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Here's what what said about the gold standard to differentiate from Bitcoin: "There was no choice in how one could pay, payments were made in a vacuum. All tra

by Duff 15y ago

Here's what what said about the gold standard to differentiate from Bitcoin: "There was no choice in how one could pay, payments were made in a vacuum. All transactions had to be made in a currency backed by gold. That meant that any abuse of the Standard could affect the economy negatively and runs on banks were almost inevitable." So what? People were and are always free to transact business in any way that they would like, but the coin of the realm that you are required to accept and pay taxes with is/was gold. That doesn't mean that I can't exchange a few bushels of wheat for a goat. Or some coupons for car washes for a sandwich. Or some bitcoin for a webhosting, or whatever you buy with bitcoin. Bitcoin is only against capitalism in the sense that nobody is going to make a significant amount of money from it.

kolinko 15y ago
Saying that "bitcoin means freedom to choose a form of payment" is naive. Let's say that Bitcoin is success, and 98% of internet merchants accept bitcoins as a mean of payment. This will mean that once I open up a shop, I have to accept it as well, or I'll lose sales. Of course, in theory, nobody would force me to accept Bitcoins, but so is the case today - nobody forces me to use Dollars, or PayPal.
- Duff 15y ago
  But again, barring some magical event that entices 98% of merchants to accept Bitcoin, why would you accept it versus gold, silver etc? You still need a middleman to broker the transaction to whatever the legal tender currency is, so why not just exchange shares of GLD or SLV online?
- dpatru 15y ago
  > nobody forces me to use Dollars Actually, if you're in the US, you do have to use dollars. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tender#United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tender#United_States and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Dollar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Dollar.
  - Duff 15y ago
    You don't have to pay in dollars, but you must accept dollars to settle a debt. You and I can have a contract where I buy a cow from you today in exchange for an iPod next week, that's a valid contract. But if I cannot produce the iPod next week, you must allow me to give you a quantity of legal tender currency (US coins or paper dollars) to settle the debt. If you require payment upon receipt, however, you can refuse to exchange the cow for cash.

by Duff 15y ago

kolinko 15y ago

Saying that "bitcoin means freedom to choose a form of payment" is naive. Let's say that Bitcoin is success, and 98% of internet merchants accept bitcoins as a mean of payment. This will mean that once I open up a shop, I have to accept it as well, or I'll lose sales. Of course, in theory, nobody would force me to accept Bitcoins, but so is the case today - nobody forces me to use Dollars, or PayPal.

Duff 15y ago
But again, barring some magical event that entices 98% of merchants to accept Bitcoin, why would you accept it versus gold, silver etc? You still need a middleman to broker the transaction to whatever the legal tender currency is, so why not just exchange shares of GLD or SLV online?
dpatru 15y ago
> nobody forces me to use Dollars Actually, if you're in the US, you do have to use dollars. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tender#United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tender#United_States and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Dollar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Dollar.
- Duff 15y ago
  You don't have to pay in dollars, but you must accept dollars to settle a debt. You and I can have a contract where I buy a cow from you today in exchange for an iPod next week, that's a valid contract. But if I cannot produce the iPod next week, you must allow me to give you a quantity of legal tender currency (US coins or paper dollars) to settle the debt. If you require payment upon receipt, however, you can refuse to exchange the cow for cash.