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It's more like "there ARE people getting rich selling equipment". There are plenty of miners getting rich.
by cryowaffle 13y ago
It's more like "there ARE people getting rich selling equipment". There are plenty of miners getting rich.
- betterunix 13y agoPlenty of people found gold during the gold rush. That does not mean it is even remotely representative of the norm.
- astrodust 13y agoThis isn't manufacturing money out of nothing. This isn't generating physical materials with tangible value. The only money being generated here is simply being vacuumed out of the pockets of investors losing money on trades or exchanges. In that sense it's not unlike online poker.
- ethanbond 13y agoOr the US dollar (or any fiat currency).
- jnbiche 13y agoIf "generating physical materials with tangible value" is your benchmark, what are your feelings about Internet companies like Google and Facebook? They make very little in terms of physical goods. Recall that Bitcoin allows people to send money around the world in an extremely simple fashion, and at almost zero cost. Banks typically charge $15-$20 for international wire transfers on both ends of the transaction. I grant you that there a huge amount of speculation, but surely the ability to transmit value around the world, securely and very cheaply, is worth something?
- astrodust 13y agoThe thing is, Google and Facebook both produce something with actual value, be it content, or databases, or user data, or people's photos with their intrinsic value. Bitcoin is literally just numbers. It's not even pieces of paper. That's why it's better compared to virtual poker chips. Also, the transaction fees for Bitcoin are surprisingly steep, especially if you want to convert it back to cash. You'll easily pay $30 per transaction for $1000 worth of BTC just to cash out.