Quote from: eldentyrell on September 18, 2011, 09:04:11 AM

Quote from: Tim the Magician on September 18, 2011, 07:59:08 AM

Quote from: myself on September 17, 2011, 05:00:06 PM

bitcoin banks will have to work more like sharia banks not like banks in the west

Im not sure I understand.. I looked up sharia banking but it all seems like a shell game to comply with the Islamic law against charging interest while still charging interest.

My (totally crude and uninformed) understanding of Islamic banking is basically that there is no uncollateralized credit, only equity. Fully collateralized debt it still possible by treating it as equity in the collateral itself.

Right.. and the whole point is to exploit a loophole in a religious rule.. Although, I dont know how well that would really work.. if you really believe in God and you believe He forbids something.. would you expect to be able to ignore His rules by playing word / accounting games?

Quote from: eldentyrell on September 18, 2011, 09:04:11 AM

The "no uncollateralized credit" part is what's similar to bitcoin. There are no instances of a court issuing a judgment in which bitcoins are considered to be a legitimate asset, and I doubt that is going to happen anytime soon. So people structure their bitcoin transactions so that they don't have to rely on courts when things go wrong (often this structuring is expensive/difficult/risky, but that's the tradeoff).

Have there been instances where courts dismissed Bitcoins as having no value? If someone cheated you out of some Bitcoins you would have just as much right in court as if you had been trading anything else of value.. The exchange medium does not matter as long as both parties had a contract (verbal or otherwise) to make the exchange. The bigger issue is that many Bitcoin transactions are anonymous deals between strangers over the internet where there is no recourse if things were to go wrong.

I think the biggest reason why there isnt any Bitcoin enumerated credit is because of the exchange volatility. The availability of credit would only serve to increase volatility (by enabling short selling) so it is not in anyones best interest. I think when the market is (much) bigger and stable we may begin to see credit emerge.