lol

[KB]

The Winklevoss twins are celebrating right now.

This sarcasm? The Winklevii just lost half thier value in bitcoins, which totals several million.

 

[Train]

This sarcasm? The Winklevii just lost half thier value in bitcoins, which totals several million.

pretty sure the twins bought in at a much lower price, and are holding for a very long term.

Even if they sold today, they would profit in the millions.

 

[FelixDeCat]

[....

 

[Train]

Cameron Winklevoss: Bitcoin Might Hit $40,000 Per Coin

http://mashable.com/2013/12/16/cameron-winklevoss-bitcoin/

Ya, they are looking to hold for a looooong time.

plus, they are already rich, if bitcoins tanked, they probably don't care much.

 

[ultimatebob]

This sarcasm? The Winklevii just lost half thier value in bitcoins, which totals several million.

Yeah, but they bought in early. I think that the price was around $100 when that news became public, so they probably got their coins even cheaper than that.

 

[uclaLabrat]

Cameron Winklevoss: Bitcoin Might Hit $40,000 Per Coin

http://mashable.com/2013/12/16/cameron-winklevoss-bitcoin/

Ya, they are looking to hold for a looooong time.

plus, they are already rich, if bitcoins tanked, they probably don't care much.

People don't get rich and stay that way by not caring if their investments tank.

 

[Train]

People don't get rich and stay that way by not caring if their investments tank.

Rich people have investments tank all the time. Go read statistics on Venture Capitalists.

But they also never put their eggs in one basket. One rule of thumb is to never trade more than 0.5% of your portfolio at a time. I'd be willing to be the amount of money the twins put into BTC is less than 0.5% of their total holdings.

 

[halik]

Rich people have investments tank all the time. Go read statistics on Venture Capitalists.

But they also never put their eggs in one basket. One rule of thumb is to never trade more than 0.5% of your portfolio at a time. I'd be willing to be the amount of money the twins put into BTC is less than 0.5% of their total holdings.

They put in $11M into bit coin, their net worth is not anywhere near $2.2B

 

[ultimatebob]

There are still a surprisingly high number of people who still have no idea what in the hell Bitcoin is. I just had a tough time explaining how it works to a bunch of programmers where I work, and these guys are pretty bright.

It's going to be awhile until the Average Joe figures it out.

 

[Train]

They put in $11M into bit coin, their net worth is not anywhere near $2.2B

Wow thanks calc.exe!

I thought they had originally only put in a mil. Plus we don't know how much of that 11 mil is carried. Either way, original point still stands.

 

[FelixDeCat]

....

 

[Brigandier]

When I first heard of bitcoin they were trading at about $5 a coin. It's only a crash if you bought them after their most recent bubble.

 

[Imp]

Anyone watch Almost Human on Fox? In the last episode people were buying recycled human organs with bitcoin. Thought it was funny.

Saw it! Wasn't paying enough attention though. Unsure if they were using it for organ trafficking (blackmarket) or if the regular currency was that.

 

[Doppel]

Hot diggity damn.

This has long since lost any viability as a currency. And, sorry, some pissant website or coffee shop in Seattle now accepting bitcoins does not an argument for it being a currency make.

This is now tulip mania in full swing. Bitcoins are a commodity now with absolutely no inherent value whatsoever, no different than trading rare rocks that, while not possible to easily replicate, hold absolutely no inherent value. Cannot be eaten, burned, used to make things, and unlike gold or national currencies don't have any history of being worth anything, nor any government backing.

People are still buying this for one reason and one reason only: greater fool theory. If they don't know this is why they are buying them, they are one of those fools. Hopefully for their sake they get out before they get hosed.

You guys should have invested in Sssnailcoins, that shit holds its value.

Doppelbucks are worth almost twice sssnailcoins on the open exchange, and China can't touch them. Government immune! I'm currently selling Doppelbucks for $300 USD and promise to release no more than 10M of them total, ever.

I'm kinda glad that you can't downvote comments here. It you look at the Crypto forums on Reddit, for example, you'll see a bunch of shills promoting their crypto currency of choice and having those comments upvoted by their buddies. If you dare to say anything negative about their coin of choice, your comment gets downvoted into oblivion.

You end up with forums filled with cheerleaders, with no actual debate or rational discussion.

Absolutely I have seen this. Wired has a hard-on for bitcoin and you'll see the bitcoin zealots come out in full force on the articles there. When you start criticizing bitcoin they start knee-jerking about the federal reserve. The latest fantasy is that amazon will start accepting bitcoin.

There are still a surprisingly high number of people who still have no idea what in the hell Bitcoin is. I just had a tough time explaining how it works to a bunch of programmers where I work, and these guys are pretty bright.

It's going to be awhile until the Average Joe figures it out.

I believe I understand what it is, although it is confusing at first. I am more convinced every time the price of it skyrockets or tanks that it is dead in the water as a viable currency. Lacking any chance in hell of being a viable currency (currently it is only a very transient exchange--just enough time until the seller of a product can convert to an actual, real form of money), all it is left is an object to be pumped and dumped.

When I first heard of bitcoin they were trading at about $5 a coin. It's only a crash if you bought them after their most recent bubble.

A crash is a crash. Nobody here doesn't wish they had bought a thousand coins when they were worth a dollar. Doesn't change the argument.

 

[zinfamous]

Why do you always insist on starting your own bitcoin thread, when there are other, current bitcoin threads going on for months while your opinions on the matter lie dormant?

Can you not use the damn search function?

 

[Crusty]

You guys need to understand that the 'golden idea' behind Bitcoins is not that the fact that you can walk into a store and 'spend' them like a currency. It is the fact that it provides a completely public, secure and traceable transaction ledger for the entire history of the coins.

If someone gives you BTC, you can be assured with 100% certainty that nobody else can spend your coins(without your password), or that the person that gave you the BTC can't in turn give those same BTC to someone else(double spending).

The protocol itself is ingenious, the practical implementation of it is what needs tweaking.

 

[FelixDeCat]

[...

 

[AViking]

If I want to move currency around I have a plethora of options. For trade I can write a check, cashiers check, open a letter of credit, use cash, etc. I know that the value of it will be stable. If I'm dealing with a foreign currency then I will only deal with stable currencies like the USD, Euro, and GBP. As a business I would not deal in something like Turkmenistan or Zimbabwe money. The transaction will be done in dollars. If not then the business is simply not done. They can deal with their own currency problems.

This is the problem with Bitcoin. Nobody is ever going to sell items for bitcoins. That would be insane and people would laugh at you just like if you tried to sell your product using the Zimbabwe Dollar. You might buy something for bitcoins but that's your problem and it holds no benefits. You have no protections and buying something as simple as a loaf of bread is difficult with bitcoins. Yes it's difficult because nobody accepts them but it's also very difficult because bitcoins are volatile. You would be better off buying a loaf of bread with baseball cards.

I feel like bitcoin is reaching it's absurd obvious conclusion. Now people are starting to tout how they're so awesome since only one person can own a bitcoin at a time. As if that is somehow impressive.

Show me how I could do real commerce with a bitcoin.

1. Buy real estate in a foreign country.
2. Transfer money from one country to another. ie how would I use bitcoins to move investment profits from Sweden to the USA and how would this be better than simply using a normal bank and converting SEK to USD. As it stands my investment portfolio has multiple currencies and I can swap them seamlessly for a few percentage points.
3. How do I take my paycheck in USD and buy a Bigscreen TV and how does this benefit me compared to simply paying it with my debit/credit card in USD?
4. How do I use bitcoins to operate an import/expert business where two parties in different countries are opening letters of credit with a bank and only transferring funds upon completion of the order?

Show me how bitcoins have ANY practical applications that will either simplify my life or cost me less money.

 

[Doppel]

If I want to move currency around I have a plethora of options. For trade I can write a check, cashiers check, open a letter of credit, use cash, etc. I know that the value of it will be stable. If I'm dealing with a foreign currency then I will only deal with stable currencies like the USD, Euro, and GBP. As a business I would not deal in something like Turkmenistan or Zimbabwe money. The transaction will be done in dollars. If not then the business is simply not done. They can deal with their own currency problems.

This is the problem with Bitcoin. Nobody is ever going to sell items for bitcoins. That would be insane and people would laugh at you just like if you tried to sell your product using the Zimbabwe Dollar. You might buy something for bitcoins but that's your problem and it holds no benefits. You have no protections and buying something as simple as a loaf of bread is difficult with bitcoins. Yes it's difficult because nobody accepts them but it's also very difficult because bitcoins are volatile. You would be better off buying a loaf of bread with baseball cards.

I feel like bitcoin is reaching it's absurd obvious conclusion. Now people are starting to tout how they're so awesome since only one person can own a bitcoin at a time. As if that is somehow impressive.

Show me how I could do real commerce with a bitcoin.

1. Buy real estate in a foreign country.
2. Transfer money from one country to another. ie how would I use bitcoins to move investment profits from Sweden to the USA and how would this be better than simply using a normal bank and converting SEK to USD. As it stands my investment portfolio has multiple currencies and I can swap them seamlessly for a few percentage points.
3. How do I take my paycheck in USD and buy a Bigscreen TV and how does this benefit me compared to simply paying it with my debit/credit card in USD?
4. How do I use bitcoins to operate an import/expert business where two parties in different countries are opening letters of credit with a bank and only transferring funds upon completion of the order?

Show me how bitcoins have ANY practical applications that will either simplify my life or cost me less money.

Well the true zealots will say everything you mention will come with time, the ability to buy anything.

I also find that argument that only one person can hold a bitcoin incredibly strange, like, uh, thanks for solving a problem that every world currency solved a forever ago? The $20 note in my wallet is mine, not yours and you can't magically take it out. It's pretty damn obvious that modern banking systems are worlds away more secure than bitcoins. BF (bitcoin faithful) have various approaches they use to "secure" their money like holding it in different locations. My money is in my bank account. It will never get robbed, and if it does the bank and/or FDIC will say oh I'm so sorry to hear that, here's all your money back down to the last penny.

Given that bitcoin is patently unworthy as a currency and never will be one of any relevance, all we have left is people using it as an "investment", as if we are somehow short on other investment mechanisms within which we can place money and which are not easily reproduced (hi, gold). I have to think the majority of investors are small-timers who spend more time on reddit than the economist and think "this time will be different" (it is pretty much never different), and they aren't buying bitcoin because of any meaningful inherent value but because they just think it will keep going up. They are probably spending more money on this than they ought, and those who buy before it crashes once and for all will have learned a very humbling lesson.

 

[AViking]

I think they're really young. I have seen this several times. The tech bubble is a pretty good mirroring of what bitcoin is today. People buying something that has no value just because they think it's going to keep rising forever and make them rich.

It'll crash. The idiots will lose their money and life will go on. Until the next "get rich scheme".

 

[JMapleton]

It will stabilize well under $100 by late 2014. It's a huge bubble. I can see it under $10.

 

[Udgnim]

I think they're really young. I have seen this several times. The tech bubble is a pretty good mirroring of what bitcoin is today. People buying something that has no value just because they think it's going to keep rising forever and make them rich.

It'll crash. The idiots will lose their money and life will go on. Until the next "get rich scheme".

have a similar opinion

I believe current Bitcoin value right now is based much more on people speculating and believing that it will increase in value than on its actual use as currency for purchasing services / goods.

still tempted to jump on the train if BTC value drops down far enough though

 

[mshan]

"Chinese investors are driving the price of the virtual currency worldwide. Bitcoin is a popular way to invest in the country as people have few investment options and see it as a coveted commodity."

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101289261

"The Chinese lower income and middle class people have extremely limited savings options. There are capital controls and they cannot take their money out of the country. So they can't invest in any foreign assets.

Their local share market is unbelievably corrupt. I have looked at many Chinese stocks listed in Shanghai and corruption levels are similar to Chinese stocks listed in New York. Expect fraud.

What Chinese are left with is bank deposits, life insurance accounts and (maybe) apartments."

http://brontecapital.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/macroeconomics-of-chinese-kleptocracy.html

"Many come to elude China’s strict limits on the amount of yuan people can take out of the country.

A government official who has embezzled state funds, for example, may arrange to gamble in Macau through a junket. When he arrives, his chips are waiting for him.

When he cashes out, his winnings are paid in Hong Kong dollars, which he can stash in a bank in Hong Kong or take farther afield."

http://humblestudentofthemarkets.blogspot.com/2012/01/unofficial-money-fleeing-china.html

 

[dighn]

this is pretty normal for bitcoin. move along, nothing to see here.

 

[SSSnail]

The one thing that I learned from all this is that if you're gonna get in on a pyramid scam, get in early.