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There are numerous examples in history (and today!) of governments wiping out their citizens' savings through hyperinflation, restricting their access to foreig

by aianus 12y ago

There are numerous examples in history (and today!) of governments wiping out their citizens' savings through hyperinflation, restricting their access to foreign currencies, etc. This is not just an ideological libertarian conspiracy theory. It is a virtue of Bitcoin that it helps subvert the power of those corrupt governments over the economy in much the same way TOR and proxies help to subvert their power over free speech.

bduerst 12y ago
Equivocation fallacy. By that logic every other available currency in the world is saving us from the corrupted governments. Hell, the "virtue" of cowry shells can save me from hyperinflation and help protect my free speech! Except people stopped using cowry shells as a currency, just as people stopped using Bitcoins as a currency. Now people hoard/trade them like digital beanie babies. If liquidity and insurance problems ever get solved, then we might see mass adoption.
- aianus 12y ago
  When $1 million in cowry shells become as simple to smuggle in and out of Argentina as a signed Bitcoin transaction, you'll have a point.
  - bduerst 12y ago
    So only "True" currencies are $1m signed bitcoin transactions now? That level of No-True-Scotsman shows confirmation bias. How much have you put into bitcoins?
XorNot 12y ago
What is Bitcoin but a collectivist agreement that something has value? Those bits aren't reimbursable. You can't get that electricity back for them once it's spent - unlike gold, which holds some real world value by virtue of being the element it is. Bitcoin advocates rage about fiat, while trading the ultimate fiat currency since it doesn't take too many people deciding they don't want Bitcoin (say: landlords, farmers/wholesalers) before the currency is useless.
- vertex-four 12y ago
  Actually, fiat money means something else. According to Wikipedia: "Fiat money is currency which derives its value from government regulation or law".[0] It doesn't mean "currency which derives its value from a collectivist agreement". [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_money http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_money

by aianus 12y ago

bduerst 12y ago

Equivocation fallacy. By that logic every other available currency in the world is saving us from the corrupted governments. Hell, the "virtue" of cowry shells can save me from hyperinflation and help protect my free speech! Except people stopped using cowry shells as a currency, just as people stopped using Bitcoins as a currency. Now people hoard/trade them like digital beanie babies. If liquidity and insurance problems ever get solved, then we might see mass adoption.

aianus 12y ago
When $1 million in cowry shells become as simple to smuggle in and out of Argentina as a signed Bitcoin transaction, you'll have a point.
- bduerst 12y ago
  So only "True" currencies are $1m signed bitcoin transactions now? That level of No-True-Scotsman shows confirmation bias. How much have you put into bitcoins?

XorNot 12y ago

What is Bitcoin but a collectivist agreement that something has value? Those bits aren't reimbursable. You can't get that electricity back for them once it's spent - unlike gold, which holds some real world value by virtue of being the element it is. Bitcoin advocates rage about fiat, while trading the ultimate fiat currency since it doesn't take too many people deciding they don't want Bitcoin (say: landlords, farmers/wholesalers) before the currency is useless.

vertex-four 12y ago
Actually, fiat money means something else. According to Wikipedia: "Fiat money is currency which derives its value from government regulation or law".[0] It doesn't mean "currency which derives its value from a collectivist agreement". [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_money http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_money