BITCOIN

User232002

Michael121 said:

Could have compared vs 2012 and then gold would be basically flat. 

I wonder why gold is flat since 2012... Hmm, if only I'd thought about that before perhaps...

Thrugelmir said:

If the Fed owns the stock then the interest paid is simply an accounting book entry. 

True. But fiat is about belief and some actions will shake that belief beyond repair.

Zola.

bugbyte_2 said:

Quite a good article on the climate problem around Bitcoin. 

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jan/30/how-do-we-solve-bitcoins-carbon-problem

Quite balanced I thought. (sorry for bringing it up but it is quite important to some of us who don't want our kids to cook to a crisp).

Highest rated comment:

Quantum computing might sort it all out within a few days, first by mining the 3000 or so remaining Bitcoins, then by stealing the largest wallets of those who don't have quantum computers. I expect it'll all be worthless within hours of the first theft.

Next highest rated comment

Appears to be awfully expensive to keep the idiots happy.

Literally stupid comments by Guardian readers. If Quantum computers do somehow hack Bitcoin's network - the strongest computing network ever created, it will already have hacked every bank, every government website, etc.

Also if quantum computing does get remotely close to being a realistic threat, bitcoin's encryption can be updated well in advance..

It's an incredibly silly argument by people who haven't got a clue what they are talking about.  Its the same parroted rubbish people blurt out that they heard some idiot say down the pub once....

"BlOcKChAiN NoT BiTCoIN"


The only thing half decent about that article is that they actually accept that Bitcoin only uses 0.1% of global energy consumption... but that doesn't make such a scary headline, does it? 

bugbyte_2

If I was playing Bitcoin Forum bingo where you have to get a response from all of the main protagonists I think I won.

Go me!

All I need for a full house is for someone to mention flat earth something about being deaf MATT DAMON!!! Fortune favors the stupid, etc. 

Scottex99

bugbyte_2 said:

But but but people can live in houses! Blockchain solves nothing and nobody can live there, derp

Really couldn't have put it better myself.

Go on then - just for banter - what value does Bitcoin add to society? (Real value that normal people would benefit from, not some hypothetical at some point in the future collapse of fiat or pretending your average Nigerian is eternally grateful to Bitcoins existence). 

Yawn, again….
The hardest form of money ever created. An inflation hedge and store of value. A way to transact with zero reliance on a 3rd party middleman.

It’s cool if you don’t it, it doesn’t seem like you want to now anyway. I’ll buy you a little house in the metaverse if you want, just say the word 

Aegis

Fascinating view from a crypto skeptic.  It's called "The problem with NFTs", but it directly addresses Bitcoin and Ethereum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ_xWvX1n9g

Zola.

I watched the Bitcoin bit on 1.5x just to get through it... he is being intellectually dishonest by focusing on Bitcoin's transaction speed vs Visa, whilst completely ignoring the Lightning Network and other subsequent layers which will be built on the base Bitcoin protocol. 

I do agree that NFTs in their form are a complete farce. As is pretty much everything else thats not Bitcoin.... 

User232002

bugbyte_2 said:

Really couldn't have put it better myself.

Go on then - just for banter - what value does Bitcoin add to society? (Real value that normal people would benefit from, not some hypothetical at some point in the future collapse of fiat or pretending your average Nigerian is eternally grateful to Bitcoins existence). 

About 5 pages back I was having an argument with someone because posters leave and then other posters come in and ask the same old questions which makes it incredibly frustrating having to explain everything all over again. He has now left and here you are asking; "What value does Bitcoin add to society?" which has clearly not been addressed in 180 odd pages already.... I've made two long posts in the NFT thread within the last two days containing 11 different points, and those were simply just the ones I highlighted because someone attempted to say that I'd given no reasons in a random post.

Specifically on the topic of housing since that is what was originally mentioned; If a societies money is a weak store of value, other assets such as equities and RE get financialised as SoV's instead. This puts a SoV premium on housing similar to how Gold is priced above its industrial use case, thereby raising the price of housing for all. This, as we have seen, is particularly difficult for younger generations and creates inter generational strife.

adindas

Zola. said:

bugbyte_2 said:

Quite a good article on the climate problem around Bitcoin. 

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jan/30/how-do-we-solve-bitcoins-carbon-problem

Quite balanced I thought. (sorry for bringing it up but it is quite important to some of us who don't want our kids to cook to a crisp).

Highest rated comment:

Quantum computing might sort it all out within a few days, first by mining the 3000 or so remaining Bitcoins, then by stealing the largest wallets of those who don't have quantum computers. I expect it'll all be worthless within hours of the first theft.

Next highest rated comment

Appears to be awfully expensive to keep the idiots happy.

Literally stupid comments by Guardian readers. If Quantum computers do somehow hack Bitcoin's network - the strongest computing network ever created, it will already have hacked every bank, every government website, etc.

Also if quantum computing does get remotely close to being a realistic threat, bitcoin's encryption can be updated well in advance..

It's an incredibly silly argument by people who haven't got a clue what they are talking about.  Its the same parroted rubbish people blurt out that they heard some idiot say down the pub once....

Lol I cannot stop chuckling!!! 

But anyway, it is a good fantasy movie to make, so people are more creative with their illusion with the new world order. We probably need to start thinking to live in Mars??

I will be worry more about terorist hackers using quantum computer to crack Russian Nuclear command centre and destroy the world.

Zola.

https://twitter.com/saylor/status/1488498422495817728

How much is enough?! 

Malthusian

Zola. said:

Literally stupid comments by Guardian readers. If Quantum computers do somehow hack Bitcoin's network - the strongest computing network ever created, it will already have hacked every bank, every government website, etc.

If quantum computers were developed that can hack Bitcoin and every bank and government website and steal everyone's money, there are two possible scenarios:

1) The social contract endures, and banking records are reconstructed on pen and paper from whatever permanent records have survived, like my monthly RBS statements. I can prove my account balance in a court of law and RBS legally still owes me my money, even if some guy with a quantum computer raided my account. The Government prints enough money to cover the losses to quantum hackers before the banks pulled the plug, nationalises banks, and does whatever else is necessary to maintain the value of money. People who held deposit accounts still have their money, even if it's worth less. The world is much poorer and banking is now as time-consuming and tedious as it was in the 1800s, but most people can still buy food. As can people who held cash under the floorboards.

Those who hold Bitcoin, by contrast, have nothing. All their tokens are belong to haxors and they have no paper records or legal proof of ownership to say otherwise. Welcome to being sovereign citizens.

2) The social contract breaks down, the economy collapses and people resort to barter with whatever they've got, or shotguns and pitchforks. Those who hold Bitcoin still have nothing, same as everybody else.

So I'm not seeing the stupid comment here. The risk of being a sovereign citizen and rejecting any legal protection over your wealth  is real.

Also if quantum computing does get remotely close to being a realistic threat, bitcoin's encryption can be updated well in advance..

Providing that the first person to invent a strong enough quantum computer is a bro who then immediately uses it to strengthen Bitcoin's encryption before someone else invents a quantum computer and steals it. Someone like the Russian or Chinese or US governments. Or the mafia. Or anyone with more incentive to steal and/or destroy cryptocurrency than to protect it.

The only thing half decent about that article is that they actually accept that Bitcoin only uses 0.1% of global energy consumption...

It uses 0.1% of global energy consumption solely because that energy use consists of a few hundred thousand bros trading points between each other and hoping that number go up. Not because it is a particularly energy efficient way of doing nothing much.