Bit Coins

[trout]

I have noticed that there has been a resurgence in these lately.
Am I alone in thinking that these are just another Ponzi Pyramid scam developed by some shady  Yank to fleece the stupid and greedy .

[Fulvio]

Am I alone in thinking that these are just another Ponzi Pyramid scam developed by some shady  Yank to fleece the stupid and greedy .

Yes. This is the future of currency. If not BitCoins, then a similar alternative. Cryptocurrencies are not scams. Do some research bro.

[trout]

Am I alone in thinking that these are just another Ponzi Pyramid scam developed by some shady  Yank to fleece the stupid and greedy .

Yes. This is the future of currency. If not BitCoins, then a similar alternative. Cryptocurrencies are not scams. Do some research bro.

I have done my homework Fulvio :ok:
BC are created out of thin air by "BC Miners" ( people at the top of the pyramid ) and sold to brokers and other buyers who store them on their computers that are eminently hackable.
there was also the opportunity to store them in "Online Wallets" but as soon as the BC gained some Perceived "Value" these quickly went "Off Line" and never to be seen again along with everyone's BC's .

The BC isn't backed by any country or anything intrinsic and in all fairness it only has a perceived value and not a true value.

It is NOT in fact a Currency it is simply a commodity with a "Perceived" value.
To be a currency you would have to be able to spend it anywhere in the world and in any shop or service provider, This is simply NOT the case.

The US Federal reserve is printing money out of thin air that they really cannot back up but at lest you can still spend a US dollar anywhere in the World and you can hold it in your hand.

IMHO the Bit Coin is a huge scam and once the 21 million are "Mined" the rats at the helm will cash in and leave everyone that has these with a handful of useless "Cyber dust"

Anyway If you can't get it graded by PCGS then it simply isn't currency

[Fulvio]

I have done my homework Fulvio :ok:

Oh man... where to begin? Basically every one of those assertions is just plain dead wrong.

Firstly, there are no rats at the helm. Nobody knows who the guy was who invented BC, and likely nobody ever will. And anyway, nobody holds a sufficiently large swag to corner the market with.

They're not created out of thin air (unlike fiat currencies the world over), but are created by the miners doing real work.

Miners are people, like you and me, who dedicate hardware assets to performing the calculations which earn the coins.

There is a limited supply, therefore the value adjusts to match demand against that supply, like any commodity. Say gold for example. What would happen if a solid gold asteroid landed in your backyard and increased the supply a hundredfold? Guess...

The reason for the surge in the markets is that the US government now accepts BTC's as payment. Expect other governments to follow. The official resistance to virtual currencies has never been because they're virtual, since ALL currencies are virtual (or did you think people ship containerfulls of banknotes around the world to settle debts???). The resistance has been because of fears that criminals can use a borderless currency to launder money and evade taxes. But the US for one now realises BTC are MORE traceable than other currencies, and any and all physical value stores.

Mate, cryptocurrencies, be it BTC, LiteCoins or whatever other form comes along, are here to stay. In time, they will replace national currencies completely, and give the world a single, unified currency, like the "credits" from science fiction books. It may not happen this week, or in our lifetimes, but it will absolutely happen.
Oh, and a disclaimer: I don't have any BTC. I did open an LTC account, and installed the mining software, but soon gave up because of all the system dependencies it demanded on my hardware at the time. Basically you need to be on the bleeding edge to get a seat at the table.
Actually, it seems my new MacPro server IS capable of meeting the system requirements, so I just went to litecoin.org and installed the latest version. Now we'll see if I can put that unused processing power to good use, eh?

[JeffH]

Name the guy who invented them (real name please).

[Fulvio]

Name the guy who invented them (real name please).

Nobody knows. He released it then disappeared. Obviously doesn't want anything to do with it.

From the Wiki page:

"Bitcoin is an open source peer-to-peer electronic money and payment network introduced in 2008 by pseudonymous developer "Satoshi Nakamoto".[4] Bitcoin has been called a cryptocurrency because it is decentralized and uses cryptography to control transactions and prevent double-spending, a problem for digital currencies.[5][6] Once validated, every individual transaction is permanently recorded in a public ledger known as the blockchain.[7] Payment processing is done by a network of private computers often specially tailored to this task.[8] The operators of these computers, known as "miners", are rewarded with transaction fees and newly minted Bitcoins."

[ausjack]

I like really money that I can hole in my hand

[Ozcoins]

Name the guy who invented them (real name please).

Obviously doesn't want anything to do with it.

That is not the conclusion I have reached.....

Unless you have some reason to think that, it seem much more likely he/she/they have gone into hiding holding potentially a huge fortune.

[Fulvio]

holding potentially a huge fortune.

How do you figure that? Given the fact that he was anonymous from the start, and that he disappeared entirely in 2008, plus the mechanics of how BitCoins are minted, there is no fortune, or rather there wasn't at that time, for him to potentially be holding.

Have you read this:?

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/11/trammell/

[trout]

So what you are saying Fulvio is that Bit Coins is run by a bunch of computer "Nerds" and "Geeks" with high end hardware.
These people them skim the transactions (Mining) to create Bit coins for themselves .
There is absolutely NO legislation to prevent these people ripping everyone off :dodgy:
Sounds like a scam, Feels like a scam and looks like a scam to me Mate :ok:

I think I will stick to the Money issued by the Aussie Government thank you all the same :angel:

[Fulvio]

Bit Coins is run by a bunch of computer "Nerds" and "Geeks"

Its not run by anybody. That's the whole POINT.

Just like the internet isn't run by anybody. Or did that little fact escape your notice? :dodgy:

And by the way, nobody is forcing you to stop using A$, any more than they force you to use PayPal or Euros, Krugerrand or anything else. Heck, you don't even have to use any currency at all if you really don't want to... I met a bloke down in Tassie a few years ago who does very nicely indeed, entirely on barter.

[trout]

Just like the internet isn't run by anybody. Or did that little fact escape your notice?

That is the part that scares the crap out of me.
NO check or balances and any clown can become a Miner.
This is NOT a currency it is a concept in internet bartering, simple as that.
I DO a lot of bartering and I do it face to face :ok:
Bit Coins are a totally unsecure way of doing business over the net simply because Nobody can be held responsible in the event of anything going wrong with a transaction because nobody knows who the hell they are  dealing with.

Everyone whinges and complains about the Banks and the Telco's ripping them off with their charges and practices at least with these mobs you know exactly where to raise a complaint and if you are real lucky get a result from them.
There is absolutely NO redress with Bit coins because the bloody things simply don't exist in any real form and there is no way of knowing who to aim your problems at.
I know all Fiat currency's are built on "Smoke and Mirrors" but these Blokes don't even have the  Mirrors.

[Fulvio]

NO check or balances and any clown can become a Miner.

The blockchain itself provides the ultimate check and balance. Have a look at http://blockchain.info/

Can you tell exactly where that dollar in your pocket has been? Can you even tell if its a chinese fake? No. But you can tell EXACTLY where your bitcoin, or anybody else's, for that matter, has been, because every transaction is permanently logged.

Cryptocurrencies are decentralised, self-controlling systems, not subject to corruption or political hanky-panky. As such, they're not going away anytime soon, regardless of what may or may not happen with BitCoin.

[Basil]

Staying right away but still have an interest to see how it all unfolds,MPO is we can wake up Tomorrow and its all gone but time will tell.

 http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2188339

[ausjack]

who turned the switch off 'cause all my money is now gone, just went poof and all gone. Yep I'll stick with real money I know it's real and I can keep track of it and spend it if it's in my hand