"whatever it is, it's too volatile to be money" http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2013/04/16/bitcoin-whatever-it-is-its-not-money/
Best -F On Apr 18, 2013, at 1:35 PM, [email protected] wrote: > 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 >> > > _________________________________________ -- "'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
