What is the point?

[Anonymous]

I have been using bitcoin for a little over 6 months now, and I have decided to label the entire thing pointless. First off, at the time being, mining is impossible to be profitable, so that is off the table for earning bitcoins. All the investments you made went to shit after the bitcoin crashes back in july and august. Bitcoins went from 30 dollars to 3, in a matter of moths. That is a 90% loss, over 4ish months. Even if you can get bitcoins at a good value, what the hell are you going to do with them. The selection of marketplaces that accept bitcoins is so slim, that it is just not worth it. That is if you can keep your bitcoins, which some companies (MyBitcoin) cannot seem to do very well. So my question, Why are you staying here, and supporting this dead, useless, unprofitable, currency known as bitcoin?

Thanks,
macintosh264

[doobadoo]

and yet you have a donation address up?  why don't you give away or sell all your bitcoin and find something better to do with your time if you think its so pointless?   you clearly do not see or care about the big idea behind bitcoin.

[Anonymous]

and yet you have a donation address up?  why don't you give away or sell all your bitcoin and find something better to do with your time if you think its so pointless?   you clearly do not see or care about the big idea behind bitcoin.

The concept of bitcoin is a fine one, but I do not understand why people are using it with the current standings of the market, the current standings of the major players in it (the big bitcoin companies), and the current standing of bitcoin acceptance.

[btc_artist]

Because they believe in it.

[Anonymous]

Because they believe in it.

What do "they" believe bitcoin is going to become/do.

[Astro]

A man from Belarus, one of the most repressive and totalitarian regimes in Europe, just moved thousands of dollars to his family in Long Beach without fees or government involvement.  Before, he had to strap cash to his body, $10k at a time and hope some corrupt customs official didn't "confiscate" it.

In short, bitcoin exists outside of your petty money-making schemes.  Go trade the pink sheets if you want to "invest" in something.

[Anonymous]

A man from Belarus, one of the most repressive and totalitarian regimes in Europe, just moved thousands of dollars to his family in Long Beach without fees or government involvement.  Before, he had to strap cash to his body, $10k at a time and hope some corrupt customs official didn't "confiscate" it.

In short, bitcoin exists outside of your petty money-making schemes.  Go trade the pink sheets if you want to "invest" in something.

Good point, but my question is more from a consumer standpoint. How can bitcoin be used in the marketplace with all of its problems, and why do people stand by it when the pickings in the marketplace are so few, that the currency's only value stems from currency exchange, not the value of the goods and services it can provide.

[wareen]

So my question, Why are you staying here, and supporting this dead, useless, unprofitable, currency known as bitcoin?

Bitcoin is far from dead - it still works nicely as a currency and you can probably use Bitcoin at more places now than you could ever before.

Bitcoin is also far from useless - it really is the only viable alternative monetary system available. It is a very useful experiment to see if something like 'people's money' could actually work.

As for unprofitable... why should a currency be profitable?

But yes, there's still much to be done to get this experiment going but luckily there's many people working on that!

Maybe you should just check back in a year or two - maybe then Bitcoin is more to your liking.

If you really want to know why we're staying here (with Bitcoin that is), it's probably because there's many people seeing the great potential in Bitcoin but also realize that we have to work for it to get real.

[kgo]

You might as well ask why the Wright Brothers, and so many people before them, wasted time, money, and resources to develop heavier-than-air flight.

[Matthew N. Wright]

You know what I see in the ops posts? A bunch of words.

Anyone actively using bitcoins doesn't need to ask this question. He has no imagination and is just a speculator.

I use Bitcoins to pay for my food, my rent, and even use the blockchain to power my rotating love bed.

Peace.

[wareen]

How can bitcoin be used in the marketplace with all of its problems, and why do people stand by it when the pickings in the marketplace are so few, that the currency's only value stems from currency exchange, not the value of the goods and services it can provide.

I agree that the current incentives for the average consumer to use Bitcoin are slim, but there's entrepreneurs seeing the opportunities to create new businesses. Slowly it will become more attractive for customers as well - just not over night.

and even use the blockchain to power my rotating love bed.

just... how?

[Anonymous]

How can bitcoin be used in the marketplace with all of its problems, and why do people stand by it when the pickings in the marketplace are so few, that the currency's only value stems from currency exchange, not the value of the goods and services it can provide.

I agree that the current incentives for the average consumer to use Bitcoin are slim, but there's entrepreneurs seeing the opportunities to create new businesses. Slowly it will become more attractive for customers as well - just not over night.

Excellent point, I mean, there are tons of successful businesses that are based off bitcoin. I am one of those, with my plunder, bitcoin debit, but I have done thinking after making bitcoin debit, and that is when I came to this realization, that bitcoin, in my eyes, is useless at this time, and I need to stop investing in, or buying into, it.

[Anonymous]

I have been using bitcoin for a little over 6 months now, and I have decided to label the entire thing pointless. First off, at the time being, mining is impossible to be profitable, so that is off the table for earning bitcoins. All the investments you made went to shit after the bitcoin crashes back in july and august. Bitcoins went from 30 dollars to 3, in a matter of moths. That is a 90% loss, over 4ish months. Even if you can get bitcoins at a good value, what the hell are you going to do with them. The selection of marketplaces that accept bitcoins is so slim, that it is just not worth it. That is if you can keep your bitcoins, which some companies (MyBitcoin) cannot seem to do very well. So my question, Why are you staying here, and supporting this dead, useless, unprofitable, currency known as bitcoin?

Thanks,
macintosh264

Mining is unprofitable for you, but it is still quite profitable for others, people who have highly efficient mining setups and/or cheap electricity.

From what I read, and from what I calculated, there is only a select few with such circumstances.

[evoorhees]

I have been using bitcoin for a little over 6 months now, and I have decided to label the entire thing pointless. First off, at the time being, mining is impossible to be profitable, so that is off the table for earning bitcoins. All the investments you made went to shit after the bitcoin crashes back in july and august. Bitcoins went from 30 dollars to 3, in a matter of moths. That is a 90% loss, over 4ish months. Even if you can get bitcoins at a good value, what the hell are you going to do with them. The selection of marketplaces that accept bitcoins is so slim, that it is just not worth it. That is if you can keep your bitcoins, which some companies (MyBitcoin) cannot seem to do very well. So my question, Why are you staying here, and supporting this dead, useless, unprofitable, currency known as bitcoin?

Thanks,
macintosh264

1) Mining will always tend toward zero profitability - it's not a money-making scheme.

2) Your time horizon for "investments" is pathetically short. You're concerned with a price fall over the past few months... that's nothing. Come back in 5 years and tell us Bitcoin was a bad investment.  Besides, year to date, Bitcoin is still up 100%, and is way higher than that if you go back to its creation. I'm sorry you got involved during a price bubble, but if you're going to "invest" in something you better be ready for years of volatility.

3) If you don't understand the usefulness of Bitcoins, then I can see why your interest is so fickle. Send me $0.10 without Bitcoin and let's see what happens. Send me $100,000 in another country and see what happens. Try opening a store and accepting credit card orders from Cote D'Ivoire and tell me what happens. Try sending a paycheck to a home bank in another country every week and tell me what happens.  Try playing online poker from the US and tell me what happens. Try sending money between two of your own bank accounts 50 times and tell me what happens. Try preventing the Government from seizing your bank accounts or inflating away the purchasing power of your money... Do you want more?

4) "The selection of marketplaces that accept bitcoins is so slim, that it is just not worth it."  <---- dude it's been like 6 months since anyone really knew about Bitcoin. Give it time. Have you seen https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade recently?

5) You cite MyBitcoin like that is common. Cite another ewallet that disappeared. The number of sites that ran off with peoples' money can almost be counted on one hand, and there are hundreds of sites out there. Be diligent and take responsibility for who you trust.

6) Those of us who are supporting this currency do so because we know it is mankind's single most important invention since the internet, for many reasons. I'm sorry you didn't get rich in 2 months.

tl;dr - what's the point? To fundamentally change the monetary system of the planet.

[wareen]

what's the point? To fundamentally change the monetary system of the planet.

+1

[tvbcof]

A man from Belarus, one of the most repressive and totalitarian regimes in Europe, just moved thousands of dollars to his family in Long Beach without fees or government involvement.  Before, he had to strap cash to his body, $10k at a time and hope some corrupt customs official didn't "confiscate" it.

In short, bitcoin exists outside of your petty money-making schemes.  Go trade the pink sheets if you want to "invest" in something.

The Belarus guy must be one of the few people doing such a thing.  One $10k 'visit' would be in the 5k BTC range being obtained and a bit later sold at today's prices.  If the guy and his family were using exchanges, it would not take more than a few of them to have a fairly noticeable impact.

I completely miss-estimated how commonly this form of 'transfer' would be and estimated the value of Bitcoin at much more than it is today.  I'm currently down a bunch of USD because of it.  Oh well.

I've not ever bothered to try to understand the ratio of trading via OTC vs. via Mt. Gox.  Anyone have guesstimates about this?

[Anonymous]

I have been using bitcoin for a little over 6 months now, and I have decided to label the entire thing pointless. First off, at the time being, mining is impossible to be profitable, so that is off the table for earning bitcoins. All the investments you made went to shit after the bitcoin crashes back in july and august. Bitcoins went from 30 dollars to 3, in a matter of moths. That is a 90% loss, over 4ish months. Even if you can get bitcoins at a good value, what the hell are you going to do with them. The selection of marketplaces that accept bitcoins is so slim, that it is just not worth it. That is if you can keep your bitcoins, which some companies (MyBitcoin) cannot seem to do very well. So my question, Why are you staying here, and supporting this dead, useless, unprofitable, currency known as bitcoin?

Thanks,
macintosh264

1) Mining will always tend toward zero profitability - it's not a money-making scheme.

2) Your time horizon for "investments" is pathetically short. You're concerned with a price fall over the past few months... that's nothing. Come back in 5 years and tell us Bitcoin was a bad investment.  Besides, year to date, Bitcoin is still up 100%, and is way higher than that if you go back to its creation. I'm sorry you got involved during a price bubble, but if you're going to "invest" in something you better be ready for years of volatility.

3) If you don't understand the usefulness of Bitcoins, then I can see why your interest is so fickle. Send me $0.10 without Bitcoin and let's see what happens. Send me $100,000 in another country and see what happens. Try opening a store and accepting credit card orders from Cote D'Ivoire and tell me what happens. Try sending a paycheck to a home bank in another country every week and tell me what happens.  Try playing online poker from the US and tell me what happens. Try sending money between two of your own bank accounts 50 times and tell me what happens. Try preventing the Government from seizing your bank accounts or inflating away the purchasing power of your money... Do you want more?

4) "The selection of marketplaces that accept bitcoins is so slim, that it is just not worth it."  <---- dude it's been like 6 months since anyone really knew about Bitcoin. Give it time. Have you seen https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade recently?

5) You cite MyBitcoin like that is common. Cite another ewallet that disappeared. The number of sites that ran off with peoples' money can almost be counted on one hand, and there are hundreds of sites out there. Be diligent and take responsibility for who you trust.

6) Those of us who are supporting this currency do so because we know it is mankind's single most important invention since the internet, for many reasons. I'm sorry you didn't get rich in 2 months.

tl;dr - what's the point? To fundamentally change the monetary system of the planet.

I agree with all of your points, and I must admit, I cannot think of a counterargument, except for in response to 5. You state that MyBitcoin is an anomaly, but what about mtgox, the fall of the giant e-wallet, and I will be back with more in about an hour when my internet connection is better. I am on a cell phone's PDA net, and I am on 1x, not 3g (or 4g for that matter), so I am having trouble researching.

[Gabi]

unprofitable

Hello, wake up

Bitcoin is NOT a get rich quick scheme.

You expected to become rich by downloading a software and you didn't become rich? Oh i'm so sorry (no i am not).

And price actually went up from what it was in May (1 dollar or less).

You go away? Finally a good news  

[Explodicle]

what's the point? To fundamentally change the monetary system of the planet.

+1

+2

[Anonymous]

unprofitable

Hello, wake up

Bitcoin is NOT a get rich quick scheme.

You expected to become rich by downloading a software and you didn't become rich? Oh i'm so sorry (no i am not).

And price actually went up from what it was in May (1 dollar or less).

You go away? Finally a good news  

unprofitable, mining. Mining is not ment to be unprofitable. Satoshi (did I spell that right ) designed it as a reward system, so it was designed to be profitable, but at this point, you can never find a block without it becoming unprofitable, and if you could find a block, at best you would come out even.