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Yeah, but people that own stocks do not typically go on and on about how the stock market is a revolutionary technology that changes everything. Stocks are wort

Yeah, but people that own stocks do not typically go on and on about how the stock market is a revolutionary technology that changes everything. Stocks are worth something no matter how they are traded. Supposedly, it is the blockchain that makes bitcoin viable but if most transactions are off chain then what is the point? A thought experiment: at what point does the blockchain cease to add value? What if 99% of transactions were off the blockchain? What if all transactions were off-chain? At the moment it looks to my untrained eye like a few big exchanges do almost all of the trading internally without moving coins, keeping the expensive blockchain transactions for batched redemptions between exchanges. How is this different that what normal banks do with cash?

zenethian 5y ago
You should go read the newspapers about when the stock market first formed. People raved about it for a decade...
donkeyd 5y ago
Thanks, this is exactly the point I was trying to make!
aaronax 5y ago
It is different mainly in that if you want to move around large amounts of money outside of the banking system you can do so without using briefcases/trucks full of physical cash. Whether that movement is illegal or legal is probably at a similar ratio for both crypto and USD physical cash.
- shkkmo 5y ago
  You can't turn this speculative asset back into currency without the banking system...so how can this possibly move money outside of the banking system?
  - zenethian 5y ago
    It's funny that you call bitcoin a "speculative asset" even though fiat currencies are far more "speculative" than anything tangible. Bitcoins are tangible even if they're electronic. Your statement is like saying "this news source that reported this is speculative because it's on the internet, but the real news that's printed in a newspaper is what actually happened."
  - Karunamon 5y ago
    Says who? All you need to find is someone who will give you cash for crypto. Sites like localbitcoins make this easy and safe.
gregwebs 5y ago
This is actually how Bitcoin is supposed to work if successful. Normal banks perform final settlement with Fedwire. That is actually what Bitcoin is competing against (except at an international scale). It is confusing because stores keep wanting to accept Bitcoin as payment for small transaction but it is obviously horrible at that.

zenethian 5y ago

You should go read the newspapers about when the stock market first formed. People raved about it for a decade...

donkeyd 5y ago

Thanks, this is exactly the point I was trying to make!

aaronax 5y ago

It is different mainly in that if you want to move around large amounts of money outside of the banking system you can do so without using briefcases/trucks full of physical cash. Whether that movement is illegal or legal is probably at a similar ratio for both crypto and USD physical cash.

shkkmo 5y ago
You can't turn this speculative asset back into currency without the banking system...so how can this possibly move money outside of the banking system?
- zenethian 5y ago
  It's funny that you call bitcoin a "speculative asset" even though fiat currencies are far more "speculative" than anything tangible. Bitcoins are tangible even if they're electronic. Your statement is like saying "this news source that reported this is speculative because it's on the internet, but the real news that's printed in a newspaper is what actually happened."
- Karunamon 5y ago
  Says who? All you need to find is someone who will give you cash for crypto. Sites like localbitcoins make this easy and safe.

gregwebs 5y ago

This is actually how Bitcoin is supposed to work if successful. Normal banks perform final settlement with Fedwire. That is actually what Bitcoin is competing against (except at an international scale). It is confusing because stores keep wanting to accept Bitcoin as payment for small transaction but it is obviously horrible at that.