Bill Gates: Bitcoin Is 'Better Than Currency'
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Bill Gates: Bitcoin Is 'Better Than Currency'
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Re: Bill Gates: Bitcoin Is 'Better Than Currency'
#2“Bitcoin is better than currency in that you don’t have to be physically in the same place and, of course, for large transactions, currency can get pretty inconvenient.”
Yes, bitcoin has some specific traits that are superior to carrying wads of cash. Much like many other forms of digital exchange. This is not really news.
Re: Bill Gates: Bitcoin Is 'Better Than Currency'
#3“Bitcoin is better than currency in that you don’t have to be physically in the same place and, of course, for large transactions, currency can get pretty inconvenient.” Yes, bitcoin has some specific traits that are superior to carrying wads of cash. Much like many other forms of digital exchange. This is not really news.
Yes, this is a horribly misleading title (from the article itself). "x is better than y [at a subset of things]" could be misused in so many ways.
It's tempting to completely ignore the article after seeing such a blatant distortion. However, there is some interesting stuff here.
> "Bitcoin is better than currency in that you don’t have to be physically in the same place and, of course, for large transactions, currency can get pretty inconvenient."
So the first feature is already covered by any bank, or Paypal, or numerous other services. I don't understand the second, though...at what point does it become cost prohibitive to make large transactions? Gates is dealing with a totally different level of money than anyone here, so he must have some insight.
> “The customers we’re talking about aren’t trying to be anonymous,” he told Schatzker. “They’re willing to be known, so Bitcoin technology is key and you can add to it or you could build a similar technology where there’s enough attribution where people feel comfortable that this is nothing to do with terrorism or any type of money laundering.”
It sounds like Gates is talking about a system either used as the protocol between financial institutions or something akin to Paypal, without any anonymity. At this point I'm not sure what Bitcoin is doing better than a number of existing services, and if the ledger is public, then privacy is completely out the window (due to Gates suggesting that even the pseudoanonymity in Bitcoin is undesirable). At least with bank transactions I know only my bank and maybe the government can know my purchases. I don't want the whole world having access to that data.
Re: Bill Gates: Bitcoin Is 'Better Than Currency'
#4“Bitcoin is better than currency in that you don’t have to be physically in the same place and, of course, for large transactions, currency can get pretty inconvenient.” Yes, bitcoin has some specific traits that are superior to carrying wads of cash. Much like many other forms of digital exchange. This is not really news.
Another advantage if I understand correctly is no middleman to deal with. No more banks and not beholden to their policies and procedures.
Re: Bill Gates: Bitcoin Is 'Better Than Currency'
#5“Bitcoin is better than currency in that you don’t have to be physically in the same place and, of course, for large transactions, currency can get pretty inconvenient.” Yes, bitcoin has some specific traits that are superior to carrying wads of cash. Much like many other forms of digital exchange. This is not really news.
Yes, this is a horribly misleading title (from the article itself). "x is better than y [at a subset of things]" could be misused in so many ways. It's tempting to completely ignore the article after seeing such a blatant distortion. However, there is some interesting stuff here. > "Bitcoin is better than currency in that you don’t have to be physically in the same place and, of course, for large transactions, curren…
> So the first feature is already covered by any bank, or Paypal, or numerous other services
The point being that the power is in the hands of individuals, you needn't rely on services (though reality is most will rely on services like Circle or Coinbase)
Re: Bill Gates: Bitcoin Is 'Better Than Currency'
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, this is a horribly misleading title (from the article itself). "x is better than y [at a subset of things]" could be misused in so many ways. It's tempting to completely ignore the article after seeing such a blatant distortion. However, there is some interesting stuff here. > "Bitcoin is better than currency in that you don’t have to be physically in the same place and, of course, for large transactions, curren…
> So the first feature is already covered by any bank, or Paypal, or numerous other services The point being that the power is in the hands of individuals, you needn't rely on services (though reality is most will rely on services like Circle or Coinbase)
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Re: Bill Gates: Bitcoin Is 'Better Than Currency'
#7“Bitcoin is better than currency in that you don’t have to be physically in the same place and, of course, for large transactions, currency can get pretty inconvenient.” Yes, bitcoin has some specific traits that are superior to carrying wads of cash. Much like many other forms of digital exchange. This is not really news.
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Re: Bill Gates: Bitcoin Is 'Better Than Currency'
#8I mean, anyone who ever used bitcoin will see how it's clearly superior than going to a bank office, getting an account, waiting days for it all to work out. And then transactions take a night (at least in the countries I've lived in).
Bitcoin transactions show up instantly. There's no need to a trusted middle man. Anyone I show it to is swooned, because it's simply really really cool.
Re: Bill Gates: Bitcoin Is 'Better Than Currency'
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, this is a horribly misleading title (from the article itself). "x is better than y [at a subset of things]" could be misused in so many ways. It's tempting to completely ignore the article after seeing such a blatant distortion. However, there is some interesting stuff here. > "Bitcoin is better than currency in that you don’t have to be physically in the same place and, of course, for large transactions, curren…
> So the first feature is already covered by any bank, or Paypal, or numerous other services The point being that the power is in the hands of individuals, you needn't rely on services (though reality is most will rely on services like Circle or Coinbase)
And since bitcoin is mostly unregulated, we get to deal with fun things like exchanges manipulating the market in order to inflate the price of bitcoin, as Mt. Gox did. Worse, every honest exchange will be manipulated too, because a fluctuation at one exchange will always affect every other. The net effect is that we have transferred power from regulated markets whose regulation is enforced by governments to private businesses that manipulate the market.
I don't know how the stock market has dealt with these issues. What if someone were to set up a stock exchange in a country without laws that prohibit market manipulation? Would manipulation at that exchange affect every other exchange, as a bitcoin exchange would? How would traders in America or Europe detect and respond to that manipulation? Surely this is a problem that has already been addressed for the stock market, so maybe bitcoin could use the same solution. (That seems difficult without regulation, but maybe whatever solution the stock market uses could work for bitcoin too.)
Re: Bill Gates: Bitcoin Is 'Better Than Currency'
#10“Bitcoin is better than currency in that you don’t have to be physically in the same place and, of course, for large transactions, currency can get pretty inconvenient.” Yes, bitcoin has some specific traits that are superior to carrying wads of cash. Much like many other forms of digital exchange. This is not really news.
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