A salient lesson for those jumping onto financial bandwagons

dryhat

ColdIron wrote: »

Gold has an essential advantage over BitCoin - history

Neither have intrinsic value beyond that in the eye of the beholder but gold has billions of those beholders, from sovereign nations to Indian grandmothers. It has been perceived as a store of wealth for millennia easily pre-dating the pharaohs and barring an act of alchemy that defies physics there is every reason to suppose it always will

BitCoin could be consigned to the celestial byte bucket by something so simple as an act of legislation

Bitcoin as a technology cannot be un-invented and is here to stay.

There is no way that this technology can't change the world of finance and economics.

The impact of Bitcoin on the world economies, from Bitcoin Singapore 2013...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJh4t21jZJk

MFW_ASAP

ColdIron wrote: »

Gold has an essential advantage over BitCoin - history

Neither have intrinsic value beyond that in the eye of the beholder but gold has billions of those beholders, from sovereign nations to Indian grandmothers. It has been perceived as a store of wealth for millennia easily pre-dating the pharaohs and barring an act of alchemy that defies physics there is every reason to suppose it always will

BitCoin could be consigned to the celestial byte bucket by something so simple as an act of legislation

Precious metals also have alternative uses other than as a storage of wealth, especially in industry. Again, the arguments the PM nuts about the amount of Gold and Silver required by industry versus the amounts available/mined also had merit.

Gold and Silver also have a high cost in 'manufacture', in as much as they have a baseline cost of getting the metals out of the ground. If the Gold price falls below this amount then the mining stops - a natural restriction on availability.

Wow, those Gold arguments put forward by the PM bugs really stuck.

As I said, I can understand the PM vs 'fiat' but there is no bitcoin vs 'fiat' argument as they are both exactly the same, except that 'fiat' currencies are at least backed by the financial might of countries, whereas bitcoins are backed by um, nothing much.

JohnRo

ColdIron wrote: »

BitCoin could be consigned to the celestial byte bucket by something so simple as an act of legislation

Tell me again, how is that working out in the false wars on some drugs and some terror?

Are they going to ban p2p?

The only net effect of such legislation is a loss of liberty for all and a whole heap of other problems that didn't ever need to be there.

doughnutmachine

dryhat wrote: »

Bitcoin as a technology cannot be un-invented and is here to stay.

There is no way that this technology can't change the world of finance and economics.

imho bitcoins will go the same way as VHS video recorders and Sony walkmans.

dryhat

doughnutmachine wrote: »

imho bitcoins will go the same way as VHS video recorders and Sony walkmans.

You may be right about bitcoins.

But Bitcoin as a technology is here to stay and is opening up possibilities undreamt of even 5 years ago.

ruggedtoast

grizzly1911 wrote: »

Surely bit coin is really for a small minority specialist interest group.

The vast majority of potential investors/speculators couldn't really care.

Kiddie fiddlers and black market arms dealers most famously.

MFW_ASAP

dryhat wrote: »

But Bitcoin as a technology is here to stay and is opening up possibilities undreamt of even 5 years ago.

Such as?
.........

dryhat

MFW_ASAP wrote: »

Such as?
.........

... Asset registration, contractual agreements and voting systems are the 3 main ones being developed.

These would utilise the unique and innovative components of the Bitcoin protocol and allow for a completely revolutionary way of conducting commerce.

Remember though that this is a new technology and things are continually developing.

What is not in doubt though is that Bitcoin allows things to happen that were never before possible.

doughnutmachine

dryhat wrote: »

What is not in doubt though is that Bitcoin allows things to happen that were never before possible.

you mean buy and sell goods and services? we've had currencies for thousands of years....

dryhat

doughnutmachine wrote: »

you mean buy and sell goods and services? we've had currencies for thousands of years....

Try reading the whole post from which you have taken that quote.