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For those who are new to Bitcoin and would like to learn more: Bitcoin FAQ - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ Bitcoin Wiki - http

For those who are new to Bitcoin and would like to learn more: Bitcoin FAQ - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ Bitcoin Wiki - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Main_Page https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Main_Page How Bitcoin Works - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/How_bitcoin_works https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/How_bitcoin_works Installing Bitcoin - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Getting_started https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Getting_started HowTo Mining Bitcoin: Fedora 14: http://bit.ly/fb54ye http://bit.ly/fb54ye and Ubuntu: http://bit.ly/ewVzhu http://bit.ly/ewVzhu The Bitcoin Faucet (free bitcoins) - https://freebitcoins.appspot.com https://freebitcoins.appspot.com Buying bitcoins - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Buying_bitcoins https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Buying_bitcoins Bitcoin 6-Month Price Chart - http://bit.ly/hzVKpq http://bit.ly/hzVKpq Bitcoin Community Portal - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Bitcoin:Community_portal https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Bitcoin:Community_portal Recent Posts here on the forum - http://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?action=recent http://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?action=recent

sabj 16y ago
I'm more confused than when I started. I understand the concept, but not the ecosystem or money supply... or exchange rate.
- sgornick 16y ago
  Ecosystem? How about the Payment portion of the ecosystem ... let's take a "competitor", PayPal, for example. When you send $100 to a business using your Paypal, the recipient gets $97, or less. With bitcoin, when you send $100, the recipient gets $100 (at least until fees are necessary ... but even when that starts being necessary the fees should be just a FRACTION of what Visa / MC / PayPal / etc. take.)
  - johnny22 16y ago
    so, you're saying if paypal/mastercard/visa charged no money for transfer, you would continue using them? that example isn't reason enough for me to use bitcoin.
    - kiba 16y ago
      Said paypal/mastercard/visa would lose money to fraud. The bitcoin miners only process the transactions. They don't care about fraud and chargeback.
    - sgornick 16y ago
      A less expensive payment network is one reason bitcoins might be used. Ask ten people why they use bitcoins and you'll get ten different answers. For some, it will be the ability to send money without needing a bank. For another person the reason might be related to the anonymity that bitcoin offers. Bitcoin's benefits range from supporting micropayments to supporting large transfers with no chargeback risk. But for the long term, When the list of payment methods reads: Visa / MC / AmEx / Bitcoin (receive 2% discount) which button do you think most consumers will choose?
- efnx 16y ago
  I'll agree that it's confusing, but I will also say that it's less confusing than our practices with mainstream fiat currency.
Charuru 16y ago
OK, I understand how they're created and how many there are. But why?
- jackowayed 16y ago
  The idea is that it's not under any entity's control, and the amount of currency grows in a predictable (and decreasing) way. This should prevent the crazy inflation we've seen occur with normal currency where the government can always just print more.
  - akkartik 16y ago
    Why does the number of bitcoins in circulation converge to an asymptote?
    - jackowayed 16y ago
      Because every few years (4, I think), the number of bitcoins in each "block" (what you generate) is halved. So right now you get 50 BTC when you generate a block. In a few years it'll be 25. Then 12.5. Etc. In a very long time, they'll round from 10^-8 down to 0, but generating a block will still get you transaction fees from the transactions that occurred since the last block generated.
      - akkartik 16y ago
        I asked why, not how :) I understood from the FAQ how it was done, but there's no mention of why it's desirable? Why not either fix the number of bitcoins now for all time, or let them grow unboundedly at a constant rate?
        jackowayed 16y ago
        Ah, ok. I think they're trying to balance 2 interests: They don't want inflation. One of the impeti for this initiative is to have a currency that some politicians can't decide to print more of. But at the same time, they can't just issue 90% of the total money that will exist right at the beginning. No one's going to buy into a currency where the vast majority of the "wealth" goes to a few early adopters. So it makes sense to have the money supply grow fast at the beginning, when the currency is hopefully getting more popular as well, preventing inflation, and then to gradually slow down the money supply growth to achieve the goal of preventing inflation.
mynameishere 16y ago
All of the above absolutely screams BULLSHIT harder than anything I've ever read before.
- kiba 16y ago
  Please tell us why it is absolute bullshit?-
- icarus_drowning 16y ago
  (2.10.11, at around 14:10 MST): How does this have any positive karma at all?
s0urceror 16y ago
All I wonder is, what happens if you delete a portion of the wallets in existence. Given that the supply of bitcoins is limited, does that mean you've essentially permanently destroyed part of the bitcoin economy?
- jackowayed 16y ago
  You haven't destroyed part of the economy. You've just made everyone else's bitcoins worth a little bit more.
  - hippich 16y ago
    plus - there is slight chance someone will generate same private/public key combo and suddenly "find" "lost" coins =)
    - po 16y ago
      Except bitcoin has no way of marking a coin as "lost" so if you did generate that combo, everyone would be in agreement that it already belongs to a lost wallet.
  - johnny22 16y ago
    until you destroy 99% of all the wallets and then you can't exchange them for anything useful. I'll wait for bitcoin 2.0 :)
    - noagendamarket 16y ago
      There already is bitcoin 2.0 tl;dr testnet
- 0x6763 16y ago
  The only part of the economy that's "destroyed" is access to some of the bitcoins. All the goods and services that were there before the wallet is destroyed are still there after the wallet is destroyed. The effects of a destroyed wallet are limited to the owner of the wallet and their plans for the money...A good reason to learn how to backup your wallet!!

sabj 16y ago

I'm more confused than when I started. I understand the concept, but not the ecosystem or money supply... or exchange rate.

sgornick 16y ago
Ecosystem? How about the Payment portion of the ecosystem ... let's take a "competitor", PayPal, for example. When you send $100 to a business using your Paypal, the recipient gets $97, or less. With bitcoin, when you send $100, the recipient gets $100 (at least until fees are necessary ... but even when that starts being necessary the fees should be just a FRACTION of what Visa / MC / PayPal / etc. take.)
- johnny22 16y ago
  so, you're saying if paypal/mastercard/visa charged no money for transfer, you would continue using them? that example isn't reason enough for me to use bitcoin.
  - kiba 16y ago
    Said paypal/mastercard/visa would lose money to fraud. The bitcoin miners only process the transactions. They don't care about fraud and chargeback.
  - sgornick 16y ago
    A less expensive payment network is one reason bitcoins might be used. Ask ten people why they use bitcoins and you'll get ten different answers. For some, it will be the ability to send money without needing a bank. For another person the reason might be related to the anonymity that bitcoin offers. Bitcoin's benefits range from supporting micropayments to supporting large transfers with no chargeback risk. But for the long term, When the list of payment methods reads: Visa / MC / AmEx / Bitcoin (receive 2% discount) which button do you think most consumers will choose?
efnx 16y ago
I'll agree that it's confusing, but I will also say that it's less confusing than our practices with mainstream fiat currency.

Charuru 16y ago

OK, I understand how they're created and how many there are. But why?

jackowayed 16y ago
The idea is that it's not under any entity's control, and the amount of currency grows in a predictable (and decreasing) way. This should prevent the crazy inflation we've seen occur with normal currency where the government can always just print more.
- akkartik 16y ago
  Why does the number of bitcoins in circulation converge to an asymptote?
  - jackowayed 16y ago
    Because every few years (4, I think), the number of bitcoins in each "block" (what you generate) is halved. So right now you get 50 BTC when you generate a block. In a few years it'll be 25. Then 12.5. Etc. In a very long time, they'll round from 10^-8 down to 0, but generating a block will still get you transaction fees from the transactions that occurred since the last block generated.
    - akkartik 16y ago
      I asked why, not how :) I understood from the FAQ how it was done, but there's no mention of why it's desirable? Why not either fix the number of bitcoins now for all time, or let them grow unboundedly at a constant rate?
      - jackowayed 16y ago
        Ah, ok. I think they're trying to balance 2 interests: They don't want inflation. One of the impeti for this initiative is to have a currency that some politicians can't decide to print more of. But at the same time, they can't just issue 90% of the total money that will exist right at the beginning. No one's going to buy into a currency where the vast majority of the "wealth" goes to a few early adopters. So it makes sense to have the money supply grow fast at the beginning, when the currency is hopefully getting more popular as well, preventing inflation, and then to gradually slow down the money supply growth to achieve the goal of preventing inflation.

mynameishere 16y ago

All of the above absolutely screams BULLSHIT harder than anything I've ever read before.

kiba 16y ago
Please tell us why it is absolute bullshit?-
icarus_drowning 16y ago
(2.10.11, at around 14:10 MST): How does this have any positive karma at all?

s0urceror 16y ago

All I wonder is, what happens if you delete a portion of the wallets in existence. Given that the supply of bitcoins is limited, does that mean you've essentially permanently destroyed part of the bitcoin economy?

jackowayed 16y ago
You haven't destroyed part of the economy. You've just made everyone else's bitcoins worth a little bit more.
- hippich 16y ago
  plus - there is slight chance someone will generate same private/public key combo and suddenly "find" "lost" coins =)
  - po 16y ago
    Except bitcoin has no way of marking a coin as "lost" so if you did generate that combo, everyone would be in agreement that it already belongs to a lost wallet.
- johnny22 16y ago
  until you destroy 99% of all the wallets and then you can't exchange them for anything useful. I'll wait for bitcoin 2.0 :)
  - noagendamarket 16y ago
    There already is bitcoin 2.0 tl;dr testnet
0x6763 16y ago
The only part of the economy that's "destroyed" is access to some of the bitcoins. All the goods and services that were there before the wallet is destroyed are still there after the wallet is destroyed. The effects of a destroyed wallet are limited to the owner of the wallet and their plans for the money...A good reason to learn how to backup your wallet!!