One Bitcoin Is Now Worth More Than One Ounce of Gold (techcrunch.com)

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One Bitcoin Is Now Worth More Than One Ounce of Gold (techcrunch.com)

Posted by BeauHD on Thursday March 2, 2017 @10:00AM from the gold-standard dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: For the first time ever, the price of one bitcoin has surpassed the price of one ounce of gold. While today's swap can be attributed to a good day for bitcoin (up ~3%) and a bad day for gold (down ~1.3%), the big picture is that bitcoin has more than doubled in the last year (up ~185% from a year ago) while gold is essentially trading exactly at the price it was a year ago. Even though bitcoin and gold are both thought of as alternative assets, they don't usually trade in correlation. Still, it's notable that bitcoin has (at least temporally) surpassed the price of gold. Gold is quite literally the "gold standard" of alternative assets, often used by investors to hedge against potential losses in more traditional assets like real estate and the stock market.

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One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:03 · Score: 5, Insightful

The power goes out. How much is your bitcoin worth then?
1. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:11 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  You don't need active power to store bitcoin, wallet information can be safely stored on an offline medium such as a USB stick.
2. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by ASDFnz · 2017-03-02 10:11 · Score: 2
  
  Are you meaning that all power in the entire world?
  If you are, then nothing. Gold would be fairly much useless in your post apocalyptic world as well though, you can't eat it, you can't use it for shelter, it is heavy... Bullets and livestock will be the trading commodities.
3. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:13 · Score: 0
  
  For reals. Keep your imaginary money, I'd take the gold.
  If I need to buy crack I'll go under the El like we did in the olden days, instead of some shady tor site that may or may not ship it and a postman who may or may not know and love the smell of burning trash.
  Damn do I love the smell of burning trash.
4. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:15 · Score: 0
  
  gold is not heavy for most of us!
5. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by ASDFnz · 2017-03-02 10:18 · Score: 1
  
  It weighs less in you imagination does it?
6. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:31 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  The question wasn't, "The power goes out. Does your bitcoin still exist?".
  It was, "The power goes out. How much is your bitcoin worth then?".
  We're talking about worth here. To put it another way, value.
  The value of pretty much anything depends significantly on its usability. A lack of usability reduces value.
  A bitcoin in cold, offline storage is essentially worthless if it can't be easily and conveniently accessed (due to a lack of electricity to power the computers and networks needed to use it).
  What you're proposing is the same as encasing a gold bar in concrete, and then burying it a mile underground where it's inaccessible without a huge amount of effort to retrieve it.
  Does the gold have potential value? Sure. What's its actual value to somebody who wants to use it for commercial purposes right away, given its inaccessible state? Worthless.
  That's the point I think that the GP was trying to make, and that you (and whoever dumbly modded you up) totally missed.
  It's much easier to make bitcoin totally unusable, and hence worthless, than it is to do the same for most other currencies or currency-like commodities.
7. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by dunkelfalke · 2017-03-02 10:38 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Given that gold has been valuable for thousands of years, way before industrialisation, I'd say you are wrong. Gold has several properties that make it useful - it is non-reactive, corrosion resistant, quite biocompatible (has been used by dentists for centuries), an excellent conductor and so on.
  
  --
  "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
8. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by David_Hart · 2017-03-02 10:40 · Score: 2
  
  Are you meaning that all power in the entire world?
  If you are, then nothing. Gold would be fairly much useless in your post apocalyptic world as well though, you can't eat it, you can't use it for shelter, it is heavy... Bullets and livestock will be the trading commodities.
  According to Fallout we'll be using bottlecaps.... mmmm.... Nuka Cola.....
9. Re: One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:46 · Score: 0
  
  Gold is worth a lot less than its market value.
10. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by ASDFnz · 2017-03-02 10:47 · Score: 1, Troll
  
  Gold has several properties that make it useful - it is non-reactive, corrosion resistant, quite biocompatible (has been used by dentists for centuries), an excellent conductor and so on.
  Remember, this is a world where the laws of physics have changed (yeah, it is ridiculous but he bought it up) so there is no electricity.
  Gold would not be useful for any of your applications (especially being an excellent conductor) in that parallel universe.
11. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by dunkelfalke · 2017-03-02 11:00 · Score: 1
  
  But bullets magically would continue to work, right?
  And no, they aren't a good commodity - they have a limited shelf life and the technology to make new ones for the same kind of firearms would not be possible in a non-industrialised world. Bullets for an arquebus, on the other hand, is just cast lead. Salpeter would become a strategic chemical again.
  
  --
  "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
12. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by ASDFnz · 2017-03-02 11:05 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  But bullets magically would continue to work, right?
  As long as they are not electrical ones (not sure where you are going with that).
  They last for an amazingly long time too being sealed units, for example, fairly much the entire world supply of 50 cal rounds were manufactured in WWII and we still use them today.
13. Re: One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 11:08 · Score: 0
  
  That does not make sense. It's worth what the market is willing to pay for it, by definition.
14. Re: One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 11:10 · Score: 1
  
  We're looking here at almost impossible scenario.
  What if it's on my phone I only need a little bit of power to charge it = a simple crank up torch would do. Then you only need means to broadcast transaction. It's possible to do that over DVB or even CB radio. One would imagine it shouldn't be that difficult to achieve using other radio frequencies. Also if someone has an access to full node and can verify that transaction is signed correctly can accept transaction on USB or paper and broadcast it once access to network is gained.
  How many such catastrophic power outages have you experienced during your existence?
15. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Narcocide · 2017-03-02 11:17 · Score: 1
  
  It's worth exactly the same. Your hand-crank battery charger and DC powered computing device however just got a lot more valuable.
16. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Trogre · 2017-03-02 11:21 · Score: 2
  
  Fitting, since a bitcoin is essentially just a certificate that some schmuck won a lottery after likely wasting hundreds of kilowatt-hours in compute energy.
  
  --
  "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
17. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 11:24 · Score: 0
  
  There are good arguments against Bitcoin. "Won't be useful in a sci-fi technological apocalypse" isn't one of them.
18. Re: One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by itsenrique · 2017-03-02 11:24 · Score: 1
  
  I think he's trying to argue that gold has less intrinsic value than it's worth. Some of the price of gold is driven by speculation and hoarding, not actually using it.
19. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 11:31 · Score: 0
  
  If the power goes out, nobody is going to take your gold in exchange for their food, you retard.
20. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 11:31 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  It was, "The power goes out. How much is your bitcoin worth then?".
  ...
  It's much easier to make bitcoin totally unusable, and hence worthless, than it is to do the same for most other currencies or currency-like commodities.
  Strange that of all the different possible media of exchange, so many people choose to use bank cards to buy things, cards that would be equally worthless were "the power to go out".
21. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by cdrudge · 2017-03-02 11:35 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  How much is your gold worth when you need to send a payment half way around the world near instantly? Your gold is useless while a bitcoin could be valuable. We can come up with all sorts of arbitrary scenarios that would make bitcoins and gold either very valuable or completely worthless.
  The fact of the matter is that the inherent value of anything is exactly what someone will pay for it right then. And right now 1 bitcoin is worth more than one ounce of gold based on currently trending transaction values.
22. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by arglebargle_xiv · 2017-03-02 11:40 · Score: 2
  
  Yawn. It's now worth more than gold, call me back when it's reached the value of a tulip bulb in 1637, or a CDO in 2008.
23. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 11:47 · Score: 0
  
  You seem to know nothing more about Bitcoin than what it's called.
24. Re: One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by ralphsiegler · 2017-03-02 12:06 · Score: 1
  
  A stack of hundred dollar bills is more useful than Bitcoin in any store near me. Does that change Bitcoin value? Some countries use gold in markets on the street, been there done that.
25. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 12:28 · Score: 0
  
  I've slogged through dozens of comments to find evidence of 185% being greater than 2x and this is what I get? disappointing
26. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 12:52 · Score: 0
  
  Humans have been doing exactly that for thousands of years.
27. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by nobuddy · 2017-03-02 12:54 · Score: 1
  
  This assumes that gold has any value in the same apocalyptic environment. Or a paper dollar. Or a bank statement.
  You want trade goods valuable then? Vacuum packed or freeze dried coffee, cocoa powder, similar durable luxury goods that have to be imported. There is your apocalypse money. Nobody will give a flying rat's ass about cash or currency of any kind.
28. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by nobuddy · 2017-03-02 13:21 · Score: 1
  
  Limited shelf life? I suppose anything less than infinity is technically "limited". Ammo does not expire, at least not in human lifetime terms.
29. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by morethanapapercert · 2017-03-02 13:29 · Score: 2
  
  Your analogy about burying gold overlooks something: On the international gold markets, the actual ingots usually don't physically change hands. Quite often, the custodians of the gold don't even move it around within the same vault. In most cases, what actually moves around are the certificates of gold deposit. (even those usually move electronically) Whether it be a mile down, encased in concrete, or in some vault under a Swiss mountain, gold is often inaccessible.
  Mind you, one of the biggest markets for gold is actually the housewives of India, for whom buying actual gold (often as jewellery) and squirrelling it away is a time honoured practice against calamity. The smaller coins, bullion and ingots the normal consumer buys are the same thing.
  I do note with some wry amusement that, in the event of a genuine calamity, all that digitally accessed money (gold, bitcoin, your chequeing account) is totally worthless until and unless things return to normal. Moreover, the value of gold would likely take a steep hit, as hungry people will happily pay obscene amounts of gold (in pre-calamity value) for a square meal, doubly so if they have hungry kids. The longer the calamity is expected to endure, the less value that physical gold has, up to a point. (a seller would become less and less willing to part with his food or medicine supplies for gold the longer he thinks his supplies have to last him. Meanwhile, hungry people suck at long term thinking...)
  
  --
  I need a wheelchair van for my son. Help me get the word out. https://www.gofundme.com/wheelchair-van-for-jj
30. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by bjohnson · 2017-03-02 14:04 · Score: 2
  
  The power goes out. How much is your gold worth then?
31. Re: One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 14:31 · Score: 0
  
  Most gold is traded on international exchanges, not through usps, so it would work fine for sending payment halfway around the world.
32. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 14:49 · Score: 0
  
  If the power goes out, believe me, your gold isn't worth anything either.
33. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 15:20 · Score: 0
  
  The value of something is exactly what some fool is willing to pay for it. No more, no less.
34. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by drinkypoo · 2017-03-02 15:31 · Score: 1
  
  Let's say that there's a series of solar events which destroy all the electrical things until we can rebuild. Society will go rapidly to shit, but whoever rebuilds on the ashes will have plenty of electricity-related uses for gold.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
35. Re: One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 15:58 · Score: 0
  
  Everybody can't sell gold at the current rate, the price would dive. Therefore, gold isn't worth the market value.
  It's great that incompetent economists have pushed the notion that things are worth whatever somebody is willing to pay, but that's so laughably wrong that I'm not even sure how to describe it.
36. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 16:55 · Score: 0
  
  But bullets magically would continue to work, right?
  Oddly enough, gold makes excellent bullets. It's nearly twice as dense as lead, and can be cold-molded to shape.
  AC
37. Re: One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 17:05 · Score: 0
  
  Everybody can't BUY gold at the current rate, the price would SKYROCKET. Therefore, gold isn't worth the market value.
  It's great that incompetent NON-economists have pushed the notion that things are worth whatever somebody IMAGINES, but that's so laughably wrong that I'm not even sure how to describe it.
38. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 17:59 · Score: 0
  
  There is your apocalypse money. Nobody will give a flying rat's ass about cash or currency of any kind.
  I disagree. One of the lesser known natural monetary experiments of modern times occurred in Iraq in the years between the end of the first Gulf War and the 2003 invasion. Specifically, the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein ceased paying the Swiss to print their bank notes and began a program of devaluation with locally printed "Saddam" Dinars. Officially, the previously circulated and higher quality "Swiss" Dinars ceased being printed and were officially "de-monetized" by the Iraqi government. However, due to the unpopularity of the devaluation and the easily recognizable quality of the "Swiss" notes, which were printed on high quality paper and with the best inks to a standard that the locally produced "Saddam" currency couldn't match, the people, particularly the Kurds in the North, continued to circulate the "Swiss" Dinars. So, not only did the "Swiss" Dinars not lose value, even with no "official" backing, but because they were no longer being produced and were thus scarcer and higher quality than the alternative "Saddam" Dinars, they actually appreciated in value against the "official" Iraqi currency of the time. So you see, the value of a money depends not so much on "official" backing, but in it's ability to function as money in the economy. To be useful as money, a currency must be difficult to counterfeit, scarce enough to be valuable but not so scarce that there isn't enough to conduct commerce and easily recognizable. The Iraqi "Swiss" Dinar was all of these things in intra-war Iraq and thus it continued to be money and to hold value, even though it "officially" had none.
39. Re: One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 18:10 · Score: 0
  
  Gold is worth a lot less when the power goes out. How do you melt it down? (And if you say "gas powered heater", I will say "use the natural gas to run an electrical generator and power your bitcoin back up".)
40. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 19:06 · Score: 1
  
  A bitcoin in cold, offline storage is essentially worthless if it can't be easily and conveniently accessed (due to a lack of electricity to power the computers and networks needed to use it).
  Virtually all of my money is in my bank account, which I can only access with a debit and/or credit card which basically requires electricity to function also.
41. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by mysidia · 2017-03-02 20:13 · Score: 1
  
  The question wasn't, "The power goes out. Does your bitcoin still exist?".
  It was, "The power goes out. How much is your bitcoin worth then?".
  It's worth just as much as your Credit card is after the power goes out.
  Also, your Checkbook and Debit card are worth the same amount after the power goes out which is $0.
  All the information is stored in computers, And if those computers are down, Then you have nothing.
42. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 21:46 · Score: 0
  
  Don't forget cigarettes, which were the black market currency during World War 2: it is an imported luxury good as you describe, and also in a form factor which is easy to use as bills/coins.
43. Re: One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 23:47 · Score: 0
  
  Gold keeps its value even after World War III breaks out and the world awakens in a radioactive dust without electricity or computers. Bitcoins don't work without computers or electricity. The Spanish Galleons on the bottom of the Atlantic or Pacific are filled with gold. That gold is still worth what gold is worth. It doesn't matter that the Spanish empire doesn't exist anymore. The 'Nazi Gold train' is filled with gold which is still worth what it is worth, even when the Nazi's don't exist anymore (although I don't believe that that train exists).
  After World War III the computers or storage filled with bitcoins are worth nothing. When the internet is gone there is no point in having strings of text with some cryptographic proof of ownership if there is no network of bitcoin computers that can decrypt that string and verify your ownership or transaction. After World War III miners will have to mine new bitcoins, the existing are worthless unlike gold which has proofed it's post-apocalyptic value over and over again.
44. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 00:04 · Score: 0
  
  Bank cars are used to buy things, not to secure your capital. Bitcoins are an alternative to bank cards to be able to buy things while trying to hide that you bought things. Bitcoins are just an alternative to cash money in the case that governments decide to ban cash money or to buy anonymously online. Bitcoins are not an alternative to gold. Just imagine that the Russians start their invasion. Should I spend all my savings on bitcoins, store them on a usb stick and bury that usb stick 3 meters under ground? Or should I spend all my savings on gold and bury that gold 3 meter under ground? When I have the opportunity to secure my life savings, what will be the best choice? Gold or Bitcoins? Well, I'm pretty sure about my choice for gold.
45. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by dunkelfalke · 2017-03-03 00:29 · Score: 1
  
  They only last if stored under ideal conditions. If subjected to moisture, bullets and casings corrode, primer decay leading to hang fires and complete duds. Nitrocellulose degrades with time, leaking nitric acid, leading to dead primers and, well, spontaneous combustion. The propellant is usually mixed with a stabiliser, but the stabiliser tends to deplete after a while. Subjected to warmth all this happens a lot of faster.
  
  --
  "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
46. Re: One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 00:38 · Score: 0
  
  You think fucking gold would be worth a single cent if 'the power goes out'?
  Will it fuck. A bit of bread would hold more value.
  Your stupid scenario doesn't work in reality.
  The only things of significant worth in that scenario would be food, water, defense items, medication and physical hobby goods. Everything else will become essentially worthless to 90% of society, what little would remain that is.
47. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Oswald+McWeany · 2017-03-03 02:21 · Score: 1
  
  I think what he might have been implying is that, it takes very little weight of gold to transfer a large amount of purchasing power. A pound of gold will go a long way.
  
  --
  "That's the way to do it" - Punch
48. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Oswald+McWeany · 2017-03-03 02:26 · Score: 1
  
  Remember, this is a world where the laws of physics have changed (yeah, it is ridiculous but he bought it up) so there is no electricity.
  Gold would not be useful for any of your applications (especially being an excellent conductor) in that parallel universe.
  Even in a world of scarcity there will be haves and have-nots. Gold will be valuable because a precious few will see it as jewelry, even as the rest of us fight for scraps.
  Gold is easily identified, very hard to fake, durable and scarce, it is an ideal currency for simplistic economies. Certainly, in the collapse of civilization, gold won't have a "use" OTHER THAN as a currency. It may widely fluctuate in value, especially at first, depending on how many scraps there are for the hoi polloi to eat and how much they're willing to exchange for a meal, but eventually, once all the paper money is deteriorated and gone, gold would live on.
  
  --
  "That's the way to do it" - Punch
49. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 02:40 · Score: 0
  
  I lose power during storms all the time and it doesn't affect the value of my bitcoins at all. Sorry, it's not 1862 anymore. Fiat currency is here to stay. Have fun burying gold in your backyard, I hope no one steals it.
50. Re: One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 02:47 · Score: 0
  
  I was on a cruise, at port, and forgot my wallet on the ship. The merchant didn't accept Android Pay but they were an international merchant who DID accept gift cards.
  So I logged into Gyft on my phone, bought a gift card instantly with bitcoin and showed it to the merchant and made my transaction.
  A few months ago, I wanted to buy something in a store in the US and did the same thing.
  While I could have also paid for the card on the app with my debit card, it shows that bitcoin isn't restricted to bitcoin-only merchants.
51. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 03:47 · Score: 0
  
  I've got some bullets sitting in my closet that beg to differ. A FMJ round will last a real long time (remember they're covered in oil to keep water out). Lead rounds are covered in wax to achieve the same. Modern primers have shelf lives measured in centuries. Picked up some ammo from WWII and have never seen a delayed discharge. I've heard it happens sometimes, but never witnessed it personally. Bullets last a real long time.
52. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 05:47 · Score: 0
  
  Don't worry, the power will never go out, someone somewhere will always remember how to generate it.
53. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 09:04 · Score: 0
  
  The power goes out. How much is your bitcoin worth then?
  I think we are all missing a vital point... While the issue of Bitcoin's utility (or lack thereof) under certain circumstances will affect its worth, I believe its biggest flaw is one of fungibility. Fungibility means that any unit of a currency is indistinguishable from any other unit; that it has no history or state. It is one of the core principles that any sound money system must have. Historically, BAD things have occurred when a currency broke with this property.
  For example, the gold from a Nobel Prize medal could potentially be melted down into coins and exchanged. One atom of gold cannot be distinguished from another. However, this is not true with Bitcoin. The nature of the blockchain with its public transaction ledger, while anonymous, leaves transactions open to analytics. Let's say an Exchange, under anti-money laundering pressure, can statistically link a particular transaction to a terrorist event. It can then flag the Bitcoins involved as "bad" and refuse to accept them. Now these coins have a tainted association, thus, a reduced usability; one Bitcoin no longer has same store of value as another. Fungibility has been broken.
  This is a big problem. Until the core protocol can guarantee some form of mandatory cryptographically unlinkable transaction, I just don't see a long term future for it to be truly independent of today's fiat currencies. As it stands, I regard it as being a temporary flight-to-safety and as a more flexible dollar alternative. It doesn't yet stand on its own, and its value is determined more by the present failures of government monetary policy.
  It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out. However, my money will remain on the sidelines while Bitcoin's fungibility remains vulnerable to attack.
54. Re: One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by eric_harris_76 · 2017-03-03 13:47 · Score: 1
  
  Or rather, what the people who are willing to buy it are willing to pay for it, and what the people who are willing to sell it are willing to sell it for.
  The people who aren't willing to sell it think it is worth more.
  The people who aren't willing to buy it think it is worth less.
  Value is subjective. Obviously.
  
  --
  There's no time like the present. Well, the past used to be.
55. Re: One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by peawormsworth · 2017-03-03 20:21 · Score: 1
  
  I think gold is worth more than its market value. Most people don't even have gold, and instead have a piece of paper that represents gold that probably does not exist in reality. The true supply of gold is smaller than the market, so its value in the physical form should be higher than market rate.
56. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by dunkelfalke · 2017-03-04 00:41 · Score: 1
  
  I had a box of 9x18 surplus where some corroded and leaked brownish crap.
  
  --
  "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
57. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by dunkelfalke · 2017-03-04 00:49 · Score: 1
  
  http://www.socnet.com/showthre...
  
  --
  "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
58. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by cdrudge · 2017-03-06 00:37 · Score: 1
  
  The places that do 'accept' it, for the most part DONT ACTUALLY ACCEPT BITCOIN . . . It's too fucking volatile to hold onto. They mostly pass BitCoin transactions through a third party who then pays your bill with a real financial transaction.
  Oh, so sort of like credit cards. You give your card information to the merchant, they go to a 3rd party who then actually handles the shifting of money around.
  
  Outside of malware and exchanges, no one of any importance directly accepts BitCoin for payment, so try again.
  Overstock.com, Expedia, Newegg, TigerDirect.com, Shopify stores, Dish... Yeah you're right. None of those businesses are really of any importance. Just some of the largest online retailers or service providers in their particular industry.
  If I wanted to pay a bill with Bitcoin, I don't care what the merchant does with it after I make my payment. It's not my problem as long as my account is credited for the payment.
59. Re: One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-06 14:39 · Score: 0
  
  Near me Bitcoin is pretty darn valuable (New Hampshire- the freest state in the US). I only wish more people would pay me in Bitcoin cause it saves me a lot of money relative to taking credit card transactions. I routinely use Bitcoin. I pay my car insurance bill in it (inguard), I pay rent in it, I eat out with it at 101 Local Burger (Keene, NH), Zoes Pizza (Keene, NH), and a bunch of other restaurants near me, I pay my car mechanic in it (Steve Wilder Automotive), I do my travel with it (Cheap Air for plane tickets, Expedia for hotels, etc), and much more. Overstock takes it, Newegg takes it, Dell takes, ThinkPenguin takes it (and they're based out of Keene, NH too!), and a bunch of other places take it. Far too many places take it for me to name. These are just a handful of places I've spent it at who take Bitcoin directly recently.
60. Re:One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiots by Coren22 · 2017-03-08 09:46 · Score: 1
  
  We are at peak power, we are running out of electrons to produce power with!
  
  --
  APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
Printing bitcoins by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:12 · Score: 0

Unless they find some way to print/mint bitcoins fast, there'll only be appreciation and who doesn't like money that goes up in value ?
1. Re:Printing bitcoins by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 12:34 · Score: 0
  
  Bitcoin is divisible into 100 millionth parts, so it's still liquid even with appreciation.
Re:There is something seriously wrong here by HornWumpus · 2017-03-02 10:13 · Score: 1

What can you sell it for? That's what it's worth on planet earth.

--
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
On Power and Data by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:13 · Score: 0

Two points:
* If the power goes out in any meaningful way, then you'll have a lot more problems to worry about than how to pay for things. Basically, due to the decentralized nature of Bitcoin's computing needs, someone will always have power, and there will always be a means, eventually, maybe slowly, by which to validate transactions.
* Bitcoin involves the exchange and validation of data; there's no reason that data cannot be put into a "physical" form (to use a silly term that probably means something to you), and thus there's no reason that a great deal of commerce cannot simply take place even while the power is out.
1. Re:On Power and Data by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:17 · Score: 0
  
  Two points:
  * If the power goes out in any meaningful way, then you'll have a lot more problems to worry about than how to pay for things. Basically, due to the decentralized nature of Bitcoin's computing needs, someone will always have power, and there will always be a means, eventually, maybe slowly, by which to validate transactions.
  Unless it's out planet-wide.
  
  * Bitcoin involves the exchange and validation of data; there's no reason that data cannot be put into a "physical" form (to use a silly term that probably means something to you), and thus there's no reason that a great deal of commerce cannot simply take place even while the power is out.
  Remember Logopolis!
2. Re: On Power and Data by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:24 · Score: 0
  
  In which case your problems will soon exceed both your bitcoins and your gold.
No, it's not notable by wonkey_monkey · 2017-03-02 10:13 · Score: 5, Insightful

Still, it's notable that bitcoin has (at least temporally) surpassed the price of gold.
No, that's not notable. The only notable thing is that bitcoin is at an all-time high.
Comparing a piece of mathematical information to an arbitrary amount of an arbitrary substance is not in any way notable.

--
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
1. Re:No, it's not notable by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:25 · Score: 0
  
  >Comparing a piece of mathematical information to an arbitrary amount of an arbitrary substance is not in any way notable.
  Well, it is a notably stupid thing to say. As you say, apples and philosophy.
2. Re:No, it's not notable by jediborg · 2017-03-02 11:56 · Score: 1
  
  Gold isn't really that arbitrary, its only created during supernova's, and the amount created is proportional to the star's mass. This means when you look around the universe, the proportion, or ratio of all gold to all other elements is the same. Sure you get some planetary systems with more gold than others (or more likely, more ACCESSIBLE gold than others) but on average, the ratio of gold to other elements remains the same.
  Now consider that all prices are ratios. In a barter economy things where expressed as 'one pair of shoes is worth three loaves of bread' or 'one woman is worth two goats' e.g. 1/3 and 1/2. The great invention of money was to take one single commodity and make it the denominator, so now one woman is worth 2 gold ounces, and a goat is worth 1/2 ounce of gold. Later we (moronically) replaced gold with paper fiat currency.
  As scientists we should advocate for standardization of weights and measures. If the length of the meter changed every day it would be extremely difficult for two construction companies to co-operate in building a bridge. Without extremely precise measurements modern science couldn't exist.
  Meters measure distance, money is supposed to measure value. So why does our unit of measurement (the dollar) change in value every day? It should be as constant as possible, we should standardize this unit of measurement. We have defined the meter to be a fraction of the distance light travels in a second. As scientists we try to define our units using universal constants. Since the ratio of gold to all other elements is constant, and all prices are ratios, the only logical objective solution is for gold to be our unit of value, or currency, or money.
  For other reasons in the past Gold has historically been money and still holds those properties today. How much humans value this element forged in the heart of a dying star that never rusts, can be easily divided, is fungible, and impossible to counterfeit is not arbitrary.
  The fact that a large group of people (in this case, the number of people conducting transactions in bitcoin) have decided it is worth as much or more than gold is actually quite notable
3. Re:No, it's not notable by Bruce+Perens · 2017-03-02 12:33 · Score: 2
  
  Bitcoins aren't really worth anything. There are just some people who have convinced themselves that they are worth something. You can'r really rely on such people continuing their belief.
  
  --
  Bruce Perens.
4. Re:No, it's not notable by lindseyp · 2017-03-02 13:04 · Score: 1
  
  What absolute bollocks. Replace the word "gold" with any other element and your entire 'justification' remains just as valid. Not to mention the fact that an 'ounce' is an arbitrary measure of anything. That the price of 'one' (an arbitrary amount) bitcoin has surpassed the price of one ounce (arbitrary measure) of gold (arbitrary element, one of many that we consider 'valuable') is even less notable than the clock ticking over from one year to another, in our arbitrarily decided calendar.
  
  --
  j'ai découvert une démonstration vraiment admirable (de ce théorème général) que cette si
5. Re:No, it's not notable by epine · 2017-03-02 17:21 · Score: 1
  
  Comparing a piece of mathematical information to an arbitrary amount of an arbitrary substance is not in any way notable.
  I concur. It's a sad moment for the number "one".
6. Re:No, it's not notable by mooterSkooter · 2017-03-02 21:32 · Score: 1, Interesting
  
  Hey Bruce,
  Your lack of understanding of this amazes me. I've been reading your comments on Slashdot for years and thought you were an intelligent guy!
  Anyway, I don't think the value that people give to bitcoin is entirely delusional as you seem to state. It's value, I believe, is in the fact it can be used to transfer value safely over the internet without a 3rd party - well an 'aware' 3rd party that allows or disallows it. It's free from the the control of the banks, nobody can just decide to 'print more bitcoin' on a whim.
  It may be mostly built on illegal markets and speculation currently but that will change as it becomes more accepted and trusted. I spend it whenever I can but my choices are limited...so it's mainly Steam games! (I do not use illegal markets...and I'm not just saying that to stop the NSA from tracking me...not that it will)
7. Re:No, it's not notable by Troed · 2017-03-02 22:07 · Score: 1
  
  The Internet isn't really worth anything. There are just some people who have convinced themselves that it's useful. You can'r really rely on such people continuing their belief.
  Srlsly.
  
  --
  it's in my head
8. Re:No, it's not notable by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 00:29 · Score: 0
  
  "There are just some people who have convinced themselves that they are worth something".
  Yes. That's all what money is about.
9. Re:No, it's not notable by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 00:36 · Score: 0
  
  Well said.
  Looks like now would be the perfect time to exchange all those bitcoins to gold.
  It is not wise to sit on that tulip hoard too long :-)
  Kind regards,
  Melinda
10. Re:No, it's not notable by r0kk3rz · 2017-03-03 02:13 · Score: 1
  
  As scientists we should advocate for standardization of weights and measures. If the length of the meter changed every day it would be extremely difficult for two construction companies to co-operate in building a bridge. Without extremely precise measurements modern science couldn't exist.
  Meters measure distance, money is supposed to measure value. So why does our unit of measurement (the dollar) change in value every day? It should be as constant as possible, we should standardize this unit of measurement.
  Except the total amount of things we want to put a value on changes, so having a variable unit means that people don't have to change the price of their goods everyday, and beyond a certain point gold becomes rather hard to divide up into the right amounts.
11. Re:No, it's not notable by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 02:28 · Score: 0
  
  Gold was valued because royalty had the means to acquire it in vast amounts while nobody else did. It's just as fiat as paper currency. Your proposal essentially states (theoretically) that the universe has a fixed amount of money, potentially, which is trying to apply an objective measure to a subjective, social concept.
  Oh, and you know what currency kings and queens used before gold to pay people to mine and bring them gold?
  Food.
12. Re:No, it's not notable by Oswald+McWeany · 2017-03-03 02:34 · Score: 1
  
  Bitcoin has a value obviously, because some people will buy it. That value is highly arbitrary and subject to rapid changes. It, just like anything else, has value assigned to it based on what society chooses to place in it. Unlike other assets, that value is subject to much more rapid change.
  As an investment opportunity, I think many, including myself, would give it the cold shoulder. It seems to be frequently stolen from online vaults (with no protection to consumer), and it's future is highly unknown. Gold and money have long established precedent lasting many generations. Bitcoin is still new, and has no protections.
  
  --
  "That's the way to do it" - Punch
13. Re:No, it's not notable by mooterSkooter · 2017-03-03 02:40 · Score: 1
  
  But it also has a value because you can buy things off the internet with it, surely?
  And as for it getting stolen, eventually people will learn that exchanges are not banks and it's up to yourself to look after your private keys.
14. Re:No, it's not notable by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 04:17 · Score: 0
  
  Value is strictly defined by what the person you're trying to give it to thinks it's worth. Value changes person to person. To me, bitcoin has zero value and no, you can't buy anything from me with it. Some people on the internet may have given it value, but I view them as foolish. Am I the actual fool and they're the clever ones? Maybe. But the history of bitcoin so far seems to indicate I'm not a fool. At least not in the area of bitcoin.
15. Re:No, it's not notable by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 08:42 · Score: 0
  
  The only notable thing is that bitcoin is at an all-time high.
  Or the dollar is at an all time low.
  Gold doesn't change. An ounce of gold is an ounce of gold. We are fooled by the media when were hear "Gold went up 100$" when in truth the value of the dollar went down. Gold is a standard. The gold doesn't change only the value of the dollar buying it.
  Yes the world was a better place when gold was $35.00 an ounce. Our money was worth something then. Our money was actually backed by sometime with some value. Gold. now our money is only backed up with bull shit. You only "think" it is worth something.
Re:There is something seriously wrong here by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:15 · Score: 1

Bitcoin is worth whatever people are willing to pay for it. The same is true of gold. Today, people are buying and selling bitcoin at this valuation at any given moment, whether you believe it or not.
Don't listen to the Bitcoin haters by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:18 · Score: 5, Interesting

If you want a good laugh, go read through all the old /. articles on Bitcoin, particularly around when it was reaching $1 in value.
So many naysayers. Well they're not laughing now!
1. Re:Don't listen to the Bitcoin haters by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:43 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Naysayer here, still chuckling.
2. Re:Don't listen to the Bitcoin haters by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:52 · Score: 0
  
  Yeah, every fucker on this site was far too clever to waste any time with Bitcoin.
3. Re: Don't listen to the Bitcoin haters by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:58 · Score: 0
  
  Yep, it's a joke. I might be interested in using bitcoin... if I was mildly retarded.
  Setting yourselves up for a trap, dummies.
4. Re: Don't listen to the Bitcoin haters by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 11:07 · Score: 0
  
  Yeah, and what's with this "telephone" thing you're all using? There's no way it can travel that much faster than the post and still contain as much information as a real letter.
5. Re:Don't listen to the Bitcoin haters by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 11:35 · Score: 0
  
  Exactly why they don't hold hundreds of bitcoins worth over $1k each.
6. Re: Don't listen to the Bitcoin haters by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 12:34 · Score: 0
  
  I don't have a phone, but it too might be run by the CIA just like bitcoin is.
7. Re: Don't listen to the Bitcoin haters by Time_Ngler · 2017-03-02 13:44 · Score: 1
  
  After a 1200x increase, when is the trap going to spring? Stupid trap, my friends who didn't believe me are all millionaires already!
8. Re: Don't listen to the Bitcoin haters by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 18:18 · Score: 0
  
  Do you have a credit card? A tinfoil hat?
9. Re:Don't listen to the Bitcoin haters by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 22:12 · Score: 0
  
  Still chuckling whilst the rest of us are making monies. You have nothing to laugh about - you get proven wrong every day when the bitcoin price stays above $0.
10. Re:Don't listen to the Bitcoin haters by gravewax · 2017-03-02 23:16 · Score: 1
  
  yep instead I invested in shares and property. admittedly my property has only doubled in value but since I can leverage against it I made 10 fold profit. My shares made me 6 fold return on investment, yeah I feel so depressed I didn't instead invest in bitcoin to make less money.
11. Re:Don't listen to the Bitcoin haters by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 03:10 · Score: 0
  
  huh? bitcoin has appreciated like a moonshot stock if you were here when it was less than a dollar... or 10 cents ... or a few pennies... I'm rich too. Not 10,000% or 100,000% gains rich. Neither are you.
12. Re:Don't listen to the Bitcoin haters by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 05:13 · Score: 0
  
  don't fool yourself, you missed a great opportunity.
  But pretty much all did. Too much risk.
13. Re:Don't listen to the Bitcoin haters by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 23:45 · Score: 0
  
  If thats the best arithmetic you can do. I hardly expect anyone to take your 'investment advice'
  Look above you to see how foolish you look now.
the sense of worth by roman_mir · 2017-03-02 10:20 · Score: 3, Insightful

It's interesting that the title of this piece is 'One Bitcoin is Now Worth More Than One Ounce of Gold'. I have some gold, I would not exchange it for BitCoins regardless of what they are 'worth'. The sense of worth is a funny thing, I don't feel that Bitcoins are worth anything, they are valueless from my point of view.
If a war started today and there was a shortage of food, if somebody gave me a USB stick with 10 Bitcoins on it I would not exchange it for food I think. I might exchange it for gold though. What is 'worth' and how do you figure that a Bitcoin is actually 'worth' anything? It is a unique electronic number.... to me it is worth 0. Sure, I can make or lose money buying Bitcoin and reselling it at some point later as a speculative vehicle but to say that I would store some 'worth' in them... I would not.

--
You can't handle the truth.
1. Re:the sense of worth by fred6666 · 2017-03-02 10:31 · Score: 1
  
  How is that different from a $20 bill? Its paper value is pretty damn close to $0 to you and me. And yet you are using it. Why? Because its "worth" is $20, which means you can trade it for $20 of goods.
2. Re:the sense of worth by roman_mir · 2017-03-02 10:40 · Score: 2
  
  You are absolutely correct in that comparison, both a BitCoin and a $20 bill are worth nothing at all in themselves. The only difference is that a very large portion of the population still exchanges in $ and the reasons for it are even more amazing than the reasons for the current BitCoin valuation, they are more historically interesting in any case. The reasons for the BitCoin valuation are actually tangentially tied to the reasons for $ valuation.
  As for gold, it's a commodity and it's money in itself, it does not need to be measured in any other form of fiat or money to be money. I will exchange for goods whether anybody else counts it for money or not.
  
  --
  You can't handle the truth.
3. Re:the sense of worth by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:41 · Score: 1
  
  Once I can pay my taxes with bitcoins then it'll be "worth" something.
4. Re:the sense of worth by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:57 · Score: 0
  
  You can sell your bitcoins for "real money" very easily, which you can use to pay your taxes.
  If I offered you $10,000 in cash or $20,000 of bitcoins, you'd take the cash would you? Like fuck you would, you intellectually dishonest cunt.
5. Re:the sense of worth by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 11:10 · Score: 0
  
  But you CAN'T pay your taxes in bitcoin which is actually extremely important. A $20 bill can pay exactly $20 in taxes - no questions asked, no transactions required, no "ifs". A bitcoin must be converted to $ to pay taxes which involves significant risk.
  Your offer really makes no sense - there is no such thing as "$20,000 worth of bitcoins" unless you have someone willing to exchange them for that. If I had a contract to exchange the # of bitcoin you gave me to $ then I would accept the bitcoin. If you just wanted me to accept your assertion of the bitcoin value but then I have to convert them at a later date then I would take the cash.
  If you earn money all year - buy bitcoin - then go to pay your taxes.... you better hope what people are willing to pay for bitcoin didn't decrease or you may not be able to even pay your taxes. If you earn USD all year - keep it in USD... you know for a fact you will be able to pay your taxes.
6. Re:the sense of worth by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 11:51 · Score: 0
  
  I guess I shouldn't buy gold either, since the value of gold could drop. I shouldn't buy a farm with cows either, since the price of milk could drop. I shouldn't pay engineers to develop a new smartphone, since the value of smartphones could drop.
  You do realize that if everyone was as risk-adverse as you suggest, then there would be no economy?
7. Re:the sense of worth by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 12:40 · Score: 0
  
  ah yes, the x `feel` y equation, where the answer depends in what I `feel`
  in other realities, there's math
8. Re:the sense of worth by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 14:20 · Score: 0
  
  There is some risk that the price of bitcoins would crash faster than one could sell the "$20,000 worth" of bitcoins.
  I would honestly not accept the bitcoins. None of the money these clowns "earned" came from me, and I choose to keep it that way. I once turned down a similar amount of money on principle, so I'm not all talk.
  -not the AC you were replying to
9. Re:the sense of worth by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 14:34 · Score: 0
  
  If a war started today... Where are you even from? You would probably try going to the safest place and someone would steal your money and your gold on the way. While I have Bitcoin and could convert it back to anything else anywhere in the gold anytime I decide. But anyway - I am quite sure you don't have gold to begin with anyway.
10. Re:the sense of worth by fred6666 · 2017-03-02 14:38 · Score: 1
  
  The problem with your gold (especially small quantities) is that it looses a big part of its value as soon as you get it out of the vault since it would need to be re-certified to re-enter the vault from where it can be electronically traded. Let's face it. A lot of that gold is staying in an underground forever.
11. Re:the sense of worth by roman_mir · 2017-03-02 14:42 · Score: 1
  
  I give you.... Gold Money. There you go, no need to move gold out of vault and to 'recertify it' to transact in it.
  
  --
  You can't handle the truth.
12. Re:the sense of worth by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 19:04 · Score: 0
  
  A $20 bill can pay exactly $20 in taxes.
  $20 in today's dollars pays roughly $19 worth of taxes next year, since the dollar pretty much loses value every year. Bitcoin, on the other hand, has gone way up in value nearly every year.
13. Re:the sense of worth by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 00:25 · Score: 0
  
  If a War started today, the Internet would be the first thing to stop working, and you would no longer have access to the blockchain to process any transactions with your now-worthless USB stick with 10 bitcoin on it.
14. Re:the sense of worth by roman_mir · 2017-03-03 00:54 · Score: 1
  
  Hmmm, so how is it going with that amazing reading comprehension of yours, must be tough out there?
  
  --
  You can't handle the truth.
15. Re:the sense of worth by fred6666 · 2017-03-03 01:17 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, but at this point you are just making electronic transactions, and in the end nobody really knows if there really is gold in the vault as it is going to stay there forever. Gold has other (industrial, jewelry) more important purposes.
16. Re:the sense of worth by roman_mir · 2017-03-03 05:24 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, but unlike a unique number generated by some fancy algorithm and unlike pieces of paper that are printed at a whim *without* any actual backing, this is a real thing, it's valuable enough that it is recognized as money (was recognized as money in many cultures for thousands of years) and is much more likely to keep being valuable enough to be recognized as money (without any government telling people that it is money, it just is).
  So I am perfectly happy for it to stay in a vault as long as I can be more or less certain in its security. I definitely cannot be certain about the security of the purchasing power or paper money and I don't even want to talk about the security of purchasing power of BitCoins (which may go to a trillion USD per BitCoin for all I care, it is not money because it has no intrinsic value).
  Gold does have intrinsic value, it is a substance, substances have that value. It has certain properties that make it better money than other substances. It is a substantial item/object/quantity of weight and purity, so it is a real thing, unlike a unique number in a computer or a network.
  I don't see a reason to give up my gold for other purposes (jewelry, electronics, health care, whatever), those are legitimate purposes and we mine 1.5% of total gold supply a year approximately anyway, a part of that covers those needs.
  So that's my take on it. As to the precise knowledge at any moment in time whether the gold is in a vault in case of gold money (which I am not using yet, probably will at some point), they use Brinks as I understand and independent auditors as well. It's definitely more than the Federal reserve is doing.
  
  --
  You can't handle the truth.
17. Re:the sense of worth by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 07:15 · Score: 0
  
  Have you ever tried paying your taxes with gold?
Re:There is something seriously wrong here by Lab+Rat+Jason · 2017-03-02 10:27 · Score: 1

While that's a great definition of how much money it's worth, that's not a fair assessment of how much it's actually worth. You can't plate electrical connectors or graven images with bitcoin.

--
Which has more power: the hammer, or the anvil?
Volume is key by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:27 · Score: 0

The key element left out of this comparison is trading volume. At one point, certain Beanie Babies were worth more than gold, but the trade volume was low, and the Beanie Baby economy never took off. It's trivial to drive up the price of a commodity on low trade volume.
1. Re:Volume is key by Troed · 2017-03-02 22:25 · Score: 1
  
  Here are the trading volumes on the different exchanges over the last 24h. I'm quoting only the top tree between BTC and local currencies - there are many many more.
  Bitfinex $39,590,400 (BTC and US dollars)
  bitFlyer $37,823,900 (BTC and Japanese Yen)
  OKCoin.cn $16,917,200 (BTC and Chinese Yuan)
  https://coinmarketcap.com/curr...
  A few hundred million dollars over a single day is not likely considered "low trade volume".
  
  --
  it's in my head
2. Re:Volume is key by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 05:14 · Score: 0
  
  Bitfinex accounts fro just over %10 of trade volume for Bitcoin trades with other currencies - so let's say that daily volume is around $400 million. Sounds impressive right?
  But daily ForEx trading volume is around $5 trillion. So that $400 million is less than %1 of daily ForEx global trading volume. So yes, $400 million is low trade volume.
  And then there's stock trading, commodities trading, etc. etc. So yeah, BitCoin trading is really pretty insignificant right now.
3. Re:Volume is key by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 06:03 · Score: 0
  
  If you feel psychologically secure in claiming that $400 million is "low trade volume", compared to the valuation of beanie babies, I don't think there's a problem with the trade volume. Just your insecurity.
4. Re:Volume is key by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 06:09 · Score: 0
  
  $400 million is low trade volume out of the total ForEx trade volume - of which Bitcoin and other virtual currency trading is a part.
  GP claimed "A few hundred million dollars over a single day is not likely considered "low trade volume"."
  We're not comparing Bitcoin trading to beanie baby trading. We're talking Bitcoin trade volume compared to global ForEx trade volume.
5. Re:Volume is key by Troed · 2017-03-03 08:35 · Score: 1
  
  Uhm. I wrote the post you're referring to, and it was positively a reply to a post about Beanie Babies:
  "The key element left out of this comparison is trading volume. At one point, certain Beanie Babies were worth more than gold, but the trade volume was low, and the Beanie Baby economy never took off. It's trivial to drive up the price of a commodity on low trade volume."
  My post countered the covert claim about the price of Bitcoin being a result of low trade volumes with the fact that hundreds of millions of dollars in no way makes the price artificially high because of movements on an illiquid market.
  
  --
  it's in my head
Also More Valuable than an Ounce of by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:30 · Score: 0

poop.
Trading in Correlation by thegarbz · 2017-03-02 10:30 · Score: 1

Correlation ... I don't think you know what that word means.
One reason by jolyonr · 2017-03-02 10:32 · Score: 4, Interesting

There is only one reason that bitcoin is so high in value right now, ransomware

--

Please read my Canon EOS tech blog at http://www.everyothershot.com
1. Re:One reason by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 12:06 · Score: 0
  
  that and every country at the moment is promising to print money and spend their way out of recession and so the relative value of bitcoin goes up. Also the freedom from regulatory supervision means that organizations are free to massage the market in ways they would not be allowed to on public exchanges. You've got to pump before you dump, but if you dump too hard you kill the market that allows you to pump and dump. Bitcoin is a good petri dish for algorithmic applications. Since nations really don't like means of exchange over which they don't have control over the money supply, it will be interesting to see how they react.
2. Re:One reason by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 12:09 · Score: 0
  
  [citation needed]
3. Re:One reason by jolyonr · 2017-03-02 12:16 · Score: 1
  
  Citation:
  jolyonr (2017) https://slashdot.org/comments....
  
  --
  
  Please read my Canon EOS tech blog at http://www.everyothershot.com
4. Re:One reason by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 12:55 · Score: 0
  
  Was that a fumbling attempt at a joke, or are you seriously stupid enough to insist that your claim is proof of its own veracity?
5. Re:One reason by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 21:22 · Score: 1
  
  If that's true, it means Windows and macOS users are making me richer.
  I am completely fine with that.
A key difference by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:34 · Score: 0

is that when you buy gold, you often don't own it, and even if you do get the gold in your actual hands, Big Gov can take it whenever they want. Your great grand-parents may remember that. With Bitcoin, any coin you have are truly yours, and no bank or government can take them from you.
What fraction of a Library of Congress is that? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:38 · Score: 0

I want to know so I can convert it to Holes in Albert Hall
Re:There is something seriously wrong here by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:39 · Score: 0

Seeing as how the monetary value of gold already accounts for its artistic/industrial applications, I'd say it is a pretty fair assessment of how much it's actually worth.
Re: There is something seriously wrong here by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 10:48 · Score: 1

A "golden frying pan" in the video game "team fortress 2" sells for $5k. Why can bitcoin not be qorth anything?
Think of all the energy wasted by HuguesT · 2017-03-02 10:49 · Score: 4, Insightful

to produce this one bitcoin.
1. Re:Think of all the energy wasted by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 11:09 · Score: 0
  
  It's probably not much compared to the 2.8e15 J of energy necessary to produce 1 troy ounce of gold according to E=mc^2.
2. Re:Think of all the energy wasted by rmdingler · 2017-03-02 11:16 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Taking into account how many tons of ore are necessary to produce your ounce of gold, one could accurately posit a great deal of energy is used in its mining.
  
  --
  Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
  Ernest Hemingway
3. Re:Think of all the energy wasted by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 11:41 · Score: 0
  
  Your idiotic comment is no different than the ones from the morons who claim that electric cars are saving the environment when the production of their batteries (and how about disposal) is much more damaging than a gas automobile's lifetime pollution (let's ignore the energy wasted to recharge the batteries daily).
4. Re:Think of all the energy wasted by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 12:42 · Score: 0
  
  The energy used to make a bitcoin is in fact invested in processing trades/transactions. That's why and how you get the bitcoin, it's what makes it work.
5. Re:Think of all the energy wasted by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 12:48 · Score: 0
  
  BTW (same poster) the combined energy across the entire network to process a transaction block is always worth less than the newly minted bitcoin included in that block, that's because less efficient miners are driven out of the mining market.
6. Re:Think of all the energy wasted by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 20:02 · Score: 0
  
  Think of how much energy is wasted building each bank, keeping it running with heat\electricity. How much is wasted on banker bonuses. How much for the corruption. yes - root for the Federal Reserve and the corruption! Good Argument!
7. Re:Think of all the energy wasted by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 01:08 · Score: 0
  
  Yes, but new production only adds about 1% per year to the total amount of gold "above ground". The overwhelming majority of gold traded each year was mined and produced long ago.
8. Re:Think of all the energy wasted by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 05:29 · Score: 0
  
  In cold climate, you can use it to as heat.
  If it's from a renewable source like in my country, it's all good.
  (Obviously bitcoin will not give enough money to pay for electricity bill but if you just need the heat, heat is heat.)
Re: There is something seriously wrong here by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 11:05 · Score: 0

Try using Au on Bovada or BetDSI.
Re:There is something seriously wrong here by JaredOfEuropa · 2017-03-02 11:34 · Score: 1

The intrinsic value of bitcoin is zero, same as paper money. Yet I'd still stop to pick up a €10 bill.

A more interesting question is what you can actually use BTC for. Not too long ago it was mostly useful to buy illegal drugs or guns online. These days you can also use it to pay for pizza; some online stores have begun accepting BTC but you get utterly raped on the exchange rate. The same more or less applies to transfering money: how often is it that people need to send money where more convenient and/or cheaper alternatives are not available? Very rarely I suspect. You can use it to pay ransomware operators (and I suspect some companies keep a few BTC on hand just for that). And it appears to be slowly adopted as a store of wealth; the long term price is still trending upwards, giving confidence in its longer term value. Demand for a safe haven might be what is actually driving the exchange rate upwards, but keep in mind that when conditions change and people start to liquidate their BTC, the price will plummet and your holdings will be wiped out in no time. By the way, the same is true for gold although to a lesser extent, but whether that is due to the nature of gold or simply the larger volume of the market I don't know.

--
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Hedge? by jmcharry · 2017-03-02 11:45 · Score: 2

I don't think of gold as a hedge. It is more of a speculation. Like other precious metals its value is pretty volatile.
1. Re:Hedge? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 12:17 · Score: 1
  
  Volatile compared with what?
  What kind of investment could you make that would definitely be less volatile than gold?
  You are probably think about your home country's currency, or financial instruments derived in that same currency. Guess what, that currency compared to everything else is also volatile.
eye of the beholder by Ritz_Just_Ritz · 2017-03-02 11:47 · Score: 1, Interesting

There are people out there that will pay real money for a virtual shield in a video game, a garden gnome for their virtual garden, etc.
There's a sucker born every minute.
Bitcoin has zero value unless you're the electricity utility company. I find the entire virtual currency ecosystem to be laughable.
1. Re:eye of the beholder by ASDFnz · 2017-03-02 12:04 · Score: 1
  
  I just bought a HTC Vive with bitcoin.
  Does that mean that HTC Vive's are been given out for free? If so, you should go get yours, they are really cool.
2. Re:eye of the beholder by Ritz_Just_Ritz · 2017-03-02 12:51 · Score: 1
  
  I'm sure Bernie Madoff used some of his ill-gotten gains of selling fairy dust to buy tangible goods for himself. That doesn't mean his business wasn't a scam.
3. Re:eye of the beholder by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 13:01 · Score: 0
  
  Well, it's the same as any currency, including gold. It's worth exactly what someone is willing to trade for it. I don't "get" digital currency, either, but I'm also not knocking it.
  lol
  bit tards.
4. Re:eye of the beholder by ASDFnz · 2017-03-02 13:22 · Score: 1
  
  Do tell, how is bitcoin a scam?
5. Re:eye of the beholder by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 15:39 · Score: 0
  
  There's a sucker born every minute.
  Breasts don't milk themselves...
6. Re:eye of the beholder by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 18:26 · Score: 0
  
  It's a scam in that it is actually a transfer medium with no reason to increase or decrease in value. No amount of productivity increase in country A is tied to Bitcoins so there should be no way for it to increase it's native value. The only way its value can go up is if people are hoarding it in such a large amount that it's hard to come by (like tulip bulbs or gold, which is also mainly a scam).
  But the fact is that people view it as money backed by a government (which can increase and decrease value depending on financial situations in the country) or as a stock. But stocks increase in value due to increased productivity (well in theory at least, actually perceived productivity).
  Bit coins as an investment is a scam. As a medium of payment it's a pretty good idea (I'm not totally convinced that it's the perfect solution long term when it comes to validation and the compounding price of that validation as mining gets harder and harder).
7. Re:eye of the beholder by ASDFnz · 2017-03-02 19:25 · Score: 2
  
  It's a scam in that it is actually a transfer medium with no reason to increase or decrease in value. The only way its value can go up is if people are hoarding it in such a large amount that it's hard to come by (like tulip bulbs or gold, which is also mainly a scam).
  It is actually very easy to see why it increases and decreases in value and it is the same reason as gold, simple supply and demand. To put that in context there are only just over 16 million of them currently in existence and the bitcoin economy is booming as far as transactions go with somewhere around 150,000 of them exchanging hands every day.
  So, supply and demand + utility. Exactly the same reasons that gold has fluctuating value (or value at all).
  
  But the fact is that people view it as money backed by a government (which can increase and decrease value depending on financial situations in the country) or as a stock. But stocks increase in value due to increased productivity (well in theory at least, actually perceived productivity).
  I don't follow you there, I am not sure that anyone thinks that bitcoin is backed by a government, that is kind of one of the strengths to bitcoin.
  
  Bit coins as an investment is a scam.
  Who do you think is running this scam? Is it any different than gold as an investment?
8. Re:eye of the beholder by grep+-v+'.*'+* · 2017-03-02 19:56 · Score: 1
  
  This isn't related to the topic at hand, but relates to your statement: "There are people out there that will pay real money for a virtual shield in a video game" You missed it last weekend. (So did I.) $13k Worth Of Damage Done In âEve Onlineâ(TM) Annual âoeBurn Jitaâ Event That's not virtual money, that's US Dollars. Virtual money was 5 Quintilian-Billion Venezuelan bolÃvars (actually 700 billion ISKs), but you can actually buy it with dollars. BitCoin too, I'm sure.
  
  It's the annual "Burn Jita" event. Apparently all in-game items have to be manufactured and physically shipped around and collected. [OMG -- there's actually someone that does bookkeeping on their own personal time for FUN?] Jita is the largest (by far) physical marketplace hub. In-game security (CONCORD) is high there I guess, but just like a real police force isn't instantaneous, There are people (500 of them) who for whatever reason (RTFM earlier link) want to "cause as much havoc inside of Hisec for fun, and for profit". And they do.
  
  I guess since the only thing you can actually truly lose is your account (and you could just go make another) they want to "paint the town Red", as it were. That, and the excitement of resource management, reaction time, adrenaline, and notoriety. Oh and faking out real people with false information.
  
  And never mind the money ($26 per person, that's a movie and popcorn) but all of the time involved in setting up and executing...
  
  --
  If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
9. Re:eye of the beholder by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 04:39 · Score: 0
  
  Here's my problem with bitcoin. It's supposed to be a currency, not an investment. I don't insist on being paid is US dollars as an investment, I insist on being paid in US dollars because I'm confident that it will be worth roughly the same today as it was yesterday. I buy stocks as an investment. And stocks are based off of value the company creates. Gold and bitcoin are poor investments because they're pure speculation. There is nothing of value. Its price is strictly based on opinion. And that defines poor investments. Snap yesterday. Poor investment. They don't believe they'll be profitable, so you're a fool to buy it. Sure, you might get lucky, but probably not.
Drugs by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 12:02 · Score: 0

How could you forget about buying drugs? It's also good for that!
I don't know what the new Silk Road is called, but I'm sure there's one on the darknet somewhere.
1. Re:Drugs by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 14:10 · Score: 0
  
  New silk road? I think the time that the dark web had a single drug market passed years ago
oh fuck all of you in the zombie apocalypse... by coolmoe2 · 2017-03-02 12:04 · Score: 2

Food,water and ammunition are worth more then both !!!
1. Re:oh fuck all of you in the zombie apocalypse... by EmagGeek · 2017-03-03 00:23 · Score: 1
  
  So first they are worth more, and then they are worth both?
  Can you help clarify?
2. Re:oh fuck all of you in the zombie apocalypse... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 02:25 · Score: 0
  
  Who is clarify, and why should anyone help them?
you mean Chinacoin? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 12:08 · Score: 1

Since 97% of past 6 month trading volume in Bitcoin took place in China, we might as well call it Chinacoin.
And as soon China introduces some form of regulation or restriction it's going to be bye bye Bitcoin price.
1. Re:you mean Chinacoin? by HornWumpus · 2017-03-02 14:42 · Score: 1
  
  It will be interesting to watch China fail at that. China has capital controls on its citizens, of course they are the biggest users of bitcoin. That was bitcoin's main purpose.
  
  --
  John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
2. Re:you mean Chinacoin? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 14:50 · Score: 0
  
  China? Let's wait and look how things evolve around the world and their impact on Bitcoin. Rise of populism in US and EU, capital control in China (and more and more in Europe too), inefficiencies in India and corruption in many other countries like Venezuela... All these things are going to push the Bitcoin price up.
3. Re:you mean Chinacoin? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 22:36 · Score: 0
  
  They did. The price didn't budge.
An ounce of gold is nothing by cfalcon · 2017-03-02 12:09 · Score: 4, Interesting

> Still, it's notable that bitcoin has (at least temporally) surpassed the price of gold.
Bullshit, it has not.
There's a cap of 21 million bitcoins. Of this, over three quarters have already been mined. It is supposed to get progressively harder to mine bitcoins, with the intention that the huge numbers of bitcoins that are sitting fallow will eventually appreciate in value, that it will still be worth mining them even as they get harder, etc. Regardless of your views on this, or cryptocurrencies: there's only 21 million bitcoins total.
1 bitcoin is one twenty-millionth of all bitcoins. It is about .000005% of the total blob of bitcoins that will ever be. .000005% of all the gold mined to date- which is definitely not all the gold ever- is around 300 ounces of gold. And that's a very low estimate for the total gold available- some sources have it at over ten times that in available gold. The fact that no one has it pinned down to at least a solid order of magnitude is depressing, but the point is that even the low estimates, the percentage of one bitcoin compared to all the bitcoin, versus that same percentage of gold compared to all the gold, is nowhere close in bitcoins favor.
1. Re:An ounce of gold is nothing by ASDFnz · 2017-03-02 12:15 · Score: 1
  
  Re-read the title, better yet, I will quote it for you;-
  
  One Bitcoin Is Now Worth More Than One Ounce of Gold
2. Re: An ounce of gold is nothing by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 12:36 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Sure, but at least with an ounce of gold I could stand on the moon and throw it to destroy your entire city on Earth. Let's see you try that with a bitcoin.
3. Re: An ounce of gold is nothing by ASDFnz · 2017-03-02 12:44 · Score: 1
  
  Unless you can throw stuff at ~10 Km/s (Delta-V required) I don't actually believe you.
4. Re:An ounce of gold is nothing by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 13:29 · Score: 0
  
  youre arguing for inflation. with a cap on #bitcoins, there can be no inflation and you remove one confounding factor from the economy
5. Re:An ounce of gold is nothing by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 14:07 · Score: 0
  
  And if you consider that supernovas create gold all the time, imagine all the gold in our entire galaxy. Compare bitcoins to that why don't ya, it's value is puny. Infinitesimally small. Hardly worth considering.
  And when you consider that our galaxy is just one in a trillion galaxy in this universe, each one with supernovas going off all the time producing more gold, bitcoin is so tiny that it has almost negative value.
  And then, consider that our universe is just one of a vast, perhaps infinite multiverse, each one with trillions of galaxies, all producing supernovas which are all producing more gold, why then bitcoin is so tiny puny small that it doesn't even hardly exist.
  WTF kind of argument is that?
6. Re:An ounce of gold is nothing by GuB-42 · 2017-03-02 14:18 · Score: 1
  
  It is supposed to get progressively harder to mine bitcoins, with the intention that the huge numbers of bitcoins that are sitting fallow will eventually appreciate in value, that it will still be worth mining them even as they get harder, etc.
  There are two ways miners are rewarded : new bitcoins and transaction fees. In the end, when there will be almost no bitcoins left to create, transaction fees will become the main driver.
  Bitcoin doesn't rely on its value increasing.
7. Re:An ounce of gold is nothing by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 20:07 · Score: 0
  
  Except one bitcoin is worth 1 hundred million satoshi's. Each with its own addressable unit for an accounting record that can never be erased thus is valuable in a public ledger. That makes 2.1 quadrillion - units of tokenized immutable truth backup up by a computer network currently running about 150,000 (time 500) more times more powerful than the world's best supercomputers. - And getting exponentially more powerful on top.
  Oh, and then there's my grandpa's old dusty gold coin that nobody has cared to even dust off in 30 years. Uh..ya - that's the future.
  Right.
8. Re:An ounce of gold is nothing by radarskiy · 2017-03-02 20:18 · Score: 1
  
  This argument is meaningful only if all gold holdings were denominated in bitcoin and nothing else was denominated in bitcoin. 0 out of 2 conditions are true.
9. Re:An ounce of gold is nothing by radarskiy · 2017-03-02 20:19 · Score: 1
  
  With a cap on quantity of bitcoins they are inherently deflationary... unless you are arguing that no one will ever denominate anything else in bitcoin.
10. Re:An ounce of gold is nothing by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 23:53 · Score: 0
  
  Your million dollars is a trivial .000...0005% of all money. Basically worthless, so you should give it to me.
11. Re: An ounce of gold is nothing by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 23:57 · Score: 0
  
  But one city on Earth is about .000005% of the Earth. So gold is worth more than Earth, henceforth bitcoins are more valuable than the planet.
1849 by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 12:31 · Score: 0

miner miner forty-niner.
A notable probiscus by rmdingler · 2017-03-02 13:42 · Score: 1

What absolute bollocks. Replace the word "gold" with any other element and your entire 'justification' remains just as valid. Not to mention the fact that an 'ounce' is an arbitrary measure of anything. That the price of 'one' (an arbitrary amount) bitcoin has surpassed the price of one ounce (arbitrary measure) of gold (arbitrary element, one of many that we consider 'valuable') is even less notable than the clock ticking over from one year to another, in our arbitrarily decided calendar.
Some things are more arbitrary than others.

--
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
All things being equal... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 15:13 · Score: 0

I'd rather have the gold than a virtual, sort of, what?
Re: There is something seriously wrong here by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 16:00 · Score: 0

Regarding what you can use it for - purchasing at a discount anything that you can put in an Amazon wish list (via purse.io).
No. Just No. by DerekLyons · 2017-03-02 16:57 · Score: 1

From TFS: Even though bitcoin and gold are both thought of as alternative assets
Um, no. Gold is nearly universally regarded as an asset, a hedge against inflation, and a store of value. Bitcoin are only regarded as 'alternative assets' by Bitcoin fanboys.
Re: One bitcoin is worth more than gold to idiot by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 17:39 · Score: 0

Let's try it then. Buy one oz for the value listed. Please post here when you have it in your hand.
Gold is useful by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 17:43 · Score: 0

If things go really bad, you can fasten your gold to the end of a stick to fight off the cannibal hordes.
1. Re:Gold is useful by LightningBolt! · 2017-03-02 19:39 · Score: 1
  
  Cast iron is as effective at the end of a spear and a bit cheaper. Heck, people will pay you to take away an old cast iron tub.
  
  --
  Old people fall. Young people spring. Rich people summer and winter.
Re:There is something seriously wrong here by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 18:54 · Score: 0

You can't plate electrical connectors or graven images with bitcoin.
With bitcoin in my smartphone, I can purchase virtually anything on the Internet, and with a bitcoin debit card, virtually anything at a store. With gold in my hand, I can purchase basically nothing. Walk around town and try to actually buy something with gold. I dare you.
Re:No. Just No. by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 20:12 · Score: 0

Or anybody who knows what 'immutable tokenized truth' means.
basic math error? by joao.cordeiro · 2017-03-02 20:57 · Score: 1

How do you compare $/oz with $ ?
1. Re:basic math error? by Z00L00K · 2017-03-02 21:49 · Score: 1
  
  And what's oz? And how much is an ounce? Some ancient non-metric measurements.
  
  --
  If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
2. Re:basic math error? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-04 08:40 · Score: 0
  
  600 cookies worth of mass.
Bitcoin price is driven by computer virus writers. by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-02 23:46 · Score: 0

The rising price of bitcoin is mostly due to "ransomware" activity, where criminally organized hacker gangs infect many, many computers with a malware straing doing strong data encryption and then demand bitcoin transfer over onion to divulge the unlocking key. Once police starts to round up the cyber gangs, price of bitcoin will drop quickly, as large amounts of it are auctioned off by court order so victims can recover the damages.
Gold vs Lead by monkeyxpress · 2017-03-03 00:09 · Score: 2

In a scenario where your bitcoin is inaccessible due to the massive long term loss of all our electrical infrastructure, I would suggest a pile of bullets would be a whole lot more valuable to you than some pieces of shiny yellow metal.
WTF? Gold is NOT an "alternative" asset by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 00:21 · Score: 0

Who the fuck is the idiot who things gold is an "alternative" asset? Gold is probably the most fundamental, trusted, and important asset and financial benchmarks of ALL TIME. ALL TIME.
Re: No. Just No. by joao.cordeiro · 2017-03-03 00:54 · Score: 1

Gold is Gold. In the future you may be able to create gold with extreme nuclear reactions. But the price of the energy required will be high. Gold has allot of industry aplications and can be stored and protected. Can be tranfered with little cost. Cripto coins are bits of information that can be copied, broken, stolen. It cant be used as material for any industry. It requires resources to do operations with it. In fact, the only thing setting the price is the amount of energy required to process a block of operations... And you have the addictive factor: every bitcoin transfer requires more energy, making bitcoin more costly. But is it worth more just because it costs more? What will happen when brokers say: we wont buy bitcoins anymore, we changed to another crypto coin?
Ounces in 2017? by johnsie · 2017-03-03 01:44 · Score: 1

Cool story, Bro. Since we're talking about archaic formats, was that information stored on 5¼-inch floppy drives?
Re:There is something seriously wrong here by Oswald+McWeany · 2017-03-03 02:28 · Score: 1

While that's a great definition of how much money it's worth, that's not a fair assessment of how much it's actually worth. You can't plate electrical connectors or graven images with bitcoin.
No, but you can use it to buy gold to do that. You can't eat gold, but you can exchange it for food.

--
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
It's bitztream by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 04:49 · Score: 0

The custom EpiPen-hating, Musk-hating, autism-hating Slashdot troll!
Beanie Babies by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-03 05:08 · Score: 0

They weren't making any more of the most valuable beanie babies and that was going to pay for a lot of people's future. Other than it's ability to be tracked and traded over distance, I'm not sure how this is different.
Peddle your ass == "Butt Coin" by Anonymous Coward · 2017-03-04 23:43 · Score: 0

That'll always have value.