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Bitcoin falls from $266

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Re: Bitcoin falls from $266

#41
post #36
post #21

Don't worry! It won't ever fall below its intrinsic value!

Serious question: Is that really a fair criticism of BTC? Because afterall, our beloved US currency is fiat based, and often subject to whims of geopolitical games.

US currency isn't backed by gold- it is in a sense backed by the US government. BTC is wholly unbacked.

Re: Bitcoin falls from $266

#42
post #38
post #21

Don't worry! It won't ever fall below its intrinsic value!

I just thought about something I'd never thought before: Could it be said that bitcoins _do_ have an intrinsic value equal to the marginal amount of electricity and equipment needed to produce one?

No, because you can't go from Bitcoin back to electricity in the same way you could smelt a gold coin.

Re: Bitcoin falls from $266

#43
post #38
post #21

Don't worry! It won't ever fall below its intrinsic value!

I just thought about something I'd never thought before: Could it be said that bitcoins _do_ have an intrinsic value equal to the marginal amount of electricity and equipment needed to produce one?

That isn't an intrinsic value. Waste heat does not have an intrinsic value equivalent to the cost of producing it- it is waste heat.

Intrinsic value is derived from what you can do with something, not what you did to get it.

Re: Bitcoin falls from $266

#44
post #13

Before crying wolf, understand that bitcoin exchanges are unfortunately not battle hardened internet businesses. Two of the largest exchanges MtGox and bitstamp are both under DDOS. This may be an attempt by someone to make a large buy at a cheaper price. Due to lack of trading, prices are going downward. However, BTC China is still trading at above $275! That's the beauty of bitcoin, it isn't restricted to just one…

> However, BTC China is still trading at above $275! That's the beauty of bitcoin, it isn't restricted to just one region in the world.

Bitcoin does have alot of advantages over existing currencies it, but this isn't one of them. I can buy and sell USD/CAD/AUE/GBP in many markets around the world

Re: Bitcoin falls from $266

#45
post #36
post #21

Don't worry! It won't ever fall below its intrinsic value!

Serious question: Is that really a fair criticism of BTC? Because afterall, our beloved US currency is fiat based, and often subject to whims of geopolitical games.

The same geopolitical games also back the US currency. So it is no longer gold back but ICBM backed.

Re: Bitcoin falls from $266

#49
post #42
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just thought about something I'd never thought before: Could it be said that bitcoins _do_ have an intrinsic value equal to the marginal amount of electricity and equipment needed to produce one?

No, because you can't go from Bitcoin back to electricity in the same way you could smelt a gold coin.

Maybe you could give someone a bitcoin and they'd give you x amount of compute time on their cluster equal to the time they'd need to generate a new bitcoin. ?

Re: Bitcoin falls from $266

#50
post #38
post #21

Don't worry! It won't ever fall below its intrinsic value!

I just thought about something I'd never thought before: Could it be said that bitcoins _do_ have an intrinsic value equal to the marginal amount of electricity and equipment needed to produce one?

Intrinsic value doesn't have anything to do with cost/effort necessary to produce something.
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