re: My faith in Bitcoin just went out the window

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Or do you think free people should be able to use whatever currency they choose?

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You seem to have a problem with reality. Why would a govt that does everything it can to maintain power not take action whether you or I agree with it?

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didnt you say that the rate of mining in controlled i.e. only 100 coins can be mined an hour or whatever. of those 100 coins, what determines how many i would get versus how many you would get? is it the power of the computing machinery?

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currently 3600 coins are mined per day at a rate of 25 every 10 minutes (1 "block" every 10 minutes)

That number halves every 4 years.

Of the 21 million that will ever be produced, about 10.8 million have been mined.

the power of your mining rig may have an effect on how many blocks you mine, but computer power has absolutely nothing to do with how many bitcoins will be released

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so the computing power determines whether i get 100 coins or 1,000?

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yes and no

because there is an element of luck to mining as well. while a more powerful computer increases the odds of solving a block, it doesn't guarantee it will happen.

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You seem to have a problem with reality. Why would a govt that does everything it can to maintain power not take action whether you or I agree with it?

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fwiw, i wish i could take you guys all the way down the rabbit hole to explain what crypto-anarchy is going to bring about, but it's just too much to discuss here

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what would happen if the US government started mining the majority of bitcoins and just hoarding them?

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the price would skyrocket

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leaving them ultimately useless

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why?

i think it's hard to buy a $40 blender off amazon with a bitcoin worth $800

and your average joe and jane citizen aren't exchanging $500 or so for a bticoin

it'll push it to the fringe

ok, thats not as fatal for you guys

i still think you're gonna have trouble getting it mainstream if the buy-in price is too high

i dont think the consumer confidence is there yet

While I have my doubts as to the usefulness of bitcoins in my everyday life, I do find the subject pretty interesting.

I know you mentioned that the GL is available to everyone, but does that give you access to the current number of users? I assume that you could potentially see the number of wallets, but I think you also mentioned that users can spoof or create multiple wallets so I guess that would be inexact.

Regarding the mining operations, IF (and I'm not saying they are, I'm just wondering if it is possible) one one the founders were inclined to game the system, couldn't they sporadically award their personal wallets with successful mined bitcoins and have it go unnoticed? Ending up with 5% of awarded bitcoins would net them around $40M at the current value.

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you do realize bitcoins are infinitely divisible, right?

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You cannot make these assumptions.

I have read a lot of your posts on this topic Wiki and I will continue to absorb as much as possible on the topic. I find it intriguing and a possible wave of the future. I do not have enough knowledge of the subject right now to give a perspective that I believe to be valid or valuable yet to a broader audience. I am all about challenging the status quo and innovating and bitcoins seems like a possible option.

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People typically prefer bitcoin because it is not inflationary.

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I wrote previously that:

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I see no reason why I should use bitcoins as an alternative medium of exchange

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I wasn't referring to using them as a store of value. That's a useful topic to consider but not the same one. Practically any asset can be used as a store of value though, but I'm not sure why bitcoins would be better as an investment than, say, the Wilshire 5000. The Wilshire doesn't jump around nearly as much, at any rate.

Since I was talking about the "medium of exchange" function of money and not the "store of value" part, the argument that it isn't inflationary is irrelevant to my question.

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it can be stored safely without the need of a bank

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I'll take your word for it. I would venture to guess that you do need to be somewhat technically inclined - after all, most people don't even back up anything to start with. I will state more confidently that I don't know why any American would care unless you want to store stuff you want to hide from the government. If you live in a country with a shaky financial system I think your point is valid. Similar comments apply to some of your other points I'm omitting here.

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it can be transacted with extreme confidence anywhere in the world in approximately 1 hour* (don't traditional ACH's take about 4 days?)

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No, it's generally one business day. Maybe some people care about that, I don't.

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-it is infinitely divisible

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I don't worry about pennies, nor do most people. I see no advantage here.

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-there are no chargebacks in bitcoin

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I've never had this problem but can see where some might care.

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-transaction fees are zero or near zero (typically less than a US penny)

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I get cash back by using my credit card, fwiw.

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Because eventually it will be easier to just use bitcoin. Right now it isn't.

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Fair enough, but it will need to be in order to compete. Right now I don't see the appeal unless you have reason (justified or not) to hide something from the government.