Bitcoins/Litecoins/Virtual Currencies

jeffvader

it's only castles burning
402
33
bitcoin having a good day. something may be happening as a result of the government auction.
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
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From what little I understand the govt auction of 30k BTC was an easy way for a big investor to buy a ton of BTC at a steady price. Even though they paid more than market for the 30k btc they ostensibly would've raised the market price high enough that buying at the auction made sense. This buy in increased the price of BTC outside of the auction because, well, reasons.

No where near where assholes like this predicted though:
Twitter / oleganza: Tomorrow US will announce auction ...
?@oleganza Tomorrow US will announce auction winners for confiscated 30K bitcoins. I predict the price will be at least 3x the market (>$1800/btc).
 

Palum

what Suineg set it to
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Help me understand this.

The core principle of any state banking system is that money enters the economy in a structured way. The government may print X currency and lend, invest, subsidize or purchase whatever products or services to bring it into the economy (at the cost of devaluing all preexisting currency).

This just doesn't work when random people are 'minting' it, regardless of why or how. There's no additive benefit to fiat in that case, no investment into the economy - there is no meaningful exchange of services or goods for the new currency that was created. I don't get how people can place value in Bitcoins, they seem like they are literally a hype based currency. To call it a faith based is like saying you have faith that Tim Tebow has a chance of making it back to the NFL as a starting quarterback - neither assumptions of worth are even conceptually grounded in anything tangible, unlike bridges, aircraft carriers, human capital and intellectual property. Any faith that isn't backed up with infrastructure or natural or public resources is instead really blind faith that someone else will find inherent worth in it as well.

Maybe I'm just an economics idiot, but I simply cannot understand how this exists as a legitimate conceptbecausethe basis is not centralized (even if other aspects were not).

To put it even simpler: Let's say I receive a $20 bill from working. I have contributedsomethingto society (even if very, very indirectly). I then take that contribution and trade it in for a product worth $20, which in turn a company paid slightly less to create through some process in order to create wealth. Of coursenothingis valued against an objective standard. That said, with a cryptocurrency that I generate at home worth $20, there has been no transactional benefit to society - I simply should be allowed to 'take' resources (products/services) in the same scenario in exchange not formycontribution to society but rather my creation of the currency item itself.

Waaaaaaat?
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
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Help me understand this.

The core principle of any state banking system is that money enters the economy in a structured way. The government may print X currency and lend, invest, subsidize or purchase whatever products or services to bring it into the economy (at the cost of devaluing all preexisting currency).

This just doesn't work when random people are 'minting' it, regardless of why or how. There's no additive benefit to fiat in that case, no investment into the economy - there is no meaningful exchange of services or goods for the new currency that was created. I don't get how people can place value in Bitcoins, they seem like they are literally a hype based currency. To call it a faith based is like saying you have faith that Tim Tebow has a chance of making it back to the NFL as a starting quarterback - neither assumptions of worth are even conceptually grounded in anything tangible, unlike bridges, aircraft carriers, human capital and intellectual property. Any faith that isn't backed up with infrastructure or natural or public resources is instead really blind faith that someone else will find inherent worth in it as well.

Maybe I'm just an economics idiot, but I simply cannot understand how this exists as a legitimate conceptbecausethe basis is not centralized (even if other aspects were not).

To put it even simpler: Let's say I receive a $20 bill from working. I have contributedsomethingto society (even if very, very indirectly). I then take that contribution and trade it in for a product worth $20, which in turn a company paid slightly less to create through some process in order to create wealth. Of coursenothingis valued against an objective standard. That said, with a cryptocurrency that I generate at home worth $20, there has been no transactional benefit to society - I simply should be allowed to 'take' resources (products/services) in the same scenario in exchange not formycontribution to society but rather my creation of the currency item itself.

Waaaaaaat?
I'm a layman when it comes to finance and economics but I'll offer what I know that may shed some light:
1. Most USD is created when a bank lends money using a fractional reserve system where they only have $1 but 'lend' $10, thereby creating $9. Cool video:

2. When someone mines BTC they are actually using their computer hardware to facilitate exchange of BTC between different people. This network of cryptocurrency mining is what allows a 'consensus' to occur that allows a holder of a BTC to give it to someone else.

3. Like any investment/currency/security its value is only what people give it. BTC is the first big cryptocurrency, and many people think cryptocurrency might be really huge in the future, so they think BTC might be very popular. BTC itself is a deflationary currency where it should get more valuable the more people use it, so there's a lot of demand for it.

4. I personally don't but the idea that the world will switch to holding and trading in BTC in the near future. USD is a great vehicle because the US military guarantees business takes place globally. However currently has many advantages that USD or other currencies don't have that make it desirable for exhanging (not holding) money.
 

Mist

Eeyore Enthusiast
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If anyone is um, bored of their bitcoins, feel free to give them to me.
 

cazalla_sl

shitlord
3
0
Newegg is giving 10% off when you pay with Bitcoins right now.
Newegg also thinksbitcoins are worthlessand that you should quickly spend your coins with them. How fortuitous we have Newegg to take our worthless coins from us, sell them to Bitpay who then hand them over to the USG.

They're getting that desperate for bitcoins that their blatant propaganda is obvious.
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
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Note that the writer of that article is some web editor, not a real representative of Newegg and their thinking. Plus an article on a store website telling you to spend your currency isn't unbiased.


Either way the article was pretty terrible and could be summed up as 'BTC is volatile, so it's probably a poor investment vehicle'. I have to imagine that Newegg and other retailers think BTC is valuable if only because they can engage in fee-free transactions with clients.
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
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It's funny how the slow deflation of the BTC bubble is occurring while BTC is gaining traction.
VRtP5nj.png
 

jeffvader

it's only castles burning
402
33
415. down @ 35 in one day. that hasn't happened in a while. some saying it'll go back down to 340 now before bouncing again.
 

Mist

Eeyore Enthusiast
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Might as well just give them to me. I'll hold onto them until the market improves.
 

cazalla_sl

shitlord
3
0
btc down to @ 435. good time to buy?
It's always a good time to buy and the decision is an easy one if you're in this with a long term view. I would own much more coin if I had just purchased them when I had cash instead of trying to get the best price. At $1 I thought I had missed the boat so I didn't bother. At $5 I thought it would go lower. The benefit of hindsight is coming to understand that even at the $1200 top or current price, it's under valued so act accordingly.