Thoughts on Bitcoin?

[Josh Runkle]

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Main_Page

http://bitcoin.org/en/

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise...aypal_bitcoin/

From Wired:

PayPal president David Marcus is trying to make nice with bitcoin, the digital currency that could ultimately become a big competitor to his company’s massively popular online payments service.

Today, on Twitter, he said the folks at PayPal are in fact “believers” in bitcoin and that the company supports the sale of bitcoin mining rigs, the machines that help drive the worldwide open source software system that is bitcoin. It’s yet another sign that the influence of bitcoin is expanding — and that existing tech outfits like PayPal have no choice but to respond.

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I used to mine, couple years ago, broke even with the new GPUs I had bought to facilitate the mining, which was fine by me. Back then, the furor over Silk Road had just started, and BTC peaked at around 30 USD. I got out couple months later when it bottomed out to around 6 USD (yes, I dearly regret not stocking up when it hit rock bottom back into the 1 USD range). These days, with the crazy difficulty, I'm guessing mining ain't profitable at all, without using FPGAs or ASICs, even if you were in a pool, though I could be wrong, given the exchange rate these days. Even then, at least when I was in a pool, pools would always get DDoSed, causing downtime; combine that with the security problems the exchanges have been having, leading to massive instability in the exchange rate, and I don't see how BTC will ever really take off, especially with all the other cryptocurrencies floating around out there trying to compete. Maybe once the supply runs out and the mining stop, it'll become more viable? Who knows.

[Josh Runkle]

My understanding is that one BTC is currently around 600 pounds. Is that correct? A percentage of that is much greater than a percentage of a few dollars.

[JV_]

The volatility of Bitcoins is concerning:

http://www.businessinsider.com/bitco...tility-2013-12

[SecondsCount]

I like the idea of bitcoin but I think there are going to be bumps in the road.

bitcoin CEO has been arrested for money laundering

[Josh Runkle]

I like the idea of bitcoin but I think there are going to be bumps in the road.

bitcoin CEO has been arrested for money laundering

To be open minded; to the best of my very limited understanding: crypto currencies represent a direct threat to the government. If they were to ever take off, they could devalue the dollar. They represent harder to trace information on spending. They could represent capital gains that are not easily tracked and therefore would be hard to tax.

Personally, I'm not sure whether Bitcoin will ever take off, but I do think that crypto-currencies represent the wave of the future, and I believe that the US government will do whatever they can to stop them, including creating market volatility and making arrests like these.

[Mitchell, Esq.]

I am friends with the head of analytics at an international bank.

His take on Bitcoin..., "Don't. Its not long for this earth..."

[RoyGBiv]

I am friends with the head of analytics at an international bank.

His take on Bitcoin..., "Don't. Its not long for this earth..."

****ahem**** From the mouth of a guy with a dog in the fight...
Like asking Zuckerberg what he thinks of Snapchat (after his $3B offer was declined)

Virtual currencies have serious shortcomings, certainly, but offer the possibility of true anonymity. An attribute with growing value and popularity. IMO, virtual currencies are inevitable, but may still be a ways off.

I thought it was brilliant that Bitcoin opened a few ATM's... True anonymity... Cash to BTC. (convenience notwithstanding).
Slide in some anonymous dollars (or whatever), get credits into your BTC wallet. Employ good web-anon techniques, transact with complete anonymity.

Downsides?
Incredible volatility... Just a few months ago BTC's were ~$120/each... Today $799/each. Crazy.
Acceptance.... Who will accept them, now that Silk Road is shut down? (lol)
Shadiness... Who runs BTC and are they really unselfishly motivated? Hard to know.