Posted on 01/20/2014 8:17:37 AM PST by Errant
WASHINGTON -- The baffling Bitcoin boom is either an exercise in self-delusion -- a high-tech Ponzi scheme that will come crashing down -- or an imaginative new Internet technology that will ultimately change how millions of people around the world conduct everyday business. There is little middle ground.
Called a "digital currency," Bitcoin originated in early 2009 with a software program written by Satoshi Nakamoto. Who is Nakamoto? Good question. It's a pseudonym, and we don't know who's behind it -- whether man or woman; individual or group; American, Japanese, Russian or some other nationality. But what seems clear is that Nakamoto owns bitcoins worth "hundreds of millions of dollars," says Jerry Brito, an analyst at the Mercatus Center of George Mason University and a Bitcoin enthusiast.
You can do two things with bitcoins: buy stuff, just as with traditional money; and hold them as an investment or speculation, hoping their price will rise.
Some shopping does occur with bitcoins. The first retail transaction is usually attributed to Laszlo Hanyecz, a computer programmer in Florida, who in May 2010, persuaded someone to order two pizzas for him in exchange for 10,000 bitcoins. Recently, Overstock.com -- an online retailer -- agreed to accept bitcoins; the Sacramento Kings basketball team will do likewise. According to coinmap.org, about 2,600 stores and businesses worldwide accept bitcoins, with concentrations in Western Europe, California and New York.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
The ONLY solution is to put the power of the purse into the hands of the people - the ones who have the most to lose. This technology might just make that possible. At least that's what I would hope would happened, and on a global scale. Money is indeed the "ROOT" of evil. The more it can be kept out of the hands of a few, the better!
1 Timothy 6:10: For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
It’s the love of money that is a root of evil. Money can be used for good purposes as well as bad purposes so it is the intent of a person that makes the use of money turn out to be bad or good.
With one significant difference: it wasn't created by government for political purposes. That explains much of its attractiveness.
and hold them as an investment or speculation, hoping their price will rise.
The stock market, dollars, bit coins and lottery tickets all have a lot in common.
People have tried to educate me, but I just can’t get my arms around the concept.
That's one way to look at it, another is cut the root in order to eliminate an evil. Governments also desire/love money. Its "root" sucks the lifeblood from the governed to ensure its own existence, growth and to enrich its supporters. The "beast" requires pruning from time to time.
Matt. 6:24 ...You cannot serve both God and money.
Two are fundamentally different. Both dollars and bitcoins exist primarily to serve as a medium of exchange.
and hold them as an investment or speculation,
Of course you can, but that’s NOT their primary purpose. Both the dollar and bitcoin were designed to be used as a medium of exchange; quite difference from stocks.
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