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Showing 20 of 28 results by toddfletcher
Ok, given your btc experience what was BTCs "true value" in Jan '14, what is it's true value today, and what do you expect it to be a year after you purchased it in May of 2014?
That will tell me what type of expectations you have for btc, and how your expectations square with the actual performance of the CC.
Read the sentence again, I was not referring to it's price value but it's utility value, as in "it's value comes from low transaction fees" for example. I don't speculate about it's price value because it's unknowable, the utility value is also ultimately unknowable now, but if its an avenue to a more automated financial system the efficiency improvements alone will justify higher prices.
Re: DDos fix (malleability issue workaround) is ready! back to business :)
This leaves me with some questions:
1. How long will it take for a new reference client version to make a real impact on the network?
2. What software do miners use? If they use other software how long will it take for that to be updated? Attackers could still try to plant mallified transactions by peering with miners using older software right?
3. What is to stop an attacker to hire his own mining equipment and stick mallified transactions in it? Or is this too expensive?
1. How long will it take for a new reference client version to make a real impact on the network?
2. What software do miners use? If they use other software how long will it take for that to be updated? Attackers could still try to plant mallified transactions by peering with miners using older software right?
3. What is to stop an attacker to hire his own mining equipment and stick mallified transactions in it? Or is this too expensive?
As far as 1) There's no impact from the problem as it is, it's just nerves.
As far as the rest, the blockchain stops all that already, this is only a problem for exchanges that process withdrawals before confirmation, which you would think would be none of them.
That's a good point. I'm still new to bitcoin. Any chance the US would ever make it illegal?
No reason to worry about that at this point because all indications are GO. The US wants to take the lead here and is afraid if we don't other countries will step in. For example:
http://www.coindesk.com/california-bill-bitcoin-lawful-money/
Two bad weeks in February and it's a "bad year"?
What was wrong with January? We had a very stable price and a steady stream of good if not amazing news.
People were even complaining that bitcoin got boring. It should be boring, because this is a time when tons of infrastructure work is being done behind the scenes. Remember all the VC that's been dumped into BTC startups last year? That money will take some time to surface as new services. By summer, if not sooner, we'll be seeing the fruits of that investment.
What was wrong with January? We had a very stable price and a steady stream of good if not amazing news.
People were even complaining that bitcoin got boring. It should be boring, because this is a time when tons of infrastructure work is being done behind the scenes. Remember all the VC that's been dumped into BTC startups last year? That money will take some time to surface as new services. By summer, if not sooner, we'll be seeing the fruits of that investment.
wow, that's truly a conservative perspective for anyone looking at a cryptocurrency (CC) of any type
Btc just made 5yrs old some days ago, and it wasn't until about April or May of 2013 that any level of "legitimacy" was truly enjoyed by the CCs, so I really congratulate you on having a year+ perspective; but I assure you that that is well beyond reasonable expectations for anyone getting into such a highly dangerous, extremely young, and massively volatile market in 2014.
Then they shouldn't be in bitcoin to begin with. I bought in during May 2013 when it was still bouncing around from the April spike, it spent the next 2 or 3 months below my buy price. I expected it, just as I expected to lose what I put in. It's all about framing your expectations going in, and having a solid understanding of where the true value lies in crypto currencies, so you don't get rattled.
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Comments/criticisms/error checking welcomed
Nice thanks for your work! I do miss the fields for "$$ if you bailed now" & "$$ if you had held all" from http://xzist.org/amazing-bitcoin-retirement-fund-calculator.
I vote for Nick Szabo. As soon as I started reading his papers I felt I was in the presence of the mind that conceived it. It's such a novel approach, and bitcoin seems to be based on his conclusions about the place of money in human interactions.
At any rate, I found this very illuminating. Contempo economists can only think in terms of today's system, or at best as far back as the industrial revolution. Szabo examines the roots of money in primitive societies and primitive humans, and I think he uncovers important aspects of it's nature and role that are invisible to modern economists. From this standpoint, I believe he designed bitcoin to perfectly fulfill all of the roles primitive money played in the human psyche. And that explains it's success; it's tailor made to the human species, and we find it irresistible.
http://szabo.best.vwh.net/shell.html
At any rate, I found this very illuminating. Contempo economists can only think in terms of today's system, or at best as far back as the industrial revolution. Szabo examines the roots of money in primitive societies and primitive humans, and I think he uncovers important aspects of it's nature and role that are invisible to modern economists. From this standpoint, I believe he designed bitcoin to perfectly fulfill all of the roles primitive money played in the human psyche. And that explains it's success; it's tailor made to the human species, and we find it irresistible.
http://szabo.best.vwh.net/shell.html
If they would use the decreased prices of labor and increased production rate to supply the whole world with the goods they need, instead of decreasing prices and increasing production to enrich a few individuals, the world would already look so much better.
How do you get rich decreasing prices, except if that then expands your market so you can sell more, hence closing in on the goal of supplying "the whole world with the goods they need"?
"Bitcoin has no intrinsic value"... they say. Wrong.
Bitcoin's intrinsic value is in its *Utility*.
Just like Gold.
Just like paper money.
Bitcoin is a currency (paper money), a commodity (gold), a stock, a bond, and more. It is all of these things combined.
Bitcoin's intrinsic value is in its capabilities. Its ability to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars at once, almost instantly, free of charge, to anywhere in the world. Its deflationary nature, making it an excellent investment vehicle and store of wealth. Its value to merchants, wishing to avoid thousands in merchant fees from transactions. The list goes on and on.
Bitcoin is gold on steroids. Fiat on steroids. Stocks on steroids. Bonds on steroids. Bitcoin is the new "X Man" of finance.
Gold's intrinsic value is also in its utility. Before people walked this earth, gold had *no* intrinsic value. People gave gold value by "liking" it. Nothing more. Just like Bitcion. Then its value branched off to what people did with Gold. Its "utility" (just like Bitcoin). Jewelry, Shininess, Nice color, Creation of bullion (ala Casascius).
Gold doesn't have any more intrinsic value than Bitcoin. It has less.
Since both Bitcoin and Gold have value only because human beings say they have value, they started off equal in intrinsic value.
Since Bitcoin's utility spans far beyond that of gold, it has more intrinsic value than gold, and therefore will be worth far more than gold.
Next time someone says Bitcoin has no intrinsic value, remind them that its intrinsic value is in its utility. A utility that spans far beyond that of mere Gold or Paper Money.
Thoughts?
-Burger-
Bitcoin's intrinsic value is in its *Utility*.
Just like Gold.
Just like paper money.
Bitcoin is a currency (paper money), a commodity (gold), a stock, a bond, and more. It is all of these things combined.
Bitcoin's intrinsic value is in its capabilities. Its ability to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars at once, almost instantly, free of charge, to anywhere in the world. Its deflationary nature, making it an excellent investment vehicle and store of wealth. Its value to merchants, wishing to avoid thousands in merchant fees from transactions. The list goes on and on.
Bitcoin is gold on steroids. Fiat on steroids. Stocks on steroids. Bonds on steroids. Bitcoin is the new "X Man" of finance.
Gold's intrinsic value is also in its utility. Before people walked this earth, gold had *no* intrinsic value. People gave gold value by "liking" it. Nothing more. Just like Bitcion. Then its value branched off to what people did with Gold. Its "utility" (just like Bitcoin). Jewelry, Shininess, Nice color, Creation of bullion (ala Casascius).
Gold doesn't have any more intrinsic value than Bitcoin. It has less.
Since both Bitcoin and Gold have value only because human beings say they have value, they started off equal in intrinsic value.
Since Bitcoin's utility spans far beyond that of gold, it has more intrinsic value than gold, and therefore will be worth far more than gold.
Next time someone says Bitcoin has no intrinsic value, remind them that its intrinsic value is in its utility. A utility that spans far beyond that of mere Gold or Paper Money.
Thoughts?
-Burger-
Well said. It's the conclusion I've come to as well. Furthermore gold's utility is coincidental; it simply happens to have the qualities that have made it useful. Bitcoin however was engineered for value, in an environment where further engineered financial innovations stretch as far as your imagination can roam.
I've just been working on a simple JS calculator based on a spreadsheet I created a few days ago:
--> http://xzist.org/amazing-bitcoin-retirement-fund-calculator/
It's not exactly how rpietila describes, it's more aligned to my own personal goals... and I am a complete novice in anything to do with investing.. but I added a 10%, 20% preset rake buttons which I think works how it's supposed to.
only briefly tested, on Firefox and Chrome and *not* IE, tired and going to sleep now, will bugfix and check another day
I'm finding this really useful for quickly running through scenarios. Awesome work, thanks!
So you say you keep an x amount of dollars always in your wallet, so your spending money increases when you sell? Not too smart I would say, because your money doesn't grow.
For my spending wallet say I start with one coin in there, @ $600. When the value in USD goes up say $750, I'll spend $150, never going below a certain $ amount. Of course this only works as long as it rises, if it no rise, you no spend. If it keeps rising, eventually you'll spend it all, but that coin was designated for spending anyway, you just got a hell of a lot more mileage out of it, and supported the bitcoin economy with it.
This way you can safely take profits knowing there's a limit and a brake on it, and you won't end up eating through all your stash becasue you have held coins in reserve for the super big run ups, if that happens.
I read a post somewhere on the forum from a merchant who complained that spending in bitcoins drops when the price rises. It's obvious why; everyone wants to hold to capture future increases.
But I've found myself doing just the opposite. I've divided my initial purchase of coins into two piles; a two thirds portion that is for long term holding, and the remaining third is for spending, at propitious times. I basically regard this second pile as a sheep to be sheared. I maintain a minimum (dollar) balance and spend when it grows above that. So a price run up has the opposite effect on me.
So this last Saturday I spent some bitcoin at Ultimate Consignment in Mesa Arizona. I was only the second person to purchase there with it. And while I know I was giving up whatever future earnings I may have gotten from the spent coins, I also know I was doing something positive to help it succeed. And besides it's fun!
But I've found myself doing just the opposite. I've divided my initial purchase of coins into two piles; a two thirds portion that is for long term holding, and the remaining third is for spending, at propitious times. I basically regard this second pile as a sheep to be sheared. I maintain a minimum (dollar) balance and spend when it grows above that. So a price run up has the opposite effect on me.
So this last Saturday I spent some bitcoin at Ultimate Consignment in Mesa Arizona. I was only the second person to purchase there with it. And while I know I was giving up whatever future earnings I may have gotten from the spent coins, I also know I was doing something positive to help it succeed. And besides it's fun!
A friend of mine who works as an environmental engineer has been offered the option to be payed in Bitcoin. He told me it was his companies payroll service that offered it, but I never found out which one it was.
He asked me if he should do it to which I said F*ck Yeah!
He asked me if he should do it to which I said F*ck Yeah!
The coin metaphor is also confusing because a lot of people assume the smallest unit you can buy is one coin. So when the price hits $300 it's "too high" to buy in if you have less than $300, or so they think.
Understanding the blockchain is the key to trusting that Bitcoin, but that's not an easy thing to explain.
Understanding the blockchain is the key to trusting that Bitcoin, but that's not an easy thing to explain.