Bitcoin

[justink]

Anyone mine BC?

Yesterday was absolutely insane.

[water_into_wine]

They are pretty much impossible to mine unless you have great computers.

They're an interesting idea, but pretty much completely unsustainable.

[Beefsteak1138]

I'm familiar with them. What happened yesterday?

[water_into_wine]

A massive drop due to a massive interest overwhelming the servers. Caused a panic when trades were lagging. Some thought it was denial of service attack.

[DIDriveOut2SPAC]

do these serve a purpose, seems weird to me.

[3oclockroadbloc]

Originally Posted by DIDriveOut2SPAC

do these serve a purpose, seems weird to me.

you can buy drugs with them on silkroad

[DIDriveOut2SPAC]

can someone explain how it works. seems impossible to have virtual currency

[justink]

In January one BTC was worth about $10 US. They've skyrocketed the last couple weeks up to $260 US. Then yesterday they dropped to about $100 US and did a wave up and down all afternoon. Still at $100 US today.

But even then, that's ten times what they were worth four months ago.

There's lots if BTC millionaires out there right now. I'm really kicking myself for not buying a couple hundred in January.

[Beebz]

The people who think all money is going to eventually be bitcoin crack me the hell up

[justink]

Originally Posted by DIDriveOut2SPAC

can someone explain how it works. seems impossible to have virtual currency

It's complicated. It's a currency that you can buy into or "mine" by making your computer do work in solving algorithms.

[DIDriveOut2SPAC]

Originally Posted by justink

In January one BTC was worth about $10 US. They've skyrocketed the last couple weeks up to $260 US. Then yesterday they dropped to about $100 US and did a wave up and down all afternoon. Still at $100 US today.

But even then, that's ten times what they were worth four months ago.

There's lots if BTC millionaires out there right now. I'm really kicking myself for not buying a couple hundred in January.

Whats the point of Bitcurrency though.

[water_into_wine]

Originally Posted by DIDriveOut2SPAC

can someone explain how it works. seems impossible to have virtual currency

All money really is just an idea.

[justink]

Originally Posted by Beebz

The people who think all money is going to eventually be bitcoin crack me the hell up

It's an interesting experiment. Could be the currency of the future. But who knows.

[water_into_wine]

Originally Posted by DIDriveOut2SPAC

Whats the point of Bitcurrency though.

All peer-to-peer network, so you can use it anywhere. Biggest thing is that it isn't managed by a central bank and that there is a set supply so there wouldn't be printing money to devalue currency.

There are plenty of articles out there about how it isn't sustainable.

It really is, like most financial products, almost pure gambling.

[water_into_wine]

Originally Posted by justink

It's an interesting experiment. Could be the currency of the future. But who knows.

I do. It won't be.

I'll give you a 1,000,000 Shrute bucks if it is though.

[justink]

Originally Posted by DIDriveOut2SPAC

Whats the point of Bitcurrency though.

Eh, just wiki it. Much easier than me explaining.

[water_into_wine]

Quick video explanation:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...er-on-bitcoin/

Check out the quotes below as well.

[DIDriveOut2SPAC]

wiki blew my mind. No clue what is going on.

[dre2142]

Originally Posted by justink

.

There's lots if BTC millionaires out there right now. [b]I'm really kicking myself for not buying a couple hundred in January.[b/]

Lol. Its similar to a Ponzi Scheme that collapses when people realize that the money is feeding to the top....though in this case, it will collapse when people realize that all it is a collective delusion.

[water_into_wine]

Also:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/...n_problem.html

Key passage: "The problem is that if the price of a bitcoin is on a steady upward trajectory, then nobody's actually going to want to spend a Bitcoin on anything. And if everyone's hoarding their Bitcoins, then the network is actually useless. Then, since it turns out to be useless, you get a crash."

Edit: Not similar at all to a Ponzi scheme though.

[justink]

Some people see this as the next Tulip crash.

[defcon]

bitcoin mainly exists to buy illegal shit online.

I use it for SR.

I know someone who picked up a shit ton of it when it was new, basically four or five dollars a piece, don't know for sure. She sold them a few days ago and posted to FB about how all she wanted to do was launder money, but bitcoin made her money.

It's an interesting concept, but nothing like having cold, hard cash in hand.

When shit hits the fan, having your $ tied up in electronic currency isn't a good idea.

[unccrombie]

i probably rather waste my time reading about zara's adventures

[justink]

Yeah. Not a ponzi at all. I agree there could be a bubble though.

[dre2142]

Originally Posted by justink

Yeah. Not a ponzi at all. I agree there could be a bubble though.

I didnt say it was a Ponzi Scheme. I was comparing it to the failure/end game.

[DIDriveOut2SPAC]

sounds absolutely useless.

[dre2142]

Originally Posted by DIDriveOut2SPAC

sounds absolutely useless.

[water_into_wine]

Originally Posted by justink

Yeah. Not a ponzi at all. I agree there could be a bubble though.

Something that goes up in value by 10x within 4 months, may be a bubble?

[water_into_wine]

Bitcoin would be fine if it stayed around $5 in terms of worth. It will never garner mass appeal because it simply isn't sustainable. Mass users won't pay high prices to use as a payment tool. They'll use it to gamble on the currency. And because there is a set supply if mass users were entering the market that would only inflate that price way too high to the point where it can't be used anymore. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It is a significant and interesting innovation though.

[justink]

Originally Posted by water_into_wine

Bitcoin would be fine if it stayed around $5 in terms of worth. It will never garner mass appeal because it simply isn't sustainable. Mass users won't pay high prices to use as a payment tool. They'll use it to gamble on the currency. And because there is a set supply if mass users were entering the market that would only inflate that price way too high to the point where it can't be used anymore. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It is a significant and interesting innovation though.

It's basically gold without having to exchange heavy bars.