Bitcoin

What does /prog/ think of Bitcoin?

I don't know which word is more descriptive: pyramid or Ponzi.

>>2
Anything which backs something also a has ponzi like properties.

I personally think it has a good chance, I've read over the paper and it all seems to make sense. The Idea of a world without our Jew banking overloads sounds great so I've personally invested $5000.

Good idea. There are some minor issues with it, but I don't think it's possible to easily fix them.
There are also some minor dangers for the currency as it could collapse if one of the early miners sold most of their fortune on public exchanges, but last time it collapsed, it grew back up and stablizied as the concept is good and thus people can put their trust in it.
>>2
There's no difference there compared to regular fiat currencies: you choose to trust that you'll be able to exchange them, and people choose to exchange other things they find of value (gold, work, services and so on) for something which has no intrinsic value, but once everyone thinks something has value, it has value by shared consensus and thus it can be used as a means of exchange. Bitcoin is no different.

>>5
Exactly. The only bad things I can tell are the early adopters that have hoarded the easy pickings and the fact that nobody accepts bitcoins as payment for taxes.

>>1
It has potential(for illegal and untaxable trades) but the idea of "mining" virtual currency sounds like grinding MMORPG gold with a bot. Obviously its suited for people who run these bots 24/7 and expect some (dumb,american,fat, pick 2) players to pay real cash for their virtual "electricity-limited" buttcoins.
Of course the people & efficient low-power chips(FPGAs and GPU home clusters) would outmine everyone else and sell the coins at their peak price. The end.

>>7
Cash has the same potential.

>>2
Neither of those are applicable at all.

In the stock market, the founders of a company create an asset (stock) that can be sold in shares.  The company has an insane (brilliant) business plan and no commercial viability.  They gush about it to investors and convince them to buy up the stock for obscene amounts of money.  Then the founders run away with the money, and the company fails.  This is called a "pump-and-dump".

In the bitcoin market, the inventors and early miners create an asset (bitcoins) that can be sold in shares.  The currency has an insane (brilliant) economic model and no commercial viability.  They gush about it to investors and convince them to buy up the bitcoins for obscene amounts of money.  Then the miners run away with the money, and the currency crashes.  This is called "ANONYMOUS INTERNETS ANARCHY FREEDOM REVOLUTION!!!".

>>9
That would work that way if you intended to use bitcoins as a medium of exchange for fiat currency. I would use bitcoins as the exchange medium for goods and services, like how you would use Paypal as a third party broker to facilitate exchange.

DILBERT   SCOTT ADAMS

Dogbert : "I INVENTED A DIGITAL CURRENCY THAT I CALL "BERTCOIN."

SOON I WILL CONTROL ALL OF THE MONEY IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.

BUWHAHAHA!"

Dilbert : "MAYBE YOU SHOULD HIDE YOUR IDENTITY."

Dogbert : "MAYBE YOU SHOULD KISS MY WAGGER."

www.dilbert.com   DilbertCartoonist@gmail.com

7-22-2013 © 2013 Scott Adams, Inc. / Dist. by Universal Uclick

>>10
How has it worked historically?

DILBERT   SCOTT ADAMS

Ratbert : "I'M MINING FOR BERTCOINS. IT'S A DIGITAL CURRENCY BY AN ANONYMOUS GENIUS.

HEY, I'M GETTING AN EMAIL FROM A SOMALI FELLOW WHO WANTS ME TO OPEN AN ATTACHMENT.

WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL OF MY BERTCOINS?"

Bob The Dinosaur : "DIGITAL SOMALI PIRATES!"

www.dilbert.com   DilbertCartoonist@gmail.com

7-23-2013 © 2013 Scott Adams, Inc. / Dist. by Universal Uclick

>>12
Come up with an argument that doesn't rely on history, moron.

>>14
"Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it" -- Heinrich Himmler. Who is the moron now?

>>15
Really, you are a laughing stock.

>>16
And you are livestock, goy.

>>17
I can take both you dumbasses on.

>>1-18
I can take all of you on.

>>18-19
You said so, so no complaints please.
*grabs dick*

>>14
1. Your bullshit monopoly money has only been used to speculate on actual currencies, creating huge bubbles which everyone saw coming, with the barely noteworthy exception of the illegal goods trade and Reddit gold. That's what your shit is for in practice, and arguing from historical precedent is not wrong at all in this case.

2. It's deflationary and run by idiot lolbertarian programmers who think they know everything, since they can make some bullshit CRUD apps for a living.

3. It's deflationary, which was the meat of my argument above. I reiterate in case you got butthurt about being called a lolbertarian programmer neckbeard who doesn't know the limits of his own expertise.

Also, check'em. Don't bother to bitcointip me for my dubs, I only take real money.

>>21
At least I don't call programs ``apps'', normalfag.

>>21
lolbertarian
neckbeard

>LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELELELELELLELELELE
>LE E/G/IN E/B/IN MAYMAYS /G/RO
>LE /B/RO FACE >;) :D LE FUGGIN NECKBEARDS LELELELELLELELEEEEELLLLLLLL

>>21
You do realize that ``deflation'' is the decrease in supply of money, right?
_{I am saging because said post has nothing to do with programming.}