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The main use of gold is as a store of value and much of the value of gold comes from the work related to producing it.
Originally posted by ChaoticOrder
reply to post by LilDudeissocool
Yeah but what you seem to forget is that GogoVicMorrow would tell you it's better to store your wealth in precious metals rather than Government fiat money. In fact your beliefs are completely at odds with both of our beliefs. We still agree on the fact that fiat money which can be printed out of thin air at virtually no cost are completely useless. What I'm trying to explain to GVM is why bitcoin fixes many of the problems we see in inflationary government currencies.
Bingo! I wouldn't accept them because my local gas-station, grocery store etc wont and neither will my bank. It's why I also don't own any precious metals.
Neither of us agree with the type of monopolistic fiat system you are promoting. But your reasoning is above is still flawed, I have already provided a link to a map of real world shops around the world which accept bitcoin. Sure there aren't more than a few dozen at the moment, but PayPal was only accepted on a few dozen websites when it fist popped onto the scene. Furthermore, bitcoin is first and foremost an internet currency designed for online transactions. There are already hundreds, if not a few thousand websites which accept bitcoin.
Originally posted by LilDudeissocool
reply to post by ChaoticOrder
The main use of gold is as a store of value and much of the value of gold comes from the work related to producing it.
No, it most comes from irrational hording of that particular metal.
If tomorrow a few million extra people suddenly tried to buy gold that extra demand would push the price up. When dealing with a finite resource it's really demand which dictates the value... and that's the same for bitcoin.
A. The USD is not a government currency. The Federal Reserve System is comprised of private banks with a 1/5 honorary membership in it held by the USG, but not it's Treasury. That means it's a private currency.
B. It's not a fiat currency as it's oil producers on the world's open market that has agreed to accept payments for their product in USDs.
Bitcoin, gold it's all leads to dead ends. Their thugs will just turn your ilk upside down at the end of those corridors to nowhere as they do on the street with my ilk who at least understand completely how these monopolistic gangsters are able to do so with such ease.
Gold has a multitude of uses as does silver. Far more uses than bitcoin.
Yes it probably is riskier because it relies on a great deal of different technology, and gold wont simply self-destruct like bitcoin could in a worste case scenario.
Yes but bitcoin is neither regulated by the government or by a private entity, it is regulated by mathematical rules which are enforced by every person participating in the network. It's a currency for the people, regulated by the people. As I was saying... the problems with typical fiat currency have been removed from bitcoin. As I also mentioned, creating new bitcoins it is not an easy or cheap process like printing some pretty notes. It's hard to increase the money supply of gold backed currency because each new unit of currency must have real world backing. Thus, as long as it's hard to increase the money supply it doesn't matter if each new unit doesn't have a guaranteed backing. Also keep in mind that new bitcoins wont continue to be created forever, they will only be created until the money supply has reached the determined amount of 21 million and they will always be created at a completely predictable rate until that time.
Currency with no use outside of being currency and value derived solely from regulation (aka fiat currency) is never a good thing. It's not a good thing when it's a government body regulating, but private regulation (the fed) is terrible.
If you don't want to trust it then fine, there's nothing wrong with that. I need to clearly stress the fact I am not telling you how to store your wealth or use your wealth. No one is trying to force you to do anything. I am simply trying to give a factual explanation of bitcoin so that people can decide for themselves. The network is extremely robust and secure, but like any technology it is prone to failure, no technology is absolutely perfect. I'm not claiming the bitcoin network is 100% safe... but it is certainly safer than any bank you know of. The only reason it has lasted so long is because it was designed so securely, the actual chance of it being compromised is slim to none as far as I can determine. If you want near 100% safety then by all means use gold, I have some gold too, but bitcoin is secure enough for me use as well. It's not one or the other for me. Gold may have some advantages over bitcoin, but bitcoin also has many advantages over gold, which is why people like to use it.
That little bit is enough to make it completely clear that storing your wealth in and relying on bitcoin is a terrible idea.