Ooops!adam2 wrote:Not doing so well at the moment.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13857192
The most important creation in the history of man. Honest.
Moderator: Peak Moderation
- UndercoverElephant
- Posts: 13523
- Joined: 10 Mar 2008, 00:00
- Location: UK
But it doesnt restrain government, if I got paid in bit coins, the government would assign them a monetary value, and demand its taxes in £sterling.featherstick wrote:unusual position for a self-professed libertarian to take. Surely you should welcome anything that constrains government's ambit?DominicJ wrote:can bitcoins be turned back into electricity and time?
Can i pay my taxes with them?
Then they are worthless...
You can get paid in shares, the government still demands its 50%, paid in cash.
If my salary became 100 bit coins a month, the government would translate that into £, and demand my taxes paid, in £.
A £5 note has value because you can pay your taxes with it, it is infact all you can pay your taxes with.
A chicken has value because you can eat it.
A bit coin?
It takes time and eergy to create?
So do mud pies.
It takes time and energy to turn a newly built car into scrap...
I'm a realist, not a hippie
Not sure of the significance of this (if any) but:
Bitcoin-Central can operate as a bank (or PSP) in France.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20641465
And
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=129461.0
Bitcoin-Central can operate as a bank (or PSP) in France.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20641465
And
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=129461.0
- emordnilap
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For those who still don't understand what Bitcoin is or how it works, this doesn't help at all.
In a rare public statement, the CEO of the embattled Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox said that the company has found an “old format wallet” containing approximately 200,000 bitcoins.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
So how do I "mine" my own bitcoins? Or is it only a select few who can "print" the money? If that's the case, might as well stick with the FED and BOE, - doesn't seem like much difference to me,
Whoever controls the creation of money enslaves the rest. Not for me thanks, I'll just pass on an I.O.U. to exchange for my labour and effort, which has a real, tangible use value.
Whoever controls the creation of money enslaves the rest. Not for me thanks, I'll just pass on an I.O.U. to exchange for my labour and effort, which has a real, tangible use value.
My limited understanding is that bitcoins are digital codes. Every bitcoin has a unique digital code, with presumably some central registry of where they are. Somehow there is a technique where the file cannot be duplicated, only transferred, so forgery is impossible.
The code contained in a bitcoin is calculated by some very computer intensive calculation. Once you have completed the calculation and registered the code, the bitcoin is yours. However, each bit coin requires more computer power to calculate than the previous one.
This makes a good analogy with gold mining. Anyone can dig for gold (if they have mining rights), but all the easy ore is gone, and technology cannot keep up , so gold retains its value.
Anyone can mine (calculate) bitcoins, but it takes ever more computer power and electricity to do it, so they retain their value, as long as anybody will accept them.
So yes, you can mine bit coins, and no you (or I ) cant.
The code contained in a bitcoin is calculated by some very computer intensive calculation. Once you have completed the calculation and registered the code, the bitcoin is yours. However, each bit coin requires more computer power to calculate than the previous one.
This makes a good analogy with gold mining. Anyone can dig for gold (if they have mining rights), but all the easy ore is gone, and technology cannot keep up , so gold retains its value.
Anyone can mine (calculate) bitcoins, but it takes ever more computer power and electricity to do it, so they retain their value, as long as anybody will accept them.
So yes, you can mine bit coins, and no you (or I ) cant.
- emordnilap
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Bitcoin exchange bankrupt?
The exchange went dark in February, shortly after it blocked Bitcoin withdrawals, claiming there was a bug in the software that underpins the virtual currency, making it vulnerable to thieves.
It filed for bankruptcy protection soon thereafter, admitting it had lost 850,000 coins which were worth nearly $500 million at the time. It made a similar filing in the United States in early March.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
- emordnilap
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- Location: here
SourceAnyone in China with a smartphone can now act as a bitcoin ATM with BTC China’s new mobile app that lets users buy and sell bitcoins in different major world currencies.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
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Interesting journal to discuss cryptocurrencies:
Nature: The future of cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and beyond
Nature: The future of cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and beyond
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools - Douglas Adams.
Bitcoins are software. Software can be corrupted. Anything that can be corrupted will, at some point, be corrupted. I might be persuaded to hold them in the good times. But, on the other hand, in the good times there is little incentive to hold them since that is the point at which FIAT currencies are, relatively speaking stable. In the bad times, I wouldn't touch bitcoins with a bargepole.
In the bad times, the only things that will have value will be real things or will be universal units of exchange that are also real (such as gold and silver) and therefore difficult to corrupt.
In the bad times, the only things that will have value will be real things or will be universal units of exchange that are also real (such as gold and silver) and therefore difficult to corrupt.
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Pretty smart in theory. But yeah it requires a functioning internet.
But thinking outside the box: it's useful as an alternative currency when all the official channels to making money have been closed down such as in the cashless sweden.
I myself rarely use cash but I object to being forced to relinquish it. For that, Bitcoin is reasonable.
It doesn't however, replace gold which is pretty useful in a SHTF situation. Of course, what you really want are guns and ammo in such a situation because the guy with the guns and the cans of spam is going to extract a harder bargain than the guy with just the gold.
But thinking outside the box: it's useful as an alternative currency when all the official channels to making money have been closed down such as in the cashless sweden.
I myself rarely use cash but I object to being forced to relinquish it. For that, Bitcoin is reasonable.
It doesn't however, replace gold which is pretty useful in a SHTF situation. Of course, what you really want are guns and ammo in such a situation because the guy with the guns and the cans of spam is going to extract a harder bargain than the guy with just the gold.