The FBI is already one of the largest owners of bitcoins.
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Silk Road 2.0 Hacked, All Funds Stolen
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The FBI is already one of the largest owners of bitcoins.
Yep. Plus the withdrawal limit (IIRC there is a limit how much you can withdraw depending on who you can sell through) probably won't apply to them either. The FBI probably just threaten to investigate them and close their shop if they don't comply with sell orders.
InternationalHat
[H]ard|Gawd
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This is a truism with no historical basis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_United_States
Some of the early panics nearly wiped out entire industries and cities.
Furthermore, the Federal Reserve's job is partially to stop problems that cropped up much later related to advanced economies that were not present in pre-1900's America.
The world is constantly changing, treating it like it's always the 1700's is not the way forward.
PrkChpXprss
Gawd
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This is fiat currency of the worst kind. People have made a lot of money mining, but don't fool yourself into thinking you can't lose. I would hazard a guess that nearly everyone that is promoting it has some sort of financial stake in it. Those people stand to lose, and possibly lose big, if bitcoin starts to fade in popularity.
I agree. Bernankebucks are propelling the stock market to new highs. That's money.
Inflated money, but still money.
History wtf! who needs history! lol!
Most people don't know or care to know what the world was like before the Fed. It was not peaches and cream that's for sure there were several panics that caused major issues. But don't tell that to the modern Fed haters...
The major issue with the Fed today was that it became an activist (not sure that's the right word) towards the US economy instead of being a passive until needed. This really started with Greenspan and his call to keep interest rates low for much too long in 90s which coupled with the internet created a bubble of epic proportion, then after that imploded decided to do it again which led to credit/housing bubble which was even bigger. And now his followup they are doing it again!
I don't believe we need to get rid of the Fed but I do believe we need to change the dual mandate, get rid of full employment requirement and only have price stability as its primary goal. This would solve a lot of the activism as we see it today.
Monetary policy when wielded as a tool for stimulus is akin to sledgehammer and can have devastating unintended consequences.
Now I will stop talking economics/monetary policy on [h]...
Dreamerbydesign
Supreme [H]ardness
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This.
And honestly if it were anywhere near viable or worthwhile it would be much more popular.
after all the publicity it has had in the last year, it hasnt grown much. Not to mention its a finite crypto, that only carries value when no one cashes in on it.
its just a matter of time.
CanesVenetici
Limp Gawd
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Well you may want to sit down for this, because the government hasn't created money since 1913 or so. It's created by the Federal Reserve, which is in fact not a part of the government. People assume it is because of the name, but it is a privately held central bank.
CanesVenetici
Limp Gawd
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Don't use MtGox, they're shooting themselves in the foot.
Coinbase and bitstamp are both holding in the $660 area.
Inside job, perhaps CIA run operation from the start since bitcoin represents a possible long term danger to the petrodollar... wouldn't surprise me anyway. After all, the last person that threatened the petrodollar had the entire United States military force leading an invasion force and manhunt for him.
LOL!!!
That is exactly what I was thinking. The Feds did it. They can kill 2 birds with one stone.
1. Stop whom ever is making these'illegal' profits from benefiting
2. Undermine a competing monetary system
If the currency becomes usable on a broader market they will have a way to do their operations without seeking normal funding, OR use it currently to trap other crooks.
That is exactly what I was thinking. The Feds did it. They can kill 2 birds with one stone.
1. Stop whom ever is making these'illegal' profits from benefiting
2. Undermine a competing monetary system
If the currency becomes usable on a broader market they will have a way to do their operations without seeking normal funding, OR use it currently to trap other crooks.
Not in the slightest right now, but I think the higher ups have a (justified) fear of losing control in the information age. Once something goes viral, it can become too big to kill, so this could be a preventative measure of cutting it down early like catching a virus before it spreads.
And same thing with Saddam Hussein, by himself he didn't threaten the petrodollar at all, but I think one of the reasons for making such a public example of Iraq was to send a message, because while Iraq alone would have had no effect, it could have created a trend where nation after nation dropped the petrodollar in favor of the Euro or other competing currency. Think of it like fighting fires, you might think why would they bother going out of their way to step on a match, but if they see its near a powder keg or could start a forest fire that could grow out of their control it makes total sense to invest the bit of effort.
Only the federal government and not the states can coin money, what you are talking about doesn't say anything about people making things of value. You are correct about them not wanting different states making their own money to compete, but that doesn't mean that people can't make something of value and accept in as payment for a service. That just stops the states from saying we won't use the US dollar instead we will use our own money. People accept payment in non government currency all the time.
If I sell you a gift card / certificate for my store. That is a form of currency that only works at my location. I set a value for it and that will not work any where else. You can earn points / miles for using a credit card or staying at a hotel that you can then turn into an item or service at some point. All of that is the same principle as a bitcoin. It is not a government backed currency, it is a point system that somebody made and it was decided that this is how you earn / buy points (just like can be done with airline miles) and this is how you can use them. As a business you can accept payment in any way that you want as long as you and the person buying from you both agree upon the terms. If you want to accept plastic coins that you made and gave out you can accept plastic coins. If you want to make a deal with some card company to accept miles or points or something you can do that. Just as you can accept bitcoins as payment.
DeathFromBelow
Supreme [H]ardness
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Seems like every aspect of bitcoin is a failure. Poor security, no protection against inflation (people just make new currencies), and no real economy outside of drugs and speculation.
very much true that there is only a small selection of places to use them. Looking at the banners here on the forum, you can buy from tigerdirect using bitcoin. That said I wouldn't rule out them using it for illegal activities. Think it is dominos that some of their places accept bitcoin for payment.
DeathFromBelow
Supreme [H]ardness
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There won't be any domino effect regardless of who accepts them, the price is too volatile for bitcoins to be used as a medium of exchange. With so many speculators sitting on their coins waiting for the value to go up that's unlikely to change.
I didn't say there will be a domino effect. I said that I think Domino's (the pizza place)
^^^ this place. lets you pay for your order with bitcoins. Which after looking that isn't entirely true. I did see articles, maybe even on here, that you could pay for Domino's pizza with bitcoins. But really it is a 3rd party involved. pizzaforcoins lets you pay them in coins based on whatever the lowest exchange rate for the last 24 hour was for an order placed to pizza hut, papa johns or domino's.
Which they go based on the 24 hour low because as you said the rates aren't very stable. so they don't want to be screwed by taking your payment for one amount and then end up being out all that money if it goes down more.
atp1916
[H]ard|DCoTM x1
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atp1916
[H]ard|DCoTM x1
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The next generation of currency will be purely digital.
weuntouchable
[H]ard|Gawd
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Except by using credit cards, direct deposit, online bill paying, etc. the banks are 6 Billion steps ahead of Bitcoin. For all intents and purposes all major currencies have been digital for quite a while. Oh, and all there security and insurance features also protect the consumer from fraud and loss due to bank failure.
Bitcoin will never be able to catch up to what the banks and credit card companies all ready have in place. Bitcoin is Flooz v. 2.0.
If you mean stuff like our US dollar, the British pound etc will go all digit maybe. For a lot of people now I bet they rarely use cash, or at least not very often. So a lot of transactions are done via direct deposit, debit, credit... forms where the money goes electronically from one place to another. So I could see a day where cash does go away more and more and everything is done via card or bank account number.
if you are saying that any of the coin currencies will replace the entire world currency, I think that might be a little far reaching.
atp1916
[H]ard|DCoTM x1
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My point is that future currencies will be created and defined through in the digitial realm through computer algorithms that have an ending point, thus creating a melding of currency and commodity into one. Bitcoin is the first successful variation of many in this context.
collegeboy69us
Supreme [H]ardness
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either you don't know what inflation is... or you don't know how bitcoin works.
Either way you have proven yourself to lack knowledgeable in the areas being discussed.