Bitcoin is a force for democracy...and one which can kill the banksters

[Pandasama]

So many posts on this forum are from people worrying how to.make money...you are the enemy of bitcoin.

Article:

http://99998271.blogspot.jp/2013/04/bitcoin-as-force-for-democracy.html?m=0

[Gwsmyda]

I don't think making money is necessarily bad.

What is bad for Bitcoin is when people attempt to manipulate the market, scam, etc.

People profiting from Bitcoin by offering goods and services is what we need.  People spending those bitcoins is even better.

[brinebold]

So many posts on this forum are from people worrying how to.make money...you are the enemy of bitcoin.

No, there are no enemies as part of the swarm. Members of the mining swarm don't have the capacity to do any actual damage and that's part of the beauty of bitcoin. You can help or you can ignore it but you can't really do anything worse than neutral to it on a global scale.

They might not be true believers but they are certainly not hurting you. In fact, their interest leads them to have bitcoins in their virtual pockets and eventually they'll have to start spending them. Right now, they're spending them on Dollars and Euros but that's certainly better than nobody spending them on anything.

[Pandasama]

I agree...I was just referring to the naked speculative greed. I appreciate that it is vital Bitcoin be seen by merchants as a way of making money for livelihood.

[Gwsmyda]

naked speculative greed

I like this way of putting it.

[Pandasama]

naked speculative greed

I like this way of putting it.

That is exactly how it is for almost all newcomers. They see something revolutionary that might rise...they put some money into it. not for the concept...just for themselves!

[daburone]

I don't think making money is necessarily bad.

People profiting from Bitcoin by offering goods and services is what we need.  People spending those bitcoins is even better.

True that.
 
It only has so much room to grow as a speculative phenomenon. If people genuinely start using BTC for day to day transactions on the internet, then it's potential is massive!

[Zool1]

Some ridiculous % of all the BitCoins in circulation have only ever been bought/mined and never transferred. Makes you think. 

[brinebold]

I agree...I was just referring to the naked speculative greed. I appreciate that it is vital Bitcoin be seen by merchants as a way of making money for livelihood.

Under the logic that speculation from traders hurts a currency, FOREX must have ground the dollar and yen to dust by now. Speculators might cause some volatility but not having them also causes a massive amount of inconvenience and logistical problems.

Bitcoin would not be nearly as useful right now if it were not able to be exchanged to and from national fiat currencies. These speculative markets providing liquidity are really what makes bitcoin worth having until it reaches a critical mass where it's accepted nearly universally (probably not in our grandchildrens' lifetime). I'd argue that these speculators are probably the biggest boon to bitcoin's development since the original algorithms.

Think about it without your idealism and you'll realize that if you could only trade bitcoins directly for goods and services that could then only trade them to other people directly, there would be far fewer people taking bitcoins right now. The ability to cash them out and buy a plane ticket or a cup of coffee from your convenient merchants is key to early acceptance.

[Pandasama]

At the same time speculation is inevitable. China could make it huge, from what I am reading. Credibility seems to me the major issue...and fighting off the astroturfers on Twitter etc.

[Pandasama]

I agree...I was just referring to the naked speculative greed. I appreciate that it is vital Bitcoin be seen by merchants as a way of making money for livelihood.

Under the logic that speculation from traders hurts a currency, FOREX must have ground the dollar and yen to dust by now. Speculators might cause some volatility but not having them also causes a massive amount of inconvenience and logistical problems.

Bitcoin would not be nearly as useful right now if it were not able to be exchanged to and from national fiat currencies. These speculative markets providing liquidity are really what makes bitcoin worth having until it reaches a critical mass where it's accepted nearly universally (probably not in our grandchildrens' lifetime). I'd argue that these speculators are probably the biggest boon to bitcoin's development since the original algorithms.

Think about it without your idealism and you'll realize that if you could only trade bitcoins directly for goods and services that could then only trade them to other people directly, there would be far fewer people taking bitcoins right now. The ability to cash them out and buy a plane ticket or a cup of coffee from your convenient merchants is key to early acceptance.

Not arguing with this...agree mostly.

But speculators are also the bane of this currency. The volatility that will inevitably result will play right into the hands of those who want to kill this concept.

I would like to see it grow slowly at a sustainable rate and gain credibility over time.

Boring??

[brinebold]

I agree...I was just referring to the naked speculative greed. I appreciate that it is vital Bitcoin be seen by merchants as a way of making money for livelihood.

Under the logic that speculation from traders hurts a currency, FOREX must have ground the dollar and yen to dust by now. Speculators might cause some volatility but not having them also causes a massive amount of inconvenience and logistical problems.

Bitcoin would not be nearly as useful right now if it were not able to be exchanged to and from national fiat currencies. These speculative markets providing liquidity are really what makes bitcoin worth having until it reaches a critical mass where it's accepted nearly universally (probably not in our grandchildrens' lifetime). I'd argue that these speculators are probably the biggest boon to bitcoin's development since the original algorithms.

Think about it without your idealism and you'll realize that if you could only trade bitcoins directly for goods and services that could then only trade them to other people directly, there would be far fewer people taking bitcoins right now. The ability to cash them out and buy a plane ticket or a cup of coffee from your convenient merchants is key to early acceptance.

Not arguing with this...agree mostly.

But speculators are also the bane of this currency. The volatility that will inevitably result will play right into the hands of those who want to kill this concept.

I would like to see it grow slowly at a sustainable rate and gain credibility over time.

Boring??

Not boring, just not possible. Bootstrapping a currency that has no tangible value would be absurdly difficult to the point of impossibility. Without speculators providing liquidity to and from existing currencies, any currency without an issuing authority assuring some kind of commodity backing or a government coercing accceptance is more or less worthless.

Nobody takes it because it's not valuable and nobody values it because nobody takes it.

[Pandasama]

Again...not disagreeing...

But how do you explain Bitcoin's gradual increase in momentum before it hit the mainstream? It was developing quite nicely without outside help thank you very much!

A bit of a mix suits me. As few get-rich-quick dickheads as possible and plenty of people who like the idea but are gamblers too!!

Anyway...