huh: bitcoin -- opensource currency

first thing i read about this, and find it quite interesting:

Hacker-Währung Bitcoin: Geld aus der Steckdose - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten - Netzwelt

Hamburg - “Moleculars” Geldmaschine steht auf dem Balkon. Zuerst stand der eigens zusammengeschraubte Computer noch in der Wohnung. Aber weil der Rechen-Bolide mit seiner superschnellen Grafikkarte beim Geldmachen so stark gekühlt werden muss, “macht er so viel Krach wie ein Fön”, sagt der Softwareentwickler. Also wurde der Computer in eine Holzkiste im Freien verbannt. Da arbeitet er jetzt seit Monaten, ob bei Regen oder bei Schnee, und erschafft aus Strom Geld. Sogenannte Bitcoins.

Man kann mit diesen digitalen Münzen auf einer Auktionsplattform schon jetzt Handys oder DVDs einkaufen, oder auf einer eigens eingerichteten Website darum pokern. Organisationen wie die Free Software Foundation oder die Electronic Frontier Foundation nehmen Bitcoins als Spenden entgegen. Diverse Plattformen bieten an, das Digitalgeld in US-Dollar oder andere Währungen umzutauschen, zu ständig aktualisierten - derzeit ständig steigenden - Wechselkursen. Allein die Handelsplattform “Mt. Gox” hat im vergangenen Monat Dollar-Bitcoin-Transaktionen im Wert von etwa sechs Millionen Dollar abgewickelt. Ein einzelner - anonymer - “Miner” soll schon über 300.000 Bitcoins angesammelt haben - nach derzeitigem Wechselkurs wären das 2,4 Millionen Dollar. “Mining” ist Geldmachen. Doch das wird immer schwieriger.

other sources:

Bitcoin P2P Virtual Currency
http://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
L019: Bitcoin P2P Currency: The Most Dangerous Project We’ve Ever

That’s not that attractive and I would dare to day it’s another FUBAR project… Unless merchants use it, it’s utterly useless… and for merchants to use it, it will require legal basis… I wouldn’t be surprised if it failed hard soon enough… 2 things never to forget:

  • Do not mess with the international bank cartels (Morgans, Rockefellers, Paulsons… in other words Builderberg!)
  • Do not mess with the pharmaceutical cartels…

In this case people are clearly messing with the Builderberg, in other others… Europe will not go for it and US will not go for it… I don’t see much future in it. Lets us see what they achieved in 5 years :slight_smile:

On Tue, 31 May 2011 13:06:03 +0530, ketheriel
<ketheriel@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

>
> That’s not that attractive and I would dare to day it’s another FUBAR
> project… Unless merchants use it, it’s utterly useless… and for
> merchants to use it, it will require legal basis… I wouldn’t be
> surprised if it failed hard soon enough… 2 things never to forget:
>
> * Do not mess with the international bank cartels (Morgans,
> Rockefellers, Paulsons… in other words Builderberg!)
> * Do not mess with the pharmaceutical cartels…
>
> In this case people are clearly messing with the Builderberg, in other
> others… Europe will not go for it and US will not go for it… I don’t
> see much future in it. Lets us see what they achieved in 5 years :slight_smile:
>

i’m afraid you’re right: the powers that be won’t tolerate this taking
off. i don’t think all the merchants would be required for it to work, but
it’s too much of a challenge to all established financial & political
systems, “builderbergers,” if you like.

i’m not very confident of the long- or even mid-term survival of these
“powers that be,” but once the american empire crashes, the www as we know
it won’t be as reliable as it’s now, either. so i think it’s a very
appealing idea, but without any chances to really take off.


phani.

On 05/31/2011 09:06 AM, phanisvara wrote:
>
> (http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzpolitik/0,1518,765382,00.html)
> http://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
> (http://tinyurl.com/66sz8bp)

sigh…google’s german-to-english is so poor i couldn’t find the
patience to read it all…but, what i did read, plus the english cites
(THANKS)…and this that google did spit this out “A single - anonymous -
“Miner” is said to have already accumulated more than 300,000 Bitcoins -
at current exchange rates would be the $ 2.4 million. Mining is making
money. But that is becoming increasingly difficult…” which makes me
want to ask:

isn’t this a creative variation on “the Nigerian scam” or maybe just a
high tech ponzi or pyramid scheme??

in any of those schemes i think the anonymous hacker with $2,400,000.00
has already won…and i don’t wanna play, thank you!!

caveat emptor you all!!


dd CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP via openSUSE 11.4 [2.6.37.6-0.5] + KDE 4.6.0 + Thunderbird 3.1.10]
Dual booting with Sluggish Loser7 on Acer Aspire One D255

On Tue, 31 May 2011 14:03:52 +0530, DenverD
<DenverD@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

> On 05/31/2011 09:06 AM, phanisvara wrote:
>>
>> (http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzpolitik/0,1518,765382,00.html)
>> http://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
>> (http://tinyurl.com/66sz8bp)
>
> sigh…google’s german-to-english is so poor i couldn’t find the
> patience to read it all…but, what i did read, plus the english cites
> (THANKS)…and this that google did spit this out “A single - anonymous -
> “Miner” is said to have already accumulated more than 300,000 Bitcoins -
> at current exchange rates would be the $ 2.4 million. Mining is making
> money. But that is becoming increasingly difficult…” which makes me
> want to ask:
>
> isn’t this a creative variation on “the Nigerian scam” or maybe just a
> high tech ponzi or pyramid scheme??
>
> in any of those schemes i think the anonymous hacker with $2,400,000.00
> has already won…and i don’t wanna play, thank you!!
>
> caveat emptor you all!!
>

i certainly didn’t want to propose this as a practical investment scheme
for anyone; if i had any money, i’d stay very well clear of this. but i do
like the idea, like i liked the idea of ‘anarchism’ when i was a kid. is a
nice dream…


phani.

On 05/31/2011 10:55 AM, phanisvara wrote:
> On Tue, 31 May 2011 14:03:52 +0530, DenverD
>> i don’t wanna play, thank you!!
> i certainly didn’t want to propose this as a practical investment scheme
> for anyone

sorry, i didn’t intend to make it sound that way…don’t know you well
but enough to think you are FAR past smart enough to not jump into that
pond…


dd CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP via openSUSE 11.4 [2.6.37.6-0.5] + KDE 4.6.0 + Thunderbird 3.1.10]
Dual booting with Sluggish Loser7 on Acer Aspire One D255

The first effect of bitcoins is obviously to circumvent all and any “Anti Money Laundering” efforts of the states worldwide.

Economic reasoning shows that the bitcoin as a currency will inevitably die with it’s own success. The total number of possible bitcoins is relatively small. Any success of this currency (in the meaning of more and more widespread use) is coupled with increasing deflation. The consequences are:

  1. Nobody will borrow bitcoins. Paying back a nominal sum within a few years is too expensive.

  2. It is far better to keep bitcoins than to spend them. From the consumers view goods and services are better paid for with conventional currency. Productivity suffers under a deflationary currency like the bitcoin.

  3. Not being officially backed up the bitcoin has a big regulatory risk.

Conclusion: The bitcoin is a vehicle for short term speculation or abuse for criminal purposes.