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Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

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Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#61
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has there been adoption for essential goods & services? All I've seen so far are Internet services.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade#Material_.2F_Physical_Produ...

An impressive list in quantity, but upon closer inspection I don't see any essential goods & services. Under "consumables" there are literally no general groceries, just specialty foods. Under clothing, a bunch of niche items. It's also worth noting that nearly all of these look like to be pretty low-quality vendors.

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#62

I worry that as Bitcoin's value rises, people are buying in not to use it as payment for services or goods, but simply as an investment vehicle. In principle, there's nothing wrong with this; currency trading is common and well-explored. The problem is that the value of a currency is supposed to also be somehow related to its utility in acquiring goods and services. When it is rarely used to that effect, people may r…

I believe the biggest worry are security issues. It doesn't really matter if it can be used directly, as long as it can be traded back for other currencies. Same situation as gold, actually

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#63
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UKC7iaBKvs#t=768s A pretty brilliant scam if you ask me

That's not a terribly good point though -- fiat currency also has no intrinsic value.

That's a misunderstanding of history. USD used to be backed by silver and all bills said "in silver payable to the bearer on demand". It was only relatively recently that the practice ended.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/US-%245-...

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The problem is that the value of a currency is supposed to also be somehow related to its utility in acquiring goods and services." Well, it is. As more people hold some BTC "for the future", they are more than willing to accept them as payment for their services. Imagine you are surrounded by people who have "hoarded" some BTC. Suddenly they can just trade in BTC without going to a bank (unless they have some spare…

But that is only one side of the coin. If people are hoarding BTC, then they aren't spending them on goods / services. IE: Deflationary Spiral. It becomes hard to be a merchant who accepts bitcoins, because everyone expects BTC to keep rising in prices. People who bought a domain name for 1 BTC a few weeks ago from Namecheap lost a lot of money. They should have instead "saved" that BTC. Therefore, people are discour…

But that is only one side of the coin. If people are hoarding BTC, then they aren't spending them on goods / services.

Sure they are. BitPay reports 2 million dollars in sale this month. The rate of transaction is accelerating too.

What you meant is "they will horde more and spend less on goods / services", but sales and transactions are clearly accelerating. How do you account for this?

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#65
post #46
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"And many of them are going to spend their BTC over time to avoid interaction with banking system as much as possible." What is the purpose of avoiding the banking system?

99% of the people who ultimately argue about avoiding the banking system engage in behavior that is either morally questionable or explicitly illegal. I'd say about 1% are true "what i do with my money is my business and my business only" libertarians

Bitcoin is less than in 1% of hands. Also, when did you ban cash transactions and made it morally required to pay wire transfer fees?

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#68
post #46
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"And many of them are going to spend their BTC over time to avoid interaction with banking system as much as possible." What is the purpose of avoiding the banking system?

99% of the people who ultimately argue about avoiding the banking system engage in behavior that is either morally questionable or explicitly illegal. I'd say about 1% are true "what i do with my money is my business and my business only" libertarians

Maybe you missed the fact that money in the bank are no longer trusted and can be confiscated for any reason by whatever government or entity?

Re: Bitcoin exchange rate reached $100 USD per BTC

#69
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that is only one side of the coin. If people are hoarding BTC, then they aren't spending them on goods / services. IE: Deflationary Spiral. It becomes hard to be a merchant who accepts bitcoins, because everyone expects BTC to keep rising in prices. People who bought a domain name for 1 BTC a few weeks ago from Namecheap lost a lot of money. They should have instead "saved" that BTC. Therefore, people are discour…

But that is only one side of the coin. If people are hoarding BTC, then they aren't spending them on goods / services. Sure they are. BitPay reports 2 million dollars in sale this month. The rate of transaction is accelerating too. What you meant is "they will horde more and spend less on goods / services", but sales and transactions are clearly accelerating. How do you account for this?

The size of the Bitcoin economy in general is growing, so both hoarding and spending will increase. By the time spending actually starts going down it's too late.
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