German retail bank announces negative interest rates

[padrino]

You're joking, right? Bitcoin has lost 70% this year, and it has volatility up to 15% a day. How is that superior?

No. I don't think you understood what I wrote. I said it was a reason. I didn't say anyone should buy Bitcoin, or that it had been the best investment in recent months.
What I did say is that Bitcoin is superior over this kind of bank deposit in as much as you don't get penalised merely for storing it.

That's similar to me saying a car is a superior way to transport tons of cargo.

There are many ways that are better and more economical but apparently I am supposed to ignore all of the facts and look at one variable as a justification for my assertion... Fairly silly to even make the argument, don't you think...

[adhitthana]

You're joking, right? Bitcoin has lost 70% this year, and it has volatility up to 15% a day. How is that superior?

No. I don't think you understood what I wrote. I said it was a reason. I didn't say anyone should buy Bitcoin, or that it had been the best investment in recent months.
What I did say is that Bitcoin is superior over this kind of bank deposit in as much as you don't get penalised merely for storing it.

That's similar to me saying a car is a superior way to transport tons of cargo.
There are many ways that are better and more economical but apparently I am supposed to ignore all of the facts and look at one variable as a justification for my assertion... Fairly silly to even make the argument, don't you think...

Not a perfect analogy I'd say because we know what a car will be in 10 years time but we don't know what the Bitcoin economy will be like in as little as  6 months time.
In other words the Bitcoin economy has the potential to evolve and change quite a lot, whilst a car will always just be a car.

[manselr]

I think it' also relevant to note that financial institutions are kinda flipped upside down in regards to their attitudes towards having money. Having money on hand is a burden for them. They'd much rather lend money out than take your deposits. The National Bank Transfer day orchestrated by some Occupy folks a few years back was idiotic. The credit unions were burdened by the extra deposits. And the banks were none the worse off for the loss of funds.

[BitmoreCoin]

This is good news to currency which you can keep it yourself, such as Bitcoin.

[medUSA]

A short time ago the ECB  (European Central Bank) announced that banks who deposited money with them would get a negative interest rate, so I guess the banks are passing it along. Here is the earlier announcement from the ECB. http://www.ecb.europa.eu/home/html/faqinterestrates.en.html
The ECB have been pumping new fiat money into Europe but they don't want the banks to merely just deposit this money back into the ECB and earn interest. The ECB believe (or hope) they can revive the European economy if only the banks will lend money out to businesses.

Exactly! This is a response to what happened during the previous QEs in the US. Governments wants to inject money into the economy and lazy risk adverse banks would rather earn interest on their borrowed money.

[Yeah?]

This is good news to currency which you can keep it yourself, such as Bitcoin.

Well whilst negative interest is bad, bitcoin has been losing value all year and it down 50% of its worth, so not exactly great as a currency or store of wealth at the moment sadly.

[BitmoreCoin]

This is good news to currency which you can keep it yourself, such as Bitcoin.

Well whilst negative interest is bad, bitcoin has been losing value all year and it down 50% of its worth, so not exactly great as a currency or store of wealth at the moment sadly.

Time will tell.