Live data from Hacker News

Bitcoin Approaches $10,000 a piece

bbc.co.uk

21–30 of 77 posts

Re: Bitcoin Approaches $10,000 a piece

#21
post #11
post #2

As the older generation doesn't get why you would buy a bitcoin and where you would keep it, the newer generation doesn't get why you would buy a shiny piece of metal as in gold bullion and where you would safely keep it. Bitcoin market is still minuscule comparative to gold, and while most will point out that it doesn't work amazing as a currency, if it gets to like 50% of the current gold market, it is going to be…

Yes, but bitcoin is not scarce in any meaningful sense in the long run. Using the same software alternative versions of the coin can be created. Or worse better versions ... Gold will cease to be meaningfully scarce if we ever mine an asteroid or something like this, but the barriers to that are obviously somewhat higher.

You are wrong, Bitcoin has a designed in limited number of 20999999.9769 BTC.

Re: Bitcoin Approaches $10,000 a piece

#23
post #8

I think most people buy Bitcoin for its speculative value but never use it as a currency to actually buy or sell stuff.

I use it as a currency to both buy and sell stuff.

If the gp had said “no one uses it to...” your anecdotal sample of one response would have been sufficient to disprove the claim. However, it is at best anecdotal and at worst completely irrelevant to the actual claim made (i.e. that most BTC users are investing in the currency).

Re: Bitcoin Approaches $10,000 a piece

#24
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but bitcoin is not scarce in any meaningful sense in the long run. Using the same software alternative versions of the coin can be created. Or worse better versions ... Gold will cease to be meaningfully scarce if we ever mine an asteroid or something like this, but the barriers to that are obviously somewhat higher.

"Alternative" bitcoins aren't as good as real bitcoins in the same way that "Alternative" USDs aren't as good as real USDs.

Not true. USD is backed up by a State entity; bitcoin doesn't need one. An alternative USD needs an alternative guarantee of its value, an alternative bitcoin is as safe as the original one.

Re: Bitcoin Approaches $10,000 a piece

#25
I feel that bitcoin is unstoppable.

It offers massive, tangible benefits. Money that is not controlled by corrupt institutions completely changes the game.

There is an entire industry being built around it. Thousands of engineers are creating new businesses as we speak.

It has different properties to stocks. The more people that convert their money to bitcoin, the more use it has. This is a basic property of currency. While people will say you can't buy much with it now, the very fact that massive amounts of people are now acquiring bitcoin gives incentive to people to start accepting bitcoin as a form of payment.

Most governments can now no longer make it illegal. The horse has bolted. By the time it is made illegal, millions of people will have bitcoin and you will be committing political suicide. They will try to regulate it in a way that benefits large corporations though.

I believe the transfer of money away from questionable stocks like facebook, into something based on real value like bitcoin, will crash the share market.

Re: Bitcoin Approaches $10,000 a piece

#26
post #7

Nobody actually uses bitcoin for payment. There is more or less the same places where to spend it as there was 4, 5 years ago. And they all have about the same traffic, which is nearly zero. Most people only use it for speculation. This can't end well.

Why? Gold is used for speculation. So is land...

You can't build an apartment complex on a bitcoin

Re: Bitcoin Approaches $10,000 a piece

#27
post #7

Nobody actually uses bitcoin for payment. There is more or less the same places where to spend it as there was 4, 5 years ago. And they all have about the same traffic, which is nearly zero. Most people only use it for speculation. This can't end well.

I’ve been paying salaries for a while using bitcoin. My volumes aren’t entirely insignificant and using Bitcoin is far more convenient than wire transfers.

I just paid my 25k rent deposit using bitcoin too, it was much easier than dealing with a SWIFT wire. It took only minutes for the landlord to be confident that he’s got the money.

I’ve been living without personal bank accounts for multiple years now, and thanks to bitcoin it’s been pretty great.

And no, I won’t be crying if bitcoin drops back to $300.

Re: Bitcoin Approaches $10,000 a piece

#28
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but bitcoin is not scarce in any meaningful sense in the long run. Using the same software alternative versions of the coin can be created. Or worse better versions ... Gold will cease to be meaningfully scarce if we ever mine an asteroid or something like this, but the barriers to that are obviously somewhat higher.

You are wrong, Bitcoin has a designed in limited number of 20999999.9769 BTC.

Why isn't it a round number of BTC?

Re: Bitcoin Approaches $10,000 a piece

#29

I feel that bitcoin is unstoppable. It offers massive, tangible benefits. Money that is not controlled by corrupt institutions completely changes the game. There is an entire industry being built around it. Thousands of engineers are creating new businesses as we speak. It has different properties to stocks. The more people that convert their money to bitcoin, the more use it has. This is a basic property of currency…

> Most governments can now no longer make it illegal.

Ha. Wait and see.

Re: Bitcoin Approaches $10,000 a piece

#30
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Gold is used for speculation. So is land...

You can't build an apartment complex on a bitcoin

And you can't transfer an apartment complex to the other side of the world within minutes without asking for permission. What's your point?
Post reply on HN