3 ms·

"I see what you're doing, you're being purposefully condescending." I'm pointing out the obvious. X bitcoins could be "worth" 5 cents or 500,000 in a matter o

by Steko 15y ago

"I see what you're doing, you're being purposefully condescending." I'm pointing out the obvious. X bitcoins could be "worth" 5 cents or 500,000 in a matter of hours. Bitcoins were stolen not dollars therefore an accurate headline would say how many bitcoins were stolen and possibly the USD (or whatever) value parenthetically. "You aren't dumb enough" Stay classy. "to actually believe that something people trade for real dollars has absolutely no value." I never said it had no value. Baseball cards have value, no one pretends they are a currency and if anyone did people would rightly point out the many disadvantages like your baseball cards don't get the advantages of a real bank.

bradleyland 15y ago
It is common editorial practice to express facts in a way that readers can easily understand. Imagine a US paper runs a story about a Japanese theft where 1,000,000 YEN are stolen. Let's assume I don't follow world currency markets, so I have no idea what the YEN:USD rate is. I might assume some level of equivalency and walk away with the impression that somewhere around a million USD were stolen. That would be inaccurate. The responsible editorial decision is to provide the reader some accessible basis for understanding the facts. The reason you're being called out for condescension/trolling is because the point you're making is entirely irrelevant to the discussion. Is Bitcoin a real/valid currency? It doesn't matter in the context of this theft. What's relevant is the value of those Bitcoins at the time they were stolen. That's how matters of theft are assessed. Criminal charges are levied based on the value of the items stolen. Another thing to consider is the thoughtlessness of discussing the relative merits of Bitcoin as a currency when someone just lost a couple hundred thousand dollars. Someone's life is sucking really hard right now, and pedantry is a great way to put people off. This just seems like a really inappropriate time and place to have that discussion.
white_devil 15y ago
> I'm pointing out the obvious. X bitcoins could be "worth" 5 cents or 500,000 in a matter of hours. So could your US Dollars. A fiat currency only has value as long as other people are willing to accept it as payment for various goods and services. That willingness is based on the belief that they, in turn, will be able to exchange the currency for other goods and services at a later time. The same principle applies to bitcoins. But a cryptographic currency like bitcoin has advantages that USDs don't. For example that massive amounts of bitcoins can't just be whipped up "out of thin air" like paper money can.
neotek 15y ago
I don't understand the point you're making. If someone stole baseball card they'd be charged with theft. What's the difference here?

by Steko 15y ago

bradleyland 15y ago

It is common editorial practice to express facts in a way that readers can easily understand. Imagine a US paper runs a story about a Japanese theft where 1,000,000 YEN are stolen. Let's assume I don't follow world currency markets, so I have no idea what the YEN:USD rate is. I might assume some level of equivalency and walk away with the impression that somewhere around a million USD were stolen. That would be inaccurate. The responsible editorial decision is to provide the reader some accessible basis for understanding the facts. The reason you're being called out for condescension/trolling is because the point you're making is entirely irrelevant to the discussion. Is Bitcoin a real/valid currency? It doesn't matter in the context of this theft. What's relevant is the value of those Bitcoins at the time they were stolen. That's how matters of theft are assessed. Criminal charges are levied based on the value of the items stolen. Another thing to consider is the thoughtlessness of discussing the relative merits of Bitcoin as a currency when someone just lost a couple hundred thousand dollars. Someone's life is sucking really hard right now, and pedantry is a great way to put people off. This just seems like a really inappropriate time and place to have that discussion.

white_devil 15y ago

> I'm pointing out the obvious. X bitcoins could be "worth" 5 cents or 500,000 in a matter of hours. So could your US Dollars. A fiat currency only has value as long as other people are willing to accept it as payment for various goods and services. That willingness is based on the belief that they, in turn, will be able to exchange the currency for other goods and services at a later time. The same principle applies to bitcoins. But a cryptographic currency like bitcoin has advantages that USDs don't. For example that massive amounts of bitcoins can't just be whipped up "out of thin air" like paper money can.

neotek 15y ago

I don't understand the point you're making. If someone stole baseball card they'd be charged with theft. What's the difference here?