Bitcoins

csm888

beancurd wrote: »

In post 1018 I related how I more than tripled my money then cashed out. The fact it was from £20 to £65 may or not be interesting. I haven't been tempted to buy back in. I made an additional 10% by selling through a local exchange.

Cool, but it must be a little depressing considering how much more you could have made. I too bought in around. £10, but have slowly increase my holding by trading. Of course I can't criticse someone for taking profit, but I like the phrase I hear on the forums 'always have some coins, never go full fiat'

I intend to sell half, then a quarter, then an eight..etc hoping the price will increase each time.

Perhaps it would be a good investment for anyone to have just a little bitcoin... Say 1 coin, little to lose, much to gain.

Marazan

Oh look, someone is closing in on 51% of the network hashing power

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=406152.0

Excellent fundamentals.

Edit: and this as well to give you an idea about ghash.io https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=327767.0

JohnRo

Oh god no!! Let's all panic, the sky is falling.

It's a free market, it'll find a solution that works. Do really think ghash is going to burn their investment.

Satoshi

Its a free market sure but if anyone has 51% or more it could be not a free market any more. This applies to anything, take silver which has the largest concentrated naked short positions in the history of any market, sometimes around 80% of the market, its easy for JP morgan to push the price around.

This is a good discussion about what is money and currency

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNssKmeXrGs

JohnRo

Satoshi wrote: »

This is a good discussion about what is money and currency...

Already done it to death, money is in the mind, currency physically represents it.

51% attack is a very different thing to 51% hashing power and won't happen because people have a vested interest (**and freedom) to prevent it.

Satoshi

JohnRo wrote: »

Already done it to death, money is in the mind, currency physically represents it.

That does not make any sense at all.

When do you think this big change in the historical meaning and definitions of money and currency come?

Satoshi

Salt served as a medium of exchange in times past but it doesn't mean there would be no other form of currency in circulation. Tobacco leaves might be widely accepted as payment. Salt will not last generations passing on generational wealth and it is not that durable, if it got wet you could lose your entire life savings. Imagine your life savings were kept in salt in what you thought was a safe place then there was a flood? Which is why people prefer to save up over time gold and silver which are money in and of themselves.
But to really answer the question what is money you first need to understand the difference between money and currency. The official definitions of currency and money are:
Currency must be a medium of exchange so we have to be able to buy and sell things with it. It has to be a unit of account, so one gram or unit is equal to one gram or unit. It has to be portable so not to large or heavy. It has to be divisible which means you can make change. Durable which means it has to has to last and not dissolve in water or evaporate or degrade in near extreme temperatures. And then something called fungible. Fungible means that each unit is interchangeable so the unit in your pocket buys the same as the unit in my pocket.
Money has to be all these things plus it has to be a store of value over long periods of time. So if you only remember one thing today remember that lots of things have been currency but only two things have ever been money. Nothing else meets ALL of these requirements and is a long term store of value only gold and silver are money in and of themselves. There are many things that are a long term store of value (like land for instance) but they do not meet the other requirements land is not portable. Diamonds some say are a good long term store of value and very portable but not fungible because no two grams or units of diamonds are worth exactly the same. I do not like diamonds as a long term store of value because they are not nearly as rare as people have been led to believe. I go into rarity of different physical stores of value later in the book.
Salt and tobacco as we have said meet most of the requirements of currency but are not durable even if they arguably do hold their value over long periods of time like money does, gold and silver. Things like this do hold their value over long periods of time but what good is this if they are not durable. Just because the value of something lasts the thing itself may not. Even modern digital currencies like Bit coin may well meet all or many of the requirements of currency but can not be a long term store of value because it is dependent on many things like electricity and Internet being reliable and not being hacked or messed with. Bit coins can not have any intrinsic value in themselves because they do not exist, they are virtual currencies. They come and go. Bit coins may be limited in quantity but they are not limited in competing digital competitors so the number of bit coin lookalikes could be infinite. Bit coins and suchlike are only a medium of exchange they don't have any use in themselves other than a virtual currency, so can not be a long term store of value. They can not be money in and of themselves like for example gold and silver coins because Bit coins and other virtual currencies are digital and not tangible they are not backed by anything just like fiat currencies from governments.
It is worth repeating, Many things have been used as currency but nothing has met all these requirements and been a lasting store of value over long periods of time, only gold and silver are money. The key point to remember as we go through monetary history in the next chapter is - Only gold and silver are money, EVERYTHING else that has been used as a medium of exchange is just currency.
Currency

slowly becomes worth less

Money

STORE OF VALUE over long periods of time

grey_gym_sock

"satoshi", you've posted the same spiel about currency/money earlier in the thread, and we established it was rubbish then. i do hope you just copy-and-pasted and didn't waste time typing it again.

mmedia

https://www.overstock.com are now accepting Bitcoin for payment. Its live now although only worth buying from if you are a US resident due to the postage and import duty etc.

Jegersmart

Satoshi wrote: »

said a lot of stuff

Someone has been copying and pasting from the internet again.

imho

J