Cryptocurrency

[Old Koreelah]

Bitcoin is a brilliantly-conceived antidote to many of the problems of modern currencies, whose value has been debased by money-printing as central banks try to stimulate the economy. The US dollar has lost 96% of its value in the last century. US Dollar Devaluation Since 1913 (Updated 2020)

 

Meanwhile, Bitcoin is the opposite. It's code limits numbers to 21 million, roughly half of which have already been "mined".

As a result, the value of a single Bitcoin has increased, and is predicted to peak at about a million dollars. To make it more manageable, each Bitcoin is divided into 100 million Satoshis.

Where it all started: Satoshi Nakamoto - Wikipedia

 

So, scarcity increases its value, like gold, but it's more flexible. A couple of businesses that sell and exchange Bitcoin:

https://support.coinjar.com/hc/en-us/articles/202185249-Sending-digital-currency-payments-from-your-CoinJar

https://news.bitcoin.com/how-to-use-cryptocurrency-to-send-money-abroad/

 

Unfortunately, the great security offered by Bitcoin's Blockchain also slows down transactions. Improvements are being made, but other crypto coins are better suited to fast trading.

Edited June 4, 2020 by Guest

[old man emu]

Aren't we using crypto-currency already? Isn't that what we use when we tap'n'go? I've never seen a coin or banknote change hands in that sort of transaction.

[willedoo]

There's a few countries starting to warm to cryptocurrencies. Not the U.S. though; they'd like to see it banned. Going into the future, it will probably be the biggest threat to the petrodollar. Some of the BRICS countries have talked about gradually introducing a gold backed cryptocurrency method of trading between their nations. Their goal is to be less vulnerable to U.S. financial bullying in the way of sanctions, but at present, it's a juggling act as they also hold a lot of U.S. debt. So they want the petrodollar to eventually crash, but not till they're free of it's tentacles.

[Old Koreelah]

Bitcoin has been used extensively in countries with unstable currencies, like Argentina and Venezuela.

Perhaps because of its slow transaction times, Bitcoin isn't well suited to regular trading, but it is becoming a favoured store of value in uncertain times, just like gold. Investors have sat on billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin for years.

Meanwhile, other types of crypto coins are in circulation and some of them seem better-suited to fast transactions.

Edited June 4, 2020 by Guest

[onetrack]

I'd be very wary of investing my hard-earned dollars in any "cloud" financial system that is basically unregulated. Hasn't Bitcoin gained and lost vast amounts of value in recent years? That alone would make me very wary.

 

After all, it has no sovereign authority behind it, no backing of any value, no controls of any kind, it must be able to be manipulated by scammers and crooks.

 

It reminds me of Marco Polo when he first found mulberry-bark money being used in China in the 1300's. He was amazed at the system the Chinese had invented.

But as with all good ideas, the Mulberry bark notes, which were initially interchangeable with coins, were soon being printed with no coin (or silver or gold) backing.

 

The end result was entirely predictable - crooks forging notes, devaluation, no solid financial value backing - and a discredited and useless currency.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-40879028

Edited June 4, 2020 by Guest

[willedoo]

But as with all good ideas, the Mulberry bark notes, which were initially interchangeable with coins, were soon being printed with no coin (or silver or gold) backing.

 

The end result was entirely predictable - crooks forging notes, devaluation, no solid financial value backing - and a discredited and useless currency.

 

The petrodollar is no longer backed by gold. The day might come (not in my lifetime) when it fits the above description.

[Old Koreelah]

I'd be very wary of investing my hard-earned dollars in any "cloud" financial system that is basically unregulated. Hasn't Bitcoin gained and lost vast amounts of value in recent years? That alone would make me very wary.

 

After all, it has no sovereign authority behind it, no backing of any value, no controls of any kind, it must be able to be manipulated by scammers and crooks...

That's one of the advantages of Bitcoin: it cannot be corrupted by governments and financiers, as have fiat currencies. This fact, and fears for the future of the US dollar, have led to large institutional investors putting billions into Bitcoin, where it is safer.

 

The other advantages of Blockchain technology, on which cryptos are built, have spawned a vast new range of industries. Traditional banks and the entire financial industry are right to be scared, because they are losing their cosy hold on power.