Here is the fundamental value of Bitcoins.

[wallet_dat]

0.

[Saturn7]

0.

http://paulbohm.com/bitcoin-decentralization/

[EyeRis]

Any idea or material item is worth exactly what another is willing to pay. since many of us are willing to pay $20 for a bitcoin, it is worth $20.

[libertyzeal]

0.

Great, please send me all your bitcoins so I can cash them out on mtgox...

[EyeRis]

0.

Great, please send me all your bitcoins so I can cash them out on mtgox...

XD Fantastic post.

[Swishercutter]

0.

Great, please send me all your bitcoins so I can cash them out on mtgox...

Clearly he has none...otherwise he wouldn't be here trolling.

Read his 9 posts...again a pattern...awful lot of trouble for his short time on the forum.  Nothing positive to say.  Seems to have just joined to discredit/smear.

The more I read...the more I believe the "tin foil hat conspiracy people".  

[Anduril]

So, this board does not welcome critics?

Not every Bitcoin critic is an FBI agent, a hater, or a troll. I have serious misgivings about the currency and personally I have joined to enter into discussion about the currency's fundamentals.

[Swishercutter]

So, this board does not welcome critics?

Not every Bitcoin critic is an FBI agent, a hater, or a troll. I have serious misgivings about the currency and personally I have joined to enter into discussion about the currency's fundamentals.

Not about the critics...just when it is the same exact pattern over and over it becomes tedious/suspicious.  These people tend to have nothing positive to add in any real way and state nothing that has not been said repeatedly over the last 6 mos.  Most likely everything they are saying can be found in the beginners forum.

I have no issue with discussion but how is this thread a discussion...it is a smear tactic.

[libertyzeal]

So, this board does not welcome critics?

Not every Bitcoin critic is an FBI agent, a hater, or a troll. I have serious misgivings about the currency and personally I have joined to enter into discussion about the currency's fundamentals.

I'm still a newb here, so I don't know, but saying that bitcoin's fundamental value is 0 is pretty lame (not to mention wrong).  If someone asks a serious question about bitcoin fundamentals, I'm sure they'll get a serious reply.

[Clipse]

So, this board does not welcome critics?

Not every Bitcoin critic is an FBI agent, a hater, or a troll. I have serious misgivings about the currency and personally I have joined to enter into discussion about the currency's fundamentals.

Not about the critics...just when it is the same exact pattern over and over it becomes tedious/suspicious.  These people tend to have nothing positive to add in any real way and state nothing that has not been said repeatedly over the last 6 mos.  Most likely everything they are saying can be found in the beginners forum.

I have no issue with discussion but how is this thread a discussion...it is a smear tactic.

Ye ye, every new users take their time to register here just cause they feel compelled to point out all the weaknesses.

Its very strange to me that someone would go through the trouble to register just for that without even mentioning 1 or 2 strong points according to them.

gtfo.

[Stramash]

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Myths#Bitcoins_have_no_intrinsic_value_(unlike_some_other_things)

[Swishercutter]

So, this board does not welcome critics?

Not every Bitcoin critic is an FBI agent, a hater, or a troll. I have serious misgivings about the currency and personally I have joined to enter into discussion about the currency's fundamentals.

Not about the critics...just when it is the same exact pattern over and over it becomes tedious/suspicious.  These people tend to have nothing positive to add in any real way and state nothing that has not been said repeatedly over the last 6 mos.  Most likely everything they are saying can be found in the beginners forum.

I have no issue with discussion but how is this thread a discussion...it is a smear tactic.

Ye ye, every new users take their time to register here just cause they feel compelled to point out all the weaknesses.

Its very strange to me that someone would go through the trouble to register just for that without even mentioning 1 or 2 strong points according to them.

gtfo.

Yep...never a "What has your experience with bitcoin been?" or a "What is this all about?"...always "you are stupid with your pyramid scheme wasting power on fake money, I was ripped off by hackers/mtgox...oh wait its fixed"...granted that was a drastic combination of about 5 posts I have read lately.

[Anduril]

I'm not defending the OP (which seems to be indeed trolling).

However, I have noticed that this is a forum with very thin skin, and critics are instantly tarnished as trolls.

I am joining a forum because I find Bitcoin interesting for various reasons, but I'm very skeptical of the fundamentals behind it.

[Swishercutter]

I'm not defending the OP (which seems to be indeed trolling).

However, I have noticed that this is a forum with very thin skin, and critics are instantly tarnished as trolls.

I am joining a forum because I find Bitcoin interesting for various reasons, but I'm very skeptical of the fundamentals behind it.

That is the proper way to go about finding out more.  Typically these suspect posts do not address the matter how you did.

[Stramash]

I am joining a forum because I find Bitcoin interesting for various reasons, but I'm very skeptical of the fundamentals behind it.

Check out the links here:
http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=15918.0

[Anduril]

That is the proper way to go about finding out more.  Typically these suspect posts do not address the matter how you did.

I have actually been reading the forum for a week or more, and have been a bit disappointed by the level of discussion in many threads, so I decided to join. The forum does need a healthy dose of skepticism, I see too many people making assumptions based on liquidity that is not there (too much hoarding). I'm also seriously concerned by the fact that the system is set to disproportionately favour early adopters, who have way too much power over the exchange rate. You get a single early adopter dumping large volumes, and the value would plummet.

I'm willing to learn more, but at the moment I would not invest a penny. But I really find the concept of a cryptocurrency interesting, and it is something the Internet has been in need of for a while.

[Anduril]

I am joining a forum because I find Bitcoin interesting for various reasons, but I'm very skeptical of the fundamentals behind it.

Check out the links here:
http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=15918.0

I've read all of the basics, and more. Still trying to find a good way of calculating mining cost based on current difficulty levels. I see that too many people are calculating profitability based on current exchange rates, which might be wrong.

[Swishercutter]

That is the proper way to go about finding out more.  Typically these suspect posts do not address the matter how you did.

 I'm also seriously concerned by the fact that the system is set to disproportionately favour early adopters, who have way too much power over the exchange rate. You get a single early adopter dumping large volumes, and the value would plummet.

Look at the Mt. Gox charts vs. Block chain and you will see that happens.  It will become less and less as the currency spreads out...I hope.

[Anduril]

Look at the Mt. Gox charts vs. Block chain and you will see that happens.  It will become less and less as the currency spreads out...I hope.

Indeed. I still see a problem with adoption as a currency. Currencies need some stability to work. At the moment if I sit down to eat at that restaurant in NY which accepts BTCs, there is a good chance that I would be paying much more by the end of the meal, so there is no encouragement to spend BTCs. As a merchant, I would be nervous of accepting BTCs if that same meal loses me money.

Stability and liquidity will have to be solved for Bitcoin to work. The problem is that I believe miners are also hoarding, and as far as I can tell, mining is reaching a point where it is more difficult to be profitable. With mining rigs going up, difficulty will jump again, hoarding will continue, etc. You could have a noxious spiral soon.

For the sake of some of the good people of this forum, I sure hope I'm wrong  

[Stramash]

The trade values do flucuate madly, certainly have done recently. I guess difficulty is more predictable but a big jump in value can feedback into the total hashing power and cause difficulty to increase. I have just been shown this site for visualising the block chain and the different transactions, its pretty cool: http://www.bitcoinmonitor.com/