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Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

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Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#161

Post by wallace_f »

dcdanko wrote: post #95
joefourier wrote: post #31

Notice how almost all news of Bitcoin now are about its price. Bitcoin used to be exciting in both technical and economical aspects, but has now become just a store of value entirely driven by speculation. Other technically superior cryptocurrencies (e.g. Monero, Ethereum) have replaced most of its usecases, boasting much faster and cheaper transactions and real anonymity in the case of Monero. Bitcoin takes more tha…

It's shopworn but good tech doesn't always win. Bitcoin has a big(ish) network of users and a proven codebase. The decentralized nature of blockchains means that they're hard for individual corporations to control and profit from. That hampers adoption of new closed cryptocurrencies (not Monero or Ethereum though) but can serve as a powerful public utility.

This is an interesting line of thought: bitcoin has no intrinsic value--its price represents a supply and demand equillibrium for a (1) money, that is (2) pseudonymous, and (3) not a government currency.

If other CCs can offer 2, 3 equally well, the price premium must be due to something different about 1--how well it performs the functions of money. Is it a better Store of Value? How much better of a Medium of Exchange is it, and is it worth the premium?

As far as I can tell from my napkin analysis, I would guess that bitcoin appears to be in a pretty speculative bubble. This is assuming Ethereum, and other CCs, are equally capable of fulfilling the functions of bitcoin.

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#162

Post by randallsquared »

joefourier wrote: post #31

Notice how almost all news of Bitcoin now are about its price. Bitcoin used to be exciting in both technical and economical aspects, but has now become just a store of value entirely driven by speculation. Other technically superior cryptocurrencies (e.g. Monero, Ethereum) have replaced most of its usecases, boasting much faster and cheaper transactions and real anonymity in the case of Monero. Bitcoin takes more tha…

As someone who has no stake in any of these, it seems to me that Ethereum has a big PR problem no matter how technically superior it is: it's inextricably tied to the story about the DAO, where those who played the game by the rules had their Ethereum redistributed by the developers because said developers didn't like the outcome. (I know that this isn't a neutral phrasing, but it's the perception I'm talking about...). Once it's shown that some group is willing and able to change the rules to avoid losing, trusting that they won't do it again seems naive.

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#163

Post by weddpros »

grey-area wrote: post #148
weddpros wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most currencies suffer from inflation: it's more interesting to buy now than later because your wealth will go down with time. BTC with its fixed supply works the opposite direction, devoid of inflation: you'd rather keep your BTC as a store of value that will increase, than spend it on goods you can still buy later for fewer BTC.

QED. It's designed as a good store of value, not a good medium of exchange which people want to spend.

I should have added "I agree" ;-)

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#164

Post by abledon »

bbarn wrote: post #134
petercooper wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I probably should've taken the time to mine some back when my friends were doing it and tried convincing me too. Ah well. The thing I keep telling myself is if I'd mined even 1000 bitcoins (which was viable at the time I first learnt about it) I'd have totally sold out at $10.. there is zero chance I would have made it to $1000 :-D

I sold my 200 at 40. Something for nothing, right? /facepalm

not sure if not ever mining/buying, or doing the above would be more frustrating haha

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#165

Post by weddpros »

tixocloud wrote: post #45
weddpros wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no pyramid scheme. It's a hyped asset, to say the least, but there's no pyramid. Like a hyped startup, it doesn't do much yet, but it is promising, so people buy it. It may be "worth" much or zero in the end, it all depends on the final outcomes. It's also the easiest/cheapest/most open asset to trade (depending on where you trade). In the long term, Bitcoin can be seen as a safe heaven in case of economic ch…

The big risk for banks is that they need to know who you are and to a certain extent how to reach you if there ever was an investigation into your activities. That being said, is there a way for a bank to always contact you? A bank designed for digital nomads would be a very interesting proposition for me given I'm in banking and am looking to discover new models.

Yes, I think KYC is a problem with digital nomadism. All things administrative become a huge burden when you're travelling full-time, rent a furnished house in a tourist location without utility bills, etc.

Some banks are already trying to address such needs, like Monese (which I'm also using).

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#166

Post by nadam »

Casseres wrote: post #130
tom_mellior wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (e.g. Monero, Ethereum) have replaced most of its usecases I use Bitcoin from time to time to order food and buy other stuff online (sometimes through gift cards bought with Bitcoin). It's tough enough to find sites that accept Bitcoin, but I don't think I've ever seen one that accepted Monero or Ethereum. Maybe Litecoin a few years back. I admit that I haven't searched, but I would have expected a correlation with…

Ideally Monero would replace Bitcoin when buying things. Monero is more like cash than Bitcoin is. Unlike Bitcoin, paying with Monero doesn't immediately give away your balance and transaction history. Monero would also be better suited because it has lower fees that will get even lower as the dynamic block size increases. And because of the dynamic blocksize, you won't have to wait forever to confirm that you sent p…

Monero has potential, but I have found DASH to be the currency that has the biggest potential to replace Bitcoin when buying things. It has high throughput, privateSend, instaSend, decentralized governance, treasury system, they are focusing on UX, and I find some of the 'leaders' very talented (like Ryan Taylor).

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#167

Post by grey-area »

omgbananas wrote: post #70
grey-area wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. People actually use other currencies as a medium of exchange first, and store of value second (usually they purchase assets to store value long term). Bitcoin is the other way round (at present at least).

I save more than I spend, so wouldn't I be mainly using it as a store of value rather than a medium of exchange?

I save more than I spend, so wouldn't I be mainly using it as a store of value rather than a medium of exchange?

Yes, you would. I'm not clear what you mean by it here:

If you mean Bitcoin, you're agreeing with my point, it's a good store of value first (modulo price volatility and external risks)

If you mean Fiat, don't do that long term, use assets.

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#168

Post by weddpros »

pawelwentpawel wrote: post #72
jstanley wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Like a hyped startup, it doesn't do much yet It does plenty already. I live almost exclusively on Bitcoin. I only get income in Bitcoin, I pay with Bitcoin whenever possible, and I have a Bitcoin-funded debit card for when that's not possible.

Does the company that you work for receive their income in Bitcoin too?

you could always use bitwage (never tried)

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#169

Post by nikcub »

simias wrote: post #157
agumonkey wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they're using both, as a mean to scale for billion or more number of accounts.

Using the blockchain, a technology that's shown to have trouble handling single digit numbers of transactions per second, to scale for billion of accounts? That's interesting. I wish people in this entire thread weren't allergic to providing citations and references though.

There's nothing about blockchain's that prevents them from scaling beyond single digit transactions per second - you're referring to the design decision Bitcoin has made to opt for a smaller blockchain in order to ensure distribution and decentralization.

A settlement blockchain between financial organizations doesn't have the same design parameters, and could conceivably run larger blocks, shorter block times, or not store block history at all but rather reach consensus on state (which is what Ripple does)

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#170

Post by mrfusion »

feedjoelpie wrote: post #132
tom_mellior wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (e.g. Monero, Ethereum) have replaced most of its usecases I use Bitcoin from time to time to order food and buy other stuff online (sometimes through gift cards bought with Bitcoin). It's tough enough to find sites that accept Bitcoin, but I don't think I've ever seen one that accepted Monero or Ethereum. Maybe Litecoin a few years back. I admit that I haven't searched, but I would have expected a correlation with…

I think you're confusing the present state of cryptocurrency as being its conclusion. Yes, Bitcoin was the first mover, and Bitcoin has the most buy-in. But cryptocurrency in general does not have global buy-in as a way to buy and sell stuff. A) Barriers to initially acquiring crypto coins remain a bit high. B) Expense of transactions remains way too high, C) Transactions are way too slow, and D) For Bitcoin in parti…

Wouldn’t there only be a tiny chance the guy buying your phone is sophisticated enough to double spend?

That’s what I never understood about small bitcoin purchases.

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