It's funny, we were joking a while ago about what constitutes "money."
Bitcoins are not money any more than wampum is. This does not mean that they do not have a value, but the value is quite subjective. Money, on the other hand, is historically a token for something of fixed value, like gold or silver. Granted this distinction has been somewhat blurred. The main thing about "money," is that it is typically managed by a state with a standing army. Obviously not part of the official definition, to be sure, but certainly a "value add" component that bitcoins lack. > I am not sure either way. It could be that Bitcoin takes its place as a > real currency (in some ways, it already is for the Internet black market). > It may fizzle as a fad. It may be deemed illegal and driven underground. > it will crash again (it is a currency, so it will - trivially true > statement) - will it always recover, like a real world currency?. Who > knows - I had no time to think about this. > > The BitCoin paper is here, that should explain how the scheme works: > > http://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf > > Best -F > > PS: Satoshi Nakamoto is somebody's secret identity. Most likely a team of > Quants in London or NYC, but even that is uncertain. > > > > On Apr 17, 2013, at 1:36 PM, Kurt Keville <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Well, if it walks and talks like a pump & dump scheme ... >> >> There are no math answers to give (as there are in, say, the GIMPS >> project)... this is just gratuitous CPU burdening for it's own sake. I >> have been to a couple of the Bitcoin Club meetings at MIT and I still >> don't get it... seems to me to be a currency musical chairs; you don't >> want to be holding this currency when the bottom drops out again... >> there is another one this Friday if you are interested... I still go >> even though I still haven't figured out what the hubbub is all about. >> >> At 10:33 AM 4/17/2013, Greg London wrote: >> >>> >> Bitcoin has been all over the news this past week. >>> >>> I don't understand. It sounds like someone set up a >>> company to trade in virtual money, and all I have to >>> do to mint my own money is do some math? >>> >>> I do some math, show them the answer, and they... do what? >>> They give me money? They act as a trader and take a >>> commission off on anyone trading money? >>> >>> Can someone explain how this works at the transaction level? >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Hardwarehacking mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/hardwarehacking > > _________________________________________ > -- "'Problem' is a bleak word for challenge" - Richard Fish > (Federico L. Lucifredi) - flucifredi at acm.org - GnuPG 0x4A73884C > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Hardwarehacking mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/hardwarehacking > _______________________________________________ Hardwarehacking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/hardwarehacking
