Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin => Bitcoin Discussion => Topic started by: pungopete468 on February 12, 2014, 03:10:20 AM



Title: An Exercise in Playing the Devil's Advocate
Post by: pungopete468 on February 12, 2014, 03:10:20 AM
I'm running some theoretical thought experiments on things that might actually have the force to effectively destroy Bitcoin. I really want great things for Bitcoin so it's hard for me to imagine the circumstances that could potentially bring it down...

- I'm not worried about a 51% attack; the community would catch it first.
- I think the mutability issue is a minor setback that can be patched on the front end.
- I feel that PR is nearly a non-issue because the public has enough greed to look past anything negative that happened in the past as long as they see an opportunity to make money in the future.
- I can't see the large retail merchants pulling out of Bitcoin because they still rely on instant conversions into fiat through legal companies. Large retailers who accept Bitcoin actually provide liquidity when BTC can't be withdrawn from one of the other exchanges.
- The government can't kill Bitcoin; too many people would just ignore them...

What would it actually take to kill Bitcoin? Where's the weakness and does such a theoretical weakness actually exist?

I'm in Bitcoin for the long term. I understand that Bitcoin will either survive to accomplish amazing new things, or be completely dismantled and no longer traded for such an egregious exploitation that it would be unsafe to use...

I have no desire to sell what I've got and if I lose everything, well at least I still have my health... I really can't see that happening but I'm actually trying to understand this buzzing frenzy going on about Bitcoin collapsing...


Title: Re: An Exercise in Playing the Devil's Advocate
Post by: hijackWH on February 12, 2014, 04:08:37 AM
My biggest worry (which I haven't seen addressed anywhere) is that the government could cause damage to bitcoin, not by attacking the currency itself, but by attacking the merchants who trade with it.  They could tax the trade of it so highly that it would be unfeasible for merchants to accept it, which I feel could cripple the currency.

I also feel like an outcome like this may be very likely to happen when the banks begin view bitcoin as a serious threat, since our government has essentially been captured by them.


Title: Re: An Exercise in Playing the Devil's Advocate
Post by: Beliathon on February 12, 2014, 04:40:08 AM
...thats why im selling my BTC at bitcoins4currency.com and waiting to see if this scenario change.
Thanks for the cheap coins, noob.

Growth back to 1000+ is inevitable, and will happen within a few months at most. 700 is a tremendous undervaluation of bitcoin, big-picture.

Big-picture, 7,000 is an undervaluation.


Title: Re: An Exercise in Playing the Devil's Advocate
Post by: MysteryMiner on February 12, 2014, 04:43:40 AM
Ignore all the shills with few posts telling that bitcoin is collapsing and you need to sell. I'm in Bitcoin since March 2011 and I see no way hat Bitcoin is going to die. Only way for this to happen is when Internet and computer networks does not exist anymore. Internet is already a pain in government's ass but they will not destroy Internet. They don't have the technological capacity to do it completely and there will be riots all over the world if Internet is going away completely.


Title: Re: An Exercise in Playing the Devil's Advocate
Post by: TrollboxChamp on February 12, 2014, 04:53:08 AM
Ignore all the shills with few posts telling that bitcoin is collapsing and you need to sell. I'm in Bitcoin since March 2011 and I see no way hat Bitcoin is going to die. Only way for this to happen is when Internet and computer networks does not exist anymore. Internet is already a pain in government's ass but they will not destroy Internet. They don't have the technological capacity to do it completely and there will be riots all over the world if Internet is going away completely.

Everyday we grow more capable of creating our own networks. Purely due to technological advancements.