That other Board thing by Bruce

[christianpfc]

The attraction of bitcoin is that it cannot be influenced by any government, whereas for all common currencies, the central bank can just print notes (leading to inflation and loss of worth of your savings). As such, bitcoin has my support.

I came up with this simplified history of money (correct me if you know better):

For thousands of years, a coin was worth the amount of metal (usually gold, silver, copper) is was made of.

Then governments started printing money with the promise to exchange it for a certain amount of gold any time.

The convertibility of USD to gold (1 ounce of gold = 35 USD) was abandoned in 1971, from then on, banknotes were just printed paper.

And with the next step, either bitcoin or abolishment of cash (plans by many European government to control money flow), you have nothing, not even a piece of printed paper. (Technically, you have some electrons in memory chip.)

[goji]

Christian has summarised the currency situation rather well.
Although I am sceptical about Bitcoin.
Of course, the governments that abolished the link of currencies to gold have run up loads of debt in the last 40 years or so.
Abolishing cash to allows the imposition of negative interest rates, stoking up some inflation & devaluing their own debts may well be on government agendas.
For anyone who expects to be around for a decade or much more, figuring all this out is time well spent.
The way to deal with another forum you don't like is to ignore it. Move on. Be constructuve.

[christianpfc]

Addendum to my above post: while the replacement of gold coins by paper notes with the promise to exchange them for gold has some benefit (less weight, loss of paper due to wear and tear can easily be replaced unlike gold - which is a soft metal and has to be alloyed to allow use in coins - but you have to trust your central bank and your government to keep the promise!), everything after that is just to control, monitor and manipulate every citizen and to devalue their savings.

Just look at where the gold price is now, from 1 ounce of gold = 35 USD in 1971!

[fountainhall]

Just look at where the gold price is now, from 1 ounce of gold = 35 USD in 1971!

I'm not sure that is a valid argument. Adjusted for inflation, the gold price in 1971 was around US$230. The world then went through two massive oil price hikes which resulted in gold spiralling upwards. By January 1980 it had reached approx. $2,080 (also inflation adjusted) only for it then to go into a 20-year slump ending in 2001 at $353 in 2001. Then it started on another multi-year rise to $1,840 at the start of 2012. It is now hovering around $1,100 - $1,200.

So, as with all investments gold being a better investment depends on when you buy and when you sell. If you can hold it for many years, you should be better off than with currency. But even with all the uncertainty in the world today, gold is not performing as the pundits expected. Gold is still a risky investment.

[francois]

Just look at where the gold price is now, from 1 ounce of gold = 35 USD in 1971!

Well, not quite accurate. Yes, the US government set the price at $35 but gold not readily available except for jewelry and old (numismatic) gold coins which sold for much more than $35. About mid 70s the price of gold was de-regulated and could be bought for about $200/oz.
Actually bought gold coins at that time at $190/oz and thought I made a killing by selling at $230!! A few years later it hit about $800 .

Truth is you can't even sell a 1 oz gold coin for $25! Check out this video.

[lonelywombat]

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/...02-goke5e.html
Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright on Monday told the BBC he was the creator of controversial digital currency Bitcoin, ending years of speculation about a person who until now has gone by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto.The BBC said Wright gave technical proof supporting his claim to using Bitcoins known to be owned by Bitcoin's creator. It said prominent members of the Bitcoin community had also confirmed Wright's claim and said Wright repeated the claim to The Economist and GQ.
"I was the main part of it, but other people helped me," the BBC quoted Wright as saying.

The scene outside Craig Steven Wright's Sydney home in December 2015 after a police raid. Photo: John McDuling

The Economist however said it was not entirely convinced.
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"Our conclusion is that Mr Wright could well be Mr Nakamoto, but that important questions remain," it said. "Indeed, it may never be possible to establish beyond reasonable doubt who really created bitcoin."
Despite its use initially being restricted to tech insiders, Bitcoin has steadily gained popularity, with mainstream banks and the Australian Stock Exchange considering adopting its "blockchain" public ledger model for managing transactions.
Wright directs at least two companies, Hotwire and Panopticrypt, and was previously a shareholder and director in various others.
He was listed as chief executive on the website of a Bitcoin-related company, DeMorgan, which described him as a digital forensic expert and trainer with the Australian Federal Police who "leads DeMorgan through inventing new technologies".
The Sydney businessman, who lives in Gordon on Sydney's upper north shore, last year became the latest in a line of men alleged to be the creator of Bitcoin, a currency that has attracted the interest of banks, speculators, criminals and regulators.
Wired magazine, which along with fellow US publication Gizmodo published a story outing Wright based on a stash of leaked documents and emails, called him a genius.
The cases showed leaked emails, documents and web archives of blog posts authored by Wright which referenced Bitcoin and Nakamoto, including before the e-currency was launched. A liquidation report revealed Wright's company, Hotwire, was backed by $30 million in capital, "injected via bitcoins".
In December, Wright's Sydney home and office were raided by the Australian Federal Police after the media reports linking him to Nakamoto were published.
Police at the time referred all inquiries about the raids to the Australian Tax Office, which said it could not comment on "any individual's or entity's tax affairs" due to legal confidentiality.
The treatment of bitcoins for tax purposes in Australia has been the subject of considerable debate. The ATO ruled in December 2014 that cryptocurrency should be considered an asset, rather than a currency, for capital gains tax purposes.
Unlike traditional currency, bitcoins are not distributed by a central bank or backed by physical assets like gold, but are "mined" by users who use computers to calculate increasingly complex algorithmic formulas.
Bitcoin experts say that unmasking Satoshi Nakamoto would be significant for the industry. Not only would the proven founder likely hold some sway over the future of the bitcoin protocol, but Nakamoto may also hold enough bitcoin to influence its price.
As an early miner of bitcoins, Nakamoto is sitting on about 1 million bitcoins, worth more than $400 million at present exchange rates, according to bitcoin expert Sergio Demian Lerner.
Reuters and smh.com.au




Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/...#ixzz47VFeT5J0
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[lego]

Wait a sec, Satoshi Nakamoto isn't Bruce?