Since we are playing "what if Bitcoin becomes big enough that it will affect the global power grid".

What if it replaces most banks and we no longer have to spend energy to run those banks? (Lights, heating, cooling, construction, security, employees, transportation, checks, debit cards, etc.)

What if it replaces most fiat and we no longer need to grow and harvest cotton to print the bills? (Harvesting, production, storage, transportation, security, etc.)

What if we no longer have to fight wars to protect the interests of the petro-dollar? (Ships, aircraft, weapons, training, training facilities, bases, etc,)

Which future looks more environmentally friendly to you?

"What if" is fun!

Actually, most people are actually paying to give up their voting rights.

You can set up P2Pool and merge mine as many coins with the same algorithm as you like. You can do it without the fee. Once you've understood and accepted variance, you realize that you will earn more profit this way.

There is a pool designed to function like solo mining where you keep your voting rights, yet it has the variance reduction in payouts like a pool.

P2Pool.

No, I do not take that definition as if it is holy. Yet, definitions are important because words are how we interact with other people. If I'm talking about a furry, four legged animal, and you are thinking cat, when I actually mean dog, we are going to have a hard time seeing eye to eye.

We can use investopedia's definition if you wish:


The differences between that and Bitcoin are glaring. Bitcoin is not an investment, it's a digital currency. Bitcoin is not fraudulent, there is nothing hidden from the users, everything is open and available for everyone to see.

Bitcoins do have an exchange rate, and I can see how an increasing exchange rate would lead some people to think that it's all a scheme to make the early adopters rich, yet it doesn't play out like a pyramid scheme at all. Bitcoins are bought and sold at market value. If you purchase a bitcoin, there is no promise or guarantee that you are going to be able to sell it for more in the future. Many, many people have sold their bitcoins for less than what they paid for them. There is also the scenario where an individual purchases a bitcoin, and never sells it for fiat. They've moved from one type of money to another. They will never receive any fiat from later investors. Bitcoin can and will continue to function even if no new people get involved from this point forward.

Obviously, I can point out these differences until I am blue in the face. We can get deeper and deeper into details, basically wasting a lot of time. It's clear that you are going to ignore these glaring differences and shrug off these fine details because you've already painted the picture in your mind. You are focusing on the aspects of Bitcoin that look like an investment and ignoring the aspects of bitcoin that look like an asset and a value transfer network.

Ultimately, a Ponzi/pyramid scheme is based on a fraudulent investment. Those involved never receive any product or service. Early investors get returns paid out from the investments of later investors.

There is no fraud with Bitcoin. When you buy a bitcoin, you receive a new form of digital currency, which has been proven to function exactly as described in the white paper. I can, right now, send value across the world, using bitcoins (the distributed decentralized currency and the value transfer network) without asking for help from a middleman or permission from an authority. There is an actual use case, which is being used everyday by people around the world.

I'm finished with this thread. It's up to an individual to decide for themselves. You are either stuck in the box or you aren't. I will continue using Bitcoin to improve the way I am able to store and transfer value. The rest of the world can stretch definitions of words until chimpanzees turn into elephants for all I care.

No, it's not.


Bitcoin is not unsustainable. It is not a business model. There is no one promising payment or services.

Bitcoin does offer real utility though. It allows users to securely store and transfer value without the help of a middleman or the permission of an authority.

The exchange rate is most certainly not set by the miners. Why wouldn't they just set it to $1,000,000+ each if that were the case? You never even need to involve yourself with mining to be a Bitcoin user. The exchange rate is set by people who are willing to trade other things (usually fiat) for Bitcoins. You can try to sell something all day long for whatever price you want, if you don't have a buyer you can't really claim to have an exchange rate (you can, but it will be an exercise in futility). No one would even be producing mining hardware if there was no prior demand for Bitcoin. I'm not going to bother pointing out any further errors in your post.

Don't be silly. You know exactly what he is saying. Price per amount of just about everything has gone up since the 60s. Companies try to hide it by reducing the amount you get while the price stays the same. Just because people are eating like hogs now-a-days doesn't mean deflation.

1965:

Cost of a new home: $21,500.00
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.05
Cost of a gallon of regular gas: $0.31
Cost of a dozen eggs: $0.53
Cost of a gallon of Milk: $0.95

It's funny how you bitch and moan about "manipulator this and whale rats that", but when it comes down to it you actually trust the biggest, manipulating whale rats of them all: central bankers.

Yes, you've been hacked.

This is why many of us have been recommending offline wallets for a couple of years now.

Is it possible you've never heard of offline wallets?

Perhaps start a thread with lots of verifiable information about your college, your fraternity, yourself, and explain in detail who you are trying to help and why.

Don't skimp on the verifiable real life identities and stuff. People don't want to donate to "Random Joe's beer fund" when they think they are donating to "Relay for Life".

Folks are quick to call scam here for good reason. A lot of people ask for money without providing any kind of verifiable information about what they are going to do with it.

If you aren't keen on providing that kind of information, I would just give up now as you won't get any traction.

Solar power isn't free.

Slow down with the new threads every time you get an "idea". Think about what you are trying to say and write coherent posts so the community has some idea what you are talking about.

Perhaps do some searching and see if your "ideas" have already been discussed.

If Bitcoin is still being used by then, of course.

If you want transactions that can be rendered invalid by someone with two CPUs, sure.

Your idea has nothing to do with Bitcoin or Bitcoin "mining".

Perhaps you should move your thread to "offtopic".

Bitcoin will be "mined" forever, regardless of the block reward. If Bitcoin "mining" ends, Bitcoin transactions are no longer processed.

Bitcoin will be mined as long as Bitcoin is used.

No, not with the current way proof of work is implemented in Bitcoin.

I suggest you read about the proof of work, how it is implemented in Bitcoin, and get a greater understanding before continuing down this path.

There have been many threads on this forum discussing this topic.

TL;DR: Work that has another purpose does not create any security for the block chain.

It is used for something. It is securing the first decentralized cryptocurrency from attack.

Monetary freedom is one of the most important things that can exist. So much good can come from people who are free.

That's fantastic but it has nothing to do with speculation.

Have you ever used Armory?

I can create and sign an offline transaction in under a minute.

When sheer convenience is required, I transfer spending money from an Armory offline wallet to something like Mycelium, which is incredibly easy to use.

Anyway, dedicated hardware like Trezor and it's competitors will make this even easier in the near future.

I know nothing about them, and that is exactly the point.

Their contact page tells me basically nothing.

If I feel like I have no recourse should they vanish with my money, I'm probably not going to be doing business with them.

I ate