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BitCoin BubbleFollow

#1 Apr 03 2013 at 6:54 AM Rating: Good
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Bitcoin value has been climbing rapidly, reportedly in response to the global banking fiasco. Most recently the Cyprus ordeal has caused their value to skyrocket to over $100/coin. There are still limited uses for actually spending bitcoins directly for goods or services - at least legally. The Guardian reports that they are being used as the main currency for transacting within the underground virtual market, Silk Road. Also supposedly, the current state of hyper-inflation of the coins will prevent or at least hinder their path to becoming a legitimate working currency - instead they become an investment item.

Until now, bitcoins and services of it's sort have had no regulation. This rapidly expanding bubble, however, has gotten the attention of many governmental econo-types. Perhaps bitcoins will forge the road through red tape and come out on the other end as a regulated viable world currency. Who knows.

Has anyone purchased or done transaction with Bitcoins?

Will alternate privately held/distributed electronic currencies help or hinder the world economy?


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#2 Apr 03 2013 at 6:56 AM Rating: Good
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Someone get Kao, an ad-bot took over Elinda's account.
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#3 Apr 03 2013 at 7:04 AM Rating: Good
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I see virtual currencies helping to hide under the table deals, but I really don't think they'll be used as legal tender. It would be easier to crack the security measures and create as much as you want than counterfeiting physical currency.
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#4 Apr 03 2013 at 7:08 AM Rating: Good
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Lately there has been a wave of script-kiddies holding Minecraft servers hostage with DDOS attacks and demanding Bitcoin payments to make them stop.
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#5 Apr 03 2013 at 7:10 AM Rating: Good
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Shaowstrike the Shady wrote:
I see virtual currencies helping to hide under the table deals, but I really don't think they'll be used as legal tender. It would be easier to crack the security measures and create as much as you want than counterfeiting physical currency.

I bet it's harder to hack bitcoin than citibank.

Don't you think there could be value in a currency that is not under the ownership or influence of a single government or group of governments?

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#6 Apr 03 2013 at 7:20 AM Rating: Excellent
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Elinda wrote:
Shaowstrike the Shady wrote:
I see virtual currencies helping to hide under the table deals, but I really don't think they'll be used as legal tender. It would be easier to crack the security measures and create as much as you want than counterfeiting physical currency.

I bet it's harder to hack bitcoin than citibank.

Don't you think there could be value in a currency that is not under the ownership or influence of a single government or group of governments?




Ownership yes, but it can still be influenced by government internet control policy for some part. Granted I'm saying this on the assumption that Bitcoin works on the same principle as PayPal, but all they would have to do is have local ISP's block access to their sites or create software that blocks any embedded payment plugins from loading.
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#7 Apr 03 2013 at 7:27 AM Rating: Good
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Elinda wrote:
Don't you think there could be value in a currency that is not under the ownership or influence of a single government or group of governments?


I think the decentralized, anonymous nature of the currency is the main concern in my book. Going through lolWiki I see instances of these "Bit Miners" shutting down and walking away, hackers gaining access to these 'wallet.dat' files and the owner losing it (like... an entire bank stored in one file?). And it's only been a handful of years.

I won't pretend to understand the bitcoin operation...

At least with a single government or groups of governments there is at least the exterior image of accountability.

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#8 Apr 03 2013 at 7:34 AM Rating: Good
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I can't help but think of games like Tiny Towers or Pocket Planes when the term BitCoin is said.

I'm patiently awaiting the day when we do away with physical currency and move onto some kind of digital tracking method, but I'm aware that it won't be in my life time. I'd like to be able to go through checkout without being stuck behind someone who has been alive two hundred years counting pennies or shakily trying to write out a check. Swipe and go, I got stuff to do.
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#9 Apr 03 2013 at 7:59 AM Rating: Excellent
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Shaowstrike the Shady wrote:
Someone get Kao, an ad-bot took over Elinda's account.


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#10 Apr 03 2013 at 8:04 AM Rating: Good
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Dread Lörd Kaolian wrote:
Shaowstrike the Shady wrote:
Someone get Kao, an ad-bot took over Elinda's account.


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#11 Apr 03 2013 at 8:51 AM Rating: Good
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Perhaps bitcoins will forge the road through red tape and come out on the other end as a regulated viable world currency

Won't happen. Pegged to a limited "resource mining" algorithm pretty much guarantees deflation and hording. As a monetary system it's basically self destroying. As a money laundering system (the primary actual use) it has some value, but as the profile becomes more known, so too the regulatory interest. Would collapse on it's own given sufficient time, probably is pro-actively destroyed prior to that as enough hipsters use it to buy DMT or whatever on Silk Road. As an investment vehicle, one would have to weigh the risk of not only the inevitable collapse in value, but also the inevitable collapse in legal viability. Roulette has a better long term return.
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#12 Apr 03 2013 at 11:48 AM Rating: Excellent
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Would have been nice to get in on bitcoin when it was worth pennies a couple years ago, but I always assume that, by the time I hear about something, it's already too late to buy low. The lesson remains, as always, to always start your own pyramid scheme rather than latching on to another's.
#13 Apr 03 2013 at 12:19 PM Rating: Decent
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Quote:
Granted I'm saying this on the assumption that Bitcoin works on the same principle as PayPal, but all they would have to do is have local ISP's block access to their sites or create software that blocks any embedded payment plugins from loading.
No, it's nothing like paypal. It's completely decentralized. No website or server is needed for bitcoin. Everything is done peer to peer.

Quote:
hackers gaining access to these 'wallet.dat' files and the owner losing it (like... an entire bank stored in one file?).
This isn't really possible if you're not an idiot. Everyone else encrypts their wallet, so even if it was stolen, it couldn't be read. If you really want to be safe, you could write it down on paper, or put it on a flash drive, and put that in a safety deposit box. The wallet file isn't needed to make deposits, only to send bitcoins.
#14 Apr 03 2013 at 1:12 PM Rating: Good
I thought this thread was going to be about some FaceBook game. I have never heard of bitcoin.
#15 Apr 03 2013 at 1:30 PM Rating: Good
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I've heard it mentioned before but I can't say I knew what it was prior to this thread.
#16 Apr 03 2013 at 1:37 PM Rating: Decent
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Quote:
Everyone else encrypts their wallet, so even if it was stolen, it couldn't be read


L O L
#17 Apr 03 2013 at 1:45 PM Rating: Excellent
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Spoonless wrote:
Dread Lörd Kaolian wrote:
Shaowstrike the Shady wrote:
Someone get Kao, an ad-bot took over Elinda's account.


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You fool! You've doomed us all!!!
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#18 Apr 03 2013 at 2:24 PM Rating: Decent
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Yodabunny wrote:
Quote:
Everyone else encrypts their wallet, so even if it was stolen, it couldn't be read


L O L
What exactly is funny?
#19 Apr 03 2013 at 2:33 PM Rating: Decent
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Rachel9 wrote:
Yodabunny wrote:
Quote:
Everyone else encrypts their wallet, so even if it was stolen, it couldn't be read


L O L
What exactly is funny?


Thinking you can secure digital currency with encryption. Currency by its nature lasts a very long time. Even if it would take thousands of years to crack now, it'll take minutes or even seconds in the future.

Currency itself isn't a thing, it's a belief, a belief that you are owed something of value that will be provided in the future. This experiment (and that's really all it is) won't work because there is nothing here to believe in. There's nothing to back it up. You take payment in American dollars because the US government isn't going to disappear tomorrow and that's generally accepted knowledge with a massive physical infrastructure to back it up.
#20 Apr 03 2013 at 2:44 PM Rating: Excellent
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Belkira wrote:
I thought this thread was going to be about some FaceBook game. I have never heard of bitcoin.

Something like this. I can only assume it's evil and sinister. Kids these days... Smiley: disappointed

As far as privately-owned online currencies, I give people in-game gold for something they purchased with real money from the cash shop. It seems like a good deal. As for the real world, I'd fear the currency would be manipulated by the people controlling it. Really the same fear that exists for many countries that print their own currency I suppose. Trust and stuff, it's universally needed.
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#21 Apr 03 2013 at 3:24 PM Rating: Decent
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Currency by its nature lasts a very long time. Even if it would take thousands of years to crack now, it'll take minutes or even seconds in the future.
If you need to store some bitcoins for multiple life times, put it in a safety deposit box, as i already mentioned. You can't hack into something that's not connected to a network, or potentially not even on any computer. Otherwise if the encryption you used is broken, just send all your coins to a new address and reencrypt with something more secure. This isn't going to happen in our life times though, so it's not like it's really such a big concern.
Quote:
You take payment in American dollars because the US government isn't going to disappear tomorrow and that's generally accepted knowledge with a massive physical infrastructure to back it up.
Well it certainly could. It's not very likely, but it's possible. It's also incredibly unlikely bitcoins will disappear tomorrow. Maybe not anywhere near as unlikely as US dollars, but still incredibly unlikely. But i guess that's why people aren't as willing to accept them as USD.
#22 Apr 03 2013 at 3:40 PM Rating: Good
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#23 Apr 03 2013 at 3:49 PM Rating: Good
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Jeeze, that's some amazing timing. $14 each? That's like $200k profit in 3 months?
#24 Apr 03 2013 at 3:54 PM Rating: Good
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According to the comments he turned $30k into $272k in a month.
#25 Apr 03 2013 at 4:00 PM Rating: Good
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Rachel9 wrote:
Quote:
Currency by its nature lasts a very long time. Even if it would take thousands of years to crack now, it'll take minutes or even seconds in the future.
If you need to store some bitcoins for multiple life times, put it in a safety deposit box, as i already mentioned. You can't hack into something that's not connected to a network, or potentially not even on any computer.


"In the future" wasn't referring to thousands of years from now though, but like maybe 5. Depends on which encryption you used. On thing most people don't realize is that most encryption that is readily available *today* is near to being obsolete already. It's the nature of the beast. Adoption time isn't much longer than "we can crack this semi-trivially" time.

Quote:
Otherwise if the encryption you used is broken, just send all your coins to a new address and reencrypt with something more secure. This isn't going to happen in our life times though, so it's not like it's really such a big concern.


It'll happen multiple times in your lifetime. Probably multiple times in a decade. And most people won't update their encryption quickly enough. They never do. You'll discover that the encryption you're using is out of date when your file(s) get cracked. Or at least most people will. As a means of laundering money, or hiding transactions it's useful, I suppose. As long as that lasts. As a legitimate currency? There really is a reason why you want money backed by the faith and credit of a sovereign nation (a number of reasons actually).
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#26 Apr 03 2013 at 4:22 PM Rating: Decent
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Quote:
"In the future" wasn't referring to thousands of years from now though, but like maybe 5.
Yeah, you're insane.
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