I wonder how much of this electronic money theft happens with "real" money....probably a lot more than banking institutions are willing to admit.
I am still confused by this bitcoin deal. From what I understand this is all electronic and no actual cash is ever "cashed out". Glad the real banks are much more secure......
There are ATM's available now that let you convert Bitcoin into $$$ and vice versa, but at $1200 a Bitcoin, its almost useless... The fact that it skyrocketed in price is whats nuts....its so volatile to be almost useless.
How is it useless? These are not dollars made up of 100 cents. BTC goes to 8 decimal points. That $1300 remark from Woo was based on the US e-commerce market only. It's a global currency(hence the Fed backing off). Here's a log chart demonstrating the extremely volatile nature of BTC. Who would invest in that?! Keep in mind that this is a completely new concept, and completely new market growing primarily through a grassroots movement via the internet. Again the point of this is not to make money(though many have and will), it is to change how we think about money. That said, the USD isn't very volatile itself. It's actually VERY stable.
how is this changing how anyone thinks about money? people used to trade beads and seashells for shit that you could also give a dollar value to. same with gold and silver. its just a means of transferring payment for goods and services. there is no value in any currency on earth in onto itself. its only value is relational to things it can be exchanged for and how much of them. or how much somebody else's method of payment is worth in relation to my method. same thing. a one-day 25% fluctuation is extremely volatile btw, when you consider a 1% day on the stock exchange makes news. if the dollar was going up and down by 25% every day, people would be killing each other in the streets.
I would rather my currency not be something dreamed up by a fat, sweaty naked guy playing Minecraft in his parents basement though.
Interesting that you thought of that image. I would have thought an asian guy with thick glasses hunched over a macbook.
And gold recently fell 10% in one day. What's your point? I understand there have been some extremely shaky days, but you've got to realize what demographic is really into these things right now. It's just a bunch of nerds. It is gaining a lot of attention, and an decent platform to be tested, but in the grand scheme it is still useless, compared to what mainstream acceptance will do. What it will change once it is mainstreamed, is a legitimate DEcentralized currency. If you don't see the value in that, I can't help you. In a world where the guys we put in charge of money were ultimately morally compromised to the point of the (almost) 100% loss of value in USD, a decentralized global currency that provides accountability without that centralized group of fuckheads who inevitably change the rules to suit the good ole boys. According to Satoshi, "We have proposed a system for electronic transactions without relying on trust."
Wait, did you just show me a graph of Bitcoin that spans 3 years and goes from 10c a bitcoin to $1000, then showed me another graph with the same but reverse slope that spans 110 YEARS! to prove to me how "stable" bitcoin is?
LOL! A brief glimpse in to the mind of Craig... I assure you I match none of that description. I am skinny, fully clothed, freezing and gainfully employed.
Yes. Markets move in percentages.... hence the log scales. If you get a 10% increase every year the linear graph curves up rapidly, which looks like the faster growth when it is actually fixed. Both are stable, just headed in opposite directions.
