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Author Topic: Allison, can you explain what a bitcoin is?  (Read 1950 times)
Stephen Gornick (OP)
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January 30, 2011, 03:38:47 AM
Last edit: April 05, 2013, 04:24:53 AM by Stephen Gornick
 #1

Remember ... this is from January, 1994.  Just 17 years ago.

Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric stumped:


The point I'ld like to make is ..., we have MacroMyopia.  We tend to overestimate changes in the short term (zomg, I want to pay for my next Big Mac with bitcoins) yet underestimate them in the long term (e.g., heh, who knew those bitcoins I got from my gaming PC back in 2010 would have ended up being more than enough to use as the down payment on my house).

[Update: Well since the BTC/USD was under $1 when this was written and has now reached $147, even that "long term" measure of success was underwhelming.  Forget the down payment, if this keeps up those coins will be enough to buy the house, and they don't even need to be "cashed out" to dollars first:
 - http://rt.com/news/house-for-sale-bitcoins-781 ]

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According to NIST and ECRYPT II, the cryptographic algorithms used in Bitcoin are expected to be strong until at least 2030. (After that, it will not be too difficult to transition to different algorithms.)
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Stephen Gornick (OP)
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April 02, 2013, 06:55:58 PM
 #2

Here's the Bitcoin equivalent:

 - http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?play=1&video=3000158264

 - http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1biptm

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November 09, 2013, 11:16:38 PM
 #3

Necropost, but interesting followup:

The video above ended up today being the top post on /r/bitcoin:
 - http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1q8ztz

we have MacroMyopia.
[...]
even that "long term" measure of success was underwhelming.  Forget the down payment, if this keeps up those coins will be enough to buy the house, and they don't even need to be "cashed out" to dollars first:

Ha, that was prescient!

Bitcoin: Man Buys Flat With Forgotten Fortune
 - http://news.sky.com/story/1161340/bitcoin-man-buys-flat-with-forgotten-fortune

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November 10, 2013, 12:34:01 AM
 #4

i can see the comparisons, yeah, but it's a little different in that the internet was a completely new industry/thing, with nothing else prior that is similar to it.. BTC is unique, but commodities and currencies are very similar to them.
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