The economics of BitCoin

chucknorris

Herzlos wrote: »

It's not that they don't think they can repay, it's presumably to avoid people speculating on credit. If someone really wants to take that risk, then they'll need to find other funding (or money transfer into into a current account).

I don't think it's a stupid move at all, unless you think being concerned about people screwing themselves is stupid.

They must think that some of their customers are extremely stupid, if they think that they might borrow on a credit card to speculate on bitcoin.

EDIT: It makes you think, are people actually doing that?

westernpromise

chucknorris wrote: »

They must think that some of their customers are extremely stupid, if they think that they might borrow on a credit card to speculate on bitcoin.

EDIT: It makes you think, are people actually doing that?

I reckon so. But what they may also be concerned about is that if they enable payment for something and it's not as advertised or is fraudulent, they owe the customer his or her money back.

Bitcoin appears to be pure vapourware with, as you've noted, no value other than perceived and thus no utility yield. It further appears to be popular chiefly among organised criminals and housing short suckers who've inexplicably mistaken themselves for financial wizards. Probably someone at the bank has wondered how safe the bank is when it all goes pop, concluded the bank's not safe at all, and therefore concluded they should be standing nowhere near when that happens.

Herzlos

chucknorris wrote: »

It makes you think, are people actually doing that?

Absolutely. I know of some.

cogito

Herzlos wrote: »

It's not that they don't think they can repay, it's presumably to avoid people speculating on credit. If someone really wants to take that risk, then they'll need to find other funding (or money transfer into into a current account).

I don't think it's a stupid move at all, unless you think being concerned about people screwing themselves is stupid.

What I think is stupid is that I have two credit cards with total limits equivalent to 60% of my net income. I didn't ask for it and never use it but I imagine that some people would be stupid enough to max out their cards buying stuff they don't need or 'investing' in bitcoin. You only have to read the bankruptcy boards on here to see that.

phillw

chucknorris wrote: »

They must think that some of their customers are extremely stupid, if they think that they might borrow on a credit card to speculate on bitcoin.

EDIT: It makes you think, are people actually doing that?

Yes to both, people are doing that and people are extremely stupid. Unless of course bitcoin goes to $1m and then it was very clever.

I doubt lloyds would go to the trouble of banning it, if nobody was actually doing it. Lending money for people to gamble on the future price of something is not responsible. If the price drops and you can't afford to pay them back then you could complain against them for letting you do it.

At one point anyone selling bitcoins through a UK bank account had their accounts frozen over money laundering.

chucknorris

phillw wrote: »

Yes to both, people are doing that and people are extremely stupid. Unless of course bitcoin goes to $1m and then it was very clever.

I doubt lloyds would go to the trouble of banning it, if nobody was actually doing it. Lending money for people to gamble on the future price of something is not responsible. If the price drops and you can't afford to pay them back then you could complain against them for letting you do it.

A spokesperson from llyods was on the news saying that some of their customers had been using credit cards to speculate on bitcoin (they might have actually said 'invest' I can't remember).

phillw

chucknorris wrote: »

A spokesperson from llyods was on the news saying that some of their customers had been using credit cards to speculate on bitcoin (they might have actually said 'invest' I can't remember).

Speculating on bitcoin using your credit card ought to be a trigger for having your credit pulled.

westernpromise

You'd need a heart of stone not to laugh:

http://www.scmp.com/tech/article/2132695/bitcoins-plunge-leaves-recent-investors-heavy-losses
Shanghai resident Gao, 25, bought into ethereum last month at the peak "hoping it [the rise] would continue." The virtual currency instead dropped 32 per cent in a matter of weeks.

There's one born every minute, it appears.

AG47

Anybody who bought bitcoin before August last year were given for free all these.... will it be the same for litecoin forking craziness? I hope so!!!55357;!!!56833;




List of Bitcoin forks

fork bitcoin
Bitcoin Cash: Forked at Block 478558, 1 August 2017, For each 1 BTC you get 1 BCH
Bytether: Cross fork from Bitcoin to Ethereum blockchain at block 478558, 1 August 2017. For each 1 BTC you get 1 BTH ERC-20 token.
Bitcoin Clashic: Forked at Block 478558, 1 August 2017. For each 1 BTC you get 1 BCHC / BCL
Bitcoin Gold: Forked at Block 491407, 24 October 2017, For each 1 BTC you get 1 BTG
Bitcoin Diamond: Forked at Block 495866, 24 November 2017, For each 1 BTC you get 10 BCD
UnitedBitcoin: Forked at Block 498777, 12 December 2017, For each 1 BTC you get 1 UB
Bitcoin Hot: Forked at Block 498848, 12 December 2017, For each 1 BTC you get 100 BTH
Super Bitcoin: Forked at Block 498888, 12 December 2017, For each 1 BTC you get 1 SBTC
BitcoinX: Forked at Block 498888, 12 December 2017, For each 1 BTC you get 10,000 BCX
Oil Bitcoin: Forked at Block 498888, 12 December 2017, For each 1 BTC you get 1 OBTC
Bitcoin World: Forked at Block 499777, 17 December 2017, For each 1 BTC you get 10000 BTW
Lightning Bitcoin: Forked at Block 499999, 19 December 2017, For each 1 BTC you get 1 LBTC
Bitcoin Stake: Forked at Block 4999999, 19 December 2017, For each 1 BTC, you get 100 BTCS
BitEthereum: Forking on 21 December 2017, For each 1 BTC you get 3.940616 BITE
Bitcoin Top: Forked at Block 501118, 26 December 2017, For each 1 BTC you get 1 BTT
Bitcoin God: Forked at Block 501225, forked on 27th December 2017. For each 1 BTC you get 1 GOD
Bitcoin FILE: Forked at Block 501225, forked on 27th December 2017. For each 1 BTC you get 1000 BIFI
Bitcoin SegWit2X X11 Not to be confused with a previous fork SegWit2X with the same name. Forked at Block 501451, 28 December 2017. For each 1 BTC you get 1 B2X
Bitcoin Uranium: Forking on 31st December 2017, For each 1 BTC you get 1 BUM.
Bitcoin Pizza: Forking at Block 501888, 1st January 2018, For each 1 BTC you get 1 BPA
Bitcoin All: Forking on 1st January 2018, For each 1 BTC you get 1 BTA. Referenced on steemit post.
Bitcoin Cash Plus: Forking at Block 501407, Expected on 2nd of January 2018, For each 1 BTC you get 1 BCP
Bitcoin Smart: Forking at Block 505050, 21 January 2018, For each 1 BTC you get 1 BCS
Bitcoin Interest: Forking at Block 505083, 22 January 2018, For each 1 BTC you get 1 BCI
Quantum Bitcoin: Forking on 28th January 2018, For each 1 BTC you get 1 QBTC
Bitcoin LITE: Forking on 30th January 2018, For each 1 BTC you get 1 BTCL
Bitcoin Ore: Forking on 31st January 2018, For each 1 BTC you get 1 BCO
Bitcoin Private: Forking TBA in January 2018, For each 1 BTC you get 1 BTCP (also if you have 1 ZCL you get 1 BTCP)
Bitcoin ATOM: Forking TBA in January 2018, For each 1 BTC you get 1 BCA

westernpromise

I've no idea what any of that means, but I remember the dotcom bubble where we had rampers insisting that worthless companies that had never earned a bean were worth billions, even though nobody could explain how. Lastminute.com turned over less than one branch of WHSmith and lost money on every transaction but was worth more than all of of WHSmith - until it wasn't.

99% price markdown coming soon, I would think. It's always a bad sign when nobody can explain what a bitcoin is or why it's valuable.

This HPC post by a ramper made me laugh out loud:

Electricity that is wasted in places like Iceland with unlimited geothermal energy, and in areas of new power stations where industrial demand has not yet arrived, bitcoin provides paying customers to bridge the gap. That's a service to those local communities.

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?/topic/194150-the-bubbly-bitcoin-thread-merged-threads/&page=422