Still considered online currency. In the future you might be able to use them across the amazon sites. (woot, livingsocial, myhabit). Just speculation though. I wouldn't call them gift cards because they actually sell gift cards for their site. Right now that's basically how they function but I don't think it'll stay like that forever.
Also, I could see it as a potential payment option on Mturk. http://aws.amazon.com/mturk/
Three for... Waitaminute, no deal!
No coins shall ever worth more than sssnail coins, because of my guarantee, you see?
Online currency != peer-to-peer crypto-currency though. These Amazon coins are effectively the same thing as Facebook credits.
If Amazon goes under, all of those coins become worthless. If (insert any bitcoin company here) goes under, Bitcoins still function.
Three for... Waitaminute, no deal!
No coins shall ever worth more than sssnail coins, because of my guarantee, you see?
Credit card companies don't convert US dollars. They just let you borrow US dollars in a more convenient form, which you then pay back in US dollars. There is no currency risk.
Which are nothing like Bitcoins. They are issued by a central organization(Amazon), and are only worth what Amazon tells you they are worth, i.e. what you can buy with them on Amazon.
They are essentially gift cards.
Some event happens that cause a dramatic rise in the value of the Dollar.
5 years comes up and I have to pay back the 100,000.
The 100,000 I am giving the bank today is worth 10 times the 100,000 I borrowed 5 years ago.
This is an exaggeration to make the effect apparent, but the very fact that there are currency markets should suggest to you that there is currency risk with any currency.
lol @ having blind faith in a corporation over mathematics.
That guarantee sure means a lot!
The problem with the USA's "threat of force" is that a real global war with nuclear weapons would pretty much be the end of life on earth. It's something of an empty threat, and the USA can't force people to value dollars higher, even at gunpoint- it just doesn't work. The value of the dollar is decaying because it's being inflated at the tune of 85 billion a month.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...ce-of-bond-buying-as-job-market-improves.html
You can't force people to value your money by threat of war, it doesn't really work.
lol @ having blind faith in a corporation over mathematics.
lol @ people caring about something which doesn't even count for 1bps of GDP globally in daily currency movement.
Bitcoin isn't faith in a mathematics, it is faith in the greater fool theory. It has no intrinsic value and cannot even claim any backing from any person, place, or thing of value, other than "mathematics" according to you (falsely claimed).
Ohhh, I know you think you are so intellectually superior by thinking you know more than the average "sheep", but really, you aren't that smart.
think of the individual level, computation power:energy cost aspect.. stop being behind.
think of it like manual labor.. with no chance to improve... (a ceiling) so it would come down to what was the biggest baddest worker, he would set the quota.... until someone outworked him..
this is how bitcoin is based on technilogical value.. it will grow with us, the faster a little chunk is processed and is assigned a value, the more it's worth/sets the curve for all else...
lol @ being a bitcoin kiddielol @ having blind faith in a corporation over mathematics.
lol @ people caring about something which doesn't even count for 1bps of GDP globally in daily currency movement.
Bitcoin isn't faith in a mathematics, it is faith in the greater fool theory. It has no intrinsic value and cannot even claim any backing from any person, place, or thing of value, other than "mathematics" according to you (falsely claimed).
Ohhh, I know you think you are so intellectually superior by thinking you know more than the average "sheep", but really, you aren't that smart.
I don't think you really understand how Bitcoins work if you think that. Have you watched all of the Khan Academy videos on it yet? Have you read the paper that Satoshi published detailing the protocol and how it works?
Do you even understand how currencies work? Have you even picked up a finance book, or sought, received and graduated from any accredited university with a degree in economics or finance? Have you done the same with any masters program, or received your CFA charter?
I don't need to watch youtube.edu videos or some silly paper from somebody who you don't even know nor do they have any real background in anything but coding. I am not impressed.
I have a computer science degree from the University of Texas and I have been working in the finance industry for 8 years.
You really should learn about Bitcoins if you're going to argue against them, otherwise you look like a giant ignorant fool. I'm sorry that the 'math' might be over your head, it certainly took me a few rounds of research before I finally understood it all, and I'm what you would call educated in the discrete mathematics and cryptography used in the protocol.
I am not impressed with your ignorance.
So think of gold, then think how utterly moronic it is to spend hundreds of dollars to dig an ounce of some shiny rock out of the ground, all of the finite resources spent, like gas, clear-cutting forests, strip mining a pit and leaving toxic tailings behind.
All of that for a shiny rock that doesn't matter fuck-all to anybody, except pretty much as jewelry.
Now apply that to something where you spend electricity to "mine", yet can't wear, can't touch, has no industrial value and you can lose easily. Do you realize how fucking utterly stupid that is?
There is no "technological" value to Bitcoin. IP has "technological value", as its technology generates revenue, it has a cashflow you can analyze, it has a value people want. Bitcoin has no cashflow and is utterly worthless It doesn't even have the benefit of a military or economy to back it up.
I am not thinking "behind" I am thinking logically.
I have read about them, but in reality, where everybody else lives, nobody gives a shit about it being backed by "math". What they care about is that it doesn't fluctuate by 10%+ a day, it is backed by a real entity or a material quality. Being backed by "math" doesn't make it valid, it just makes it viable.
I am not impressed by your "math" based currency, nor am I impressed by some people hiding behind pseudonym(s) publishing papers that attempt to validate something which 99% of the population won't care about.
Bitcoins is even less valid of a currency than gold. But at least you are a little more educated, but no less misguided, than some of the other people inhabiting this board.
It's more than jewelery, gold is unsurpassed as a conductor of electricity that will not corrode over time, this is so critical in situations (like say, satellites) where it's next to impossible to retrieve an electronic device to repair a faulty connection..
The math behind Bitcoins is everything. It provides everything a centrally controlled currency provides, without being centralized and controlled by a single entity.
There is a finite supply of Bitcoins. There is proof of ownership because there is an audit trail for every single Bitcoin in existence. They are next to impossible to counterfeit. Business around the world already accept Bitcoins, so they are in circulation. Bitcoins can be exchanged for other types of currency.
What part about that makes them not a currency?
What you aren't getting is that NOBODY GIVES A SHIT ABOUT THE MATH. Can you touch the math? Can the math defend itself from geopolitical upheaval? Can the math make anything or create its own cashflow?
What is the % of global GDP that is transacted in bitcoins?
That's like saying you don't give a shit about the governments that issue any currency. Completely misguided argument.
For one, you don't need to 'touch' the math, not even sure what you're getting at here.. you don't need to 'touch' the government to use dollars do you?
Bitcoins transcend any individual government or geopolitical entity, so who gives a fuck if one of those institutions go down, that's the WHOLE POINT OF BITCOINS. To NOT be a part of any single government. What kind of geopolitical event do think could harm Bitcoins?
And yes, in fact the math DOES create money. Every time a new transaction block is mined by doing massive amounts of math across the global network, 25 new Bitcoins are generated. The creation of Bitcoins is well defined and eventually will halt around the year 2040.
Ok, so if I ask 1,000 people walking around in Times Square whether they would be willing to accept 1,000 in Bitcoins in exchange of $1,000 USD (assuming parity), all because Bitcoins is backed by math but USD is backed by everything they see around them in TS, and the ships in port for Fleet Week, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and everything else in their lives, which one do you think they'll go for?
Nobody cares about the mathematical proof of bitcoins. They are nothing more than the Greater Fool theory with no intrinsic value. What you think is a strength the vast majority of Americans think is a weakness.
This is what people like you don't understand. You can sit there being elitist, or libertopian, or anarchist, or whatever the fuck you think you are. However, when it comes down to it, you are no better than some academic in an ivory tower theorizing about some silly thing or another, there is no applicability in real life.
So does one piece of gold create "money"? No, Bitcoins is like gold, you can mine more gold but only at an ever increasing cost. with gold you can at least create HDMI cable tips, with bitcoins you don't even get that. You are expending finite resources to create nothing, that has nothing around it, that will do nothing at all. As I said, it is worse than gold in that respect.
Again, you tout the scarcity as strength but it isn't, it is just another deflationary weakness.
You didn't answer my question about GDP. You guys tout the fact that all of these people take Bitcoins but you still haven't even produced a number of how relevant that is.