Free Bitcoin?

unitedwestand

I use to be a cryptocurrency cynic and rubbish off digital currency as a store of value and/ or potential investment as I see many on the forum and others online often do.

That was until the day I was rubbishing it off and was asked ....."would you like a free Bitcoin?"

At that time Bitcoin was worth around a tenner, so I was like "whats the catch?"

"Nothing, just let me know and I'll send you one" was the reply.

So I looked in to it, decided there was no harm/ scam, accepted, opened a wallet and received my first Bitcoin.

I asked why I'd been sent a Bitcoin, still adamant there must have been a catch.

I was told that because I thought there was a catch/ accepted the Bitcoin, I had conceded belief in the first defining principle of Bitcoin.... it has value.

They were right... however with my nose out of joint I advised that I would just be "selling it on to the next mug before it went to zero".

They said no problem, go ahead but by doing so I would be conceding the the second defining principle of Bitcoin... that someone else, an unknown 3rd party accepts it has value.

It was then pointed out this is exactly the same belief that the world placed in paper cash or the digits in an online account as there intrinsic were also zero, and the only thing that gives them true value is the unconditional belief that they're "worth" something.

Lots of Googling later, I conceded they were right and today that ten pound point, has both taught and made me a lot of intrinsically worthless digits.

Volatile as they me be, the ethos behind cryptocurrencies to take power and money from the big corporate and put it back into the hands of everyday people, is the same ethos I've always associated with MSE.

Bitcoin has been around for over 8 years now and truly believe Cryptocurrencies & Blockchain technology really have the ability to return a good chunk of financial freedoms back to everyday people. I would really love to see MSE cover them more.

In the meantime for anyone that doesn't think Bitcoin is a store of value, way to save or a way to invest....

I would always recommend asking yourself.... would you like a free Bitcoin?

jimjames

unitedwestand wrote: »

In the meantime for anyone that doesn't think Bitcoin is a store of value, way to save or a way to invest....

To me a currency is completely useless as a store of value if it massively jumps or drops. The huge rise in price doesn't fit with being sufficiently stable to use so I can't see how it can be a way to save when there is no inherent value. At least with investing in a company for example you have the value attributed to what the company produces or does and the profits it makes.

ChesterDog

Sure, I will definitely have one for free.

But I won't buy one.

unitedwestand

jimjames wrote: »

To me a currency is completely useless as a store of value if it massively jumps or drops. The huge rise in price doesn't fit with being sufficiently stable to use so I can't see how it can be a way to save when there is no inherent value. At least with investing in a company for example you have the value attributed to what the company produces or does and the profits it makes.

That's true, and true of many things, however where Blockchain differs as it can't do what the like of Tesco did recently and falsely misrepresent it's accounts to mislead investors , it's not open to manipulation by governments like currency & it's abundance is controlled unlike commodities.

unitedwestand

ChesterDog wrote: »

Sure, I will definitely have one for free.

But I won't buy one.

A believer then

Linton

unitedwestand wrote: »

That's true, and true of many things, however where Blockchain differs as it can't do what the like of Tesco did recently and falsely misrepresent it's accounts to mislead investors , it's not open to manipulation by governments like currency & it's abundance is controlled unlike commodities.

It seems to me that this is a misunderstanding of how the world works. Most transactions never involve real money, but are instead merely changes to database entries. Your bank account could convert to bitcoin instantly by changing the £ sign to the bitcoin equivalent on the bank statement or online account webpage. The physical nature of the currency is irrelevant. Moving money from one account to another doesn't require taking a bag of coins to a different room, the overheads in doing this, even virtually, would be horrendous.

If you are going to require that all transactions be carried out with real bitcoins can you explain the details of how a bitcoin mortgage would work?

As to misrepresenting accounts, this has nothing to do with currency but rather the words used to describe its use.

Malthusian

unitedwestand wrote: »

That's true, and true of many things, however where Blockchain differs as it can't do what the like of Tesco did recently and falsely misrepresent it's accounts to mislead investors

If Tesco's results were quoted in Bitcoins it could still fiddle them. It would be easier to, as with the constantly fluctuating value people would have much less idea of what they should look like.

it's not open to manipulation by governments like currency

Of course it is. There is a mere $16 billion worth of bitcoins in circulation - a drop in the ocean compared to the $1.2 trillion worth of dollars, the €1.1 trillion worth of euros and the $750 billion of Japanese yen. Even the mere $87 billion of pound sterling dwarfs it. All of these currencies, remember, are apparently open to manipulation by governments. What do you think would happen if the US government or the Chinese took some of the reserves they currently use to manipulate fiat currency, and ploughed it into bitcoins? And then dumped it all a week later?

& it's abundance is controlled unlike commodities.

Unfortunately the limit on supply coupled with the constantly fluctuating demand result in a highly volatile price and make it useless as a currency or store of value.

Biggles

unitedwestand wrote: »

it's not open to manipulation by governments like currency

No, it's open to manipulation by terrorists, drug dealers & other criminals. I'll settle for governments, thanks.

Voiren

No, because they are fundamentally insecure (look at the multiple problems with Bitcoin exchanges that have happened already). They don't have the infrastructure to deal with fraud in the way that banks can or have guarantees, and a large subset of the proponents disagree with that in principle.

They have value in that you can buy things with them. From some sellers, and at the moment. Would I accept one? No.

grumbler

Biggles wrote: »

No, it's open to manipulation by terrorists, drug dealers & other criminals. I'll settle for governments, thanks.

What does the term 'manipulation' mean in this context? Is it not something absolutely different from the post you quoted?

Regardless, it's a myth created by governments that *terrorists* can misuse bitcoins in a higher degree than governments-backed currencies. Even 9/11 didn't cost millions.

Reaper

I think it is entirely possible that one day a country will use one in place of currency.

Some countries such as Zimbabwe devalue their own currency so badly people lose faith in it and they are forced to adopt another country's currency, typically the US$.

That is far from ideal as the US can and will take actions on it to further their own interests irrespective of whether a strong or weak dollar is good for anybody else that uses it.

So I can see the appeal of a currency which removes foreign interference. It wouldn't be any existing version though as it is important for government and businesses to be able to trace money to track criminal activity and evade tax.

However I forsee few countries being willing to follow suit. "Manipulation" of currency is a key tool and not necessarily a bad thing. When the recent financial crisis happened there was a liquidity crisis which governments eased by increasing the money supply. That would not be an option with a crypto currency, other than selling any the government owned.