Sorry, but this is such an urban legend.  Don't get me wrong, I like gold and silver, but they do not automatically maintain purchasing power.  Somebody who bought gold in 2000 made a hell of an investment, an can now buy a boatload more other stuff then he could then.  It is true that if you look at gold historically, then it maintains its purchasing power a lot better than fiat currencies, but in the short term (short being decades here), this is simply not true.  This is why I also don't see gold as a "safe" investment, next to the volatility being quite large.  There might be times when it is the safest asset to buy, but definitely not allways.

Awesome project slush!  I think you are really tackling one of the important hurdles bitcoin faces for easy adoption by bigger crowds.  Here is me hoping the device won't be too expensive, so it can gain widespread distribution.

You can't advise governments or fall in love with somebody who works for goverment without abandoning libertarian principles?

I believe Bass is betting both on interest rate rise and on currency devaluation.  I don't know which instruments he uses for this though, if somebody has the answer, feel free to share.

I think 50% inflation for several years would severely impact the psychology of the population and lead to hyperinflation.

Oh ok, but then you are talking about the downside risk if you only invest 5%, I thought you were talking about the downside risk in bitcoin in general (so also for people who have 100% invested in it).

You are kidding, right?  I agree the upside potential is huge, but if the security of the system was somehow breached, it could become worthless overnight..   While I am no security/technology expert by any means, I think the system still has to prove itself for several years in order to be considered 'safe' (and even then you still have to watch developments like quantum computing).

Thanks for sharing! I am still learning the technological basics of bitcoin, and this presentation made a few things click.

I am guessing wordpress has a slightly larger clientele than he does 

Ok, good to know !


Yeah, I know bitcoin has a very low entry barrier, I was mainly thinking about setup time.

Hi

A friend of mine has recently created a webshop, and I was wondering if I should propose adding bitcoins as a payment system.
My question now: is it already worth the effort if you are not a bitcoin enthusiast?

I was wondering if there are any merchants here that can indicate how often people pay with bitcoins for their goods/services ( I am specifically looking for merchants that do not solely operate on bitcoins, and markets that are not related to bitcoins (so no money-related services like coinabul or computer/security-related services). Both an absolute number and a ratio of bitcoins/other currency payments would be ideal.  I know most people here are bitcoin enthusiasts, but it would be appreciated if you told the not-so-great commerce numbers too.

Furthermore: are there any catches, problems associated with accepting bitcoins?  I just read something about DDOS attacks on the Blacklotus thread, and I have no idea what that is about  .

So the services that give you bitcoins have nothing to do with how you get bitcoins?

Well I can imagine there being created a service with legal authority that registers transactions between 'state-registered' addresses that are linked to an individual, or something similar.  Just because you don't see the solution to certain problems does not mean somebody else can't come up with one.
And like Roger said, escrow is an option too.

Bitcoin has only existed for less than 4 years, with very little people knowing about it in the beginning (and still), did you really expect there to be an entire foolproof service package and legal system to be built around it already?

As time goes on it will become more and more clear which services are reliable businesses in it for the long haul, and which ones are scammers that want to make some quick bucks.  Moreover, as the economy groes bigger, it should get easier and easier to get bitcoins, with lower fees and smaller spreads.

Go for it!

I guess he might feels uneasy about it, given the possible risks involved in bitcoin, thinking that maybe people will try it out because of his video (which is a good thing, but only if they read up on the safety aspects, and don't put in a lot of money).
But this could easily be dealt with in a few sentences reminding people that it is still a startup experiment, and that if they would get involved in it, it is absolutely necessary to read up on the proper cautionary measurements against wallet theft etc. .

We could ask Salman Khan to make a video about bitcoin on Khan Academy.  If anybody can explain hard stuff in a palpable way, it's him.  He has a background in economics, seems into sciency stuff and is definitely into open projects for the community, so he might be interested.  Then again, maybe bitcoin is too risky/speculative for him to want to put it on his website....

EDIT: hell, it might be worth the try.  I suggested the topic on the website.

, thank you sir, for giving me a good laugh.

Is there any reasoning given for not adding the fact that bitcoin does not match several properties of a Ponzi scheme?

He is not dumb, my guess is he just prefers sticking to the rules instead of using logic and common sense.

Does anybody know if there are well-described criteria for judging if a source is reliable or not to wikipedia? (EDIT: NVM, I should learn to do some more googling: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Reliable_sources )

Screw it, I already have my spaceship ! I ll have a look and let you know what I find.

Happens to the best of us 

That was not what I was saying at all...  Thanks for calling me an insane idiot though...

Maybe I should spell out my point a little more.
No good is traded continuously, the (traded) price of a good is defined as the last price at which a transaction between a seller and buyer was conducted. Therefore, no trade is needed to keep the price constant. I was just saying that if people were content with the use of bitcoins as a store of value, as something to be used as a savings account that cannot be inflated away, it could maintain a stable price with very little trade in it.