21–30 of 221 posts
To me this press effort always seems like just people who already have bitcoins trying to get buyers to raise the price of the currency.
This is what happens when you challenge governments and banks: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2451302
There are lots of examples of governments or large organisations taking down networks with single points of failure, but far fewer examples of taking down highly distributed networks like Bitcoin. I don't think this fight is a foregone conclusion. I think it would be difficult to write a law that would make Bitcoin illegal, without making things like MMO currencies or SSL certificates illegal.
If you are a real, legal business, do you want your entire personal and business future contingent on the ability to exchange bitcoin with dollars?
This is what happens when you challenge governments and banks: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2451302
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I really doubt the true goal is to raise the value of bitcoins already held. I don't think "forex" speculators take a serious interest in bitcoin yet, but rather, those using it would like to see wider adoption so that they can actually buy things with it. A current problem is that it is highly volatile and fairly illiquid. Most adopters have a genuine interest in the success of an alternative currency rather than tr…
There are many, many bitcoin speculators. I know because I was one, sort of. Large bitcoin holders currently have in excess of $250k in BTC value, much of it purchased at $.02/BTC -$.05/BTC originally. There are a few people making their daily living trading, generating and exchanging BitCoins. Just the top of the iceberg, I imagine. The payment problems are exactly as you describe. Interestingly, it would definitely…
Bitcoin is really cool. I just wish I knew what to sell to get some. My dabbling with mining bitcoins has convinced me it requires a on-all-the-time setup to mine with any prayer of success. Last time I looked, there didn't seem to be a real economy, just people trading bitcoins. ~.~
I have a hard time getting excited about a currency when the main reasons given for it's existence are for online gambling and Wikileak donations. I would be excited about a dollar alternative that allowed the common person to protect themselves from the inflationary rot that the US Congress is hell-bent on subjecting us to.
Those are the first uses because online gamblers and muckraking NGOs are the ones most desperate for an alternative to a government-issued currency. If the average person was unable to function with inflationary currencies, they'd find an alternative.
Bitcoin is really cool. I just wish I knew what to sell to get some. My dabbling with mining bitcoins has convinced me it requires a on-all-the-time setup to mine with any prayer of success. Last time I looked, there didn't seem to be a real economy, just people trading bitcoins. ~.~
I make about 1 BTC per day just with spare GPU cycles on my desktop; it's not a substantial amount by any means, just a test pool for experiments and playing with software.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are lots of examples of governments or large organisations taking down networks with single points of failure, but far fewer examples of taking down highly distributed networks like Bitcoin. I don't think this fight is a foregone conclusion. I think it would be difficult to write a law that would make Bitcoin illegal, without making things like MMO currencies or SSL certificates illegal.
From a practical standpoint, Bitcoin has other problems for using it in a real business -- mainly the fact that taxes are only payable in the coin of the realm. If you are a real, legal business, do you want your entire personal and business future contingent on the ability to exchange bitcoin with dollars?
Why is Bitcoin a good currency again? If I understand how it is distributed correctly, those with higher/more computational power receive more of the finite bitcoins. How does that not favor the already rich?