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What currency is not being used in the drug market? I would love to have a rational debate and hear objective arguments agaisnt bitcoin vs gold that can be app

What currency is not being used in the drug market? I would love to have a rational debate and hear objective arguments agaisnt bitcoin vs gold that can be applied uniquely to bitcoin or rather that dont apply to both. Scarcity? No intrinsic value? Speculative? Thefts? Used in illicit ways? All these apply to both gold and bitcoin. "Gold has been historically valuable to humans". So have many other rocks, flowers, spices, etc. I am geniuenly interested in seeing why Bitcoin should fail as being a store of value.

meri_dian 9y ago
How are you going to anonymously trade gold online? Bitcoin gives the anonymity that criminals need.
- colejohnson66 9y ago
  So does cash. Should we ban paper money too?
  - d4l3k 9y ago
    That appears to be the route India is taking.
    - dingo_bat 9y ago
      Wow what bullshit. India invalidated a set of currency notes and immediately replaced it with new ones. Is that "banning paper money"? If a government mandates that all petrol cars must be replaced with electric by 2025, does that mean they have "banned cars"?
- espitia 9y ago
  Gold mines are connected to genocide, funding wars and illegal trade. Is my logic wrong in pointing out a 'flaw' in gold when someone else points out a 'flaw' in bitcoin? I think criminals will use any tool in ways that they were not meant to be used. This does not make the tool/subject at hand the culprit.
  - patrickg_zill 9y ago
    The Federal Reserve is connected to genocide, funding wars, and illegal trade. So what is your point?
    - espitia 9y ago
      That pointing out an 'issue' that is common in gold/fiat/crytpo is not a great argument against crypto.
taywrobel 9y ago
> I am geniuenly interested in seeing why Bitcoin should fail as being a store of value. Oh, it's a great store of value. But that doesn't make it a good currency. Currencies aren't intended to store value, they're intended to facilitate the transfer of value. Assets (be it physical such as property, governmental such as bonds, or corporate such as stocks) are what is intended to store value. In general, you want a currency to suffer from inflation and decrease in value over time. While this may seem counter-intuitive to having a healthy currency, it's the best thing for the economy, as it encourages the currency to continually be in circulation, and whatever cannot be readily spent to be invested into assets or placed into a bank, which then goes and loans it out to others who need it, stimulating the economy. Gold has never been easy to use as currency. It needs to be weighed, and now its value is so high that in order to buy everyday items, you'd be dealing in almost immeasurably small slivers of gold. So instead people used it as an asset; They would buy it speculatively and watch the price rise as scarcity increased. As more people bought it, the scarcity increased even more quickly, leading to effectively a deflationary spiral. What do you think will happen as we get closer to the 21 million Bitcoin limit? It'll be the same deal. Everyone will hold onto their BTC because it's scarce, and increased scarcity increases value, and before long, the entire BTC economy grinds to a halt. "But this has never happened with gold!" I hear you say. Let me point you to the Gold Reserve Act of 1934, where the government basically said "Naw, dawgs, give us that gold back. We gotta get this economy moving again.", and made most private possession of gold illegal, in order to help get America out of the great depression. Bitcoin is an amazingly cool concept. Bitcoin is an awesome work of technology. Bitcoin is not a currency.
- espitia 9y ago
  Ditto. Maybe you read my comment wrong but I am arguing for a store of value - not a currency. And I am asking why it should fail as a store of value because I don't see how gold has any advantage over it.
  - taywrobel 9y ago
    Sorry, I guess I conflated it with your initial statement of "What currency is not being used in the drug market?". The first difference to come to mind is that if you forget the password to your gold, the gold still exists. If you forget the password to your wallet, your bitcoin is pretty much unsalvageable. And assets that are so easy to destroy aren't particularly stable. And yes, most wallets have all sorts of backup capabilities and safety features, but in the end it's used by humans and humans are stupid [citation needed].

meri_dian 9y ago

How are you going to anonymously trade gold online? Bitcoin gives the anonymity that criminals need.

colejohnson66 9y ago
So does cash. Should we ban paper money too?
- d4l3k 9y ago
  That appears to be the route India is taking.
  - dingo_bat 9y ago
    Wow what bullshit. India invalidated a set of currency notes and immediately replaced it with new ones. Is that "banning paper money"? If a government mandates that all petrol cars must be replaced with electric by 2025, does that mean they have "banned cars"?
espitia 9y ago
Gold mines are connected to genocide, funding wars and illegal trade. Is my logic wrong in pointing out a 'flaw' in gold when someone else points out a 'flaw' in bitcoin? I think criminals will use any tool in ways that they were not meant to be used. This does not make the tool/subject at hand the culprit.
- patrickg_zill 9y ago
  The Federal Reserve is connected to genocide, funding wars, and illegal trade. So what is your point?
  - espitia 9y ago
    That pointing out an 'issue' that is common in gold/fiat/crytpo is not a great argument against crypto.

taywrobel 9y ago

> I am geniuenly interested in seeing why Bitcoin should fail as being a store of value. Oh, it's a great store of value. But that doesn't make it a good currency. Currencies aren't intended to store value, they're intended to facilitate the transfer of value. Assets (be it physical such as property, governmental such as bonds, or corporate such as stocks) are what is intended to store value. In general, you want a currency to suffer from inflation and decrease in value over time. While this may seem counter-intuitive to having a healthy currency, it's the best thing for the economy, as it encourages the currency to continually be in circulation, and whatever cannot be readily spent to be invested into assets or placed into a bank, which then goes and loans it out to others who need it, stimulating the economy. Gold has never been easy to use as currency. It needs to be weighed, and now its value is so high that in order to buy everyday items, you'd be dealing in almost immeasurably small slivers of gold. So instead people used it as an asset; They would buy it speculatively and watch the price rise as scarcity increased. As more people bought it, the scarcity increased even more quickly, leading to effectively a deflationary spiral. What do you think will happen as we get closer to the 21 million Bitcoin limit? It'll be the same deal. Everyone will hold onto their BTC because it's scarce, and increased scarcity increases value, and before long, the entire BTC economy grinds to a halt. "But this has never happened with gold!" I hear you say. Let me point you to the Gold Reserve Act of 1934, where the government basically said "Naw, dawgs, give us that gold back. We gotta get this economy moving again.", and made most private possession of gold illegal, in order to help get America out of the great depression. Bitcoin is an amazingly cool concept. Bitcoin is an awesome work of technology. Bitcoin is not a currency.

espitia 9y ago
Ditto. Maybe you read my comment wrong but I am arguing for a store of value - not a currency. And I am asking why it should fail as a store of value because I don't see how gold has any advantage over it.
- taywrobel 9y ago
  Sorry, I guess I conflated it with your initial statement of "What currency is not being used in the drug market?". The first difference to come to mind is that if you forget the password to your gold, the gold still exists. If you forget the password to your wallet, your bitcoin is pretty much unsalvageable. And assets that are so easy to destroy aren't particularly stable. And yes, most wallets have all sorts of backup capabilities and safety features, but in the end it's used by humans and humans are stupid [citation needed].