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> Gold is certainly the ideal model for something like Bitcoin I disagree. I don't think Bitcoin should strive to be a store of value like Gold is. Today most

> Gold is certainly the ideal model for something like Bitcoin I disagree. I don't think Bitcoin should strive to be a store of value like Gold is. Today most Gold investing is just based on fear, because people see a government misbehaving and lose faith in its ability to maintain the value of its fiat and then flee to something that still has some properties useful in monies. This is no where near the main usefulness of Bitcoin though, which IMHO are: its extremely divisible, portable, efficient and has cheap transaction costs. Its also by far the most free in terms of your ability to enter into a transaction with anyone the world over, regardless of what a particular government thinks about that transaction. > I will happily invest in Bitcoin when its history as a store of value and a medium of exchange is measured in millennia. The history of Gold as a medium of exchange and store of value has virtually no bearing on whether or not you should invest in it in 2017. Gold pays no dividends, has no interests, does not appreciate over the long term, and can't protect against incident forms of inflation. On top of all that, it has none of the above mentioned technological advantages Bitcoin brings. There are arguments to be made for Gold but they are in its utility in modern industry, etc.

slg 9y ago
>This is no where near the main usefulness of Bitcoin though, which IMHO are: its extremely divisible, portable, efficient and has cheap transaction costs. Its also by far the most free in terms of your ability to enter into a transaction with anyone the world over, regardless of what a particular government thinks about that transaction. Those were/are all the main uses for gold for much of human history. Bitcoin has improved on or has potential to improve on those, but its relative volatility puts gold to shame. >The history of Gold as a medium of exchange and store of value has virtually no bearing on whether or not you should invest in it in 2017...There are arguments to be made for Gold but they are in its utility in modern industry, etc. I would argue the history of gold is the only reason to invest in it. It is extremely overvalued compared to its industrial and commercial uses. However its history shows it is a decent diversification vehicle to protect against loss of value of fiat currencies. This applies to the doomsday scenarios you alluded to in your comment as well as the less drastic economic downturns.
leereeves 9y ago
> efficient and has cheap transaction costs I've heard differently. Vice: One Bitcoin Transaction Now Uses as Much Energy as Your House in a Week https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ywbbpm/bitcoin-mining-electricity-consumption-ethereum-energy-climate-change https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ywbbpm/bitcoin-mi... Average transaction fees have gone up substantially. https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/bitcoin-transactionfees.html https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/bitcoin-transactionfees...
- galfarragem 9y ago
  > Vice: One Bitcoin Transaction Now Uses as Much Energy as Your House in a Week This and easy tax evasion (governments will hardly ever support it) are the two main factors that put me bearish on Bitcoin. Not on blockchain though.
  - stale2002 9y ago
    People have been saying that governments are going to shut down bitcoin ever since it was invented. And yet here we are. There are even conspiracy theories that the US government itself created bitcoin, for the same reason that the US navy labs invented Tor. To provide people in other countries with censorship resistent tools.
jayd16 9y ago
>This is no where near the main usefulness of Bitcoin though, which IMHO are: its extremely divisible, portable, efficient and has cheap transaction costs. Its also by far the most free in terms of your ability to enter into a transaction with anyone the world over, regardless of what a particular government thinks about that transaction. This is exactly whats wrong with bitcoin and people who like it. Its certainly very arguable whether its efficient and cheap compared to whats already commonplace but putting that aside... you think tax evasion and tax fraud are features inherent in bit coin. You can smuggle cash, gold and goods to any country you want and skip out on the taxes and regulations. That's not some futuristic innovation.

slg 9y ago

>This is no where near the main usefulness of Bitcoin though, which IMHO are: its extremely divisible, portable, efficient and has cheap transaction costs. Its also by far the most free in terms of your ability to enter into a transaction with anyone the world over, regardless of what a particular government thinks about that transaction. Those were/are all the main uses for gold for much of human history. Bitcoin has improved on or has potential to improve on those, but its relative volatility puts gold to shame. >The history of Gold as a medium of exchange and store of value has virtually no bearing on whether or not you should invest in it in 2017...There are arguments to be made for Gold but they are in its utility in modern industry, etc. I would argue the history of gold is the only reason to invest in it. It is extremely overvalued compared to its industrial and commercial uses. However its history shows it is a decent diversification vehicle to protect against loss of value of fiat currencies. This applies to the doomsday scenarios you alluded to in your comment as well as the less drastic economic downturns.

leereeves 9y ago

> efficient and has cheap transaction costs I've heard differently. Vice: One Bitcoin Transaction Now Uses as Much Energy as Your House in a Week https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ywbbpm/bitcoin-mining-electricity-consumption-ethereum-energy-climate-change https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ywbbpm/bitcoin-mi... Average transaction fees have gone up substantially. https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/bitcoin-transactionfees.html https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/bitcoin-transactionfees...

galfarragem 9y ago
> Vice: One Bitcoin Transaction Now Uses as Much Energy as Your House in a Week This and easy tax evasion (governments will hardly ever support it) are the two main factors that put me bearish on Bitcoin. Not on blockchain though.
- stale2002 9y ago
  People have been saying that governments are going to shut down bitcoin ever since it was invented. And yet here we are. There are even conspiracy theories that the US government itself created bitcoin, for the same reason that the US navy labs invented Tor. To provide people in other countries with censorship resistent tools.

jayd16 9y ago