I totally agree that no one is expected to act unless there is a profit motive. But that is how it scales. When prices are high it is worth the investment in equipment. When they crash hard and mining is not profitable, some mines will close. Because of open competition we should always be at about the lowest profitable transaction fee. That may not be enough for a large scale mine, but it will be enough for someone.

So let me get this straight, a guy I've never heard of says something is going to happen? Something he can't say, but it could be good or bad for the bitcoin economy.

Just wanted to recap and clarify. Which I was not able to do. 

I do know more than most. I've been doing this since 2010 and I've seen a lot. But a true expert would also have a degree in cryptography and economics. No one knows the future however, least of all an internet reporter who does not even understand what a ponzi is.

I do have to disagree about the exchanges. BitPay and Coinbase are crushing it. There is just too much money on the table for no one to jump in. In the US there are some legal stumbling blocks, but bitcoin is a global phenomena and many places it's easy to set up.  

Bought at $170, spent at $186. Missed some gains, but took some profits. It's all good.

Looks like another reporter just heard about bitcoin. He has done his due diligence and spent 20 mins. googling "What is bitcoin?" Now he's an expert! 

Well said Smoothie. There is a lot of emotion in the bitcoin economy and it does not come from the code.  

Oh, the poster above beat me to it. Read the whitepaper. That is what all this bitcoin talk is about. The link is also in my sig.

Well his background is that he is a computer scientist, that's how. And he worked with Satoshi early on. He's not new at all to bitcoin.

He's just another guy like you and me. Nobody is special in bitcoin, IMO.

P.S.: Why did you change his quote for the title? 

Thanks for posting this. Interesting thoughts. 

Not sure where you get that. I do not advise ANY speculation. But if this is failure, bring it!
I have spent more than 10 times what I bought. I buy guns, vacations, electronics, camping gear, dinners, pounds of gold, etc. The trick is having a strategy and the discipline to follow that strategy. I don't just make it up as I go. I have specific mathematical formulas for buying when the price is right and I never put in money that I need elsewhere.

Let's scare them back and talk about on site solar electricity. They certainly don't want to buy electricity from you when they sell it to you now. Perhaps in the future their only revenue will come from renting out the transmission grid so that users can share/sell what they generate?
Now that is scary!  lol

Oh I think they are spot on. It's the fundamental utility of bitcoin that I look at also. The price is a function of a bunch of amateur speculators. The utility is what has attracted smart money. The fastest, safest and cheapest payment network is worth billions.

I never tell anyone what to do. I buy all the time and spend all the time. I largely ignore the price. And I certainly do not speculate or invest in bitcoin, that would be very risky unless you spend more than you put in. At that point you are using the casinos money and who cares what happens?

Well, once you trade BTC for cash or buy something when the price is low you have locked in your loss. People who are holding, which I don't recommend, may still realize profits. You have only lost when you sell low.
The businesses I have helped love bitcoin. I advise them to use a service like BitPay or Coinbase. They face zero volatility risk, are paid in minuets, and make an extra 3% on each sale.
I agree. There are few guarantees in life. Anyone who thought "investing" serious money in bitcoin was seriously mistaken about what bitcoin is. It goes up and down on demand alone. That's a brutal but fair market, if you have the stomach for it. I prefer to buy some then use them as a way to spend on the internet.

My guess, this is his second account. He lost all his money with the other account because a guy on the internet said he could double his money. Fukin bitcoin.

I dunno man. If the government launched an EMP attack in the US they would be the primary loser. It would destroy millions of cars and other things with electrical circuits. It would require billions and billions to rebuild. For what?

Again, it's just like gold. When mining gold was panning in a stream it was easy. Now you must buy a 10 million mine and equipment. Gold pays for all this, until the price drops and they close all the mines. It's a brutal business.

All incentive to miners? I have never mined or sold a bitcoin, but I have made huge profits. And I never "invest" in bitcoin.

The strongest argument against this is incentive. The Chinese could not afford an EMP attack. Any such attack would be limited in scale but huge in geopolitical relations. They would become a pariah state. China has become the most powerful nation by selling stuff to the west. If that went away they would be hurting more than us. We wold not be plunged into the stone age. The effect would cause chaos in one or two cities, But we could fix it all in a few months tops. A nationwide EMP would require a thermonuclear war that would make the the EMP part trivial.

I'm sure the Chinese, and every other country, are interested in EMPs. They could be used to knock out satellites or specific targets. But the context is using them as part of a broader war, by themselves they will only piss off your enemy.   

True. But it worked fine when bitcoins were $0.06. It may not support the big mines with fancy ASICs, but bitcoin does not care about them either. It's kinda like gold. Most of the time gold mining is not profitable and most mines close. When the price goes up they open the mines again.

I don't think we are in disagreement. I just meant that when used properly bitcoin is very safe. But yes, if you are treating it like your FB account then you may be robbed.