bitcoin - currency backed by math

[Hoosier]

http://www.weusecoins.com/

http://bitcoin.org

It's not easy to describe, so I'll let you look at their website.

http://mtgox.com <- this is the exchange

http://blockexporer.com <- the global receipt, showing the anon Hash ID's and value amounts for all transactions

So, the reason I post it here, is because I can see people using this to send funds for firearms transactions. A gunpal that isn't a scam... or at least, isn't a gun-specific scam. The real question is will people continue treating bitcoins as having value in the future? Right now they're $7 USD to 1btc... but who knows in the future. Also it takes some time to maneuver funds in and out of btc back to $$ in a bank account, going through services like dwolla.com

So, do you trust a currency where the amount of money injected into the system happens at a prescribed rate, or do you trust a system where money is injected to meet the whims of the Fed?

And, how long before government feels it "has" to interfere with it? What evil things will they blame to justify their monopoly on currency.

H.

[DeusExMachina]

I discovered this last week, and it is extremely interesting. I've been trying to comprehend it.

[RobertB]

It's a planned pump and dump to raise money for the starters and those who are smart enough to run the exchanges. Most accounts place the electricity cost required to run a machine to "mine" the bitcoins above their value. In any event, not too far down the line it's going to implode and lots of people will be left holding nothing at all.

[Irving]

I've heard you mention this before and have been meaning to look into it. Thanks for making a thread about it.

[Hoosier]

It's a planned pump and dump to raise money for the starters and those who are smart enough to run the exchanges. Most accounts place the electricity cost required to run a machine to "mine" the bitcoins above their value. In any event, not too far down the line it's going to implode and lots of people will be left holding nothing at all.

Yes I suspect that's partially correct, it certainly would have been easy for the earliest miners to be pretty rich. The real question is how many more people are going to try and get computer cycles in the pool before the curve levels off.

Beyond even "bitcoin" this first version of the currency (and there are already a number of variant bitcoin currencies, e.g. Liberty Reserve, btcEU) the concept is now with us, and as the system ages and proves out the crypto there could be a version of this that sees widespread adoption.

Smartphone apps to send and receive money via btc have got to be in development already. Since the "Address" is just a random string of numbers it could be easily turned into a QR code.

So you go to the gunshow and find a sweet deal on magazines, the vendor displays a QR code on his phone screen, you scan it with the camera on yours and send the money instantly for a one cent fee, with no Paypal or VISA sticking their fingers in the pie. I like that idea a lot.

H.

[DeusExMachina]

The earliest miners would only have something to gain if it took off. So they were really hedging their bets.

They have as much to gain or lose as the late miners, because the late miners are putting value to it.

[colocowboy01]

Cool post Hoosier. Thanks