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Not sure if Bitcoins are a good investment. All it takes is a western country (say Switzerland) to create an online currency and Bitcoins will sink faster than

Not sure if Bitcoins are a good investment. All it takes is a western country (say Switzerland) to create an online currency and Bitcoins will sink faster than a Carnival ship.

ihsw 14y ago
The Royal Canadian Mint developed MintChip[1] however there has been little interest. There's a scathing Forbes blog post[2] too, if you're interested. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MintChip http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MintChip [2] http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/04/12/mintchip-misses-the-point-of-digital-currency/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/04/12/mintchip-m...
- haakon 14y ago
  Note, however, that the "scathing Forbes blog post" was written by the Bitcoin Foundation's press secretary.
throwawayG9 14y ago
Do you even Bitcoin? One of the main features of Bitcoin is that it can't be manipulated by a central authority like a bank or government (ie: they can't steal from the people by printing money).
- rdtsc 14y ago
  > Do you even Bitcoin? No but I lift, .... mostly functions, sometimes they have multiple variables ;-) > One of the main features of Bitcoin is that it can't be manipulated by a central authority Q: What can a central authority with power to imprison and/or garnish your wage manipulate? A: anything it damn wants. Yes the Fed Gov. can't print more bitcoin it sure can come after you with a rubber hose expecting to get some sales, or money exchange tax some rather-made-up-new-law-tax. A few high profile case about bitcoin used for terrorism, drug, illegal porn, money laundering and these new laws won't be hard to make.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - icebraining 14y ago
    By themselves, laws don't prevent actions (see copyright infringement), you need enforcement, and if a very large fraction of the population starts using Bitcoins, it can be very hard to stop, at least without taking some very drastic measures. My guess is that the US government would just get enough computing power to control the network and prevent it from working well.
    - zanny 14y ago
      The latter seems very likely if btc every became really popular. It would probably send the United States into a radical depression and destroy its economy, but by then the ~500 Americans that own the world would have flown the coop anyway, and all that USD they had would still be worth something.
- gbrindisi 14y ago
  That's also the biggest drawback since there wouldn't be anyone watching over speculations.
  - Devilboy 14y ago
    That's no different to any other currency. Speculators have free range to do whatever they want on forex trading systems.

Not sure if Bitcoins are a good investment. All it takes is a western country (say Switzerland) to create an online currency and Bitcoins will sink faster than a Carnival ship.

ihsw 14y ago

The Royal Canadian Mint developed MintChip[1] however there has been little interest. There's a scathing Forbes blog post[2] too, if you're interested. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MintChip http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MintChip [2] http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/04/12/mintchip-misses-the-point-of-digital-currency/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/04/12/mintchip-m...

haakon 14y ago
Note, however, that the "scathing Forbes blog post" was written by the Bitcoin Foundation's press secretary.

throwawayG9 14y ago

Do you even Bitcoin? One of the main features of Bitcoin is that it can't be manipulated by a central authority like a bank or government (ie: they can't steal from the people by printing money).

rdtsc 14y ago
> Do you even Bitcoin? No but I lift, .... mostly functions, sometimes they have multiple variables ;-) > One of the main features of Bitcoin is that it can't be manipulated by a central authority Q: What can a central authority with power to imprison and/or garnish your wage manipulate? A: anything it damn wants. Yes the Fed Gov. can't print more bitcoin it sure can come after you with a rubber hose expecting to get some sales, or money exchange tax some rather-made-up-new-law-tax. A few high profile case about bitcoin used for terrorism, drug, illegal porn, money laundering and these new laws won't be hard to make.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- icebraining 14y ago
  By themselves, laws don't prevent actions (see copyright infringement), you need enforcement, and if a very large fraction of the population starts using Bitcoins, it can be very hard to stop, at least without taking some very drastic measures. My guess is that the US government would just get enough computing power to control the network and prevent it from working well.
  - zanny 14y ago
    The latter seems very likely if btc every became really popular. It would probably send the United States into a radical depression and destroy its economy, but by then the ~500 Americans that own the world would have flown the coop anyway, and all that USD they had would still be worth something.
gbrindisi 14y ago
That's also the biggest drawback since there wouldn't be anyone watching over speculations.
- Devilboy 14y ago
  That's no different to any other currency. Speculators have free range to do whatever they want on forex trading systems.