You speak with seeming authority on many topics...unfortunately you got this one wrong...way wrong.

The stroke of a pen and a few phone calls huh. :1orglaugh Whos pen exactly - the majority of both houses of congress and the President AND a majority of Supreme Court Justices (likely it would go that high in court).

Not sure about Thailand but China most certainly did not ban or outlaw BTC - they simply stopped BTC from being used by payment processors. But they gave to OK for Chinese citizens to trade BTC all they want. They just made them go through an extra step, through a foreign based exchange to get their money back into Yuan.

The regulations they put in place are a good thing, any time a large government recognizes Bitcoin, even if it is to limit it's use, that lends legitimacy and only strengthens the currency.

BTC trading among the Chinese is going strong - current daily legal use of BTC by the Chinese is a big reason BTC price has stayed high.

Wrong. You mistake small possibility for a fact.

You mistake small possibility for Yea Right :1orglaugh

dwb thailand didnt do that. my thai friends are buying and cashing out actively to their thai banks since months ago

xtc put me down for $9,000

put me down for $750

There is obviously very strong demand for a method of exchanging value on the internet, or a very poor product such as Bitcoin would never have got this far. Our pre-internet tools for value exchange do not work well enough, the market is looking for a solution.

However any new product / system / solution needs to have the fundamentals in place to be successful in the long term. Bitcoin currently does not.

a) Make it easy to obtain.
b) Make it easy to understand.
c) Make it safe and easy to store.
d) Make it safe to spend, lose the criminal/drug/CP image.
e) Make it risk free.
f) Regulate it.

The silent majority have no interest in putting their wealth into an vehicle that is inherently dangerous to be involved with and carries any risk whatsoever. What we have now is a vehicle for speculators, not a solution to the problem of transferring value in the modern world.

So the question is will Bitcoin evolve the characteristics that are essential for it to become the mainstream de-facto internet currency, or will something else come along that satisfies the demand without the inherent drawbacks of all of the current coins ?

My money is on Bitcoin being a warm glow in the history of the internet by 2019, just like porn paysites and affiliates, Google money anyone ?

£0.00

I'll play along.

$12,400

:D

http://www.zillow.com/blog/files/2012/01/buffett.png

Warren Buffett didn't get to be a billionaire by being wrong, but it's clear from what he's been saying about investing in Bitcoin that he just doesn't get the digital currency.

Whats to "get" ?

Bitcoin is going nowhere, only a crypto currency that is distributed fairly will prevail. Having to Mine for bitcoins is bs and a waste of resources. I'm sure a crypto currency will emerge that will bring about a new socio-economic-political system, but bitcoin was only the foot in the door.

I don't like it but I agree.

Buffett tells CNBC why he thinks bitcoins don't have any intrinsic value and investors should stay away.

Well reasoned opinion but doesnt actually address any mechanism by which BTC will collapse. It's easy to say something better will come along but why would that cause the demise of Bitcoin? If anything it would just take it on up with it - coattail success.

I hope you're not putting too much money on your "warm glow" theory :1orglaugh:1orglaugh

The word "Intrinsic" has been much bandied about with regards to BTC and other currencies and has been pretty much thoroughly equated to...well as the King would say: "Pigshit"

Yes ?

Are you saying you think Buffet is wrong ?

You said that Buffet does not "get it".

What is there to get ?

Bitcoin does not have any long term value outside of the hype and speculation.

The beauty of Bitcoin is not that it is going to solve the problems of value transfer on the internet, the beauty of Bitcoin and therefore it's popularity amongst the fanbois is solely due to speculation. The speculation is fuelled by it's method of distribution (mining.) and by the fact that it's value is variable. The mining creates haves and have nots, the variable value creates a market. The haves hype the wonder product into a religious frenzy, and the have nots want a piece of the action. The price rises, and the frenzy increases.

All the hype about how the poor oppressed masses will be freed from the shackles of central banks and government regulation is just nonsense to hype the have nots into wanting some of the action. There is nothing like greed, and feeling that you are missing out, to make usually rational people turn into crazed zealots.

Site owners are adding it as a payment option, not because they think they will increase sales, but because they would like to own a few coins and be in on the action. Punters are losing their money in scams and exchange collapses because they are ignoring all of the normal rules of investing and keeping your money safe.

Tulip anyone ?

Bitcoin will be superseded by a product that is easy to get hold of, easy to use, and a safe store of value.

Or

Bitcoin will evolve those fundamental features.

However given that Bitcoin is something of a rudderless vessel, I am not sure that the leadership and foresight that is required exists to make these changes. This is why I dont think Bitcoin will be the product which becomes the ultimate game changer.

Read that forbes article a few posts up :thumbsup

C'mon, I *know* you are brighter than that :)

you have no clue how to separate propaganda from facts. & PS, larry kudlows comments in that article were spot on. your just too dumb to figure that out for yourself.

:smiling_b

I believe him. Bitcoins are not gold with 4,000 years of monetary history behind it. So, fuck bitcoins!

I read the Forbes article. It did not change my opinion of Bitcoin.

Bizarrely the Bitcoin fervour ties in to all the other internet truisms. It has fuck all to do with reality.

Miley is an illuminati puppet,

9/11 was a plot between the Jews, the CIA, and Dubya.

The 69 moon landings happened in a TV studio.

The Lizzard people are controlling our minds via the Rothchilds and some other fuckers for some reason or another.

It goes on and on and on. Bitcoin is the magical device that frees us from our slavery.

Fuck off !!!

Really - you cunts really need to get out more.

:1orglaugh *I* need to get out more?

I predict bitcoint won't exist anymore in 5 years.

No sorry, not you specifically - I was referring to all the half witted turds who cannot tell the difference between reality - and something they read on the internet.

I put them all in the same bracket. Truthers, illuminati freaks, Bitcoin evangelists, Holocaust denyers, Shawadywady fans.............

^ fair 'nuff :) and yeah the btc evangelists are a bit much, though every 'side' of every 'fence' always has the extremists :)

$47

Blowjob from Eastern European female younger than 35, and considered attractive by 70% of respondents to a survey on GFY.com preferred.

Indeed they do.

But some arguments are more straight forward.

e.g.

Evolution vs Creation.

Both sides have their extremists and fundamentalists.

But that does not mean that the earth was created 6000 years ago by a heaven dwelling wizard with a fondness for a day off and a particular interest in death, misery, pestelence, famine, and smoting of non believers and sodomites.

I mean, who the fuck would take that shit seriously ? :1orglaugh:1orglaugh

that's a pretty good example actually, I know a fair few religious people, and some of them see all that as metaphors, analogies, and so on. Granted, not many of them :D

Best response yet - BJ will be delivered to you if you win my good sir.

I also share the opinion that Bitcoin may very well be superseded by a more mathematically and logically superior successor. (although BTC can and will evolve improvements) But this new supercoin would likely take BTC on up for the ride...there is no reason to think that any crypto that has advantages that Bitcoin lacks would crush the life out of Bitcoin.

If a new coin came along (for fun lets say GoogleCoin) and it was non-anonymous and well regulated and everyone jumped on board - there would still be a lot of interest in BTC to move funds in and out of GoogleCoin for anonymity or a myriad of other reasons - a GoogleCoin worth 100k USD could very well drag up the price of BTC right along with it.

a) easy to buy from several exchanges or even from your next door neighbour
b) you don't need to understand how it works the same way 99% of the people have no idea how fiat works
c) its not that complicated as it is but it will get easier with time, just think about how complicated computers were a few years back, now even my grandmother can fb me
d) most of the criminal activity is done through fiat, fail!
e) theres no such thing in any monetary sistem
f) kindly fuck off

You don't have to mine for bitcoin same way you don't have to mine for gold
the distribution of gold or any other kind of wealth distribution had the same characteristics
dont be a crybaby

Why do we need bitcoin???
 

I agree with all the benefits of bitcoin, but my question is why do we need bitcoin??? Why would most people use bitcoins???

1. Until bitcoin has some great pragmatic benefit, I don't see bitcoin becoming mainstream. Also the USA government has said it won't regulate bitcoin until it becomes mainstream.

2. I like gold since as a way to save, since you can't create gold out of thin air unless your an alchemist or own a star. Where as crypto currency doesn't have scarcity since new ones are always coming out diluting bitcoins value. Take a Look:
http://coinmarketcap.com/all.html

3. Like I said, crypto currencies will be bring about great socio-economic-political change, but still waiting to see a revolutionary crypto currency. Here's a candidate:
http://www.auroracoin.org/

Because its like money but better.

Whatever the USA wants in terms of currency regulation or banking, the USA usually gets. That's a fact, not an opinion. Bitcoin is not worth much if it can not be converted to a currency. If you are unable to convert to a currency, that's a wrap.

Who's pen? Whoever has the authority to do so. But if I had to take a guess, it would be the same people who have shut down every other competing currency, and strong arms international banks into giving up their data.



It is illegal for the Chinese to cash out directly into Yuan. The Chinese can only trade their Bitcoin for online or digital items, such as gaming. Or convert it elsewhere before coming back into Yuan. That is Chinese law. And that shows how easily it can be done. It is only a loophole that allows them to go through an exchange first, but that loophole will be closed soon enough. One single law and they couldn't cash out into their own currency. One more and they can't exchange it to another. Then it's back to digital goods only. Two laws, easy pease, and one of them is already in place. If it can happen there, it can happen anywhere. Only time will tell if it will, but my whole point was that it would be incredibly easy to destroy Bitcoin with a stroke of a pen, which means a new law or two.

Yes, they did. But like all other Thai laws, they are not enforcing it. Look it up.

Anybody trust bitcoin?

Wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong. But knowing a thing or two about how international banking works these days, I just don't believe it would be that difficult to cripple these coins by not permitting an exchange to currency. And if you want to expedite the process, let it be known that some terrorist group used Bitcoin to fund an operation that killed Americans.

But, I may be wrong. In the meantime, I'm making money with Bitcoin. I just don't believe for a second that it's invincible.

To a certain extent, civilization evolved around gold and silver. Look at the pervasiveness of the denarius even today. Certainly a digital currency is a logical step, but there are serious flaws in bitcoin that have nothing to do with the theory of it. "Take what you need, give what you can" how'd that work out? We live in a world of humans, most of whom have no scruples about downing their fellow man for their own benefit. The very nature of bitcoin divorces theft from its visceral impact. Karpeles, who I believe did steal the mt gox coins, felt that it was ok because he was stealing numbers from faceless nerds who were only going too buy drugs anyway. Bitcoin makes stealing logical, impersonal, challenging like a math problem, and non confrontational. Until bitcoin theft is made more difficult or de-incentivized, you will have groups of the smartest people in the world seeking to make tuum into meum.

exactly! which is why the internet, online payment, online banking, paypal, and the like will never take off :thumbsup

They didn't "take off" for years until controls were put in place. Plus, that was a smaller change - credit cards, the backbone of internet commerce, were already well developed. In 1989 (I'm sure I don't need to tell you well before the advent of ecommerce as we know it) the average US family had $2,650 worth of CC debt. Buying by phone with a CC was already in place, as was banking by phone. Internet purchases and banking were just a non-verbal version of that type of transaction and it has taken 25 years to get it right. Virtual currency is an entirely different paradigm.

But nice use of a simplistic sarcastic phrase! You really nailed the "details are beneath me" tone you were going for. :thumbsup

For those of you debating - have you made your 5 year BTC price guess?

Don't be a pussy - this thread is to MAN UP and stake your claim to a little piece of history. How close will you be or how far off the mark - thats all this thread was intended for.

That's exactly what I was going for, but used the wrong smiley :helpme

I shoulda used :winkwink: not :thumbsup

:Oh crap

I'm in. Already made my post. See ya in 5!!!!

call into question can you truly trust anything?...anyone?

some dogs maybe, the rare odd wife I guess...

I predict that the same thing will happen to bitcoin generation as has happened to finding more digits of pi. Suddenly somebody will flood the system with billions of them with an algorithm that finds them in minutes.

So pennies. Or less.

not super possible but ok fun guess thanks for playing

I'm guessing there would be another 5 to 10 more ***coin virtual currencies in existence, besides bitcoin and litecoin, with bitcoin running from 0.50 to 7,050 depending on the day of the week.

$$$$453.00

Meanwhile, some of us are making a ton from crypto. Stay on the sidelines and watch the train go by. It's all about the benjamins.

my guess $10