Quote from: RaginglikeaBoss on June 20, 2015, 07:35:20 PM

Quote from: jbreher on June 20, 2015, 07:16:58 PM

Quote from: Biomech on June 19, 2015, 11:41:14 PM

Quote from: bryant.coleman on June 19, 2015, 04:12:50 AM

. No fiat currency has suffered such a crash. The worst performing fiat currency is the Ukrainian Hryvnia, which has seen its value dropping by 60%.

*ahem* Deutchmark under the Weimar republic. Venezuelan dollar in 2005. Zimbabwean dollar around the same time... I can come up with others. Where BTC did better, is that it did bounce back.

It may also be instructive to point out that the most successful fiat currency of all time -- the USD -- has lost 97% of its value since its inception.

Fiat is built to be inflationary. Over an aggregate time period it is designed to grow at 2-3% per year. So, sadly, it is working as intended.

Bitcoin can be reduced to decimals far past $0.01. So while I think Bitcoin is a very breakthrough and revolutionary means of payment, it does not mean I should be ignorant to the qualifications or achievements that 'paper' has almost magically accomplished.

Avoid putting on blinders. We have a better chance of making Bitcoin mainstream if we think before we speak.

Aye. The US dollar is probably the most successful long term scam in history. It has retained it's exchangeability through inflation that SHOULD HAVE killed it. Actual inflation, based on purchasing power only, has been very high at many times. True inflation is even higher than that, following the Austrian postion that inflation actually only has one definition: Adding to the supply. Looking at it from that point of view, and for the moment ignoring the legerdemain of the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department, the actual inflation from 2008 to present (as far as we can determine) was nearer to 80%. We're talking Weimar levels here, and yet the PR army manages to hold the lid on it. For now. I would not have thought it could last as long as it has, let alone be 2014's best investment. But it did. It seems that people prefer a comforting lie to the stark, ugly truth.

Yet it cannot be sustained. The money will either have to be revalued and reissued with a planned default, or there will be the unplanned one when merchants simply won't take the paper anymore.

At the moment, BTC is inflationary, as was gold in the early days of mining, but that will pass. It will become more valuable over time, if it gains wider adoption.

I personally think that BTC is just the beginning. I think the concept sound, but the inital currency deeply flawed on multiple levels. But that first mover advantage will keep it on top for some time to come.