Posted on 02/03/2017 10:35:09 AM PST by Vermont Lt
Every once in a while I like to take the temperature of different forums I visit. I am wondering what the general thoughts are on bitcoin.
Yes, I know all of the pros and cons. Yes I have a little stash. No, I am not going to try to "sell" anyone on the idea.
I am simply curious.
Yes, I am unfortunately someone who tends to miss out of clever technological advances. I advised a colleague not to buy Amazon in 1997 because it was too expensive. Dumb. The technology of blockchain is something people have tried to explain to me, they are well convinced that it is a work of genius. But I am hard pressed to invest in things I don’t really understand based on other peoples’ assurances, because I still have no one to blame if things go wrong but myself. It probably is genius and I will miss out on it. But I have other things going well, so life goes on.
Is there any “talk” of the blockchain technology in your forex world?
The bank I work for certainly is, and we're looking at it for Integrated G/L capabilities with other banks. There is a consortium of banks looking at building this capability into Blockchain, I work for one of those banks. (No, I won't say which one.)
Proponents suggest in the third world this technology could make a huge difference to emerging markets who do not have access to banks.
It's certainly one of the possibilities. It's being viewed in the Banking Industry as a way to lower the cost of transactions by integrating Bank G/L's together and allowing transactions to happen in near real-time.
That's certainly going to have an impact on the every day banking customer (we call them retail customers) and some of the transactions they're used to. For example: "floating a check" will disappear. The ability to put a check in the mail to pay a bill for which the money is not in the account at the time the check was written will become a thing of the past. It won't matter if the money is there when the check arrives at the Payee. Traditional checks will become a thing of the past.
That's just ONE example.
Proponents of Banks integrating their G/L's using Blockchain technology tout Blockchain's security while ignoring recent successful cyber-attacks against blockchain security.
If you want to know which banks are using blockchain and how they're using blockchain, click that link. Most of the articles are easy to read and understand.
I think this fear comes from a lack of understanding of "the system". In truth there is no central system. There is no server to hack.
I find it interesting (and you should too) that the computer scientists who know the most about "the system" of bitcoin are 1 - more likely to buy bitcoin and 2- less fearful of someone "hacking the system". It's just not possible.
It would be similar to saying you don't think email is a viable long term means of communication. YOU might get YOUR email hacked. Yahoo might get hacked and expose lots of people's email. But "email" itself is not going to crash or become unsustainable.
There's a saying in sales...the confused mind always says no.
What about a mass EMP event?
Buy, put in cold storage (Ledger or Trezor), and HODL!!
I worked at one of the larger New England based banks several years ago. I worked on the retail side, but not in a branch. So, I understand the who transaction pricing thing.
One of my jobs was working on the contracts for those ATMs that you see in the grocery store. You know the little one armed bandits that charge you horrible fees. I told my boss that I was surprised that the mafia wasn’t involved in that business...
The general public has no idea of their debit card works. They don’t realize that many of those transactions are not real time—but rather batched up and transmitted to a central clearinghouse. And, of course, everyone gets to dip their beak in the proceeds at every stop.
I knew some of the big guys were looking at it for their own transactions (international and what not.) I did not realize they were looking to make a consortium.
Thanks for your comment. That is very interesting.
Your reddit is showing...
Forgot to mention this, but Trump has or will have at least three very pro bitcoin people in the administration. They are Mick Mulvaney, Peter Theil, and I can’t think of the other(s).
Lol, I’ll stop posting. It’s really nice to see what Freepers opinions of bitcoin are, so thanks for posting this vanity :)
“So yeah, about your digital bitcoins. Who’s face is engraved on it?”
Who cares? What I care is if I can exchange that bitcoin for something I want.
Today I can exchange 1 bitcoin for over $1000!
And regarding Armageddon, it’s utter stupidity to live your present life as though Armageddon is around the corner, when it’s no where in sight. Though I’m not against keeping an ear on the ground and preparing accordingly.
Yeah yeah! That's just the kind of thing predicted by that guy I know who made electronic purchases of gold!
I went through the whole, “What if an EMP” happens.
It is much more likely that an EMP would be a local, not national event. And that means that the internet would not be dead, just knocked out for a while.
Even more likely is a CME, which would blast the who day side of the planet. Again, money in that situation would practically worthless.
Finally, the more I read about EMPs, the less I worry about them. There is a wide range of scholarly work out there. They range from the “its the end of the world” to “Your car will stop, and then start up again—unless it is right over your head.”
So, based on those things...I think its OK to think about future technology. :-)
“So investment and currency are the same thing...well almost.”
Anything can be an investment, but not everything is a good investment :)
I do a little trading, nothing too intensive. I usually have several open orders waiting for my target price to be met at any one time. I probably make as much through trading as I do through mining. The great thing about trading cryptocurrency v. other commodities; Forex, stocks, and etc. is there are no fees for "market makers" on a number of exchanges, and only a small fee for moving funds out of an exchange of about 1%.
We are living in perilous times, IMO. Now is not the time to allow the pantry to get low. As for assets, have as many different assets as possible, including cyrptocurrency. :)
A bitcoin is a piece of information. This information has value because it is rare, as it is intrinsically difficult to produce. The information is portable, but not replicable, so it cannot be counterfeited. Due to the nature of the way transactions with this medium are processed, it’s authenticity is verified as part of any transaction, and the proof of the authenticity is secured with encryption that is technologically unfeasible to break.
There is a little more to it than that, but that is a primer.
“Bitcoin is a scam to enable illegal activities.”
No, it’s a medium of exchange that allows a free market to exist outside of the ability of states to interfere with, something a person like Adam Smith might wholeheartedly applaud.
That this development also allows people engage in transactions that governments would like to forbid is a side effect of its nature, but this would be a side effect of any true, state-independent free market technology.
Ping
As a vendor, bitcoin is nearly ideal. Virtually no fees, no reversals, easy (at least for now) conversion into any other currency. For purchasers, the advantage is lower cost, but without the protections associated with credit cards (a bitcoin that is gone is gone for good). For holding wealth, it’s up in the air. You can take bitcoin off-grid, and hold paper copies, allowing for a wide range of security/redundancy options. However, since the value of bitcoin is derived from its value as an internet-based payment framework, its ability to hold value is questionable (there is no “fiat” to protect you against a better system supplanting the existing one, meaning the underlying value of bitcoin could plummet if both purchasers and vendors flocked to a rival system).
Ultimately, I view bitcoin as a competitor to credit cards, paypal (etc.) primarily. And, as such, it rates quite high. But as a rival to the dollar, it has a long, long way to go, since so many of the instruments necessary for a “real” currency just don’t exist yet. My personal stash of bitcoin is for buying products at a discount. If I were to sell things over the internet, I would prefer bitcoin over any alternative, and would offer a price discount to reflect that.
The bitchain technology, on the other hand, has essentially proven itself, and is here to stay. Everything from titles to derivatives, to personal data, will ultimately be stored on bitchain-based networks. I don’t see anything coming along to rival that, at least in the medium-term.
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