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The point is $2bn is a significant amount of money. There's a LOT that can get done transaction-wise with that kind of money. It's the start of a mini-economy o
by mcollinsblog 13y ago
The point is $2bn is a significant amount of money. There's a LOT that can get done transaction-wise with that kind of money. It's the start of a mini-economy of its own... but only mini in comparison to current economies.
- zik 13y agoIt's already a bigger economy than some small countries. That's a pretty decent size in my book. Add to that the fact that it's increasing in size exponentially at the moment and it's looking like it's going to be a pretty serious currency.
- pathy 13y agoTh problem with bitcoin, if nothing else, is that the exchange market, USD:BTC is rather illiquid. Doesn't MTGOX take forever to process the withdrawals in USD? This is a big problem that does make it a toy currency. The slow exchange probably brings up the price. I expect, without much proof, that the USD:BTC ratio would be lower, at least short term, if you could exchange them easier. $2b in circulation is pretty decent of course, but if you cannot convert those BTC to USD with ease then the valuation is flawed.
- etherael 13y agoThere are many more exchanges than gox. Bitstamp has a consistent 3 day turnaround.
- pathy 13y agoFair enough, but mtgox is the most famous one, so I naturally picked up news about it. That makes it somewhat better at least. 3 days is still a very long time compared to the 'real' currency exchanges.
- Nicholas_C 13y agoIt takes 2 days to get USD in and out of my trading account. I'm not sure how long 'real' currency exchanges take, but I bet it isn't immediate.
- clienthunter 13y agoMicroseconds. It's called FOREX.
- im3w1l 13y agoYou are comparing apples with oranges.
- Nicholas_C 13y agoTaking dollars out of an account != exiting a trade. It takes one to two days to get USD out of an OANDA account (source:http://fxtrade.oanda.com/help/how-to-withdraw-funds http://fxtrade.oanda.com/help/how-to-withdraw-funds). So 3 days isn't terrible.
- clienthunter 13y agoYou're right I totally misunderstood, my bad.
- etherael 13y agoBy three days, I mean, I initiate a transfer from bitstamp, and I get it into my thai bank account within three business days. The transfer is always verified and initiated on the other end on the same day I make it.