Why Bitcoin is over-ambitious

[Mike Christ]

So basically the concept of a centralized currency is a myth? In this case the selling point should be transparency.

i'm not sure what you're asking. 'centralised' probably isn't the right way to talk about currency in the first place. it's only people on this forum who think of the united states dollar as a 'centralised' currency. it is a currency that has a governmental issuer, subject to a particular legal process for issuance. 'centralisation' is an imprecise way to think about it. by contrast, bitcoin has an algorithmic issuer, subject to an algorithmic process for issuance; similarly, 'decentralisation' is an imprecise way to think about it. it's all 'myths' - impressionistic thinking, not rigorous thinking.

bitcoin has many selling points, but 'transparency' isn't really one either. transactions are indeed transparent, but it would be hard to argue that the bitcoin 'economy' is less oligopolistic than the traditional one or that bitcoin's value is more transparent than that of other currencies. as i have pointed out many times, people are letting mt. gox's data dictate 'value' to them even though that data could be totally fraudulent. i ultimately made half a million us dollars playing that game, but most people won't.

ignorant anger at central bankers was always a poor basis for bitcoin enthusiasm, at least in many people who have no idea what they're talking about. very few people here have any knowledge about monetary or other economic principles. what they have are strong half-baked opinions which strike most knowledgeable people as misplaced anger. why people who see themselves as self-reliant would choose to make themselves so manipulable by buying into that misplaced anger is beyond me.

Is your shift key busted or what's the problem?

[unk]

Is your shift key busted or what's the problem?

it started when i originally joined the forum as a dumb attempt to obscure my writing style, and now it's just inertia. it seems too late to stop now!

i suspect sophisticated textual analysis would be able to discern my identity anyway, although the technology is probably not good enough yet for an undirected attempt at doing that to succeed.

i have a tendency to write like an adult, which is to say in paragraphs that mature people might read. that does not seem to be the style of this forum. perhaps not capitalising my text serves as a useful reminder for me to stop writing too much.

[qxzn]

Buying goods for Bitcoin actually has zero added value. I can buy goods for local currency just as well. The only reason to buy goods for BTC is the idea that it is 'free' because I mined for it, and the only reason to sell goods for BTC is because it is a cost effective way to acquire BTC. With the current boom it is actually really hard to build a business around BTC since you probably still have to pay suppliers in USD or something.

What about lower transaction fees, and convenient, relatively cheap international transactions? I think of these as added value.

[phatsphere]

Bitcoin should have died off last month when the fork in the block chain occurred.

I stopped reading right here.

LOL me too. and that's where i stopped reading this thread.

about the quote: it hasn't died because it was never in danger of dying.

[kwukduck]

I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

--The rest is history.