2013-11-27 MarketWatch - Bitcoin, not gold, has the Midas touch

[cedus]

Commentary: Digital currency is far more appealing than precious metal

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bitcoin-not-gold-has-the-midas-touch-2013-11-27

In many ways, it is a better alternative than gold, and its superiority is starting to become clear.

[odolvlobo]

With all the press about getting rich by owning bitcoin, hordes of people are now paying thousands of dollars to buy bitcoins. This is going to turn into a huge bubble. Tens or maybe even hundreds of billions of dollars will be lost. I think Bitcoin will have a good chance of surviving, but we will see.

[Carlton Banks]

I have often cited asteroid mining or the landing of gold-rich meteorites as the problems with gold's property of un-inflatable supply. Someone else recently pointed out that a spin-off of successful nuclear fusion reactors could include the ability to directly produce heavier elements (gold included) than those being used to fuel the fusion reaction.

Maybe the gold bugs have a little time left, half a generation or so. But eventually it's a commodity like any other, any money properties will be a true anachronism. I guess Keynes was right, although not how he ever would have imagined to have been (and certainly not for the right reasons).

[djalexr]

pretty good article but a hell of a lot of dumb-ass comments!

[LiteCoinGuy]

With all the press about getting rich by owning bitcoin, hordes of people are now paying thousands of dollars to buy bitcoins. This is going to turn into a huge bubble. Tens or maybe even hundreds of billions of dollars will be lost. I think Bitcoin will have a good chance of surviving, but we will see.

yes i think so too. thats the way bitcoin grows after every "bubble".

[hieroglyph]

I have to agree with the mass adoption leading to a potential bubble.  I don't think it will destroy bitcoin in the long run but will scare many people away when the price makes violent swings quickly.

[odolvlobo]

I have to agree with the mass adoption leading to a potential bubble.  I don't think it will destroy bitcoin in the long run but will scare many people away when the price makes violent swings quickly.

There is a difference between mass adoption and mass speculation. Mass adoption creates stability. Mass speculation creates bubbles. The get-rich-buying-bitcoin people are the greatest danger to bitcoin.

Bitcoin is a payment system (with its own currency). Don't lose sight of that.