Are people really this dumb to not realize the "killer app" of Bitcoin?

[r0ach]

The Bitcoin "killer app" is a BTC/Gold pairing exchange.  Such exchange would probably also see a USD/Gold, and BTC/USD pairing as well.  The hedging opportunities are limitless and the exchange would see large volume, most likely driving the price of BTC a lot higher as well.

(and no, I don't mean the Goldcoin crapcoin)

It's pretty much inevitable such a thing will eventually exist, the only question is, who will open it.

[ArticMine]

The Bitcoin "killer app" is a BTC/Gold pairing exchange.  Such exchange would probably also see a USD/Gold, and BTC/USD pairing as well.  The hedging opportunities are limitless and the exchange would see large volume, most likely driving the price of BTC a lot higher as well.

(and no, I don't mean the Goldcoin crapcoin)

It's pretty much inevitable such a thing will eventually exist, the only question is, who will open it.

Really? Bitcoin was traded for gold back in early 2010 before MTGox opened. http://newlibertystandard.wikifoundry.com/page/Exchange+Rate The BTC exchange rates for New Liberty Standard and Bitcoin Market were in terms of 1 gram XAU via Pecunix.

Edit: Trading Bitcoin for gold is an interesting application but not a "killer app" for Bitcoin.  Ever thought of the possibility that Bitcoin could replace gold rather than replace the USD?

[r0ach]

Really? Bitcoin was traded for gold back in early 2010 before MTGox opened. http://newlibertystandard.wikifoundry.com/page/Exchange+Rate The BTC exchange rates for New Liberty Standard and Bitcoin Market were in terms of 1 gram XAU via Pecunix.

Bitcoin was worth 5 cents then.  It was the equivalent of having a Gold/Dogcrap pairing at that time period.

Bitcoin will never replace gold though.  The future is Bitcoin as the digital transmission vehicle of gold, which will thus increase the price and value of both commodities.

[sgbett]

or a gold/doge pairing now 

[Robert Paulson]

Bitcoin will never replace gold though.  The future is Bitcoin as the digital transmission vehicle of gold, which will thus increase the price and value of both commodities.

why not, bitcoin is superior to gold as a form of money.
bitcoins can't be counterfeited.
bitcoins can be sent across the world instantly for very little fee's.

[beatljuice]

Bitcoin will never replace gold though.  The future is Bitcoin as the digital transmission vehicle of gold, which will thus increase the price and value of both commodities.

why not, bitcoin is superior to gold as a form of money.
bitcoins can't be counterfeited.
bitcoins can be sent across the world instantly for very little fee's.

Because gold has other physical uses besides its use as "money." Plus it's pretty much Armageddon proof. There will ALWAYS be a good market for gold - though I do think Bitcoin will eventually take a significant portion of the gold market as a store of value/investment. But I seriously doubt it will "replace" gold.

[hypostatization]

Ripple delivers

Gateways exist for both gold and Bitcoin. Exchange between gateways is possible by setting the issuer per currency of the pair you wish to trade.

Example:



Also of note: earnings within Ripple can be quickly withdrawn to the Bitcoin network using the Bitcoin Bridge.

[Bit_Happy]

Bitcoin will never replace gold though.  The future is Bitcoin as the digital transmission vehicle of gold, which will thus increase the price and value of both commodities.

why not, bitcoin is superior to gold as a form of money.
bitcoins can't be counterfeited.
bitcoins can be sent across the world instantly for very little fee's.

Because gold has other physical uses besides its use as "money." Plus it's pretty much Armageddon proof. There will ALWAYS be a good market for gold - though I do think Bitcoin will eventually take a significant portion of the gold market as a store of value/investment. But I seriously doubt it will "replace" gold.

Correct.
There will be increased demand for both gold and BTC as the fiat currencies continue to fall.

[pening]

Edit: Trading Bitcoin for gold is an interesting application but not a "killer app" for Bitcoin.  Ever thought of the possibility that Bitcoin could replace gold rather than replace the USD?

I'm not even sure its an interesting application.  You have to have Bitcoin or Gold for any interest, for those with Bitcoin its hardly a driver (to get into Bitcoin) and while there's a few goldbugs that like the political aspects of Bitcoin, i reckon they're a very small minority and hardly likely to dump significant gold into Bitcoin.

Which comes to the question just what is the killer app?  Well, i'd be rich if i knew, but really the deeper question is what are the applications of Bitcoin, killer or otherwise, and which are even special.  Other than the core distributed trust mechanics, i cant think of something that is available elsewhere, or solved by a change to business models or process.  So a killer app needs to utilise that which is unique, the distributed trust, the blockchain. That's where the breakthrough will come from imo, an indirect use.

[Bit_Happy]

...
The Bitcoin "killer app" is a BTC/Gold pairing exchange....

There is a BTC/Gold exchange up and running, I saw it last week.

Searching....
Using Google I found coinabul.com, but I saw something else last week, more suited for trading.

[Robert Paulson]

Bitcoin will never replace gold though.  The future is Bitcoin as the digital transmission vehicle of gold, which will thus increase the price and value of both commodities.

why not, bitcoin is superior to gold as a form of money.
bitcoins can't be counterfeited.
bitcoins can be sent across the world instantly for very little fee's.

Because gold has other physical uses besides its use as "money." Plus it's pretty much Armageddon proof. There will ALWAYS be a good market for gold - though I do think Bitcoin will eventually take a significant portion of the gold market as a store of value/investment. But I seriously doubt it will "replace" gold.

money doesn't have to have industrial uses, the current fiat system shows that clearly, dollars are just papers and yet you can buy anything with them.
the only problem with a fiat system is that the government can dilute the currency tokens and steal purchasing power from the people, this is the problem bitcoin solves.

[ArticMine]

Many do not realize that gold has some very fundamental flaws as money:

1) It is expensive to accurately verify fineness and that one actually has gold rather than gold plated whatever.
2) It is expensive and risky to store and guard particularly in significant amounts
3) It is expensive and risky to transport particularly in significant amounts
4) The cost of breaking down a piece of gold into smaller pieces is not zero

In short the cost of taking delivery of the gold and delivering the gold to the market is far from zero

This has led to the use of trusted third parties to compensate for these shortcomings.

1) Have a "trusted" third party place a stamp or seal on the gold to guarantee, fineness, weight and against plating frauds
2) Deposit the gold with a "trusted" third party in many cases close to the market and use the third party's receipts as money instead.  

1 has led to the state issuing gold coinage and placing its seal on the coinage as the "trusted" third party only to have the state debase the currency by placing its seal on ever diminishing amounts of gold
2 has led to the creation of fiat paper (now electronic) money through debt based fractional reserve banking as the "trusted" third party issued more receipts than gold on deposit as interest bearing loans.

Bitcoin addresses all of the above and in addition also addressing the small but non zero risk gold has from esoteric technologies such as asteroid mining, low energy nuclear reactions (or cold fusion), extracting gold from seawater etc.

[zimmah]

Bitcoin will never replace gold though.  The future is Bitcoin as the digital transmission vehicle of gold, which will thus increase the price and value of both commodities.

why not, bitcoin is superior to gold as a form of money.
bitcoins can't be counterfeited.
bitcoins can be sent across the world instantly for very little fee's.

Because gold has other physical uses besides its use as "money." Plus it's pretty much Armageddon proof. There will ALWAYS be a good market for gold - though I do think Bitcoin will eventually take a significant portion of the gold market as a store of value/investment. But I seriously doubt it will "replace" gold.

Actually, gold is pretty much only used for money and jewelry, and a little in electronics. Not much else.

Silver is used much more in the industry and is in much greater demand and yet silver is cheaper (while it shouldn't be). So your argument is invalid. Use in industry does not equal a higher price automatically.

Gold is nice, bitcoin is nicer. I'll still invest in all three (gold silver and bitcoin). But I still think bitcoin is superior in pretty much every way.

Anything is better than fiat money though. I am baffled by how many people actually believe it's a good idea to allow quasi-governments to infinitely print paper notes that represent the wealth of the entire world. Pretty much getting whatever they want for free while essentially stealing what you worked so hard for. And as if that wasn't enough they also tax pretty much everything from income to expenses to imports and exports...

[gentlemand]

http://www.netagio.com/ offers BTC/gold trading. It's based in the UK and is operated by http://www.goldmoney.com/

[ArticMine]

Gold in terms of inflation adjusted USD http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/images/charts/Gold/Gold_inflation_chart.htm. Without even considering Bitcoin there is a very good case for a gold bear market not unlike the gold bear market from 1980 - 2000. Now add Bitcoin into the mix and the gold bear market can really get ugly.

Let us not forget that even in terms of the inflating USD the past gold bear was just brutal.

[hello_good_sir]

Bitcoin will never replace gold though.

I thought about buying gold several times but I never did.  The reasons?

1) The markup above the spot price was high.  Even the best places were charging more than I wanted to pay.

2) In order to sell the gold I would need to take it to a coin store.  There is no guarantee that they are going to pay me the spot price.

3) I lived in an apartment at the time.  I had lost small valuable objects when moving from one apartment to another.  I didn't want to hide my gold coin in a closet and forget it when I moved.

4) Gold isn't all that divisible from a practical standpoint.  If you want to pay minimal fees to buy and get full value when selling, it seems that you need to deal with full ounce coins or larger bars.  Investing in multiples of $1600 (that was the price of gold at the time) was hard back when I was poor.

So I bought bitcoin instead of gold.  In many situations bitcoin is superior to gold.  Gold has strengths of its own and so it will continue to be important as a way to store wealth.  However it seems that it will be secondary to bitcoin.

At some point in the future the bitcoin to gold ratio will stabilize.  Until that point, saving energy is going to flow from gold to bitcoin.  Gold is great, but bitcoin is better.

[jonald_fyookball]

I am baffled by how many people actually believe it's a good idea to allow quasi-governments to infinitely print paper notes that represent the wealth of the entire world.

Until now, they didn't have a choice.  Heck, most people aren't even at the level of awareness to make such distinctions at all.  We've been living in the dark ages. 

[Bit_Happy]

I am baffled by how many people actually believe it's a good idea to allow quasi-governments to infinitely print paper notes that represent the wealth of the entire world.

Until now, they didn't have a choice.  Heck, most people aren't even at the level of awareness to make such distinctions at all.  We've been living in the dark ages. 

Are the current dark ages ending, or is BTC and the modern libertarian movement just a tease?
Stay tuned, for the next exciting episode of "Brave Newer World."

[BitOnyx]

Gold is not that easy to sell. You would need middle man with rather high fee.

[daviducsb]

Why some billionaire doesn't buy a ton of bitcoin and say he will redeem any bitcoin with X amount of gold/whatever else is beyond me. Branson should do it with travel miles or something. I mean someone with a huge net worth could buy a bunch of bitcoin and immediately double their investment.