• To maintain a relatively stable exchange point where the effects of price inflation or deflation are smoothed out by economic and monetary policy.
Supply or demand manipulation for the purpose of controlling any price, whether for goods or monies, is folly. Price of all things SHOULD fluctuate, it is how scarcity is measured against demand and resources are, over time, arranged in efficient order. |
|
|
|
|
After a few mins of more thinking...
Perhaps the idea of an "official" group is not wise. Instead, the core dev team could create an organization, with special logo and name. This organization would be the de facto official group, but only so long as it held up its reputation. At all times, other groups can form and compete for "de facto officialness."
In essence then, this would just be a Non-profit, spontaneously organized by individuals. If multiple such organizations sprout up, then each community member can support whomever they wish.
Think of it like a market for competing representatives. No group official by law, but any group official by market sentiment. We would see one group come to dominate the sentiment, but Bitcoin would not be irrevocably tied to it.
No group should be granted an explicit monopoly... but an implicit market-derived monopoly would not bother me.
|
|
|
|
|
Gavin - seems like a reasonable idea.
Bitcoin would still have all the advantages of being decentralized (no central server, no office to raid and shut down. etc), but gets the added advantages of a core organization to guide it. Perhaps the core organization will get destroyed by the evil powers, but I'm not sure that'd be incredibly damaging to Bitcoin as a protocol. The community would just grow a new command center when the old was destroyed.
The main danger is if the community trusts such an organization too much. For example- if everyone assumed the client version put out by the organization was trustworthy, then there is serious danger. A group as you propose should probably exist, but the community should remain skeptical of it, and always constructively critical.
|
|
|
|
(1) the prices of things will be constantly changing since the currency will keep deflating
That's true of the US Dollar as well, but instead of the money losing purchasing power it will gain purchasing power. The rate of change will be driven lower by speculators long term (if everyone knows Bitcoins will rise in price, speculators will buy them, rising the price in the present). Over time, you will see a gradual, relatively predictable price and its annoyance for repricing goods should not be overwhelming. How many times per day does Wal Mart change the price on a good in their store? It's no great burden. (2) we will be dealing in decimal units. Quoting ridiculous prices like BC0.000013 or whatever will be very annoying and a lot of invoicing systems are not designed to handle cents values below 1/100
Have some foresight! A name will be given to smaller units. Perhaps the .00000001 unit will be called the Satoshi (seems to be catching on). In such a case where BTC is extremely valuable, your coffee will simply be "5.30 satoshis". Nomenclature is a non-issue, the market will easily figure out efficient naming schemes. I think ultimately we will have to make a competing client that breaks the 21 million limit and uses a more practical value scale and rate of inflation.
Go for it. I won't be buying it. |
|
|
|
What the hell is BF3?
Best Friends III, followup to the smash hit Best Friends II - which was PC Gamer's Game of the Year in 2008 |
|
|
|
but a true example of how the technology can be leveraged to gain real advantage over the competition.
And it won't be the last |
|
|
|
Copied from: http://bitcoin-trader.blogspot.com/2011/10/ogrrcom-launches-massive-bitcoin.html (a site I'm more impressed with every day - great editorials) "[The market in digital goods] is huge and it's growing fast. Bitcoin allows us to take payments and not have to worry about chargebacks which have plagued virtual goods sales since the very beginning. Historically, to take a (generally) irreversible payment such as Western Union or a bank wire transfer, it meant exorbitant fees that made small transactions cost-prohibitive.
As you know, when you deliver a virtual item, you're left with no verifiable evidence that you've done so and it's very simple for the buyer to claim that they've never received it, or that their card was stolen, or that their child made the purchase without their permission. It's this not having to worry about chargebacks that allows us to store Bitcoin on behalf of our users and allow them to trade and cash out at any time. If we had to worry about deposits being reversed, there'd be no way we could allow users to make withdrawals. Bitcoin solves this problem." This is why Bitcoin has fundamental value. It is useful. Beyond the rhetoric, the political implications, the economic theorizing, the hyperbole... beyond all that, Bitcoin is useful. |
|
|
|
You are dealing with something that has no useful value other than speculators and miners trying to get money out of it.
No useful value.... I disagree strongly. In fact, I can think of very few things which are more useful than Bitcoin. But, place your bets where you wish - with such confidence surely you are shorting the market? Or are you just talking? I encourage you to profit from your foresight. Bitcoinica will give you 5:1 margin for a short position... why not come back in a month and tell us how much money you've made?! I'll personally apologize to you for my skepticism of your reasoning. |
|
|
|
|
I follow Bitcoin tweets pretty closely - and this article is the most retweeted bitcoin-related thing I've come across. Is TechCrunch big? Some of these sites I don't know if they have 100 readers or 100,000,000.
|
|
|
|
By the way, I am Irish by blood and support the complete freedom of Ireland from their overlord masters.
If an Irish town wished to declare independence from Ireland, would that be okay? What about a certain neighborhood within that town? Or what about an individual person - may she declare independence from Ireland, and the town, and be free to live on her own land? I want to see if your reasoning is consistent. |
|
|
|
|
Goat - your avatar photo is wrong fyi
|
|
|
|
Ummmm I don't think the Vatican's goal is monetary freedom and a respect for individual property rights... so politely informing them about Bitcoin may not yield the results you want  The Vatican should just form its own blockchain, called PopeCoin. It'll require a cryptographic "proof of prayer" system to validate transactions. |
|
|
|
|
Should post this in newbies thread also...
|
|
|
|
The real world economy is highly inter-connected. The only way for a virtual economy to survive is to inter-connect with the real world.
Brilliantly stated. The idea that Bitcoin must operate in a self-contained, self-sufficient ecosystem is foolish. As it grows in usage, we should expect to see greater exchange into and out of bitcoins for other goods, services, and monies. There is no reason to fear "cashing out" into any other currency - it harms Bitcoin's utility not at all. |
|
|
|
|
Is there a link or anything? I've heard that name before.
|
|
|
|
|
Working for me right now. I know they've reset the test accounts for this launch, so maybe you're trying to log in with an invalid account? Live chat seems up right now also
|
|
|
|
|
EDIT- changes made, nice!
****
The angled frame, and blue bitcoin text is a good foundation. Adding two shades of green + white + orange + black shadow is too many colors. And three fonts is too many fonts.
Stick with one (perhaps 2) fonts and 2 colors. Angle and orient the text to match the perspective of the outlining frame and it'll make it much more cohesive - may resemble a retro 50's style Americana sign which might be cool.
|
|
|
|
|
Good analysis. The value of a Bitcoin is absolutely higher than it was a few months ago, even though the market price has fallen. Some people have a hard time understanding that =)
|
|
|
|
|
Well said OP.
Tonight I had dinner with my father, and explained the coin to him. He lit up immediately, and was blown away by the ramifications racing through his mind. "It will revolutionize my whole industry," he said... and I responded, "and every other." As he left for the evening he mentioned he probably won't be able to sleep tonight.
Why is it that some of us see this thing as a true - to use OP's word - transcendence, while others see it as an impossible and laughable scam with no value? It's as if we've stumbled upon the first printing press sitting alone in a meadow, and as we marvel at the possibilities of such an apparatus we're incessantly distracted by other onlookers who, noting that nobody uses such a thing, endeavor to condemn and deride our exuberance.
I think some of us will be looking back quite fondly on the work we're doing right now.
|
|
|
|
|
Show Posts
