Are we reaching a tipping point?

[tabnloz]

Just had a quick browse of the Bank of England report.

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarterlybulletin/2014/qb14q3digitalcurrenciesbitcoin1.pdf

Top of the report states of Bitcoin:

"the distributed ledger underlying their payment systems is a significant innovation."

The trickle is turning into a flow. PayPay, IBM etc.

It is almost impossible to deny that the future of payments lies in using a decentralised ledger ala the bitcoin protocol.

Even Apple's introduction of NFC is positive as it normalises the use of mobile devices as payment systems.

Even though the price does not reflect it, bitcoin has made massive progress in 2014.

[tabnloz]

Quote in the conclusion:

"If a subset of people transacted exclusively in a digital currency, then the Bank’s ability to influence demand for this group may potentially be impaired."

Ummmm.....

[inca]

Quote in the conclusion:

"If a subset of people transacted exclusively in a digital currency, then the Bank’s ability to influence demand for this group may potentially be impaired."

Ummmm.....

It is clear the central banks have been watching development of bitcoin very closely. At some point they will probably start to interfere with the price.

[tabnloz]

That option would definitely be on the table, dont know in what form however. Maybe the US will keep the rest of the SR stash, for one possibilty.

I like the fact that there is not a sector out there, except for some economics subsets, that does not at least grudgingly admit that the protocol is a major advancement: tech, banking, payments, privacy are all on board to varying degrees.

Question is, from here, is when is tipping point reached, when the snowflake becomes an adoption avalanche?

[cypherdoc]

great article.

i disagree with the author in that he contends that a distributed ledger can be maintained w/o a new currency and that CB's could issue their own forms of digital liabilities based payment systems.

this totally disregards the economic incentives provided to miners in the POW system called Bitcoin.  grassroot miners are incentivized to maintain the security of the ledger by the rewards.  ppl have learned to distrust CB's.

[inca]

Quote in the conclusion:

"If a subset of people transacted exclusively in a digital currency, then the Bank’s ability to influence demand for this group may potentially be impaired."

Ummmm.....

It is clear the central banks have been watching development of bitcoin very closely. At some point they will probably start to interfere with the price.

How would they do that?

They could buy off exchange and dump on exchange to depress the price. They could time large sells to floor the price when it starts to gain positive momentum. Whether they could exert long term damage to the market this way is unknown but they could increase volatility dramatically if they wanted which might potentially impact consumer adoption rates.

It is now well documented they have for a long time intervened in the gold market. Recently it has become publicised they have direct access to commodity and stock exchanges, too. So it isn't much of a stretch.

An alternative view is that see the bigger picture and actually buy up a % of bitcoin to add to their reserves.

Of course they may sit back and watch bitcoin instead. Perhaps moving to strangle it through legislation. Or nothing

[ssmc2]

"Then they fight you"?

[cypherdoc]

Quote in the conclusion:

"If a subset of people transacted exclusively in a digital currency, then the Bank’s ability to influence demand for this group may potentially be impaired."

Ummmm.....

It is clear the central banks have been watching development of bitcoin very closely. At some point they will probably start to interfere with the price.

How would they do that?

They could buy off exchange and dump on exchange to depress the price. They could time large sells to floor the price when it starts to gain positive momentum. Whether they could exert long term damage to the market this way is unknown but they could increase volatility dramatically if they wanted which might potentially impact consumer adoption rates.

It is now well documented they have for a long time intervened in the gold market. Recently it has become publicised they have direct access to commodity and stock exchanges, too. So it isn't much of a stretch.

An alternative view is that see the bigger picture and actually buy up a % of bitcoin to add to their reserves.

Of course they may sit back and watch bitcoin instead. Perhaps moving to strangle it through legislation. Or nothing

yep, you just about covered all the bases. 

seriously though, you'd think it'd be extremely risky given the strict AML/KYC measures exchanges have been forced to apply.  sure they could use a proxy but still.  having said that, the ask wall manipulators we're seeing right now could be them.

[inca]

Quote in the conclusion:

"If a subset of people transacted exclusively in a digital currency, then the Bank’s ability to influence demand for this group may potentially be impaired."

Ummmm.....

It is clear the central banks have been watching development of bitcoin very closely. At some point they will probably start to interfere with the price.

How would they do that?

They could buy off exchange and dump on exchange to depress the price. They could time large sells to floor the price when it starts to gain positive momentum. Whether they could exert long term damage to the market this way is unknown but they could increase volatility dramatically if they wanted which might potentially impact consumer adoption rates.

It is now well documented they have for a long time intervened in the gold market. Recently it has become publicised they have direct access to commodity and stock exchanges, too. So it isn't much of a stretch.

An alternative view is that see the bigger picture and actually buy up a % of bitcoin to add to their reserves.

Of course they may sit back and watch bitcoin instead. Perhaps moving to strangle it through legislation. Or nothing

yep, you just about covered all the bases. 

seriously though, you'd think it'd be extremely risky given the strict AML/KYC measures exchanges have been forced to apply.  sure they could use a proxy but still.  having said that, the ask wall manipulators we're seeing right now could be them.

Thanks.

I try not to think about it too much. But to discount it entirely would be naive!

[minerpumpkin]

There's still so much untapped potential, so I'm quite confident that we'll find many ways of even broadening the ways in which Bitcoin may help people. It is revolusionary in its own way and therefore I don't think it will go down, at least not anytime soon!

[matt608]

They mentioned banks issuing currency backed by digital assets, such as bitcoin, being something that could happen in the future.  I predict that within 3 years, 5 years max, that banks will start buying up bitcoin.

[cypherdoc]

They mentioned banks issuing currency backed by digital assets, such as bitcoin, being something that could happen in the future.  I predict that within 3 years, 5 years max, that banks will start buying up bitcoin.

that's already failed with Mintchip.  doesn't stop other fool CB's like Ecuador from repeating the same mistake.

[KarmaShark]

They mentioned banks issuing currency backed by digital assets, such as bitcoin, being something that could happen in the future.  I predict that within 3 years, 5 years max, that banks will start buying up bitcoin.

3-5 years allows for enough time for the current system to further it's transition away from the USD as well as add a few zero's in front of the Bitcoin price. This is a wonderful time to be alive, aware and motivated.

[gog1]

I still don't think we are there yet, maybe another couple of years; there's still no incentives for the average joe to buy bitcoin and use it as a currency over just using credit card.

[cypherdoc]

I still don't think we are there yet, maybe another couple of years; there's still no incentives for the average joe to buy bitcoin and use it as a currency over just using credit card.

unless the price starts rising again.

[Gimmelfarb]

I still don't think we are there yet, maybe another couple of years; there's still no incentives for the average joe to buy bitcoin and use it as a currency over just using credit card.

unless the price starts rising again.

sure, there's that. i hope so. for now, it seems that demand is so small that miners just keep pushing this down. i wonder where the end is.

[romerun]

not yet until ppl can pay for ebay items

[impulse]

I personally think that we are now past the tipping point based on the developments that have occurred this year, it just hasn't become obvious yet and the price has not caught up. We won't really know until we have put some more time in. Fun times though.

[Wilhelm]

This is good news iff....

If Bitcoin is the first tier then I can understand banks being a second tier that charges cutomers to store and protect their money or....
Banks can then invest money and give customers a portion of the profits as interest.
Anyone in the world can verify that the banks aren't fraudulent. Liquidity cannot be faked since Bitcoin decentralized ledger cannot be faked.

I do see how the current banking system can adapt to Bitcoin.

I however do doubt that governments can still provide our current (unsustainable) wealth without being able to fake the shit out of our monetary system.

[zimmah]

Bank of England will be a bitcoin buyer in 2015.

Buy bitcoin or get left behind.

source?