Anyone tell what is Bitcoin?

@venda said
Presumably,whoever it is that runs the computers which use so much energy are paying enormous electricity bills for the privilege,which will generate profit for the company that provides it and thus revenue in taxes for the government.
I still maintain that if the government is committed to saving energy cryptocurrencies should be suspended.They won't be of course.The only thi ...[text shortened]... gnore cryptocurrencies.If nobody buys them they will go out of business.Another forlorn hope I fear.

Printing fiat money and transporting money probably uses more energy than bitcoin mining. I once saw an armored truck at Walwart. Transporting cash burns fuel, so I don't see that as much of a big deal as people are making it out to be.

My biggest concern is that there will come a day when no more bitcoin will be created to motivate mining. That means bitcoin will be increasingly centralized, they very thing bitcoin enthusiasts say they don't like. For that reason I question the long term stability of bitcoin, but there are other cryptocurrencies that may be better.

The problem is that only bitcoin is worth buying right now. Almost all of the cryptocurrencies in the top ten (aside from bitcoin) suck badly. So for now bitcoin is on top and will stay there until people question the ability for consensus to be reached to create incentive for mining. If transaction fees become too high bitcoin may fall out of favor for another cryptocurrency.

@metal-brain said
Printing fiat money and transporting money probably uses more energy than bitcoin mining. I once saw an armored truck at Walwart. Transporting cash burns fuel, so I don't see that as much of a big deal as people are making it out to be.

My biggest concern is that there will come a day when no more bitcoin will be created to motivate mining. That means bitcoin will be i ...[text shortened]... ining. If transaction fees become too high bitcoin may fall out of favor for another cryptocurrency.

I disagree.Transactions with real money however they are performed are necessary for the world economy.
Cryptocurrencies aren't.

@venda said
I disagree.Transactions with real money however they are performed are necessary for the world economy.
Cryptocurrencies aren't.

Most money is not printed. What little money that is printed takes energy to print and transport. Fiat money could be replaced with a digital currency. In fact, that is what government is trying to do. That is why there are so many restrictions on cryptocurrencies. Some countries outlaw them outright.

Cryptocurrencies are a threat to central banks. That is why they are pumping and dumping them to scare people out of them.

@metal-brain said
Most money is not printed. What little money that is printed takes energy to print and transport. Fiat money could be replaced with a digital currency. In fact, that is what government is trying to do. That is why there are so many restrictions on cryptocurrencies. Some countries outlaw them outright.

Cryptocurrencies are a threat to central banks. That is why they are pumping and dumping them to scare people out of them.

Nothing to do with government or central banks.
Cryptocurrency has been hijacked. Google Molly White if you really want to know.

@kewpie said
Nothing to do with government or central banks.
Cryptocurrency has been hijacked. Google Molly White if you really want to know.

Oh, come on.

Cryptocurrency was a libertarian wet dream, and true enough, has proved nothing but a w**kstain.

No secret agency or conspiracy killed cryptocurrencies - they're doing it to themselves, because it's in the very, libertarian, nature of cryptobros to betray one another.

@metal-brain said
Most money is not printed. What little money that is printed takes energy to print and transport. Fiat money could be replaced with a digital currency. In fact, that is what government is trying to do. That is why there are so many restrictions on cryptocurrencies. Some countries outlaw them outright.

Cryptocurrencies are a threat to central banks. That is why they are pumping and dumping them to scare people out of them.

I know a lot of transactions are performed electronically but I don't think you can do away with printed money.There are still people in the world,even in the U.K who rely on it totally.
Also there are people who will only deliberately only use cash saying that if you use credit/debit cards companies will know your spending habits and bombard you with advertising.
I have digressed here but I still think cryptocurrencies should be outlawed if only for the amount of energy they waste

@kewpie said
Nothing to do with government or central banks.
Cryptocurrency has been hijacked. Google Molly White if you really want to know.

El Salvador accepts bitcoin.
Putin said Russia might accept bitcoin for transactions.
I doubt Russia would even consider that if some unknown critic was right.

You need to make a better case than giving me a name I have never heard of. You also are saying all cryptocurrency has been hijacked. That is impossible. Do you have any idea how many there are?

@venda said
I know a lot of transactions are performed electronically but I don't think you can do away with printed money.There are still people in the world,even in the U.K who rely on it totally.
Also there are people who will only deliberately only use cash saying that if you use credit/debit cards companies will know your spending habits and bombard you with advertising.
I have digr ...[text shortened]... re but I still think cryptocurrencies should be outlawed if only for the amount of energy they waste

I have never supported doing away with printed money. I am very much against that, but it is not only possible, there are people pushing the idea.

China already outlawed cryptocurrencies, but it is hard to enforce. The US government imposed a tax on transactions that result in profit, but outlawing them would just make people turn to privacy coins. You are also making the mistake of thinking they all use the energy bitcoin does. Not all cryptocurrencies are decentralized to the extent bitcoin is either. Look up "stable coin".

Your opinion is an uninformed opinion.
You should have done more research.

@shallow-blue said
Oh, come on.

Cryptocurrency was a libertarian wet dream, and true enough, has proved nothing but a w**kstain.

No secret agency or conspiracy killed cryptocurrencies - they're doing it to themselves, because it's in the very, libertarian, nature of cryptobros to betray one another.

The super wealthy parasitic elites are pumping and dumping bitcoin to manipulate people into selling that are not long term investors. You don't think bitcoin going down when inflation is peaking is a coincidence, do you?

The biggest flaw in cryptocurrencies is the fact wealthy people can pump one up causing many to follow and then dump it to scare people out after they profit the most from them. Just take Musk and Dogecoin for example. Dogecoin was created as a joke, but look at how he pumped and dumped it and made money anyway.

@metal-brain said
The biggest flaw in cryptocurrencies is the fact wealthy people can pump one up causing many to follow and then dump it to scare people out after they profit the most from them.

In other words, libertarian techbros turning on one another and ruining the fools who trusted them as a side effect. It was inevitable from the start.

@shallow-blue said
In other words, libertarian techbros turning on one another and ruining the fools who trusted them as a side effect. It was inevitable from the start.

No, rich people taking advantage of their wealth.
They have so much money they can move markets in a big way.

@metal-brain said
No, rich people taking advantage of their wealth.

Same difference. It's astounding you cannot see that.

@shallow-blue said
Same difference. It's astounding you cannot see that.

No. What you wrote didn't make much sense to anyone but you.
It is astounding you think people know what you are talking about when you post such vague nonsense.

There is still reason to buy bitcoin though. You can still buy low and ride it higher when they pump it up. They have to buy it before they can crash it.

@metal-brain said
No. What you wrote didn't make much sense to anyone but you.
It is astounding you think people know what you are talking about when you post such vague nonsense.

There is still reason to buy bitcoin though. You can still buy low and ride it higher when they pump it up. They have to buy it before they can crash it.

A simple question:-
If you make a fortune in a virtual currency what exactly are you going to do with it?

@venda said
A simple question:-
If you make a fortune in a virtual currency what exactly are you going to do with it?

If it is bitcoin you can spend it where it is accepted. Other cryptocurrencies are not accepted as much as bitcoin is. You would have to exchange it for dollars or whatever currency you want for it. I have never done that myself so I cannot say that it is worth it. Besides, the IRS wants their cut or you might end up like John MacAfee.

There are privacy coins like Z Cash and Dash, but they are not popular enough yet to be worth bothering with in my opinion. Bitcoin is the king right now, but I would expect certain privacy coins to become more popular over the long term. I am actually surprised they have not done better, but everything is eclipsed by bitcoin right now.