Bitcoin sell-off

[Digga]

I never really 'got' the bitcoin - bit of a Luddite perhaps - but it did seem to be gaining momentum and then...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22105322

[Otispunkmeyer]

I understand bitcoins are "mined" by crunching huge numbers looking for a finite number of specific sequences, but surely its all a con?

It's not even money for old rope. It's just money for nothing.

[Digga]

Otispunkmeyer said:

I understand bitcoins are "mined" by crunching huge numbers looking for a finite number of specific sequences, but surely its all a con?

Well that's the thing - I really don't 'understand'.

Otispunkmeyer said:

It's not even money for old rope. It's just money for nothing.

Quite. For whom is this number-crunching remotely useful?

[sc0tt]

You can use Bit coin to pay for things on the Deep Net.

You need an onion browser and don't do it at work.

[RealSquirrels]

Digga said:

Otispunkmeyer said:

I understand bitcoins are "mined" by crunching huge numbers looking for a finite number of specific sequences, but surely its all a con?

Well that's the thing - I really don't 'understand'.

Otispunkmeyer said:

It's not even money for old rope. It's just money for nothing.

Quite. For whom is this number-crunching remotely useful?

yeah but euros are made just by printing some squiggles on a bit of paper... what are they even for?

The number crunching is not useful for people but it is a device to limit the supply of bitcoins. the supply is finite so as the demand increases the value of a bitcoin increases. eventually all possible bitcoins will be in circulation and then the value depends only on demand. The value of your money can't be decreased by flooding the market with additional money... cough BoE cough...

[Digga]

RealSquirrels said:

yeah but euros are made just by printing some squiggles on a bit of paper... what are they even for?

I understand the drawbacks of fiat money, but at the end of the day, no one can argue that, at least whilst confidence remains, it is highly liquid and widely accepted.

[PugwasHDJ80]

Otispunkmeyer said:

I understand bitcoins are "mined" by crunching huge numbers looking for a finite number of specific sequences, but surely its all a con?

It's not even money for old rope. It's just money for nothing.

but to be fair all our cash is money for nothing- it has no tangible value, it just has the value that everyone "accepts" it has. You can't eat it, cook with it, make shelter out of it etc

its only safety is that our cash is a scarce resource- you can't easily make it yourself (the same as gold in most respects).

There's no reason why Bitcoin couldn't be accepted, any more than you accept the digits on your internet banking mean you have money!

[crazy about cars]

sc0tt said:

You can use Bit coin to pay for things on the Deep Net.

You need an onion browser and don't do it at work.

Do I need to put on my tin foil hat too?

[Digga]

crazy about cars said:

sc0tt said:

You can use Bit coin to pay for things on the Deep Net.

You need an onion browser and don't do it at work.

Do I need to put on my tin foil hat too?

This is a whole different world. You know that tech character on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? It's his world.

I too fond of fresh air and food to go down that path.

[steveT350C]

This article explains things a bit

http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/08/how-to-mine-bitco...

[Smiler.]

sc0tt said:

You can use Bit coin to pay for things on the Deep Net.

You need an onion browser and don't do it at work.

I found this using Firefox:





What else do I need?

[steveT350C]

The currency also has a finite supply that’s limited by design. The algorithm that fuels the Bitcoin network is designed to generate 21 million bitcoins, and the system automatically regulates itself to ensure that the supply of bitcoins grows at a smooth, steady pace.

At the current rate, all 21 million bitcoins should be generated by 2140. And because the Bitcoin network tracks and records every bitcoin transaction, you can actually see exactly how many bitcoins have been created at any given moment at Blockchain.info, a website that monitors the Bitcoin network and hosts bitcoin wallets, the containers owners use to store their digital riches.


Copied from here

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2033715/7-things-yo...

[anonymous-user]

sc0tt said:

You can use Bit coin to pay for things on the Deep Net.

You need an onion browser and don't do it at work.

Bitcoins are the main currency for certain areas of the web and due to the volume of transactions I cannot see them disapearing

[RealSquirrels]

Digga said:

RealSquirrels said:

yeah but euros are made just by printing some squiggles on a bit of paper... what are they even for?

I understand the drawbacks of fiat money, but at the end of the day, no one can argue that, at least whilst confidence remains, it is highly liquid and widely accepted.

but that seems to also be true of bitcoins?

[DonnyMac]

hornet said:

Be interesting to know who is behind the attacks on Bitcoin - Government action to destroy confidence or organised crime engineering bubbles and dips to cash in? Certain people in the alternative media and blogosphere and been crowing about Bitcoin lately, so I wonder if this is a reaction to that?

IIRC the CIA have a large stake in the main BitCoin exchanges, InQTel is the investment vehicle I think - I neither know nor care if this information is relevant I'm merely putting it into the mix for discussion based on the post above.

[DonnyMac]

hornet said:

DonnyMac said:

IIRC the CIA have a large stake in the main BitCoin exchanges, InQTel is the investment vehicle I think - I neither know nor care if this information is relevant I'm merely putting it into the mix for discussion based on the post above.

It's one for the Illuminati types to chew on isn't it? Could Bitcoin itself be some sort of false flag operation? The original designer is shrouded in mystery, which has always made me wonder if the whole thing is being engineered? Pick your conspiracy!

To the best of my knowledge there's no conspiracy here; a few years after BitCoin gained traction and media awareness they (large exchange i think) were approached by InQTel for further investment.

InQTel happens to be the technology investment partner/vehicle for the CIA.

This is public knowledge and was also announced in an interview between a large BitCoin exchange and CNN (or other American network) at the time.

BitCoin has the ability to be a financial game changer in the future removing capital controls (hence recent market?) and government financial interference as well as being a completely anonymous form of wired fund transfer with the ability to be converted to hard currency anywhere in the world. No more financial borders or funds tracking.

It's interesting, very.

I've been following this with some regret as I very nearly bought 2000 BitCoin a year or so back and would have made a very seizable 6 digit profit in the last 48 hours had I not got an invitation to the pub, which I rarely pass up, and forgot to press submit at the time.

Hindsight, wonderful thing.

[collateral]

I've been aware of them for ages - wish I bought some back in the day, would've made out like a bandit!

As it is now, I don't like the idea of wiring a few hundred quid to some sketchy sounding Japanese bank. The mainstream media has suddenly taken a lot of interest in it, for whatever reason...

[Digga]

hornet said:

Be interesting to know who is behind the attacks on Bitcoin - Government action to destroy confidence or organised crime engineering bubbles and dips to cash in? Certain people in the alternative media and blogosphere and been crowing about Bitcoin lately, so I wonder if this is a reaction to that?

I guess it is possible that some government or central bank somewhere might take exception to the bicoin and attempt sabotage. The same claims have been made about gold too - namely via derrivative trades, did the establishment allow a devaluation mechanism?

Certainly Greece being forced to sell gold is a current issue. Given the surety of value, I wonder why the troika insisted on this, rather than simply using it as collateral?

[The Don of Croy]

Digga said:

I never really 'got' the bitcoin - bit of a Luddite perhaps - but it did seem to be gaining momentum and then...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22105322

Reading the final para of that article sounds awfully like a pyramid set up - unable to keep up with demand for cashing in...

[hairykrishna]

I had a couple of hundred about 12 months ago. Made some money flogging them in the previous, much smaller, bubble. Wish I'd held them...

I suspect there will be a big crash soon.