The end of Bitcoin?

[Costello]

Bitcoin isn't dead... mtgox is only a exchange site, it doesn't run bitcoin or anything.

"#MtGox=Service #Bitcoin=Protocol. If Gmail closed would email be dead? No because Gmail is a service & email is a protocol. "
https://twitter.com/kkoolook/status/438680896443781120

I think everyone gets that (unless they are stupid), but this is a matter of trust.
When you've lost thousands of dollars with what just happened at MtGox, are you going to trust anyone else with your virtual currency exchanges and wallets?
This post is a question, not an answer.

 

[cracker]

Oh yeah I forgot to add that it will still have a good fanbase with those that deal in elicit wares...

 

[The Real Jdbye]

It'll survive, there are other bitcoin exchanges.
Keeping money on services you are not in control of is never a good idea anyway. Anything could happen, they could get hacked, DDoSed, the site could go down, the server could crash...

 

[YayMii]

It'll survive. There are other ways of holding digital wallets, so relying on another source for keeping your cryptocurrency safe really isn't really necessary.
As for the falling price of the coin: The current cryptocurrency landscape at the moment is almost like a stock exchange, it will have its ups and downs. Just because that one of their biggest stockholders might've pulled out of the game, doesn't mean that it's completely over. There are always other people and other exchanges that people can use. But as far as I'm aware, the value will remain too volatile to use as an actual currency until the bitcoin 'well' inevitably runs dry.

Personally, I've mined more than 50k in Dogecoin (and keeping them locally), and I'm hoping for a bright future.

 

[hollowtip]

The new Sacramento Kings Arena is planning on promoting bitcoins at the new arena, and are accepting payments at the team store on March 1st. Very interesting...

 

[FireGrey]

From the day I discovered bitcoin, I have always just seen it as a share market and not a currency.

 

[TemplarGR]

Since i know a thing or two about economics, let me say it in a simple way:

Bitcoin is a ponzi scheme. Nothing more, nothing less.

It is not able to function as a real currency, because of main design flaws. And no one can really trust it, since it has no government backing. There is no way in hell this could replace official currencies...

People who entered early in this scheme, got rich. Especially its creators. People who entered late, got screwed. Well, that is the nature of all ponzi schemes. Well at least you can use all those gpus for gaming, to ease the pain...

 

[weatMod]

There are actually tons of uses for these currencies.

the simplest form:
- February 1st: buy 1 bitcoin (let's assume 1 bitcoin is worth $100, so you spent $100)
- February 28th: the value of the bitcoin has increased to $200. You sell your bitcoin, obtain $200.
You have made a $100 benefit in the process. It's called speculation on currency.
It's risky because it could go the other way...

Also it's used for tax evasion: exchange your USD against Bitcoins in the USA, travel to europe, exchange your Bitcoins for Euros. Tax free. That sort of thing...
And lastly, some stores and online services do accept bitcoins, so your original statement is somewhat inaccurate.

yes they just put a bitcoin ATM in my city ,or close to it anyways

the advantage is that anyone can conduct commerce without being taxed and giving their money to central bank oligarchy , paying taxes ,screw that
but how long will it last? i think at this point any attempt at regulation or taxation will lead to a swift backlash, that could get very ugly fast

"

That's the line of thinking espoused by the central banks of various nations, including China, banking systems in general, and the financial regulators and governments of many countries, including the United States.​

"A great deal of regulation [for virtual currencies] is now in the works, from [various countries]," Leeds said. "That regulation will now come sooner and with tougher reporting requirements, rules and oversight."​

These regulations "will make operating in digital currencies more cumbersome," Leeds predicted. Further, digital currencies likely will be taxed, diminishing the benefit of using them."​

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/80039.html

anyone who was speculating and using these as a investment that didnt c ash out when they hit 1000$ is just greedy
if i had them i would have got out before the bubble burst , just like gold when it hit 2000 , people are greedy thats why they deserve to loose if they are foolish enough to stay in

 

[Aeter]

A bitcoin is not backed up by anything. The US currency is at least backed up by services and goods.

The only thing keeping the dollar from falling is the Petrodollar, without it the dollar would be worth less than the paper it was printed on.

I think everyone gets that (unless they are stupid), but this is a matter of trust.
When you've lost thousands of dollars with what just happened at MtGox, are you going to trust anyone else with your virtual currency exchanges and wallets?
This post is a question, not an answer.

Exactly, trust is everything when it comes to monetary world.
Without it people wouldn't spend money and money would devalue.
Why do you think the economic recession keeps going on? If people don't spend money it becomes useless.
And since people are weary of spending money in these economically bad times the recession keeps going.

 

[chartube12]

Well the US is seeking to make bitcoins and every other cryptographic currency illegal. Apparently lawmakers believe an international currency controlled by the UN would be better then a world wide people controlled form of money.

 

[mryoshi]

Bitcoin is not dead!

MtGox is an exchange, a large one indeed, but definitely not the only one. Also the problems with Goxie did not come suddenly, people who holded USD or Bitcoin there had been warned but resumed to keep their wallet on that particular exchange. Gox has had a lot of negative influence on the other exchanges due panic and the crashing prices. Now that it is gone and not indexed anymore a lot of peace has returned to the other exchanges and they are actually rising again (yay).

I also think bitcoin has troubles and is not perfect, but it is a step moving away from the flawed economy which is not set on equality or efficiency.

Quote: I never understood the point of these "currencies" since you can't spend them anywhere...
There are a lot of company's accepting Bitcoin. Due services like Bitpay they can easily accept the coin as an extended service on their current payment offerings. They wont take the volatility risks and is actually cheaper than (most?) current payment processors. In my country the largest "food delivery to home" network (many, many restaurants are connected) can be payed by with Bitcoin. Order sum pizza and pay with Bitcoin, how cool is that

Quote: A Bitcoin is not backed up by anything. The US currency is at least backed up by services and goods.
That used to be true maybe at the beginning of the dollar. Now US money mostly consists of debt and money being created with other money (investing), it does not resemble any services or goods anymore.

Bitcoin benefits:
1. Because Bitcoin is not regulated there are no (internal) transaction fees. Meaning the large banks wont gobble op more money when u spend/transfer/receive money and thus NOT making the rich even richer. Also no contract or investment is required, just download the app on your phone and you have a little personal bank in ur pocket!
2. Bitcoin is predictable and the number of coins is set. Unlike with USD (which is being done right now) no new debt dollars can be printed which don't really exist within the system.

Bitcoin cons:
highly volatile, just look at the charts, whoow! http://bitcoinwisdom.com/markets/bitstamp/btcusd
when more people start investing though, and more company's, the price will settle down and can't be pushed up or down by big holders.

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[3bbb7]

I think everyone gets that (unless they are stupid), but this is a matter of trust.
When you've lost thousands of dollars with what just happened at MtGox, are you going to trust anyone else with your virtual currency exchanges and wallets?
This post is a question, not an answer.

I guess I see what you mean. But this will be a lesson and hopefully more people will now start up wallets to their own offline systems instead of trusting exchange sites with them

 

[smf]

Bitcoin benefits:
1. Because Bitcoin is not regulated there are no (internal) transaction fees. Meaning the large banks wont gobble op more money when u spend/transfer/receive money and thus NOT making the rich even richer. Also no contract or investment is required, just download the app on your phone and you have a little personal bank in ur pocket!
2. Bitcoin is predictable and the number of coins is set. Unlike with USD (which is being done right now) no new debt dollars can be printed which don't really exist within the system.

Bitcoin cons:
highly volatile, just look at the charts, whoow! http://bitcoinwisdom.com/markets/bitstamp/btcusd
when more people start investing though, and more company's, the price will settle down and can't be pushed up or down by big holders.

mtgox make money out of you trading and someone has been made rich out of these people losing money.
You can only buy bitcoin easily if you're able to transfer fiat, so you've transferred cash easily so you can transfer a more volatile currency easily (it's still easier to transfer fiat though).

Being able to print more money is one way of controlling the value of your currency. You could also argue that you could make a faster car if you remove those pesky brakes, but brakes slow you down safely rather than instantly stopping when you hit a wall.

More people investing will make the price rise, it won't settle down at all. There are already enough people that the prices aren't being manipulated by one person. However large numbers of BTC are controlled by a few people, this is better though as they aren't going to just dump a lot on the market at once as their entire investment would disappear. The problem comes when you have a lot of people with a relatively small investment because a large number of them might start selling their couple of BTC at the same time.

 

[mryoshi]

smf

"mtgox make money out of you trading and someone has been made rich out of these people losing money"
yes, exchanges take trading fees, so every time someone buys/sells they take about 0,02%. They do make a lot of money this way. The ones who got rich out people losing money are the hackers that stole the Bitcoins from the exchange. Gox themselves are now in a little pickle and have to face court.

"Being able to print more money is one way of controlling the value of your currency. You could also argue that you could make a faster car if you remove those pesky brakes, but brakes slow you down safely rather than instantly stopping when you hit a wall"
Money printed is either bank credit (loan money (interest)) or non backed up money created out of debt. Inflation and deflation can be regulated, but i think this system is not going to be good for the long run because it will only push problems forward. The economy will eventually crash again and repeats. I'm sorry i don't really get ur car reference ^^. A currency does not need to go faster but must transparent and predictable.

"There are already enough people that the prices aren't being manipulated by one person"
Haha, have you been to the exchange? If you own a lot of coin (and not talking about multipultimillionairs) and put up some buy or sell walls (to your intention) u can guide the market quite easily. A pump and dump scheme is often used: create a lot of real and fake (no intention to be filled) buy orders with bots so the market gets exited, wait till the price spikes and dump everything when it gained a few percent upwards. A volatile market is very profitable for these people or groups and therefore the coin is highly manipulated to remain this way.

"The problem comes when you have a lot of people with a relatively small investment because a large number of them might start selling their couple of BTC at the same time"
Not every Bitcoin user is active on an exchange or is a trader, but i agree at the moment most of the new people are investors with weak hands. The more Bitcoin kept within the system by different non speculators (decentralized) the better and more stable the market. Big funds moving in, even like banks and wallnutstreet would be better indeed.

Unfortunately the coin is now viewed and used as speculation instead of a currency, i wonder IF this is ever going change though. It has proven to be really hard to predict what it will do . I do think it's here to stay for quite a while.

 

[Fishaman P]

 

[mryoshi]

 

[Kouen Hasuki]

I'm sticking with my Dogecoin

Also last I read there was another huge BTC Exchange coming so its not as bleak as it looks

 

[AlanJohn]

As a true dogecoin user this image sums up my opinion about the current situation perfectly:

Also, guys, if you're interested in dogecoin be sure to join the official gbatemp dogecoin channel #dogecoin in the gbatemp irc.

 

[Kouen Hasuki]

As a true dogecoin user this image sums up my opinion about the current situation perfectly:

Also, guys, if you're interested in dogecoin be sure to join the official gbatemp dogecoin channel #dogecoin in the gbatemp irc.

Hello Fellow Shibe!

 

[mryoshi]