Bitcoin is great and safe, says, er, the Bitcoin Foundation Bitcoin will have its biggest impact in unstable regimes and foreign currency transfers, according to the Bitcoin Foundation's chief scientist Gavin Andresen. Speaking at Web Summit 2014, the head boffin said the online virtual current offered a great way to sidestep unstable government-issued currencies when they were …
I think this guy is on the right track.
Cryptocurrencies cut down on transaction costs.
If we could also implement something like an automated transaction payment tax (to replace all other taxes) we might be able to fully reap the benefits of 21st century technology and eliminate central banking and fiat currencies in one fell swoop.
What's not to like?
www.apttax.com
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Avoid hyperinflation? Are you retarded?
December 31, 2012 - 1 BTC = $13.41
November 26, 2013 - 1 BTC = $979.54 (7,300% increase in less than 12 months)
Today - 1 BTC = $333.97
If you consider Bitcoin an actual currency (which, personally, I don't) then you'd have to be mental to invest in this market.
I think you have it backwards there, a 7,300% increase in the value of a currency is the *opposite* of inflation. Granted the haircut to $333.97 is inflationary.
You do highlight the instability of Bitcoin's value, which would concern me (if I used Bitcoin at all).
Expectation management at its finest. The lack of regulation and law enforcement in failed states like Somalia might seem like a boon for Bitcoin, but they seem not to have factored major obstacles like unreliable electricity supplies and the absence of internet infrastructure. I'll be keeping my money in goats for the foreseeable future.
"You’d think that central banks would have learnt their lesson ages ago, the nth time someone experienced hyperinflation, but apparently they haven’t."
These people are funny. They just keep talking as if we were in the midst of a Weimar-style hyperinflation episode, and no amount of actual inflation data seems to convince them otherwise. Amazingly, we are not all Zimbabwe despite the continued antics of the hated central banks. Maybe they might make some progress if they stopped blathering on about hyperinflation, which almost never happens, and did some broader thinking about inflation and why it may not always be such a bad thing.
Meanwhile bitcoin’s price volatility continues to make it unusable as an actual currency. I mean I guess it’s fine for occasional drug purchases or whatever, but you really can't carry out your day-to-day economic life with a 'currency' whose value swoops about like a 90s tech stock. As Felix Salmon pointed out ages ago, you can either be a currency or a speculative commodity - not both.
Such a shame bitcoin seems to get such a harsh reception here. I've been dabbling increasingly since last year and though the price is down I generally have no complaints and I'm optimistic for the future.
The key advantage for me are for one not having to dish out card details all the time. Sure some places accept paypal but it's still rare so 99% of the time that online purchase is with a debit/credit card. Yes there is some fraud protection baked in but I'd rather not need it.
There was the extra CVV number which was supposed not be saved to verify the card was present but all the payment providers just saved this as well in the name of "convenience" so that was pointless.
The banks are trying to nail electronic payments with efforts like Paym/Pingit and there's efforts from Google and Apple but these are very early stages, probably more so than bitcoin. As for NFC card payments well I liked and was happy with it till the recent foreign currency hack appeared.
So at the moment bitcoin has the most traction and looks the most likely to survive. It's growing too, I can buy BTC with my wage using a standard "faster payments" bank transfer while there's no direct bank link like you can in the US this is very convenient and (so far) trouble free. When looking to spend I can buy vouchers for many high street names (eg ASDA/Amazon), I can order takeaway with takeaway.co.uk, order pc parts with scan, hotel bookings with expedia and shop in store with CEX.
Sure the price might be down but bitcoin as a payment method has plenty of momentum.
Yes - there are far too many people that don't understand bitcoin technology. It's like in the old days when people didn't understand the Internet and what it could do for them.
Far too much worrying about the current exchange rate rather than looking at the longer term value.
It's almost akin to saying - what is this internet thing I don't need it because all it does is just jacks up my telephone bill.
Whilst Bitcoin has many potential benefits, before any form of regulation or potential integration into the mainstream, there needs to be a nod towards the security concerns attached to cryptocurrencies – including implementing stronger measures to better combat Bitcoin theft and phishing attacks.
Theft and phishing attacks have already caused serious issues for both Bitcoin stability (see: Mt Gox) and individual users. If your credit card or bank account credentials are stolen, the criminal will still need to extract money from your account and the chances are that you can raise this as fraud and your bank will protect you and take the hit. However, if your Bitcoin wallet is compromised, the content is gone for ever, and there is no way to get anything back. Unfortunately this is one of the reasons why Bitcoin fraud is becoming popular. Extrapolating this concept a step further to the realm of banks and Bitcoin exchanges highlights an inherent issue (often used as a benefit) of cryptocurrencies.
Another major driver for Bitcoin phishing and theft seems to stem from it’s entanglement with illegal activities such as unlicensed gambling and illegal drug sales, two activities that commonly take place on the Bitcoin market. Both crimes, and arguably any crime would, benefit from the anonymity and irreversibility of Bitcoin transactions even though this leads to unrelated users having no recourse if they are cheated or defrauded as a part of the system.
If they want to truly address issues with Bitcoin and it’s pitfalls, they need to address, not sidestep, these type of issues highlighted Mt Gox.
- Tom Landesman
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