The bursting of the Bitcoin bubble
economist.com
The bursting of the Bitcoin bubble
1–10 of 37 posts
Re: The bursting of the Bitcoin bubble
#2Bitcoin it ahead of its time. Bitcoin is has a lot of potential uses and these uses haven't gone away because a bubble burst.
Re: The bursting of the Bitcoin bubble
#3I was about to sell my remaining bitcoins this morning when I realized: wait a minute, I don't even know how long the Euro will continue to exist (living in Euro country). As much as it pains me, because probably the price will fall even further, I'll keep some BTC around just in case...
On the other hand I suppose the existence of Silk Road is not sufficient to drive prices up, because most vendors will just convert their BTC to dollars again immediately.
Re: The bursting of the Bitcoin bubble
#4Bitcoin it ahead of its time. Bitcoin is has a lot of potential uses and these uses haven't gone away because a bubble burst.
Moreover, the network (and thus Bitcoin) will continue to exist so long as one individual keeps mining.
Re: The bursting of the Bitcoin bubble
#5I was about to sell my remaining bitcoins this morning when I realized: wait a minute, I don't even know how long the Euro will continue to exist (living in Euro country). As much as it pains me, because probably the price will fall even further, I'll keep some BTC around just in case... On the other hand I suppose the existence of Silk Road is not sufficient to drive prices up, because most vendors will just convert…
>As much as it pains me, because probably the price will fall even further, I'll keep some BTC around just in case...
Swiss Francs, CAD, and even USD are much safer if stability is your concern. If the Euro indeed collapses as you seem to fear, you may even find yourself making gains.
Re: The bursting of the Bitcoin bubble
#6Just a wild thought. Is there a way to associate an email with a future-created bitcoin account? The goal is to be able to send bitcoins easily to an email address even though the recipient has not created a bitcoin account. The recipient can create an account later on to pick up the bitcoins. This would make it easier to seed wider usage of bitcoins. That's how Paypal started.
I guess this requires a trusted central third party as an eschew to hold the fund for the email recipent and for verifying the recipent's account via email.
Re: The bursting of the Bitcoin bubble
#7I was about to sell my remaining bitcoins this morning when I realized: wait a minute, I don't even know how long the Euro will continue to exist (living in Euro country). As much as it pains me, because probably the price will fall even further, I'll keep some BTC around just in case... On the other hand I suppose the existence of Silk Road is not sufficient to drive prices up, because most vendors will just convert…
>As much as it pains me, because probably the price will fall even further, I'll keep some BTC around just in case... Swiss Francs, CAD, and even USD are much safer if stability is your concern. If the Euro indeed collapses as you seem to fear, you may even find yourself making gains.
Or the classic hedge currency: canned food and ammo.
(Maybe not the ammo, in Europe. Get a bat.)
Re: The bursting of the Bitcoin bubble
#8I was about to sell my remaining bitcoins this morning when I realized: wait a minute, I don't even know how long the Euro will continue to exist (living in Euro country). As much as it pains me, because probably the price will fall even further, I'll keep some BTC around just in case... On the other hand I suppose the existence of Silk Road is not sufficient to drive prices up, because most vendors will just convert…
> On the other hand I suppose the existence of Silk Road is not sufficient to drive prices up
Right now Bitcoin has a controlled monetary inflation of 30% a year. Its user base isn't growing. It's actually shrinking if you count the speculators as "users".
I agree with other comments, right now it might be better to hold dollars. Also gold, despite it's depreciation lately.
I think Bitcoin will survive. I can see the African diaspora using it in the near future because it's cheaper. Bitcoin won't go up in US dollars at least until some 1st world country devaluates its currency severely, and people start looking for options.
Re: The bursting of the Bitcoin bubble
#9I was about to sell my remaining bitcoins this morning when I realized: wait a minute, I don't even know how long the Euro will continue to exist (living in Euro country). As much as it pains me, because probably the price will fall even further, I'll keep some BTC around just in case... On the other hand I suppose the existence of Silk Road is not sufficient to drive prices up, because most vendors will just convert…
>As much as it pains me, because probably the price will fall even further, I'll keep some BTC around just in case... Swiss Francs, CAD, and even USD are much safer if stability is your concern. If the Euro indeed collapses as you seem to fear, you may even find yourself making gains.
The Swiss Franc is, from a historical perspective, probably the safest currency in the world.
Switzerland is an ideal banking country in geopolitical terms. It borders with three major economies, but is also an easily defendable mountain fortress. It has remained largely undisturbed because it would simply cost too much to invade.
That's why, for hundreds of years, it has been a banking mecca. Europe has been wracked by war for centuries, during which banking houses are periodically plundered by invading armies. But Switzerland with its defensive advantages and long history of neutrality rises above the noise. If you're a rich European, the safest place to park your money in the past 1000 years has been Switzerland.
Re: The bursting of the Bitcoin bubble
#10Just a wild thought. Is there a way to associate an email with a future-created bitcoin account? The goal is to be able to send bitcoins easily to an email address even though the recipient has not created a bitcoin account. The recipient can create an account later on to pick up the bitcoins. This would make it easier to seed wider usage of bitcoins. That's how Paypal started. I guess this requires a trusted central…
A paypal-style site can create a new bitcoin account on behalf of the new user.
Then the payer can transfer funds to it, using a transaction that requires signing with keys that only the payer knows and can pass to the payee directly. Bitcoin transactions can also have timeouts and have the inputs locked while the outputs are still floating.