Bitcoins and other coins

[Bored@Work]

Yes and no. Where I live I can order food and pay with Bitcoins. In a ponzy scheme you end up with nothing.

Only those entering too late and not leaving in time end up with losses in a Ponzi scheme. The organizers of the scheme and, if the organizers need them, poster child winners can end up with a net gain.

The fact that some people gain something is not an indication of the absence of fraud.

[hamster_nz]

I don't think it is exactly a Ponzi scheme. The defining characteristic of a Ponzi scheme is that existing investors are paid from new capital brought in by new suckers investors.

Maybe you're right.

Bitcoin's basis of value is pretty much the same as money - the holder of either expects that sometime in the future they can convert it to goods or services they desire.

When this expectation is no longer reliable (i.e. when the currency collapses) they will have no more value than a 1,000,000,000,000 in old German Marks in late 1923 - (less that US$0.25).

[tszaboo]

Last time i checked it, there was about 50 different types of it. Now it must be like hundreds of it. People still don't get, that it is just the new version of the Ponzy scheme with computers.

I don't think it is exactly a Ponzi scheme. The defining characteristic of a Ponzi scheme is that existing investors are paid from new capital brought in by new suckers investors.

Maybe you're right.

That is why I said new version. Whoever decided to make bitcoin first, could have made hundreds of thousands of it, before going public.It might be even hardcoded in the system. We will never know it.
Whoever started minig 2nd and 3rd, they could mine a lot more with less investment, compared to todays supercomputer.

[Kjelt]

Yeah but isn't the same true about "real" currency like $'s and €'s, they have no underlying value anymore and the government (and banks) can press a button and more $'s and €'s are out there. If you press that button too much the value in respect of another currency is rapidly decreasing.
The example of Brasil or Germany pre WW2 with the reichsmark are indeed good examples.
At least with bitcoins there is some form of underlying value namely the computerpower and indeed over the years their value could go up in smoke.

[justanothercanuck]

Can I pay my rent with it?  Nope?  Okay then. 

[AndyC_772]

I can't pay my rent in CA$. If only there were a way to convert between local currencies and other items that are perceived to have value...

[justanothercanuck]

I can't pay my rent in CA$.

Well, of course not...  you're (supposedly) from the UK.  I wouldn't expect my landlord to accept GBP or EUR either.  That's kindof a dumb argument to make.

[Kjelt]

Most landlords don't accept cash anyway, neither do a lot of stores anymore.

[nctnico]

I can't pay my rent in CA$.

Well, of course not...  you're (supposedly) from the UK.  I wouldn't expect my landlord to accept GBP or EUR either.  That's kindof a dumb argument to make.

Never heard of a money exchange? There are several exchanges where you can buy and sell digital coins and convert them into currency your landlord will happily accept.

[justanothercanuck]

Never heard of a money exchange? There are several exchanges where you can buy and sell digital coins and convert them into currency your landlord will happily accept.

Problem is, *coins are not a legal tender, and those exchanges are disappearing over concerns of money laundering.

[saturation]

MtGox has "disappeared".   

http://news.yahoo.com/mtgox-website-disappears-amid-huge-bitcoin-theft-claim-084247764.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mtgox

[Phaedrus]

Mt.Gox has allegedly been declining for the last 8 months or so. They were coasting on their size and reputation, while slowly going to shit. Most of the bitcoiners I know are glad that they collapsed, and agree that the price drop is short term and will likely recover inside a month.

[saturation]

Flexcoin shuts down.  All BTC stolen.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/04/us-bitcoin-flexcoin-idUSBREA2329B20140304

Warren Buffett on BTC:

http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/MON-warren-buffet-dislikes-bitocin-says-it-does-not-meet-the-test-of-a-currency-4540924-NOR.html

[FrankBuss]

I use https://www.bitcoin.de/en for trading bitcoins. It uses bank transfer, very common in Europe unlike in USA. Worked very well for me, for buying and selling. Of course, I never deposit bitcoins in my bitcoin.de account longer than I need it for a trade, most of the time my bitcoins are stored in a password protected and backuped offline wallet. So I don't care if any bitcoin marketplace gets hacked. Very unlikely that it gets hacked in the seconds while my bitcoins are in the online wallet.

[saturation]

Publicly announced today but she died last week, 2 days after Mt Gox collapse:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101468694

Incidental to this, 9 other mid to top level financiers have been found dead in the past 6 weeks, all assumed to be suicides. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2573863/Bitcoin-exchange-CEO-dead-home-suspected-suicide-age-28.html

Very strange events indeed.

[saturation]

Breaking news, 3rd Bitcoin exchange confirms they were hacked:

http://www.coindesk.com/poloniex-loses-12-3-bitcoins-latest-bitcoin-exchange-hack/

[Frost]

Breaking news, 3rd Bitcoin exchanged confirms they were hacked:

LOL, that's great
"Due to its current bitcoin shortage, Poloniex indicated that all customer balances
would temporarily be reduced by 12.3% “out of absolute necessity”."

[M. András]

hehe raising every fee up to cover their losses from the costumers money? god i love capitalism

[madires]

Some nice person added the signature of an old virus as comment to the blockchain. Several antivirus tools report the blockchain as malware and (try to) delete it 

[ejeffrey]

Most landlords don't accept cash anyway, neither do a lot of stores anymore.

Your landlord may say that, and they may not want to be paid in cash, but it turns out that they legally can't refuse.  That is what legal tender means.  Shops can refuse to sell to you if you insist on paying cash, but when there is a pre-existing obligation / debt, you cannot refuse legal tender.  This is an important consumer protection law: it means your landlord can't refuse to accept payment unless you pay in japanese 1 yen coins rolled in tubes of 143 coins, and then charge you penalties and interest because you didn't pay on time.  The specifics vary by juristiction (often small denominations are not legal tender for large debts), but most everywhere with a functioning government and banking system has some legal tender laws.