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Bitcoin Circulation Hits Record High Of $14 Billion (theguardian.com)
Bitcoin, the digital currency that most people have never actually used, has hit a record value of $14 billion after jumping 5 percent on Thursday. From a report on The Guardian: The price of one bitcoin reached $875 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, its strongest level since January 2014, putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best daily performance in six months. That compared with levels around $435 at the start of the year, with many experts linking bitcoin's rise with the steady depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has slid almost 7% in 2016. Data shows the majority of bitcoin trading is done in China, so any increase in demand from there tends to have a significant impact on the price.
Hey look, the bubble is getting bigger! Last time it went to $1200 before crashing!
Wake me up when anyone actually buys stuff with bitcoin.
or just FROM a Chinese address?
If Bitcoin becomes too much of a nuisance, the Chinese government will either regulate it to death or, if regulation is deemed not effective enough, outright ban it.
I've never used or considered using Bitcoin and I don't know a single person who has. How is it that its value continues to soar? This has got to be the epitome of market speculation.
When will they learn
On any topic, that phrase automatically marks you as an idiot.
quit saying it is a currency, it is not
game points that currently can be converted to currency, value of which might drop to zero by various state actions suddenly, yes
I'm still waiting for a government or national-bank to issue blockchain-based currency that is backed by a familiar, tangible asset such as gold, silver, or the local fiat currency.
Unlike bitcoin, this would be a "captive" coin and it would not have many of the benefits of bitcoin and the like.
But here is what it would have:
* Stable value: Like currency or metal, a "bit-buck" is worth $1 and it always will be and a "bit-troy-ounce of gold" is worth 1 troy ounce of gold and it always will be.
* Built-in: In most industrialized countries, most people trust the national bank and the government when it comes to currency issues. I'm not saying they should, only that they typically do.
* Like bitcoin, you can trade with it without having a bank account or having to carry cash.
* You can trade "whole wallets" many times in a way that is free of any record-keeping except by the final recipient, who will want to transfer the money to his own wallet and at the same time verify that the wallet he received is legit.
* It's a backdoor to increased use of BitCoin etc.: It would encourage people to install software that make using it easy. Presumably, this software would also work with BitCoin and other non-backed coins, so their use will also presumably increase.
* As "Novelty use local currency" it can boost local pride. Think "college campus bucks" or "state fair dollars."
There is one major disadvantage:
To work right, there must be excess dollars or gold or whatever to cover newly-mined coins, or the coins must be "pre-mined" which means someone will have to cover the transaction costs. To be acceptable to the general public, there must not be any transaction fees. This means that in practice, the state or bank holding the reserves will need to pay the transaction fees or be constanty adding to the "backing reserve" until the coin is fully mined.
Yes, I know there are strong arguments why backing the blockchain with assets helps rather than hurts, but for applications where you need stability, it's a big win.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Its useless to calculate a dollar price. Tell us the number of bitcoin. Because if you try to sell these amount of bitcoin, the price will drop so you will NOT get $14 billion. So it's just bullshit to quantify it in dollar.
Beanie-babies would work just as well for currency. (maybe better).
Once governments feel the pinch and start to regulate it, it's game over! I'd expect the EU and the US are already planning just that!
For people who hold BC for more than a short time, it's gambling.
For people who need to buy from someone and they don't have a currency the seller will accept, they must buy a currency the seller will accept. If the seller accepts US Dollars and BitCoin, and all I have are Euros, am I going to buy USD or am I going to buy BitCoin? Well, if they take my credit card (with its low exchange fees) I may "buy" USD. If they don't, I'll buy BC, buy elsewhere, or do without. For this buyer, it's being used as a currency.
If I'm a merchant that is accepting BC to attract more customers, AND I convert that BC to local currency within a short time, then I'm also using it as a currency, just as if I accepted Euros but sold them for the local currency within hours of receiving them.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
I'm still waiting for a government or national-bank to issue blockchain-based currency that is backed by a familiar, tangible asset such as gold, silver, or the local fiat currency....
I was following you right up to the last item.
If it's government backed, why do you need the blockchain? Wasn't the point of the blockchain the decentralization? of is it possible to implement p2p transactions with blockchains?
It's said that coins and currency have intrinsic value, trade value, and collectable value.
Book-entry money, including bank accounts and e-coins, typically has only trade value.
A typical, non-collectable $1 bill will have an intrinsic value of a few cents or less - it can be used as wallpaper if nothing else. It has a trade value of exactly $1. Unless and until it becomes collectable, it's collectable value is less than its face value and can be ignored.
A de-monetized bank note from the Confederate States of America probably has less intrinsic value per square inch than a modern bill and it has zero trade value, but it probably has significant collectable value.
Metal coins are similar, except that they typically have higher intrinsic value than paper/cloth/plastic currency. "Back in the old days" the intrinsic value of a coin was pretty close to the trade/"face" value. That is still true for the US penny and nickle - as metal, each is worth over 60% of the trade/"face" value. The dime, quarter, and half dollar, on the other hand, are worth less than 20% of face value.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
The fiat currency of any government relies entirely on magical manipulation to achieve "stability".
And it very frequently FAILS resulting in collapse of said economy and government.
Everything you said and or described is either debunked or handled better by bitcoin.
- stable - BTC has been steady up time on time since inception, after leveling out the big irrational exuberance spikes as any prudent investor would. ... intermediation and tracking forever. ... a pure global system.
- builtin - already runs on every computer and smartphone.
- trading - NO, you cannot trade a bank/gov intermediated digital currency without
- whole wallets - again debunked, read up on privacy, datamining, kyc aml and all the other things govt and corp love to fuck you with.
- backdoor to use - false, its a backdoor to your life.
- novelty - yes fiat is laughable bullshit
- excess cover backing - again backing anything with fiat or gold or whatever is far less than what bitcoin offers
It's expensive to receive a credit card transaction. It's a bare minimum of $20.00 /mth plus transaction fees of $0.25 + a percentage (1.5% - 3.5% depending on the card).
There are several credit-card-processing options that don't include a monthly fee, at least in the USA. Square and PayPal just to name two.
Granted, there is still the per-transaction fee and the percentage-cost, which are much higher than BC. But if it is domestic there is no currency-exchange cost or currency-fluctuation risk. Unless you are converting your BC to local currency almost immediately, there is inherent currency-fluctuation risk (and profit potential) on the part of the merchant. Depending on your jurisdiction, using BC may also force you to do additonal tax paperwork that comes with the "profit and loss" on the BC-to-local-currency exchanges. That's overhead that's avoided if you skip BC and use a credit card or other local-currency option.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
If it's government backed, why do you need the blockchain?
If you are suggesting the use of government-backed fiat currency - as in paper/cloth/plastic bills not entries in a bank ledger - then the advantage is theft resistance. Not only will someone have to steal your ewallet but they will either have to steal it when you have it opened, or steal its password too.
If you are suggesting a bank account, well, I've already outlined the advantages that a blockchain has over a bank account. The most obvious one is that a wallet can be passed around anonymously, without any record at all (no blockchain entry except by the final recipient). In that way, it's much like a check made out to "cash" or a pre-paid debit-card/"gift card" except that it's typically got a password on it.
Wasn't the point of the blockchain the decentralization?
It may have been the original purpose, but it is not the only advantage it has over either cash or bank-book-entry ledger systems like credit cards.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Like fiat currencies and for that matter the value of metals beyond their utilitarian value (industry, jewelry, etc.), BC is still a "faith currency."
Its value rises and falls not just with supply and demand but with people's faith their ability to spend it in the future for the same goods as they can today. Or, to put it another way, people's faith influences demand. If I can buy one widget for one BC today, but I believe that next year I will be able to buy 2 widgets (that is, if I have faith that the value will go up over time/that BC will experience deflation), I may be willing to pay more for BC than if I believe I will only be able to buy 1 widget with that BC next year, assuming that I believe that the local currency will buy the same amount of widgets a year from now as next year. If I believe that BC will suffer inflation (unlikely, given its model - but I may still believe it) then will be willing to spend less on BC than if I believed its value was stable. Either that, or I will plan on spending it soon, before I think the value will drop. Ditto if I believe it is in a bubble relative to the local currency (like precious mentals and fiat currencies, BC will occaisionally be in a "bubble" relative to any given metal or currency, and it will occasionally be in a "buying opportunity" - but only history will tell you what is a bubble or buying opportunity and what is the "new normal").
Like currency stored in a bank account, BC has no "intrinsic value." Even bank notes have a non-zero intrinsic value: You can use them as wallpaper or burn them as fuel. Coins typically have slightly higher intrinsic value thanks to the industrial uses of their metal content. While I wouldn't call in "intrinsic" the selling price of gold is very unlikely to drop below half of its current value relative to a "market basket" of other commodities (natural textiles, foods, fossile fuels, etc.) in my lifetime, if only because I don't see any significant letup in demand for its "artistic uses" (jewelry, collectable coins, etc.) during that time. But in 500 years or 5000 years, its price may drop to its value to industry, whatever that is at the time. Without significant intrinsic value, any currency is, at its core, a "faith currency."
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
As the market goes up, gold goes down. Simple economics. Bonds are the same. Savings, too, for the little people.
Yours,
Leona
That last paragraph should read
While you can argue that the last one [speculative movie-making] is technically an investment - the IRS treats it as such - it's hard to argue that it isn't much less risky than any other not-truly-random form of gambling, such as poker or sports betting. In other words, it's reasonable to say that even if it is technically an investment, for all but the most studied expert investor, it is a gamble.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Much more than just one disadvantage. The big one is that governments and banks prefer to create their money in the dark and out of sight. They gain nearly nothing from this idea, and by making that stuff public, they lose a LOT.
See that "Preview" button?
You happened to win. You may have even approached it as an investment. That doesn't mean it wasn't a gamble.
By all standards of accuracy or mere reality - he's "winnings" are a work of fiction.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Was hearing from my son yesterday that the "inflation" in bitcoin is causing it to be less profitable to mine.
Ahh, well.
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