Ready to admit bitcoin is a failure?

[Bitware]

OP is an idiot. Just look at the price and volume a year ago compared to today.

[1715025534]

1715025534

[sublime5447]

OP is an idiot. Just look at the price and volume a year ago compared to today.

Volume is down compared to a year ago price will be down shortly.

 https://blockchain.info/charts/estimated-transaction-volume-usd   

[bigasic]

Where were all the naysayers when bitcoin went from 35 dollars to 2 dollars in 4 months? then sat at 4 dollars for like 6 months... I think too many people are too anxious and want mass adoption yesterday. this will take time, I personally think its ahead of schedule..

[Clegg]

Where were all the naysayers when bitcoin went from 35 dollars to 2 dollars in 4 months? then sat at 4 dollars for like 6 months... I think too many people are too anxious and want mass adoption yesterday. this will take time, I personally think its ahead of schedule..

I know exactly what the problem is: people want to get rich quick and get annoyed and antsy when they've suddenly not become a millionaire overnight, let alone in a year.

[Trillium]

I love how threads like this appear around any time the price has dropped considerably. Likewise you see it on reddit and other tech sites too. When the price drops mining is suddenly worthless, small software bugs become network-threatening or simply "the death of bitcoin", and everyone who's ever known anything about bitcoin is someone who you should feel sorry for.

But wait until the next price boom and wow, suddenly bitcoin is the #1 cool thing to have: the most trendy geek possession imaginable ("make MONEY with your GTX99999 COD-Renderer after your parents have sent you to bed"). Bitcoin becomes once again the magical internet money system that news anchors struggle to understand or explain. After all, how are those basement dwellers printing money on their computers and buying their parents house with their profits? It's again what the non-tech-savvy read about whilst starry eyed about how this new thing will let them retire at 35, or buy that Italian power yacht before they develop arthritis. And of course, if you don't have at least whole-integers of bitcoin in your possession during a boom phase, well, why haven't you bought more yet?

When I started mining bitcoin they were worth <$0.30 USD each. I once sold over 400 of them to help pay part of my power bill. Back then bitcoin was a novelty to throw unused computer resources at, not many people would have expected them to reach a high value in the near future. Now only a few years later and they're worth $400. They were worth (gox-manipulation-vs-real-value-of-the-coins arguments aside) >$1000 for a while. Most people now have heard of bitcoin, thanks in part to conventional media. Every now and then I come across someone who I find out is a miner or who actually has some bitcoins or altcoins. I assume there are more who do not wish to share this information with me, and good on them, it's a smart move. Bitcoin has some challenges, especially with adoption by non-tech savvy (My cat pulled the cable from the Wi-fry thing again, Now Mozilla says something about a page? Should I buy a new laptop?), and those who simply do not care about their money. So I consider bitcoin to not be a failure.

[sublime5447]

Where were all the naysayers when bitcoin went from 35 dollars to 2 dollars in 4 months? then sat at 4 dollars for like 6 months... I think too many people are too anxious and want mass adoption yesterday. this will take time, I personally think its ahead of schedule..

I am a naysayer at any price, Bitcoin is a failure no matter the manipulated value.

[bee7]

Where were all the naysayers when bitcoin went from 35 dollars to 2 dollars in 4 months? then sat at 4 dollars for like 6 months... I think too many people are too anxious and want mass adoption yesterday. this will take time, I personally think its ahead of schedule..

I am a naysayer at any price, Bitcoin is a failure no matter the manipulated value.

Fine, if you, being a hero member of this forum, now believe that Bitcoin is failure then what a hell you are doing here? Leave us alone, let us stay in our delusion.

[crazyivan]

There is something in this. Something s wrong since last year. It is very simple, BTC price goes down since BTC supply is greater then BTC demand. We ve been listening about companies starting to accept BTC, about IPOs, about this and that and the price keeps going down. This means demand is still not sufficient.

Even more, this is a classic vicious circle effect, the more the price goes down, this weakens demand even more. Who wants to buy coin which loses its value constantly.

I think the biggest problem with BTC is its unregulated nature. It alows tons and tons and tons of lowlifes and scammers to take advantage of this lack of regulation and scam people which do not intent to come back once they get scammed. This weakens demand and it might end BTC.

[validium]

Well if it was a failure some digits on a computer wouldn't be worth around 400$ as of writing this 

[crazyivan]

Well if it was a failure some digits on a computer wouldn't be worth around 400$ as of writing this 

Closer to $300 till this time tomorrow, if this current trend continues.

[doggieTattoo]

Where were all the naysayers when bitcoin went from 35 dollars to 2 dollars in 4 months? then sat at 4 dollars for like 6 months... I think too many people are too anxious and want mass adoption yesterday. this will take time, I personally think its ahead of schedule..

I know exactly what the problem is: people want to get rich quick and get annoyed and antsy when they've suddenly not become a millionaire overnight, let alone in a year.

The reason so many people want overnight success like this is because many people did become rich almost overnight. Last November the price of bitcoin went up 10x in the span of less then a month. People that invested only a few thousand dollars in bitcoin in late 2012 would have become a millionaire. People that invested much less only months earlier would have now make millions. People are hoping to have the same success.  

[crazyivan]

Where were all the naysayers when bitcoin went from 35 dollars to 2 dollars in 4 months? then sat at 4 dollars for like 6 months... I think too many people are too anxious and want mass adoption yesterday. this will take time, I personally think its ahead of schedule..

I know exactly what the problem is: people want to get rich quick and get annoyed and antsy when they've suddenly not become a millionaire overnight, let alone in a year.

The reason so many people want overnight success like this is because many people did become rich almost overnight. Last November the price of bitcoin went up 10x in the span of less then a month. People that invested only a few thousand dollars in bitcoin in late 2012 would have become a millionaire. People that invested much less only months earlier would have now make millions. People are hoping to have the same success.  

Do not forget that in about 1 month, BTC price will be negative compared to the same period of the last year. What about people who bought BTC in November, December last year? We need that push and we need it fast. Sick and tired with speculators and bots tradin $1 of BTC or less at a time to manipulate the price.

[Stedsm]

Where were all the naysayers when bitcoin went from 35 dollars to 2 dollars in 4 months? then sat at 4 dollars for like 6 months... I think too many people are too anxious and want mass adoption yesterday. this will take time, I personally think its ahead of schedule..

I know exactly what the problem is: people want to get rich quick and get annoyed and antsy when they've suddenly not become a millionaire overnight, let alone in a year.

The reason so many people want overnight success like this is because many people did become rich almost overnight. Last November the price of bitcoin went up 10x in the span of less then a month. People that invested only a few thousand dollars in bitcoin in late 2012 would have become a millionaire. People that invested much less only months earlier would have now make millions. People are hoping to have the same success.  

Do not forget that in about 1 month, BTC price will be negative compared to the same period of the last year. What about people who bought BTC in November, December last year? We need that push and we need it fast. Sick and tired with speculators and bots tradin $1 of BTC or less at a time to manipulate the price.

Market manipulation will continue unless we get an officially registered and look after market (most likely centralised)

[sublime5447]

Where were all the naysayers when bitcoin went from 35 dollars to 2 dollars in 4 months? then sat at 4 dollars for like 6 months... I think too many people are too anxious and want mass adoption yesterday. this will take time, I personally think its ahead of schedule..

I am a naysayer at any price, Bitcoin is a failure no matter the manipulated value.

Fine, if you, being a hero member of this forum, now believe that Bitcoin is failure then what a hell you are doing here? Leave us alone, let us stay in our delusion.

I am here because I want to remove the money power from the state and return it to the people. That has always been my motivation, if you stay delusional we cant move forward on a concept that will work. 

[the joint]

100% wrong.  There is nothing about a deflationary currency that guarantees anything about the price.

Just to clear this up, deflationary currency is worth more vs goods over time, that's the definition. 2014 has been an inflationary year for bitcoin. Increasing money supply does not in and of itself guarantee inflation, and neither does having a fixed supply guarantee deflation.

Not quite, but very close.

There's a difference between 'deflation' and a 'deflationary currency,' and unfortunately even Wikipedia doesn't do much to clarify the difference.

The definition of 'deflation' is a relative decrease in the price of goods and services in the marketplace.  On the other hand, a 'deflationary currency' is a direct reference to certain properties of the currency in question, and not about price (otherwise, the term 'deflationary currency' would lose all of its practical meaning).  If the term 'deflationary currency' only references the relative price of a given currency to goods and services available in the marketplace, then we would call BTC deflationary any time a buy order is executed, and inflationary any time a sell order is executed.  We would therefore need to apply the same logic to fiat currencies (e.g. by labeling the US dollar as deflationary since its relative value has increased in recent months).

[Oscilson]

Where were all the naysayers when bitcoin went from 35 dollars to 2 dollars in 4 months? then sat at 4 dollars for like 6 months... I think too many people are too anxious and want mass adoption yesterday. this will take time, I personally think its ahead of schedule..

I am a naysayer at any price, Bitcoin is a failure no matter the manipulated value.

Fine, if you, being a hero member of this forum, now believe that Bitcoin is failure then what a hell you are doing here? Leave us alone, let us stay in our delusion.

I am here because I want to remove the money power from the state and return it to the people. That has always been my motivation, if you stay delusional we cant move forward on a concept that will work. 

I also do not want to invest unwisely or let fund managers to manage my money as if I do not do that, my money will devalue quickly due to inflation.

[MaryJ]

It's impossible to say bitcoin is a failure when it has always been number 1 and no signs of stopping

[kodtycoon]

It's impossible to say bitcoin is a failure when it has always been number 1 and no signs of stopping

is the total failure to rally and continual selling pressure not a sign? or the continual centralization of miner power? whether people like it or not, superior technology is going to supplant bitcoin at some stage. sooner is more likely than later.

[OleOle]

Where were all the naysayers when bitcoin went from 35 dollars to 2 dollars in 4 months? then sat at 4 dollars for like 6 months... I think too many people are too anxious and want mass adoption yesterday. this will take time, I personally think its ahead of schedule..

I am a naysayer at any price, Bitcoin is a failure no matter the manipulated value.

Fine, if you, being a hero member of this forum, now believe that Bitcoin is failure then what a hell you are doing here? Leave us alone, let us stay in our delusion.

I am here because I want to remove the money power from the state and return it to the people. That has always been my motivation, if you stay delusional we cant move forward on a concept that will work. 

I also do not want to invest unwisely or let fund managers to manage my money as if I do not do that, my money will devalue quickly due to inflation.

I think it is important to have threads like this as it allows users a way to continually challenge their perceptions about bitcoin and how it is working for them, or not working for them, as a unit of currency or as a medium of investment. As you can see from the three or four statements I have quoted above, there's different viewpoints driving the participants responses and that is only natural as we'd expect to see a wide spectrum of viewpoints, irrespective of what the matter being discussed is, especially with such a non-defined and broad thread topic as, "Ready to admit bitcoin is a failure?"

If your idea of success is that bitcoin is widely adopted, we can say, 'We're not there yet,' optimists will think that at some point in the future critical mass will be reached, pessimists think it won't.

If your idea of success is that bitcoin is a unit of currency that allow you to buy a complete range of goods and services in your everyday life, well, again we can say, 'We're not here yet,' as no doubt some goods and services can be bought with bitcoin, but not all. Sure, some food supply stores may accept bitcoin, but you don't rock down to your local supermarket usually and pay with bitcoins.

If your idea of success is that bitcoin will somehow "remove the money power from the state and return it to the people" there we're definitely not there yet and such decentralised/anarchist/libertarian thinking tends to overlook the fact that money is a collective construct, usually with an authoritative reinforcement to backstop its value.

If your idea of success is that bitcoin is a viable alternative investment then it depends on your investment thesis, timeframe and desired investment outcome. Like bullion, direct investments into bitcoin don't yield any income but may over time may provide spectacular capital growth or severe destruction of capital, it's perhaps too early to tell. If your are investing substantial capital into a data centre sized mining operation then bitcoin (and fiat) gains are to be had, however if you're investing a lazy $1000, it's unlikely that your bitcoins can find a suitable home to provide a reasonable level of return and/or some protection against inflation devaluation.

So work out what your idea of success looks like, think about it long and hard and if you're confident, optimistic and are prepared to risk bitcoin, fiat or time, it doesn't really matter how other people answer the question, "Ready to admit bitcoin is a failure?" it only really matters how you answer it.

[sublime5447]

It's impossible to say bitcoin is a failure when it has always been number 1 and no signs of stopping

is the total failure to rally and continual selling pressure not a sign? or the continual centralization of miner power? whether people like it or not, superior technology is going to supplant bitcoin at some stage. sooner is more likely than later.

YUP +1