Bitcoins

[Skyhilist]

They're so fucking annoying seriously. Why are they touted as like some perfect currency when their value goes up and down like any other currency? And seriously, buying stuff with bitcoins is ridiculous because it's just absurd of like $40 equating to only 0.05 of any currency. Also, why is the process for buying them so ridiculously difficult and complex compared to other things? I'm having to buy some because I have to buy something online and you can only pay in bitcoins and ugh the process is just so fucking frustrating to just obtain the bitcoins, I think I hate them even more than US dollars.

Does anyone else have any experience with this awful, pain in the ass currency?

[Os Cangaceiros]

It used to be really easy to buy them back when BitInstant was still around.

[o well this is ok I guess]

Check for a physical location in your city that exchanges them. There's a cash for gold place about 30 min from where I live that does exchanges, and it's pretty painless, apart from the commute.

[argeiphontes]

My only regret is not buying them when they were low, and selling them when they were high. Some guy turned a grand into about $850,000.-

"Bitcoin," I laughed, "what the fuck is that? It'll probably be worthless in a month." Well, the joke was on me, I guess. I could use some fictitious profits right about now.

(Seriously, though, the only advantage I see is anonymity.)

[o well this is ok I guess]

My only regret is not buying them when they were low, and selling them when they were high. Some guy turned a grand into about $850,000.-

"Bitcoin," I laughed, "what the fuck is that? It'll probably be worthless in a month." Well, the joke was on me, I guess. I could use some fictitious profits right about now.

(Seriously, though, the only advantage I see is anonymity.) the price fluctuates to a degree that one could still make a pretty decent profit in a month. More than an RRSP or whatever will get you, anyways.

[Skyhilist]

Yeah some kid at my school is selling them so I guess I'll just buy them from him. The price he's charging is sort of a rip-off, but I'm very non-confrontational and just need this for a one time thing (for now) so it's whatever. Once I get a job (when I'm forced to get a job) and therefore a bank account, I guess I can just transfer funds from there or something if I need to get more. Pain in the ass right now though to obtain them.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

My only regret is not buying them when they were low, and selling them when they were high. Some guy turned a grand into about $850,000.-

"Bitcoin," I laughed, "what the fuck is that? It'll probably be worthless in a month." Well, the joke was on me, I guess. I could use some fictitious profits right about now.

(Seriously, though, the only advantage I see is anonymity.)

lol you're a shit capitalist

[BIXX]

What are they backed by?
Why do they exist?

[Os Cangaceiros]

Bitcoins: what are they and how do we fight them? [/esoteric revleft in-joke]

[blake 3:17]

There are machines in Toronto and Vancouver --


http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/01/13/bitcoin_atm_comes_to_toronto.html

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

My only regret is not buying them when they were low, and selling them when they were high. Some guy turned a grand into about $850,000.-

"Bitcoin," I laughed, "what the fuck is that? It'll probably be worthless in a month." Well, the joke was on me, I guess. I could use some fictitious profits right about now.

(Seriously, though, the only advantage I see is anonymity.)

I remember making fun of them for the first few years too. They cost almost nothing for such a long time, why couldn't I have just purchased some ironically or something :-(

I still think they're a joke, but I don't think they're any more bogus than the funny money we all interact with every day anyhow. It's just a different variety of bogus.

[reb]

$40 equating to only 0.05 of any currency.

I don't think it's that ridicolous. If you have ever had experience with any of the old lira currencies then this would be fairly common. In 2001 one U.S. dollar = 1,650,000 Turkish lira.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

4 reasons BitCoin hoarders are screwed (http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/4-reasons-bitcoin-hoarders-are-screwed/)

[AnaRchic]

Bitcoins are only good for one thing; purchasing illegal goods and service on the online black market. They can be used anonymously and can't be traced back to you; IF you know what you're doing with them and take certain precautions.

So unless you want to buy drugs, fake ids, stolen credit card info, guns, bombs, hitmen, prostitutes, and/or crowdfund political assassinations, bitcoins are of no use to you.

If for some reason you do want any of those things, google the "Hidden Wiki" ;)

TOR, the Hidden Wiki, localbitcoins.com, bitcoin mixing services, anonymous email (MailTor), pgp encryption, drops, carding. That whole rabbit hole goes very very deep.

[Criminalize Heterosexuality]

Correction: bitcoins are only good for making people - many of them right-"libertarian" interned warriors - think they're anonymous. If you need to buy a gun, for the love of Nechayev use cash.

[AnaRchic]

bitcoins are only good for making people - many of them right-"libertarian" interned warriors - think they're anonymous
My point is that they can be made anonymous, if you're smart about it. You can buy bitcoins from someone in cash and run them through a mixing service (which basically launders them by mixing all users bitcoins into a pot and throwing them back out to people randomly so everyone now has different bitcoins, thereby obscuring the blockchain).

You can them move them through multiple .onion wallets which are anonymous and can't even detect your IP address, and mix your bitcoins once again every time you transfer them. Do this a few times and I can almost guarantee that no one will be able to trace these bitcoins back to you.

This is why the Feds are worried about bitcoins, because they CAN be used anonymously and can also provide an excellent means of laundering large sums of money.

[Skyhilist]

Bitcoins are only good for one thing; purchasing illegal goods and service on the online black market. They can be used anonymously and can't be traced back to you; IF you know what you're doing with them and take certain precautions.

So unless you want to buy drugs, fake ids, stolen credit card info, guns, bombs, hitmen, prostitutes, and/or crowdfund political assassinations, bitcoins are of no use to you.

If for some reason you do want any of those things, google the "Hidden Wiki" ;)

TOR, the Hidden Wiki, localbitcoins.com, bitcoin mixing services, anonymous email (MailTor), pgp encryption, drops, carding. That whole rabbit hole goes very very deep.

I'm aware of what bitcoins are used for, but it's not something that I care to discuss.

[Skyhilist]

4 reasons BitCoin hoarders are screwed (http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/4-reasons-bitcoin-hoarders-are-screwed/)

Luckily I'm not in the business of hoarding them - I just need to make a few transactions and then hopefully I'll never have to deal with these awful things again.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Luckily I'm not in the business of hoarding them - I just need to make a few transactions and then hopefully I'll never have to deal with these awful things again.

To be honest when I posted that I was thinking more of the lolbertarian types who wet their undies over BitCoins.

I think #3 in particular shows up their fantasies as the deluded dreams they are. The small-time lolbertarians who imagine an "egalitarian" capitalism don't seem to understand that by operating within the system they're doomed from the start.

[ckaihatsu]

Exchange crash reveals bitcoin's real-world weakness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQtpZTrbjC8

[ckaihatsu]

Bitcoin under pressure from hackers and regulators - economy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEl5JyDskLA

[blake 3:17]

yeah doesn't seem to be working too well

Canadian bitcoin bank collapses after hackers steal digital currency

SAN FRANCISCO —A Canadian bank specializing in bitcoins says it has closed after computer hackers stole its digital currency.
The closure of the Flexcoin bank comes just a week after the collapse of Mt. Gox, a major bitcoin exchange. The Japan-based Mt. Gox also linked its demise to an electronic heist.
The twin failures of Mt. Gox and Flexcoin will likely raise more doubts about bitcoin’s ability to establish itself as an alternative currency.
In a notice Tuesday, Flexcoin says 896 bitcoins were stolen from its online vault. That translates into a loss of about $600,000, based on bitcoin’s current trading value.
Unlike banks dealing in government-backed currencies, Flexcoin’s losses aren’t covered by deposit insurance. The Alberta bank says it can’t recover from the setback.
Bitcoins that Flexcoin kept offline, or in “cold storage,” remain secure, according to the bank. Although Flexcoin didn’t provide details, bitcoins stored this way are often documented on paper certificates or on a hard drive that’s not connected to the Internet.
The Mt. Gox collapse represents a far bigger blow to bitcoin’s credibility. That downfall wiped out about 750,000 bitcoins, or about six per cent of the currency’s total circulation. Mt. Gox has filed for bankruptcy protections while it sifts through its financial mess.
Supporters are touting the five-year-old currency as a way to lower transaction fees by cutting out banks and payment processors that collect billions of dollars annually by serving as financial middlemen. Skeptics, including government leaders around the world, deride bitcoins as a currency suitable only for speculators.

[ckaihatsu]

Awwwwwwwwww, it's such a shame.... I liked that 'B'-dollar-sign logo well enough....


x D

[ckaihatsu]

Including this to show that Bitcoin advocates are of the *monetarist* (anti-Keynesianist) economic faction, since the only conception of investment mentioned is strictly about an independent arbitrary conservative interest rate, and based on already-existing savings.

Compare this to the fractional reserve banking that's the nationalist norm, and is a mainstay of the larger conventional economy, not to mention government spending.

I wonder if Bitcoins are going to somehow be made the basis for more-liquid financial instruments, if it hasn't happened already, and then what the effects and consequences will be of breaching *that* firewall...(!) (See: 'derivatives'.)





Deflation of prices in a Bitcoin economy is often put forward as a major reason not to depend on such a currency. However, a major goal of civilization is to reduce the effective price of goods and services as time goes on, so that each person becomes more prosperous. This argues for a natural role for deflation; indeed, neither inflation nor deflation pose major difficulties to an economy if they are reasonably predictable.

There are two main reasons for deflation to occur in an economy. Deflation is usually defined as a general drop in prices of goods and services. However, monetarists use deflation to describe a decline in the money supply. These are very different events with different consequences.

Deflation is often pointed out as a driving force for saving currency. After all, it will be worth more next year, so why spend it this year? When the money supply is decreased artificially, prices will fall, but a large set of future expectations, such as loan repayments, will be set on their heads. More loans will be unpaid, further reducing the money supply, and the increase in value of money decreases its velocity in the economy. The result is an artificial decrease of price levels, a feedback loop that can lead to a deflationary spiral.

In the case of a roughly fixed money supply, however, neither saving nor deflation exert an unfavorable influence on the economy. Saving actually becomes a new form of investment: investment in the growth of the overall economy. Next year a saver will own the same percentage of a larger economy. However, if an individual wants to seek more growth, they can loan their money out to receive, say, 1.03 times the amount of bitcoins lent when the loan comes due next year. People who will accept additional risk can start businesses, or invest in an existing business. The expectation is that most people will choose a degree of risk that will keep most of the bitcoins in circulation. None of this, of course, changes the money supply in the absence of fractional-reserve banking. Indeed, none of these investments requires a banking system at all.




Pros and cons of a mature Bitcoin economy

http://www.gizmag.com/bitcoin-currency-money-economy-mature/30863/