Bitcoins

[Fulvio]

Also there has to be NO crazy fluctuations in its value and remains "stable" over a long period of time.

Best check the A$ exchange rate charts then. Its FAR from stable, even over a short period of time. Ask any traveller.

[Fulvio]

http://bravenewcoin.com/news/australian-and-estonian-banks-getting-hands-on-with-digital-currency/

Looks like our banks have a different opinion of cryptos than a lot of you guys do, eh?

[Basil]

I don't trust Banks either Fulvio,totally focused/dependent on the bottom line and how to get bonus's for Exec's.Customer & National Interest comes in a long last behind profit motives and the holy grail of the share price.
When the next Wall St. crash occurs or a major war,god forbid,i reckon the Crypto's  will be worth as much as a Confederate $.

[Fulvio]

Here's an interesting infographic I just found that explains how all cryptos work. The main differences between Dogecoin and Bitcoin, for example, are our much faster block times (1 min), much cheaper fees (1 doge), and much lower mining rewards (10,000 doge). Oh, and a different algorithm (scrypt) which is more efficient.

[SULLA]

F

Regardless of what is written by those who promote the various digital / cyber / electronic currencies there is no "BACKING"! Once upon a time many years ago in the old days, money  was backed by gold/silver, until Nixon back in 1971? withdrew that maxim because he needed money to fund the war in Viet Nam.

The cryptos have less backing than the current fiat money printed by virtually every govt on the planet. (Not sure about Iceland).  Every fiat based currency  throughout history has failed.
Even our own constitution states that money can only be silver or gold or similar which our govts ignore. China appears to be going back to a precious metals backed "money" with their massive purchases of gold over the past decade in their bid to promote the renminbi as the new Reserve currency of the world in a world where the USA retains that status and which is the only that keeps the US $ alive considering the USA's 18 trillion dollars of debt!  Prior to WW2 the UK pound was the dominant currency of the world.

These flash in the plan crypto currencies are just that. In the end only a money backed by "substance" = precious metals will survive in the long haul.

Play and enjoy but do not put all your eggs in the same basket!

No trolling here.

Learn about the truth of money and where and how it is created and you will quickly achieve a true comprehension of how and where and why and etc of why it all a masssive fraud.


When you make  a purchase with your credit card - where does the money used to cover that purchase come from?

Ask and ye shall learn!!

The USA has over 18 trillion dollars of debt (FIAT) . That is 18,000 times one billion!  WOW!!

Similarly the Greeks are only Billions in debt and now threaten the demise of the EU.
Greater forces than we will ever understand are in play here and it is  all about the fact that there is nothing backing the rubbish we call money/currencty/bitcoin/suillacoin/agapecoin or toullacoin.

It is only a simple manipulation that many uneducated  and without knowledge have fallen for!

Me? No!
And you have faith in bitcoin?

Good luck with that one!


Where is the intrinsic value in a $100 polymer note or  a $1 coin?
A 1966 50 cent piece is worth 1/3 of an ounce of silver. Could be worth a lot more than a $100 polymer note (which no longer even states that it iis legal tender) in the future!

What happens to bitcoin and FIAT currencies when the lights go out?

Please answer that question Fulvio!
LOL!!

[Fulvio]

What happens to bitcoin and FIAT currencies when the lights go out?

What is money anyway?

There is no practical difference between an IOU scribbled on a napkin, a banknote, a crypto wallet, a lump of gold or a piece of real estate when you think about it.

All simply have agreed values. The question is WHO exactly agrees to them? In some cases its a small subset with vested interests. In others its mass delusion, as in the case of Poseidon, Pyramid, Tulips, Timber Plantations and any number of ultimately empty promises.

And clearly the answer is not to put all your eggs in one basket. For example, the Doge price has in the last 24 hours moved up from around 68 to 80 satoshis. And I've been both buying and selling, at assorted prices with about a 3 point spread. By doing this I've increased my holdings to the tune of about fifty bucks, for nothing. And that's with 100,000 doge orders. Was I tempted to throw 15 million into the market and make a killing? Certainly not. If I had, sure, I would have made a profit, but then what? I'd be out of the market until the price dropped enough to  buy back in.

Anyway, ultimately, when the lights go out, none of this means a damned thing. Noone has yet discovered a way to take it with you, so who cares? Certainly not the heirs.. the huge numbers of valuable coins which survivors cash in for face value at the bank is testament to that.

As a transactional currency, Bitcoin, Dogecoin et al have massive advantages. Not least of which is the absence of fees. If I buy something for $100, and I have a choice between paying $100 or $110 for it, Id have to be an absolute idiot to choose the higher price. Yet that's precisely what people do every day, particularly in international trade.

Makes you wonder...

[SULLA]

Does not make me wonder at all

When the power goes out I will still have my investments with their histrorical and proven over time, intrinsic value!

[Fulvio]

When the power goes out I will still have my investments with their histrorical and proven over time, intrinsic value!

What **ARE** you talking about?

Either you think that a blackout will somehow kill the internet...

OR

You think ANYthing will have intrinsic value in some kind of post-apocalyptic Max Max future.

Both are wrong.

[SULLA]

Gold and silver have been used as a store of wealth since the beginning of time and will always remain so.

[Fulvio]

Gold and silver have been used as a store of wealth since the beginning of time and will always remain so.

So what? That's a cultural construct. Neither has an intrinsic worth, except maybe in tiny quantities in electronics. In fact, the largest consumer of silver, photography, has all but completely vanished almost overnight.

See, you're missing the point that everything has a value because someone says it does, and others agree. That can and does change. If you told people a hundred years ago that a plastic card would be the de-facto standard way of paying for things, they would have locked you up in a rubber room.

Things change. That's just how it is, and will always be. And when they do, you can choose to change with them, or bury your head in the sand and get run over.

For example, when people started posting images to BitPixr, my initial reaction was we didn't need it, since we already have Imgur, which does a great job of hosting billions of pictures, and is the default service on Reddit. Basically, I reacted the way you guys have to cryptos.

But then I figured I'd at least give it a try. Created an account, and posted a pic. And got my first payout at 5am yesterday. Have a look at https://bitinfocharts.com/dogecoin/address/DU5dahL8K6M63PD76B9wECtAjyX4GnUSFD and scroll to the transaction list down the bottom. I got 4 payments in 24 hours, and 5 more this morning. No, 23 US cents isn't going to make me rich, but I haven't put any actual effort in either. What happens when I do, and switch over ALL my image hosting to there? Check that address in a day or two and find out.

Oh, and by all means continue to ignore the inevitable. Its your funeral.

[SULLA]

What 5000 + years of history where gold and silver were the only method of storing wealth has no value?


Fulvio, when the power goes out your cryptoBS will be worth zero.

Me?
I will able to trade my mainly silver (and some gold) for whatever my heart desires!

You will be there staring at your power point with your cord in your hand asking WTF??, and you and your family will be starving!

No trolling here mate!

You really should some research on the history of money and then take the steps necessary to preserve some your wealth instead of collecting the bits of metal you own that have no true intrinsic value. McDonalds will be worth little when the power goes out!

Gold and silver are the only way to preserve one's wealth in the current and future financial climate!

Re Bitcoin and others. Printout the digits and wipe your bum with the paper it is printed on. That will be the true future value.

Who controls the BC market?

Isn't it a couple of Russian twins?

The bad guys hacked Mt Gox and what happened there?

[Unicorn]

I'm gunna build me an Ark!

I'd best go for wood.

[JeffH]

When the power goes out then gold and silver may only be worth une pincée de merde.
Valuable items might include petrol, canned foods, livestock, drinking water, solar modules, firearms and ammunition, tools, fertiliser, winter clothing and all sorts of survival items. Who knows? It could depend a lot on the whys and wherefores of any ultimate catastrophe.

Then again it may never happen either and the human race might see sense before it is too late (unlikely). I can't say we would descend into primitive barbarity because we never really seem to have risen above that anyway.

Of course some reactionaries will accumulate "wealth" in gold, silver, diamonds and such initially; until they realise you can't eat them. Their attempts to reverse their loses could be very nasty indeed.

Barter could reign supreme and a convenient medium (or media) of exchange to facilitate trade will no doubt arise

[Fulvio]

Of course some reactionaries will accumulate "wealth" in gold, silver, diamonds and such initially; until they realise you can't eat them.

And this is the crux of the matter, and where the doomsday scenarios fail.

For "the power to go out", a string of catastrophic events would need to occur. In which case that trunk full of gold bars will be the least of concerns.

Sulla, get a clue. If you really want to preach doom and gloom, at least check out ***Doomsday Preppers***, a Discovery series about people actually preparing for a variety of apocalyptic scenarios. See if you can get to the end of the series without thinking they're all crackpots, then look in a mirror.

Oh, and if you think being involved in one thing precludes diversification, you're even crazier than it appears. FYI, my risk is spread over a wide and varied range of alternatives, as would any sensible person's be.

[JeffH]

Crypto currency is an idea whose time is nigh. Global acceptance of a major paradigm shift can take around a generation so it will be some years before it is the common currency and the existing currency is a quaint anachronism that some die-hards still adhere to.
For that to happen requires Government and Big Business acceptance and you know what that means...right? They will configure it to suit their purposes and we will end up with "crypto-fiat currency" that is different to, but not better than our existing currency. Value will be pegged to whatever the major power brokers decree.
Hopefully there will only be one, universal crypto which could be an advance on our present economic system.

Sorry, as a hardened cynic I sometimes find it hard to adopt a "glass half full" outlook.