Forbes: Bitcoin Prevents Monetary Tyranny

Bitcoin is not about making rapid global transactions with little or no fee. Bitcoin is about preventing monetary tyranny. That is its raison d’être.

Monetary tyranny can take many ugly forms. It can be deliberate inflation, persecutory capital controls, prearranged defaults within the banking cartel, or even worse, blatant sovereign confiscation. Sadly, those threats are a potential in almost any jurisdiction in the world today. The United States does not have a monopoly on monetary repression and monetary tyranny.

Once the State is removed from the monetary sphere and loses the ability to define legal tender, its power becomes relegated to direct legislative and enforcement measures that do not immorally manipulate a currency. Taxes for wars and domestic misadventures will have to be raised the old-fashioned way — that is to say government money cannot be raised by simply debasing the currency.

Bitcoin Prevents Monetary Tyranny

Great article. I would love to see the day when a Government was forced to use a finite currency like Bitcoin, something they couldn't manipulate or debase. It would be amusing to see just how they could ever possibly run a Government and maintain their absurd level of debt, if they had no way of "monetizing" that debt (converting the debt into inflation).

Bitcoin is awesome, and I wish more people used it.

I made a few grand just of trading it, buying low and than sitting on it till it spiked, was pretty cool.

My experience with it sold me on its uses.

reply to post by benrl


Wow nice work bro. I'm actually working on a trading bot.... well I was but got sidetracked with other projects. Hopefully I'll get back around to it soon.

reply to post by ChaoticOrder


Bitcoins undermine the banking system... They should be used more...

Originally posted by purplemer
reply to post by ChaoticOrder

 

Bitcoins undermine the banking system... They should be used more...

Damn straight they should be. Everyone needs to start using them... it's just that a lot of people don't even know about them. I tell nearly everyone I meet about them. And for anyone who wants to learn more about them check out www.bitfreak.info...

If we could really get a huge mass of people using bitcoin we could crush the globalist banking cabal. A little music to match the theme:



We are on our way
Come with us

Bitcoin on Freedom Watch with Judge Napolitano

We started taking BitCoin in our home business, but so far no one has offered to use it. Cash remains king for us so far.

Originally posted by cmdrkeenkid
We started taking BitCoin in our home business, but so far no one has offered to use it. Cash remains king for us so far.

Make sure you have a clear sign which states that bitcoin is accepted there.

Originally posted by benrl
Bitcoin is awesome, and I wish more people used it.

I made a few grand just of trading it, buying low and than sitting on it till it spiked, was pretty cool.

My experience with it sold me on its uses.

Is this not one of the main reasons we had the financial crisis??
I dont think trading for speculative purposes is the idea behind bitcoin.

That said, never used it and doubt I will

Originally posted by IkNOwSTuff

Originally posted by benrl
Bitcoin is awesome, and I wish more people used it.

I made a few grand just of trading it, buying low and than sitting on it till it spiked, was pretty cool.

My experience with it sold me on its uses.

Is this not one of the main reasons we had the financial crisis??
I dont think trading for speculative purposes is the idea behind bitcoin.

That said, never used it and doubt I will

No the main reason was not trading... although I'm sure high frequency trading probably played a small role in the collapse. Really the problem came down to the trading of complex toxic assets. In short the collapse was caused by excessive mortgage defaults within the housing market, the bubble grew too big and eventually burst. Next will be the student loan market or the credit card market. There's nothing really wrong with currency trading or stock trading... but you're right bitcoin was not designed for that.

London Bitcoin Conference 2012: Max Keiser

For the record the bitcoin has traded in a range between $7 and $32 over the last several years. It's value changes much faster than the value of a dollar. It's only use is to avoid the banks when conducting electronic commerce. They claim they eliminate the middleman and save you money. Try telling that to the sucker who bought their bitcoins at $32. Just a matter of time before bitcoins are worth zero and the founder gets to keep all the cash.

reply to post by sligtlyskeptical

For the record the bitcoin has traded in a range between $7 and $32 over the last several years. It's value changes much faster than the value of a dollar

That's because it's an extremely new concept, a first of its kind currency. Of course people are going to be highly speculative in these beginning stages. It will take quite a few years before we really start to reach a solid smooth price level.

They claim they eliminate the middleman and save you money. Try telling that to the sucker who bought their bitcoins at $32.

The price will probably be back close to $30 if you wait a couple of months... but I bought a couple of BTC when they were around $30 each... I took the risk and I was willing to suffer any consequences. In fact I have quite a bit of money invested in bitcoin, I am ahead at the moment, but if bitcoin were to plummet in price suddenly, I would loose quite a bit of money. I have placed my trust in the system, I trust bitcoin enough to put my money into it... but I also realize I could lose my money. The same is true for any fiat currency, they all hinge on trust... if that trust disappeared any fiat money system can implode very quickly. The US dollar could easily implode if they continue to debase it... in fact that is exactly the direction we seem to be headed. I trust bitcoin a lot more than Government money, at least I can see the code behind how bitcoin works, I can see the inner working for myself and I know it's a fair system which can't be exploited.

Just a matter of time before bitcoins are worth zero and the founder gets to keep all the cash.

If the price of BTC was to drop to zero, the founder would most likely end up in a whole heap of debt. He most likely has a lot of his wealth stored in bitcoins, and if they became worthless he would be screwed. The founder has no more power over the system than anyone else... that's the meaning of decentralized. It's controlled by everyone... majority consensus rules the system. If you want to undermine the system first you need to have more computing power than 50% of the entire bitcoin network... which is more power than all the super computers on Earth. That's why bitcoin has not been destroyed or taken down by the Government. They simply can't.

We also need to keep in mind that it's not like bitcoin is totally worthless in the typical fiat sense... for example Federal Reserve notes can be printed very cheaply and easily. Bitcoin is not easy to create and not really cheap to create either it's takes a lot of computing power and a lot of electricity to create them... and if bitcoin was to drop to zero all the energy used to create them would have been burnt up for nothing, and it is A LOT of energy used at this point. People pay "real" money for electricity... it's not like the entire system is just floating on thin air. But it's also not like you could exchange your BTC back into electricity either, so it's not exactly a backing or standard... but it is something.

reply to post by ChaoticOrder


I'm honestly not too worried about accepting Bitcoins. We started taking it because it would be neat to do, no other reason behind it. As far as taking cash, that really is the best way for us to do our business. The places we buy from all take cash, making it very easy for us to purchase inventory or supplies. They don't take Bitcoin, so any conversion could potentially be a big loss for us. That isn't something we can take, since we operate with a pretty slim profit margin as is.

Originally posted by ChaoticOrder
... I know it's a fair system which can't be exploited.

I would hardly say it can't be exploited. The Wikipedia entry on Bitcoin has a slue of thefts and frauds. I'm sure there are tons more that aren't listed or known about.

reply to post by cmdrkeenkid

I would hardly say it can't be exploited. The Wikipedia entry on Bitcoin has a slue of thefts and frauds. I'm sure there are tons more that aren't listed or known about.

That is not exploitation of the bitcoin network or protocol. It's exploitation of stupid people.

Originally posted by ChaoticOrder
We also need to keep in mind that it's not like bitcoin is totally worthless in the typical fiat sense... for example Federal Reserve notes can be printed very cheaply and easily. Bitcoin is not easy to create and not really cheap to create either it's takes a lot of computing power and a lot of electricity to create them... and if bitcoin was to drop to zero all the energy used to create them would have been burnt up for nothing, and it is A LOT of energy used at this point. People pay "real" money for electricity... it's not like the entire system is just floating on thin air. But it's also not like you could exchange your BTC back into electricity either, so it's not exactly a backing or standard... but it is something.

edit on 6/10/2012 by ChaoticOrder because: (no reason given)

The reality is though that bitcoin is not backed by anything.

When frequent flyer points can be swapped for bitcoin you could then say it can have a measurable value in the market.

Currently I can not go to the supermarket and pay for food with bitcoin. When I can it will have a measurable value in the market.

reply to post by magma

The reality is though that bitcoin is not backed by anything.

Did you miss the part where I said it's not really a backing or standard?

When frequent flyer points can be swapped for bitcoin you could then say it can have a measurable value in the market.

You can trade bitcoin for virtually any currency you want. There are several large scale professional currency exchanges in place. Check out MtGox or VirWox.

Currently I can not go to the supermarket and pay for food with bitcoin. When I can it will have a measurable value in the market.

There are certainly real world shops where you can spend bitcoin. Real World Bitcoin Shops. You can also buy nearly anything online with bitcoins... anything you can buy online you can most likely buy with bitcoins.

Originally posted by ChaoticOrder
Just a matter of time before bitcoins are worth zero and the founder gets to keep all the cash.

If the price of BTC was to drop to zero, the founder would most likely end up in a whole heap of debt. He most likely has a lot of his wealth stored in bitcoins, and if they became worthless he would be screwed. The founder has no more power over the system than anyone else... that's the meaning of decentralized. It's controlled by everyone... majority consensus rules the system. If you want to undermine the system first you need to have more computing power than 50% of the entire bitcoin network... which is more power than all the super computers on Earth. That's why bitcoin has not been destroyed or taken down by the Government. They simply can't.


I would guess he probably bought all 21 million bitcoins for a buck and sells his own supply into the market, Why use the frdderal Reserve when you can be the federal reserve?

reply to post by sligtlyskeptical

I would guess he probably bought all 21 million bitcoins for a buck and sells his own supply into the market, Why use the frdderal Reserve when you can be the federal reserve?

There's only about 10 million bitcoin in circulation right now. Satoshi probably has maybe 100,000 at the absolute most... he could only mine them like everyone else once the system was initiated. As I stated, he has no more power over anything in the system compared to anyone else. That's the exact reason why bitcoin is trusted: no one, not even the creators, have the ability to exploit the system in a way which anyone else can't do.