What is Bitcoin? This might help

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A scam that is going to hurt a lot of gullible people when it collapses.

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wiki just got a stiffy

oops.....wait

Bitcoin, MOTHER frickER.

What do you think is shady about it?

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What do you think is shady about it?

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I don't think there is necessarily anything shady about it - I just don't see the point. As a store of value, a basket of goods is at least as good than any currency, and one can diversify away problems related to central bank actions for those worried about that. As a transactional unit, established major currencies have greater acceptance.

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I don't think there is necessarily anything shady about it

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I'm glad to see that you take a rational approach to it. You seem to understand it enough to recognize that.

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I just don't see the point. As a store of value, a basket of goods is at least as good than any currency, and one can diversify away problems related to central bank actions for those worried about that.

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And I can't really argue against that except to say that it will be based on individual preferences. You may prefer a basket of goods. Others may prefer a cryptographic token. Maybe you're both right.

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As a transactional unit, established major currencies have greater acceptance.

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No doubt that other currencies have greater acceptance, however, bitcoin has many advantages to traditional currencies when it comes to transactions. And as acceptance grows, they will become more visible.

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I'm not trying to convince anyone that it's a solid investment. In fact, on multiple occasions on this site I have recommended against people getting into bitcoin.

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You have recommended that people not get into Bitcoin, because you have a conscious (I hope). But you do pump this concept, which is trying to convince others that it's a solid investment. But it doesn't bother me.

I'm curious as to why you didn't address Russian's concerns, he flat out called it a scam, you gonna let that go brah?

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I don't reply to LSURussian any more as a matter of policy, no matter the topic.

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If it's because he's Russian, I completely understand, can't trust those sneaky bastards.



So if I pose the same accusations, can I get your thoughts on this?

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Sure

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The Following concerns/accusations have been plagiarized, not copied:


1) It's touted as "the new best thing" for making money. "This time it's different!"

2) Its creator is a virtual unknown with almost no reputation or credibility in finance and with an almost single-handed ability to get his money out before the system collapses, although none of his followers will agree with this fact.

3) It relies up a very complicated, almost incomprehensible technology process which most people, even sophisticated financial specialists, don't understand. This complicated process is touted as a strength of the investment rather than as an obvious weakness and acts as a way to cover up the opaqueness of the scheme.

4) Anyone who questions bitcoins is ridiculed as being backwards, unintelligent, old fashioned or lacking understanding of technology. Even many users of bitcoins admit they don't fully understand how it works. (Allen Stanford of Stanford Financial continues to this day to claim his financial empire collapsed only because regulators were too stupid to understand his new, brilliant investment technology and processes.)

5) The entire idea relies upon a "trust me" mentality where gullible people have to rely upon a very few persons who claim to understand the process.

6) The investment attracts gullible and somewhat paranoid people who are looking for a way to "beat the system" and who are easily impressed by complicated processes which they don't understand. (Example: Bernie Madoff's/ ZeekRewards victims.)

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1) It's touted as "the new best thing" for making money. "This time it's different!"

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I disagree that it's touted that way as a means of making money. Do people speculate on it? Sure. But the purpose of bitcoin is not to make money. It's to serve as a currency and as a transaction network. These are two separate but very important aspects of it. If you don't like the idea of viewing it as a currency and prefer to just concentrate on it's use as a transaction network, then the actual exchange value is of little import in the grand scheme of things.

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2) Its creator is a virtual unknown with almost no reputation or credibility in finance and with an almost single-handed ability to get his money out before the system collapses, although none of his followers will agree with this fact.

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Its "creator" is most likely a pseudonym for a group of individuals/developers that have chosen to remain anonymous. Whether or not they are going to "get their money out before the system collapses" is probably of little concern, and actually depends on whether or not you believe it will collapse. Many early adopters have already been made very wealthy by the technology. Despite this, demand still grows for it.

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3) It relies up a very complicated, almost incomprehensible technology process which most people, even sophisticated financial specialists, don't understand. This complicated process is touted as a strength of the investment rather than as an obvious weakness and acts as a way to cover up the opaqueness of the scheme.

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The technology is well established and used by governments and banks the world over.

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4) Anyone who questions bitcoins is ridiculed as being backwards, unintelligent, old fashioned or lacking understanding of technology.

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I'd imagine that individuals are capable of their own judgments. I'm sure many bitcoin users ridicule some people. Still, other bitcoin users are very helpful and accommodating. There are many blogs and forums where users constantly reply to the same old questions and concerns in a polite manner, despite having been asked them a thousand times before.

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Even many users of bitcoins admit they don't fully understand how it works.

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Most users of the US dollar don't understand how the system works either.

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5) The entire idea relies upon a "trust me" mentality where gullible people have to rely upon a very few persons who claim to understand the process.

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The code behind bitcoin is 100% open source and available for anyone around the world to analyze. If you don't have the skill set or ability to understand the code or the cryptographic technology and that frightens you, then maybe you shouldn't get into bitcoin.

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6) The investment attracts gullible and somewhat paranoid people who are looking for a way to "beat the system" and who are easily impressed by complicated processes which they don't understand. (Example: Bernie Madoff's/ ZeekRewards victims.)

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People use bitcoins for many reasons. Sure, some use it as a store of value and a hedge against inflation. Some speculate on it's deflationary nature. Some purchase legitimate products and services. Some purchase shady products and services. There are many motivations for using bitcoin.








FWIW, bitcoin is only the first cryptocurrency in wide use. However, the concept behind bitcoin is quite old. People have been predicting the advent of cryptocurrencies for decades now. Bitcoin may or may not fail. Ragardless of that, the cryptocurrency cat is out of the bag, and whether or not it's bitcoin, there will be a cryptocurrency in wide use on the internet.