Bitcoin

[Captain DJ]

Just wondering if anyone here has used Bitcoin and what your thoughts on it are?

If you never heard of Bitcoin then:
http://bitcoin.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin

[watson387]

If this takes off it could be great. The main problem I see with it so far is the limited amount of places that accept Bitcoins as payment.

[John C]

I tried to use it, once, but didn't get far in the "mining" process.  And I never bought any, because it seems to defeat the purpose of using an independent currency to just throw dollars (or whatever) at a banker.

From what I can tell, it's a nice idea and I really like it in theory, but it's...a little naive.  From the economics standpoint, there's a maximum number of "coins," which means the system will deflate, faster if it catches on.  Either way, though, deflation historically ends very, very badly for the people using the currency.  Prices stay high so the vendor can pay bills, but the value of the currency rises, making transactions more difficult.

I haven't heard of a problem with it, though, other than the lack of acceptance Watson mentions.  And the places that do accept it are often...a bit suspect.  So there's a bit of guilt by association involved.

[watson387]

I've read through a lot of this stuff and still don't understand how mining works or how to set it up.

[Whale]

I use bitcoins :-) Have around 3000 euros in bitcoins and I'm also active (not much though) on 2 exchanges, buying and selling with some profit. I started to used it around a year ago. I see it as a kind of investment, savings for the future. It might be risky, so I don't put all my savings in it. But in the future bitcoins may serve as a value holder, just like gold, rather than a widely used currency, because of the non-inflation. But who knows what the future brings. If Hayek was still around, this would be his dream currency :-)
The bitcoin inflation these days is still very high, it will change at the end of the year and continue to slow down until around 2030 when almost all bitcoins will be mined.
Regarding mining, I never tried to mine bitcoins myself, it is too complicated and these days almost impossible without a very expensive hardware. Profitability of mining is also very low these days.

[watson387]

I use bitcoins :-) Have around 3000 euros in bitcoins and I'm also active (not much though) on 2 exchanges, buying and selling with some profit. I started to used it around a year ago. I see it as a kind of investment, savings for the future. It might be risky, so I don't put all my savings in it. But in the future bitcoins may serve as a value holder, just like gold, rather than a widely used currency, because of the non-inflation. But who knows what the future brings. If Hayek was still around, this would be his dream currency :-)
The bitcoin inflation these days is still very high, it will change at the end of the year and continue to slow down until around 2030 when almost all bitcoins will be mined.
Regarding mining, I never tried to mine bitcoins myself, it is too complicated and these days almost impossible without a very expensive hardware. Profitability of mining is also very low these days.

Thanks for the info!

Also, love the Craphound avatar!