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I like that it's a hedge against governments printing endless amounts of money that isn't backed by anything. That was why I bought it initially. I like that it

I like that it's a hedge against governments printing endless amounts of money that isn't backed by anything. That was why I bought it initially. I like that it's a way to transact value over the internet without a third party like a bank. And honestly, I like that I got 'in' early (not early enough though!). I don't like that it's not scalable. Bitcoin SV is seen a scam since it's headed by Craig Wright (who says he is Satoshi) but I like the vision that it has. In short, it wants to be a micro transactions chain. That's another reason I got interested in Bitcoin. I don't like what I have seen of the lightning network so far.

babygoat 5y ago
What is Bitcoin backed by? What commodity could any currency be backed by that isn’t subject to the same volatility?
- capableweb 5y ago
  A network of nodes who gets rewarded for helping the network process transactions. Not more, not less. The beauty of the network, and also a big problem (in Proof of Work at least).
- Graffur 5y ago
  Bitcoin isn't backed by anything. It's limited in supply though so no more can be printed. Someone might say that it can be hard forked to change the supply limit. That is true but the fork won't be bitcoin.
  - rasputnik6502 5y ago
    So it's a religion. There are many gods but our is the true one.
  - kcatskcolbdi 5y ago
    A fork would still be bitcoin if that's what was voted on, no? Or is that just a soft fork? Anything could change if it gained consensus, right?
  - babygoat 5y ago
    Why is it good that no more can be printed though? The value of all total goods in existence is not fixed, so why a currency where you don’t know how much you’ll able to buy with it in the future?
    - kcatskcolbdi 5y ago
      Not who you asked and I'm not a fan of BTC, but generally a fixed quantity of measure is helpful when trying to evaluate worth. The fixed value acts as a measuring tape against objects, but instead of measuring length you measure value. When you measure to cut an inch of wood, you need the measuring tape to keep the length of an inch constant. If an inch were to shrink or expand at will it would be difficult to figure out how much wood to cut. Because BTC is infinitely divisible it acts like a retractable tape, allowing for as much room to measure as needed. >why a currency where you don’t know how much you’ll able to buy with it in the future? A fixed quantity helps with this. If your currency is free-floating and relative to others you can enter into different periods of relative purchasing power. Zimbabwe, Japan, Wiemar Germany, and Venezuela are all popular examples of floating currency behavior which can oscillate wildly.
    - Graffur 5y ago
      > Why is it good that no more can be printed though? I can't fully answer that but I can play both sides by holding a position in bitcoin. I still earn and save fiat too.
codehotter 5y ago
> I like that it's a hedge against governments printing endless amounts of money that isn't backed by anything This depends a lot on how much you of the price of bitcoin you think is speculation (versus fundamental), and exactly how much inflation you expect. If the FED overshoots the inflation target speculation could cool down a lot [1]. That may give you an "inflation hedge" that evaporates if inflation actually happens. [1] Page 74, Section A.7 Speculative premium, https://researchdatabase.minneapolisfed.org/downloads/0p0966970 https://researchdatabase.minneapolisfed.org/downloads/0p0966... [PDF, 1.8MB]

babygoat 5y ago

What is Bitcoin backed by? What commodity could any currency be backed by that isn’t subject to the same volatility?

capableweb 5y ago
A network of nodes who gets rewarded for helping the network process transactions. Not more, not less. The beauty of the network, and also a big problem (in Proof of Work at least).
Graffur 5y ago
Bitcoin isn't backed by anything. It's limited in supply though so no more can be printed. Someone might say that it can be hard forked to change the supply limit. That is true but the fork won't be bitcoin.
- rasputnik6502 5y ago
  So it's a religion. There are many gods but our is the true one.
- kcatskcolbdi 5y ago
  A fork would still be bitcoin if that's what was voted on, no? Or is that just a soft fork? Anything could change if it gained consensus, right?
- babygoat 5y ago
  Why is it good that no more can be printed though? The value of all total goods in existence is not fixed, so why a currency where you don’t know how much you’ll able to buy with it in the future?
  - kcatskcolbdi 5y ago
    Not who you asked and I'm not a fan of BTC, but generally a fixed quantity of measure is helpful when trying to evaluate worth. The fixed value acts as a measuring tape against objects, but instead of measuring length you measure value. When you measure to cut an inch of wood, you need the measuring tape to keep the length of an inch constant. If an inch were to shrink or expand at will it would be difficult to figure out how much wood to cut. Because BTC is infinitely divisible it acts like a retractable tape, allowing for as much room to measure as needed. >why a currency where you don’t know how much you’ll able to buy with it in the future? A fixed quantity helps with this. If your currency is free-floating and relative to others you can enter into different periods of relative purchasing power. Zimbabwe, Japan, Wiemar Germany, and Venezuela are all popular examples of floating currency behavior which can oscillate wildly.
  - Graffur 5y ago
    > Why is it good that no more can be printed though? I can't fully answer that but I can play both sides by holding a position in bitcoin. I still earn and save fiat too.

codehotter 5y ago

> I like that it's a hedge against governments printing endless amounts of money that isn't backed by anything This depends a lot on how much you of the price of bitcoin you think is speculation (versus fundamental), and exactly how much inflation you expect. If the FED overshoots the inflation target speculation could cool down a lot [1]. That may give you an "inflation hedge" that evaporates if inflation actually happens. [1] Page 74, Section A.7 Speculative premium, https://researchdatabase.minneapolisfed.org/downloads/0p0966970 https://researchdatabase.minneapolisfed.org/downloads/0p0966... [PDF, 1.8MB]