Bitcoins - Socoder

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Socoder -> On Topic -> Bitcoins
Fri, 08 Mar 2013, 23:57
caligula	I find bitcoins extremely interesting, and I've been reading a lot about them recently. Is anyone here familiar with them? In case you've managed to not hear about them, here's a Wikipedia linky. I have a friend here in Beijing who makes a living off mining bitcoins, and he keeps telling me that it's a market that's gonna explode, that I should invest in some bitcoins. I'm curious, but wary. I like bitcoins because the technology behind them is interesting, but actually participating... So, here's the bitcoin thread. Is it an undervalued or an overvalued market? Apparently, my domain registrar (Namecheap.com) takes bitcoin payments, so it's certainly growing in some circles. Have you ever used bitcoins?
Sat, 09 Mar 2013, 04:21
waroffice
Sat, 09 Mar 2013, 06:16
shroom_monk	I remember a friend explaining this to me a while back. The phrase 'Ponzi Scheme' was tossed around a lot. -=-=- A mushroom a day keeps the doctor away... Keep It Simple, Shroom!
Sat, 09 Mar 2013, 09:53
9572AD	Bitcoins are still around? I thought they went the way of Flooz and Beenz and all that idiocy. -=-=- All the raw, animal magnetism of a rutabaga.
Wed, 13 Mar 2013, 23:21
caligula	I've been without internet access for a few days, so I couldn't reply. Calling it a Ponzi scheme is lazy. There's an actual economy behind bitcoins, not just a string of shady investments in shady investments. Part of it's for criminal use, and part of it is legal. On several occasions I've had to transfer money from Sweden to China and vice versa, and it's a pain. It takes ages, the transaction fees are really high, and there's a lot of red tape to deal with. With bitcoins, the transfer is nearly instant, transaction fees are close to zero, and there is no paperwork. That is a significant benefit and an area where regulated currencies simply cannot compete. Plenty of businesses are growing online where you can buy actual, legal, physical goods using bitcoins. I expect this to grow over the years. That you can get ahold of questionable things anonymously using bitcoins is another matter, but I'm not moralizing; I'm just saying that I think bitcoins (or some other unregulated cryptocurrency) will gain traction in the future because of the benefits they have over conventional currencies. I'm probably not going to get involved with it, though.
Thu, 14 Mar 2013, 04:29
CodersRule	I forgot about this thread. A couple of days ago, the blockchain forked and there was huge panic. It kind of resolved okay, but in the future there could be problems with the network if it spreads out more and such a thing were to happen again. The event also showed that it's very possible to gain >51% control of the network with enough coordination, and that might not end well if a powerful enough entity were to try to do the same thing by seizing/buying mining pools. Centralization was useful here, but the protocol was designed to be entirely decentralized. Sometimes a central controller is really just what the economy needs.
Thu, 14 Mar 2013, 10:00
rockford	You what?
Thu, 14 Mar 2013, 11:42
Stealth	Bitcoins are an unstable currency because they aren't backed by countries with huge markets. Treat them like high-risk stocks because nobody knows which way the value will head. -=-=- Quit posting and try Google.