or currencies are "meant to be" need more support and careful definition. Maybe, because Bitcoin is something new that's only made possible by computers, networks, and cryptography, it doesn't exactly fit into the classic categories and purposes.
Re: Bitcoin Is Fundamentally Flawed
#29While I don't disagree with the author I would say that the finite supply shines a light on an even more direct problem. What happens to 'lost' coins? The BTC supply is not only finite but in fact dwindling over time, as inevitably the amount of currency is going to diminish due to digital loss. I have personally lost a few BTC due to computer crashes, wallet file lost etc. (In the early days) and considering this th…
I expect this will cause little problem; if 1M bitcoins are lost, the system will just work as if there were only 20M bitcoins created instead of 21M bitcoins. Everything would be a little less expensive because bitcoins would each be worth about 5% more.
Re: Bitcoin Is Fundamentally Flawed
#30Since theoretically there is a fixed number of bitcoins, and once lost they can't be retrieved, bitcoins should theoretically be worth infinity when the last one is finally lost.