7,000,000 bitcoins ...

[bbit]

are out  there in the world!   and a small fraction is seen moving around on exchanges ?  what does this mean ? the rest is being hoarded ?

[silverchair]

Most are hoarded, only 10% keeps on rollin. Keep it rolling guys.

[bbit]

Most are hoarded, only 10% keeps on rollin. Keep it rolling guys.

    no good to hear! keep it rolling guys!

[st4rdust]

Awwwright, partner. Keep on rollin', baby. You know what time it is.

[JuanPabloCuervo]

www.bitcoinmonitor.com

[silverchair]

www.bitcoinmonitor.com

Its bad, trading didn't even reach 1000btc .

[moocow1452]

The second the last block is uncovered, a lot of people will probably be cashing out. Once that happens, we'll see a lot more action, provided Bitcoins are still viable.

The second I can pay rent with them though, I'm golden.

[evoorhees]

The second the last block is uncovered, a lot of people will probably be cashing out. Once that happens, we'll see a lot more action, provided Bitcoins are still viable.

The second I can pay rent with them though, I'm golden.

There will never be a "last block." Blocks will always be generated, because that's where new transactions are processed/confirmed. However, after the 21m coin limit, there will no longer be coins created in the block. Instead, those still mining earn money from transaction fees... which, if Bitcoin is successful, will be very large in the future because each block will represent tens of thousands of transactions.

[NothinG]

The second the last block is uncovered, a lot of people will probably be cashing out. Once that happens, we'll see a lot more action, provided Bitcoins are still viable.

The second I can pay rent with them though, I'm golden.

There will never be a "last block." Blocks will always be generated, because that's where new transactions are processed/confirmed. However, after the 21m coin limit, there will no longer be coins created in the block. Instead, those still mining earn money from transaction fees... which, if Bitcoin is successful, will be very large in the future because each block will represent tens of thousands of transactions.

Would the difficulty still be high?

[TiagoTiago]

Hm, isn't the very last bitcoin expected to get mined at year ∞?

[NothinG]

Hm, isn't the very last bitcoin expected to get mined at year ∞?

The coins generated per block are suppose to half-life (or something) until 2033 (~ish).

[Audriux9]

A bit off-topic, but anyway about bitcoin future:

I have question, every 210000 block, rewards for found block are cut by half. So I tried to calculate when approximately it will happen. According to my calculation we will reach 210000 blocks in 2012, 6th of December and 420000 blocks in 2016 3rd of December. Am I right?

[BusmasterDMA]

Would the difficulty still be high?

The difficulty should still be automatically adjusted to maintain an average rate of one block every ten minutes.

[Raeldi]

People are stocking them up simply because they hope / expect the price to rise (which, if bitcoin doesn't crash, has a good chance to happen)

[TheBanker]

Hoarding them will NOT make the price rise. What needs to happen is that vendors see a legitimate, popular use for them. You want to see the price rise? Get Amazon to accept BTC. That's never going to happen until they see solid, consistent trade happening with BTC - hoarding doesn't create that.

[gochk]

Really? 1/3 gone? And I have less than 10 btc? sigh ... i'm not getting rich with this thing, am i?

[moocow1452]

^Only if you start trading. Mining alone won't get you much of nowhere.

Hoarding them will NOT make the price rise. What needs to happen is that vendors see a legitimate, popular use for them. You want to see the price rise? Get Amazon to accept BTC. That's never going to happen until they see solid, consistent trade happening with BTC - hoarding doesn't create that.

Technically, one could take $5 worth of Bitcoin to pass on an Amazon Gift Card to a friendly friend. Would do it myself, but my horde is about .01 BTC tied up in the mines.

[Whuzz]

are out  there in the world!   and a small fraction is seen moving around on exchanges ?  what does this mean ? the rest is being hoarded ?

Bitcoins are a bubble and once everyone finds out, it will burst.  It hasn't got an economy to support it, there is no thing like a "Bitcoin economy".
There are some obscure shops that accept Bitcoins but nobody knows if they ever sold anything.
I said before, on other forums, that the price will drop and so it did.  And it will keep on dropping until it reaches zero, everyone stops and difficulty gets stuck forever.
Bitcoin just doesn't work.  A digital wallet? Explain that to your mother.  How do you obtain them?  How do you pay with them?  It's way to complicated for anyone without "nerd alert" written al over him.  Wallets will get lost, people will loose money and in the end there will be no Bitcoin left.  Deflation makes people hoard them but without anyone who wants them, they might as well hoard seashells. 

Read this carefully, you'll think of me when it all happens.

[moocow1452]

Bitcoins are a bubble and once everyone finds out, it will burst.  It hasn't got an economy to support it, there is no thing like a "Bitcoin economy".
There are some obscure shops that accept Bitcoins but nobody knows if they ever sold anything.
I said before, on other forums, that the price will drop and so it did.  And it will keep on dropping until it reaches zero, everyone stops and difficulty gets stuck forever.
Bitcoin just doesn't work.  A digital wallet? Explain that to your mother.  How do you obtain them?  How do you pay with them?  It's way to complicated for anyone without "nerd alert" written al over him.  Wallets will get lost, people will loose money and in the end there will be no Bitcoin left.  Deflation makes people hoard them but without anyone who wants them, they might as well hoard seashells.  

Read this carefully, you'll think of me when it all happens.

Cool story, bro. I'd buy the script off you in a heartbeat.

[molecular]

Hoarding them will NOT make the price rise.

I think you misunderstood Raeldi. He didn't mean to say: "People hoard bitcoin in order for the price to rise", but "People hoard bitcoin because they think/hope the price will rise (for other reasons than their hoarding)".

I can affirm, though, that "not hoarding, but selling bitcoin for USD will make the price drop", which is not quite the reverse, because there's also other forms of spending, which you were wishing for later in your post. Loop closed.