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I saw BTC as a more modern gold. So sad that there were scams bringing up the price artificially. This could have been the every person's means to have full co

I saw BTC as a more modern gold. So sad that there were scams bringing up the price artificially. This could have been the every person's means to have full control over their own money.

timClicks 8y ago
Control requires knowledge. I suspect fewer than 1% of people who have BTC understand how it operates.
- buboard 8y ago
  you can say that about money supply or credit cards or paypal etc. it doesn't matter. what matters is that other people trust it too.
  - redial 8y ago
    Sure, but that is not controlling your own money.
    - buboard 8y ago
      i think you really are. you can't pay another ebay (e.g.) user today, without ebay somehow being liable about the transaction. crypto keeps people bound to their wallets, which frees up a ton of possibilities.
- SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
  I doubt 1% of people on HN truly understand it top to bottom. It's a pretty complex topic. Math, Programming, Economics, practical application of Cryptography and applied Financial processes and it would be tough for anyone to really grasp the whole thing. After a talk I gave I had a highschool kid mention "you should try a blockchain" in response to a security issue I had discussed... I nodded and smiled. When a family friend tried to get us to invest in his shared mining operation he explained a similarly vague description of the mathy database - I didn't smile as much.
suprfsat 8y ago
How could it possibly give them "full control over their own money" if bad actors outside of their control can mess things up for them?
segmondy 8y ago
Is it? When the market was getting beat and all stocks were in red and gold was going up, I did look at BTC and it was also in the red which is weird if it's suppose to be a modern gold.
- ghthor 8y ago
  All things must start somewhere. Bitcoin is literally, currency/accounting as a service, something I take for granted as an American since our government provides this service to us. But to a developing nation that has failed to stabilize a currency in the past bitcoin looks pretty exciting.

I saw BTC as a more modern gold. So sad that there were scams bringing up the price artificially. This could have been the every person's means to have full control over their own money.

timClicks 8y ago

Control requires knowledge. I suspect fewer than 1% of people who have BTC understand how it operates.

buboard 8y ago
you can say that about money supply or credit cards or paypal etc. it doesn't matter. what matters is that other people trust it too.
- redial 8y ago
  Sure, but that is not controlling your own money.
  - buboard 8y ago
    i think you really are. you can't pay another ebay (e.g.) user today, without ebay somehow being liable about the transaction. crypto keeps people bound to their wallets, which frees up a ton of possibilities.
SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
I doubt 1% of people on HN truly understand it top to bottom. It's a pretty complex topic. Math, Programming, Economics, practical application of Cryptography and applied Financial processes and it would be tough for anyone to really grasp the whole thing. After a talk I gave I had a highschool kid mention "you should try a blockchain" in response to a security issue I had discussed... I nodded and smiled. When a family friend tried to get us to invest in his shared mining operation he explained a similarly vague description of the mathy database - I didn't smile as much.

suprfsat 8y ago

How could it possibly give them "full control over their own money" if bad actors outside of their control can mess things up for them?

segmondy 8y ago

Is it? When the market was getting beat and all stocks were in red and gold was going up, I did look at BTC and it was also in the red which is weird if it's suppose to be a modern gold.

ghthor 8y ago
All things must start somewhere. Bitcoin is literally, currency/accounting as a service, something I take for granted as an American since our government provides this service to us. But to a developing nation that has failed to stabilize a currency in the past bitcoin looks pretty exciting.