So, replacing a system that has some regulation, albeit stacked in favor of the bank, with a system with no regulation that in theory is supposed to stick it to the banker may not be such a good thing. Basically, an economy based on spite. Maybe a government propping up a currency isn’t such a bad thing. At least with Pokemon chips, one could laugh, trade with friends, display on a wall…
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LOL. Good luck with that.
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Why the hate? People who speculate can win or lose. I don’t see where they deserve either one.
They usually lose, but I don’t think that’s because they deserve to. I don’t see where the universe has that kind of morality baked into it.
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Sure, if you could find someone else you deem credible to act as a backer instead. The point of Bitcoin was like you said to decouple things from governments, but its value was more or less based on the assumption a market of those would appear all on its own. The way it was built unsurprisingly lured speculators instead.
Say what you will about governments, there aren’t many less constant than currency speculators.
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I like the third, I believe gobbledygookcoin has a future 
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Excellent, I have a long journey coming up soon To Europe no less, I’m going now in part because the exchange rate is so good! I’ll pick up Halting State.
(I know I’m wrong, but I just can’t read Neal Stephenson.)
You’re in luck: http://www.clickhole.com/article/90s-kids-rejoice-spider-eggs-they-used-fill-beanie-1209
I don’t think bitcoin is any more or less real/viable than other currencies. I just think it is a waste of time and a distraction from actually solving real world problems.
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I’m worried that there’s a potential ethic slur hidden in there. Or maybe it’s just me.
So what are they backing currency with, in any auditable, non-abstract way?
Not my assumption. Value is subjective, so it is worth what those who use it agree that it is worth. For anybody to start codifying (again) that a symbolic measure of wealth or resources is supposedly not subjective - I would need to call “shenanigans”.
Sounds like a fine strategy for future efforts. Make the currency non-convertable to fiat currencies. And/or design it to be non-hoardable.
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But the point is that a non-institutionalized “medium of exchange” won’t ever be stable. If you don’t trust central bankers and large financial institutions, what makes you trust a faceless mob of people who also hold the currency you hold?
Okay, a thought experiment. We adopt a single international crypto-“currency” with no regulation or institutions managing it. In the non-system you posit we would lose all power to manage the economy and finance would instantly globalize. I think? It’s difficult to grasp how such a system would work.
Can’t say I’m at all surprised, given that it’s a digital tulip.
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Currencies are backed by the structure that you will learn about when you take a degree in economics. In theory, full faith and credit backed by our ability to borrow using government bonds. In actuality, the fact that money exists now and will exist in the future and everyone agrees that’s a good thing and how we generally want things to be.
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It’s fun to talk about the theory of money but it doesn’t get you anywhere. The value of anything is subjective, thanks for clearing that one up!
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You posit two structural restrictions on your crypto-currency! Aren’t you just creating a money system? Let’s set up a Bitcoin reserve and central bank to implement these policies of non-conversion and anti-hoarding.
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I think hope he was being droll.
OOOooohhh, does that mean there will be some surplus mining equipment showing up on ebay soon?
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I don’t trust people. But I think currencies can be devised with are stable algorithmically. It’s not difficult to devise a system without the assumptions of primate games built into it.
What compelling reason would entice everybody in the world? This sounds fanciful, since nothing has ever magically appealed to everybody before. There is no “totality”, planets don’t use money, distinct networks of people do. so deploy a system that you and your associates can use - not unlike a computer network. It has protocols, it works for everybody who uses it, and is opaque to outsiders who are likewise entitled to run their own systems/networks. Sometimes they might overlap, sometimes they might be separate.
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Who’s laughing now?
I told you this would happen once Bitcoin abandoned the Gold Standard!
Ron Paul 2012!
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No one guarantees precious metals either, yet they’re not this volatile. Is it because there’s a critical mass of people who believe in the value of gold, so there’s almost always someone willing to bet that it will bounce back when it starts falling? Whereas the market for BTC is comparatively microscopic? Did I just inadvertently answer my own question as I was typing it?
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Any reason why you didn’t try to sell them while BitCoin was > $1000? (Or perhaps you did and it’s too hard to liquidate that kind of BC?)
(Edit: though even with the current price 50 BC is very respectable, of course)
