On Bitcoin, gold, and fiat.

[CurbsideProphet]

That silver is still around.  It just isn't in bullion bars.

A lot of silver is subject to inelastic demand.

...once the silver is consumed into devices like this, it's not economical to ever recycle it.

It might as well just be gone forever.

...more gold bullion above ground right now, than silver bullion.

I believe the historic Gold:Silver price ratio is 16. Currently it is much higher. But if there is more available silver than gold, and inelastic demand, I wonder if someday the price difference could reverse? Has silver ever been more valuable than gold? I don’t think so. Should/Could it be? Logic suggests maybe. Of course, applying “Logic” to markets is problematic.

Should we be looking at junk silver too? Sliver Wheaton, anyone?

I no longer own SLW but I think it's a good play if you are bullish on silver.  A guy on a macroeconomics forum I read bet a bunch on them a while back and made a nice return. 

[flagel8]

I no longer own SLW but I think it's a good play if you are bullish on silver.  A guy on a macroeconomics forum I read bet a bunch on them a while back and made a nice return. 

Well if you believe that silver must go up, and this seems likely to me, then SLW sure looks like a speculative buy now, having been beaten down recently.

Note: I do not own, nor have I ever owned SLW, but I am thinking about buying some. Diversification is good, and if you believe in silver, how much can you actually hold physically, and how do you keep it safe? And how do you exchange it?

Of course, this is what makes BTC so attractive. Good luck to us all!

[vokain]

Gold = Bitcoin
Silver = Litecoin


so it would be good go have all of that  

i'd rather trade silver for bitcoin than litecoin :p

[QuantPlus]

Bitcoin will provide an alternative to gold as an insurance policy against the inevitable decline of fiat.

Gold has been getting hammered this year but there is far too much global debt that can never be repaid in present-value fiat, only by:
1. Inflation.
2. In part, through defaults/restructuring ala Cyprus.
3. Fiat devaluation.

There is 10's if not 100's of trillions (in usd) of central bank, public and private debt that cannot possibly be repaid by the global economy, there simply isn't enough income being generated to service the debt. There is also 100's of trillions of future pension and other entitlement obligations of the various governments.

I'm not a gold bug but I think it's sure to rise in the longer term; however for me, I'm more comfortable with bitcoin as it also has other properties in addition to being a store of value.

Long BTC. Just sayin.

If our debts which are denominated in Fiat money are so large and unplayable, why on earth would we try to pay thouse debts in a highly supply inelastic commodity that is already in the hands of the creditors of most of our debts?  It is beyond belief that governments would slit their own monetary throats by making gold once again money, to do so would make their debt situation worse not better.  Sure gold might rise in value as an inflation hedge, but it is not going to become legal tender ever again.  And if your holding out fantasies of government collapse the metal you should be hoarding is lead not gold, every government collapse in the 20th century has brought mobs, gangs, vigilantes or anyone else with force-of-arms to the forefront of power but not once has gold been made money.

I see your point, but many other examples.

The end of WW II left Central Europe in ruins = Total Government Collapse.

Millions of people were forced to live and survive in Refugee Camps...
The Financial System in this ecosystem became Gold >> USD >> Food/Shelter.

What was your experience is post-Pol Pot Cambodia? It may have differed.

[flagel8]

Interesting article on silver: http://seekingalpha.com/article/1598732-is-silver-good-as-gold?source=email_macro_view&ifp=0 Of course, it's no Bitcoin...