3 ms·

It’s exactly like gold except that you can’t do anything at all of practical use with it.

hondadriver 8y ago
And you can create unlimited forks of it, which is kinda hard with gold. For me this makes the real value zero, but I am already proven wrong for more then 10 years.
- sidko 8y ago
  The value of Bitcoin comes from social consensus. You cannot fork that. You can only fork a code repository. End of the day, it is just a bunch of 1s and 0s without a social consensus of value.
  - 2chen 8y ago
    You are begging the question. "Social consensus" is literally the same thing market value.
  - richk449 8y ago
    > The value of Bitcoin comes from social consensus. You cannot fork that. Can’t? Perhaps it is difficult, but not impossible. I can think of some examples of forking social consensus: x11-wayland, Debian-Ubuntu, star office - open office - whatever office it is now.
- 2chen 8y ago
  Gold, based on its practical uses, should have a much lower value as well--but naysayers have been proven wrong since time immemorial. I think the market will continue to stay irrational much longer than we will be alive.
njarboe 8y ago
Few consumptive uses is actually a positive for a monetary system.
man-and-laptop 8y ago
Apart from: - Its usage in black markets, like drugs and weapons. - Its usage as a speculative commodity. - Its usage as a hedge against hyperinflation. Those are current uses - and any one of them could grow much bigger. Conceivably, a government may end up creating a new black market traded in bitcoin, which might then propel it to mainstream adoption. Footnotes: Drugs are bad; don't do drugs. Guns kill people. Don't sell your house for Bitcoins. Etc.
- mbesto 8y ago
  * - Its usage as a speculative commodity. - Its usage as a hedge against hyperinflation.* FYI - those are both features that gold currently possesses.
  - ghthor 8y ago
    Yes, but to secure the gold requires physical security. To secure bitcoins or other cryptocurrency requires digital security. It requires different types of knowledge, but in theory, digital security is highly efficient and I'd argue orders of magnitude just plain better.
    - mbesto 8y ago
      The Winklevoss twins would like to speak to you about that then. Care to explain to them what they're doing wrong? https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11965719 https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&...
ahartmetz 8y ago
I am not convinced that Bitcoin is all that, but the usefulness of gold is also rather limited. Silver and platinum are much more important for technical applications, as opposed to looking nice. If it was about usefulness, platinum would have long replaced gold for the purpose of storing value.
winningcontinue 8y ago
This is also a great feature that makes it exactly like gold. But unlike gold, you don't need to dig a hole in the ground, put it there and have people guard it. You just need enough electricity to run it.

And you can create unlimited forks of it, which is kinda hard with gold. For me this makes the real value zero, but I am already proven wrong for more then 10 years.

sidko 8y ago
The value of Bitcoin comes from social consensus. You cannot fork that. You can only fork a code repository. End of the day, it is just a bunch of 1s and 0s without a social consensus of value.
- 2chen 8y ago
  You are begging the question. "Social consensus" is literally the same thing market value.
- richk449 8y ago
  > The value of Bitcoin comes from social consensus. You cannot fork that. Can’t? Perhaps it is difficult, but not impossible. I can think of some examples of forking social consensus: x11-wayland, Debian-Ubuntu, star office - open office - whatever office it is now.
2chen 8y ago
Gold, based on its practical uses, should have a much lower value as well--but naysayers have been proven wrong since time immemorial. I think the market will continue to stay irrational much longer than we will be alive.

njarboe 8y ago

Few consumptive uses is actually a positive for a monetary system.

man-and-laptop 8y ago

Apart from: - Its usage in black markets, like drugs and weapons. - Its usage as a speculative commodity. - Its usage as a hedge against hyperinflation. Those are current uses - and any one of them could grow much bigger. Conceivably, a government may end up creating a new black market traded in bitcoin, which might then propel it to mainstream adoption. Footnotes: Drugs are bad; don't do drugs. Guns kill people. Don't sell your house for Bitcoins. Etc.

mbesto 8y ago
* - Its usage as a speculative commodity. - Its usage as a hedge against hyperinflation.* FYI - those are both features that gold currently possesses.
- ghthor 8y ago
  Yes, but to secure the gold requires physical security. To secure bitcoins or other cryptocurrency requires digital security. It requires different types of knowledge, but in theory, digital security is highly efficient and I'd argue orders of magnitude just plain better.
  - mbesto 8y ago
    The Winklevoss twins would like to speak to you about that then. Care to explain to them what they're doing wrong? https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11965719 https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&...

ahartmetz 8y ago

I am not convinced that Bitcoin is all that, but the usefulness of gold is also rather limited. Silver and platinum are much more important for technical applications, as opposed to looking nice. If it was about usefulness, platinum would have long replaced gold for the purpose of storing value.

winningcontinue 8y ago

This is also a great feature that makes it exactly like gold. But unlike gold, you don't need to dig a hole in the ground, put it there and have people guard it. You just need enough electricity to run it.