Buying bitcoins

Amberman · 30-03-2013 8:03am

bren2002 wrote: »

I don't know if anyone can answer that. If there's a huge crash, how exposed are mt gox? If they become insolvent, you're screwed. These aren't regulated like stockbrokers for example.

MF Global, Madoff, Libor, Lehman, Bear, and on and on...were regulated. Did that save the stock or account holders?

MTgox arent exposed to price falls as a market maker. It doesnt matter to them. They make money no matter what from bid/offer spreads.

Also, they are regulated and have recently domiciled in the US. They comply with US anti-money laundering regs...unlike HSBC.

Amberman · 30-03-2013 8:04am

brendan86 wrote: »

its what i wanna do but i wont buy at $90 i wanna have money in mtgox and if it ever goes down to 70 i would like to purchase then... I wont purchase at $90 but i seen last night it was at a high of $95 then few hours later $75 then went back up to $90... I know its a risk but if I deposit to mtgox can I wait and leave my money there for weeks until I see the right price I wanna buy at? And its safe without purchasing?

Its an exchange. Enter your bid price at whatever level you like and wait to see if your order gets filled.

milltown · 30-03-2013 8:58am

brendan86 wrote: »

its what i wanna do but i wont buy at $90 i wanna have money in mtgox and if it ever goes down to 70 i would like to purchase then... I wont purchase at $90 but i seen last night it was at a high of $95 then few hours later $75 then went back up to $90... I know its a risk but if I deposit to mtgox can I wait and leave my money there for weeks until I see the right price I wanna buy at? And its safe without purchasing?

I can't tell you it's 100% safe, but yes you can leave your Euros sitting in your MtGox account as long as you want. Alternatively you can place an order to buy at whatever exchange rate you like and wait to see if it is filled. Personally, I might use that method if I was hoping to buy at the low end of a typical daily spread. If you are hoping to buy at €20 less than the going rate I'm sure you'd like to be sure of the reasons for that type of drop before having your Euros converted. i.e. Is the price passing your €70 mark on a slide that ends at €50?

bren2002 wrote: »

I don't know if anyone can answer that. If there's a huge crash, how exposed are mt gox? If they become insolvent, you're screwed. These aren't regulated like stockbrokers for example.

I don't see how solvency should be a concern for MtGox like it would be for a regular bank. Regular banks expose themselves to risk by lending money they don't actually have to people they hope will repay them. All MtGox is doing is changing one currency into another and charging a small commission. AFAIK they don't do anything risky with your money while it's with them.

pH · 31-03-2013 3:22pm

Given that there can be only 21m bitcoins - and speculate they *do* take off and become a fully legitimate online currency then I think that values well over €1,000 euro per coin (Market value of all bitcoins then would be €21B) are achievable.

If all bitcoins in the world were worth as much as all $ currently in circulation then each bitcoin would be worth about $50,000.

As an "historical" aside - on May 21st 2010 a $25 pizza was bought for 10,000 BTC - if laslo had hung onto those coins - as of today he'd have $930,000

milltown · 01-04-2013 11:25am

pH wrote: »

As an "historical" aside - on May 21st 2010 a $25 pizza was bought for 10,000 BTC - if laslo had hung onto those coins - as of today he'd have $930,000

I kind of know how he feels. When I started looking into Bitcoins last December they were just over €9. Every time I check back to see what the current rate is I ask myself why I didn't just pile a couple of hundred Euro into it as a gamble? €500 in December would have covered the family holiday to Orlando this year at today's rate.

Amberman · 01-04-2013 2:55pm

milltown wrote: »

I kind of know how he feels. When I started looking into Bitcoins last December they were just over €9. Every time I check back to see what the current rate is I ask myself why I didn't just pile a couple of hundred Euro into it as a gamble? €500 in December would have covered the family holiday to Orlando this year at today's rate.

That doesn't mean they can't go up another 10 fold from here. A Cypriot IT company that had 700k seized in the banking mess is relocating to the Carribean and is considering using bitcoins to hold its working capital and pay suppliers. These are the sorts of customers that could send bitcoin to the moon.

With Canada, NZ and Australia now openly telling depositors that they will be bailed in, I can only see this type of demand increasing.

Roonbox · 01-04-2013 4:55pm

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-01/bitcoin-hits-101-doubles-cyprus

Roonbox · 01-04-2013 4:56pm

Amberman wrote: »

With Canada, NZ and Australia now openly telling depositors that they will be bailed in, I can only see this type of demand increasing.

Can you tell me where you heard this? That's major news.

Amberman · 01-04-2013 6:13pm

Roonbox wrote: »

Can you tell me where you heard this? That's major news.

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/03/canada-discusses-forced-depositor-bail.html

There's loads of info on this on google if you need more info. This is on top of the EU statement that Cyprus is a template for future bailouts. Dieselboom or whatever his name is.

stackerman · 01-04-2013 11:31pm

Roonbox wrote: »

Can you tell me where you heard this? That's major news.

Titled ECONOMIC ACTION PLAN 2013 and tabled in the House of Commons by Minster of Finance James Flaherty on March 21st, the official 2013 Canadian budget contains an explicit provision that Canada will pursue the bail-in model for systemically important banks for future bank failures!

Depositor haircuts have just jumped to this side of the pond, effective the next bank crisis/ failure:
From Page 144:

“The Government also recognizes the need to manage the risks associated with systemically important banks—those banks whose distress or failure
could cause a disruption to the financial system and, in turn, negative impacts on the economy. This requires strong prudential oversight and a robust set of
options for resolving these institutions without the use of taxpayer funds, in the unlikely event that one becomes non-viable.”

Translated, Without the use of taxpayer funds means via depositor funds.

And the meat of the provision, from Page 145:

The Government proposes to implement a bail-in regime for systemically important banks. This regime will be designed to ensure that, in the unlikely event that a systemically important bank depletes its capital, the bank can be recapitalized and returned to viability through the very rapid conversion of certain bank liabilities into regulatory capital.
This will reduce risks for taxpayers. The Government will consult stakeholders on how best to implement a bail-in regime in Canada.
Implementation timelines will allow for a smooth transition for affected institutions, investors and other market participants…

stackerman · 01-04-2013 11:36pm

You will also find Spain, the UK, the US and I'm sure others that I don't know of right now have done the same.
Sneak the changes in while the people are looking elsewhere, then "bam"a la Cyprus.
It's so well flagged at this stage, that it would be hard to miss it, as long as you are willing to see it :rolleyes:

Times are a changing

stackerman · 01-04-2013 11:44pm

New Zealand openly discussing same

The National Government are pushing a Cyprus-style solution to bank failure in New Zealand which will see small depositors lose some of their savings to fund big bank bailouts, the Green Party said today.
Open Bank Resolution (OBR) is Finance Minister Bill English’s favoured option dealing with a major bank failure. If a bank fails under OBR, all depositors will have their savings reduced overnight to fund the bank’s bail out.
“Bill English is proposing a Cyprus-style solution for managing bank failure here in New Zealand – a solution that will see small depositors lose some of their savings to fund big bank bailouts,” said Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman.

The others can be found via google, but you got a be looking for them.
Night

martyoo · 02-04-2013 8:30pm

Looks like Instawallet got hacked.

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup · 02-04-2013 8:42pm

while Cavehill_Red has a sketchy technical understanding of bitcoin at best, I agree with him that it's a massive bubble at the moment. it's gone from $100 yesterday to $115 now! i bought some a few days so i could use it to actually buy something, you know, like you normally use a currency. everyone i talked to just bought it to hoard it and wait for the price to go up. a classic bubble. but when the crash comes, i'm interested to see what happens after.

i've been obsessed since i bought my service from a legit website and it worked! (and it wasn't anything illegal before you ask!)
it's just the coolest thing ever, the technical details are really interesting.

new yorker just came out with a great article about it:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/04/the-future-of-bitcoin.html

Amberman · 02-04-2013 9:51pm

martyoo wrote: »

Looks like Instawallet got hacked.

nothing in Google news about a hack. Seems it's down for maintenance and has cleared out its wallets as a precaution as far as I can tell.

Squeaky the Squirrel · 02-04-2013 10:01pm

That pizza is worth 1.1million now.

http://www.ounce.me/

Amberman · 02-04-2013 10:08pm

georgiecasey wrote: »

while Cavehill_Red has a sketchy technical understanding of bitcoin at best, I agree with him that it's a massive bubble at the moment. it's gone from $100 yesterday to $115 now! i bought some a few days so i could use it to actually buy something, you know, like you normally use a currency. everyone i talked to just bought it to hoard it and wait for the price to go up. a classic bubble. but when the crash comes, i'm interested to see what happens after.

i've been obsessed since i bought my service from a legit website and it worked! (and it wasn't anything illegal before you ask!)
it's just the coolest thing ever, the technical details are really interesting.

new yorker just came out with a great article about it:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/04/the-future-of-bitcoin.html

Georgie, I'm not sure that BTC can ever fit the definition of a bubble. It's a bubble compared to what? It has no traditional valuation metrics or anchors of affordability, like housing, stock or bonds have...and gold and oil have extraction costs and variable supply.

Bitcoin is really a put on accelerating financial collapse, a counterparty run, currency debasement or expanding government confiscation of funds.

It has no real intrinsic value above this value and its "extraction" costs is held relatively steady by a combo of Moores law and the steadily increasing power needed to mine the coins.

If you measure it compared to the value of deposits in Cyprus over 100k, (which seems the likely reason for the rise in value) then it still has a very long way to go to catch up the the diluted value of those deposits.

Bitcoin isn't like gold, oil, tulips or tech stocks. There is no income stream from it by which it can be judged to be good or bad in value compared to alternatives.

It isn't like currencies, which have embedded counter party risk. It isn't like gold, which has an extraction cost which varies with oil and ease of access to deposits, it has no cost of carry, like housing, no opportunity cost as there are no close substitutes and no valuation metrics, as it doesn't create an income stream.

I cannot see how you can mathematically demonstrate that it has soared above its fundamentals and is now a bubble...because it has none.

To me, it seems rather simple. The price seems to be reacting to rising recognition of Bitcoins utility leading to strongly increasing demand.

That is not a bubble, by definition.

If it was, the market for Picasso paintings entered bubble territory after he died and should have seen a sustained price crash...which has never materialised.

Heisenberg. · 02-04-2013 10:12pm

This post has been deleted.

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup · 02-04-2013 10:45pm

Amberman wrote: »

If you measure it compared to the value of deposits in Cyprus over 100k, (which seems the likely reason for the rise in value) then it still has a very long way to go to catch up the the diluted value of those deposits.

I don't agree that Cyprus itself is the reason for the rise, it's the numerous articles in the world media because of Cyprus/Bitcoin that's spreading the word and shooting up demand.

Amberman wrote: »

I cannot see how you can mathematically demonstrate that it has soared above its fundamentals and is now a bubble...because it has none.

Of course I can't prove it mathematically! It's just my opinion that the price will crash 'soon'. I have no idea when. I have no idea to what price it will crash to. But it's just my opinion and we'll have to agree to differ!

I fully agree with the recent Economist blog post that currencies are in a bubble when most people are hoarding the currency rather than actually using it to buy goods and services.

I hear of conspiracy nuts switching all their life savings to Bitcoin because of the 'impending collapse' of the EUR/USD and I think that's absolute madness.

It's after this crash and when volatility settles down and more retailers start accepting it that it is going to be very interesting.

Also, do you have any BTC? Would you be willing to sell me 0.25 or the USD equivalent of $25 for payment via Paypal?

Amberman · 02-04-2013 11:04pm

Im not saying it isn't going to correct somewhat from here. I think it will...no asset goes up in a straight line.

The global savings rate (especially the Western savings rate) is low compared to historical norms, and savings alone don't cause currency appreciation...so you can safely ignore the Economist.

Agreed that anyone putting all their savings into one vehicle is lunacy.

What happens if there is no crash? Space your purchases out over time to mitigate this risk and smooth returns. I am not selling my Bitcoins, sorry. They're making me a fantastic return. If anything, I'm buying more shortly.

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup · 02-04-2013 11:23pm

Amberman wrote: »

Im not saying it isn't going to correct somewhat from here. I think it will...no asset goes up in a straight line.

The global savings rate (especially the Western savings rate) is low compared to historical norms, and savings alone don't cause currency appreciation...so you can safely ignore the Economist.

Agreed that anyone putting all their savings into one vehicle is lunacy.

What happens if there is no crash? Space your purchases out over time to mitigate this risk and smooth returns. I am not selling my Bitcoins, sorry. They're making me a fantastic return. If anything, I'm buying more shortly.

Do you wanna share how much you bought originally and when, did you cash out on any and how much you have left?! Just out of curiosity, I'm sure you won't want to answer.

Yeah, it's so hard to buy at the moment. When someone finally cracks how to sell them online and accept paypal/credit cards without risk of chargebacks, it'll be real interesting.

pH · 02-04-2013 11:29pm

georgiecasey wrote: »

Do you wanna share how much you bought originally and when, did you cash out on any and how much you have left?! Just out of curiosity, I'm sure you won't want to answer.

Yeah, it's so hard to buy at the moment. When someone finally cracks how to sell them online and accept paypal/credit cards without risk of chargebacks, it'll be real interesting.

There's a relatively safe site called :

http://localbitcoins.com/

You need to buy with cash by meeting someone - but it has a safe transfer mechanism.
You agree to a deal on the site - the site gives you a code (that you keep to yourself)
You meet up, hand over the cash they seller does some magic - the seller will only be shown the code once they have actually transferred the bitcoins.

So if the seller can provide a code that matches yours then you can be confident that the transfer has happened.

I'm not suggesting anyone takes thousands of euros, but if someone wanted a couple of hundred euros worth of bitcoin it's no more risky than handing over cash to buy anything you've ordered on the net.

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup · 02-04-2013 11:32pm

pH wrote: »

There's a relatively safe site called :

http://localbitcoins.com/

You need to buy with cash by meeting someone - but it has a safe transfer mechanism.
You agree to a deal on the site - the site gives you a code (that you keep to yourself)
You meet up, hand over the cash they seller does some magic - the seller will only be shown the code once they have actually transferred the bitcoins.

So if the seller can provide a code that matches yours then you can be confident that the transfer has happened.

I'm not suggesting anyone takes thousands of euros, but if someone wanted a couple of hundred euros worth of bitcoin it's no more risky than handing over cash to buy anything you've ordered on the net.

Yeah, I came across that site but it means I've to get off my arse

There's a few selling in Galway and Limerick but nobody in Ennis, where I am. I might pick some up the next time I'm in Dublin.

Amberman · 02-04-2013 11:50pm

georgiecasey wrote: »

Do you wanna share how much you bought originally and when, did you cash out on any and how much you have left?! Just out of curiosity, I'm sure you won't want to answer.

Good guess.

georgiecasey wrote: »

Yeah, it's so hard to buy at the moment. When someone finally cracks how to sell them online and accept paypal/credit cards without risk of chargebacks, it'll be real interesting.

The fact that there cant be charge backs is a feature of the network, not a bug. I don't think that credit cards or paypal will ever be suitable for buying bitcoins.

theroomisonfire · 03-04-2013 6:39am

I just saw that 1BTC is now trading at €103 on Mtgox. madness!

martyoo · 03-04-2013 7:47am

nothing in Google news about a hack. Seems it's down for maintenance and has cleared out its wallets as a precaution as far as I can tell.

It's on their website.

We have detected a security breach. Services are temporarily suspended until we have thoroughly investigated the situation. We will resume services as soon as possible.

So while the Bitcoin protocol may be secure (for now) your computer and someones website are not.

Amberman · 03-04-2013 9:38am

theroomisonfire wrote: »

I just saw that 1BTC is now trading at €103 on Mtgox. madness!

Bitcoins are now almost $145! :eek:

As soon as they get to $100,000, Im selling. Looks like Tuesday fortnight should be payday at this rate.

Amberman · 03-04-2013 9:45am

martyoo wrote: »

So while the Bitcoin protocol may be secure (for now) your computer and someones website are not.

Shouldn't keep your key on your computer. Definitely agree with that.

A tiny proportion of poker accounts got emptied in the early days too until they got their act together...didn't stop the growth there either.

Judging by the price action, people are more scared of their governments than they are of the chances of being hacked. The chances of being hacked, even if you are tech-retarded, are still very slim.

Amberman · 03-04-2013 9:49am

Amberman wrote: »

Bitcoins are now almost $145! :eek:

As soon as they get to $100,000, Im selling. Looks like Tuesday fortnight should be payday at this rate.

lol...20 minutes later...$130 and falling fast. :rolleyes:

Gotta love the excitement!

DaveDaRave · 03-04-2013 11:25am

that feel when i was gonna get 1000 euro worth from my friend when it was $12 in the hopes of making a few hundred euro. but he didnt hook me up.

all that money ;(

gonna buy in now coz the regret is driving me nuts.

Roonbox · 03-04-2013 3:49pm

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100609853

Squeaky the Squirrel · 03-04-2013 7:31pm

http://blog.maschinenraum.tk/2012/07/15/bitcoin-vending-machine-exchange-euro-coins-for-bitcoin-wallets/

FINCEN: Bitcoin Users Not Regulated, Exchanges Are

First bit of regulation for them, wasn't mentioned on Thread yet.

Roonbox · 04-04-2013 3:34pm

this doesnt inspire confidence -

Bitcoin Hacked: Price Stumbles After Buying Frenzy

Online currency bitcoin had 20 percent knocked off its price overnight on Thursday as one of its major exchanges became the victim of a hacking attack leading to a sell-off in the virtual currency after reaching an all-time high.

Uncertainty over other currencies, turmoil in Cyprus and media interest are just some of the reasons commentators are citing for the 360 percent rise in bitcoin prices over the last month. The frenzied interest in bitcoins piled over onto the social media site Twitter and led to a spike in Google searches on the topic.

(Read More: What Is Bitcoin?)

But by Thursday morning bitcoin prices had fallen to $132 from Wednesday's record price of $147.

The most popular bitcoin exchange, Tokyo-based Mt.Gox announced overnight that it had been the victim of a hacking attack after experiencing a severe lag with its systems. The complications meant the price quickly sank to below $115 before regaining ground to $130 by 6.00 a.m. London time on Thursday, according to Bitcoincharts.com.

(Read More: Bitcoin Bubble: How 'Geeks' Sent Prices Parabolic)

"There are many who will try to take advantage of the system. The past few days were a reminder of this sad truth," it said in a press release on its Facebook site.

The exchange blamed a type of hacking attack called a distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS).

More than 80 percent of all bitcoin-USD trades and more than 70 percent of all bitcoin currency trades are done on Mt.Gox's servers, according to the company, making it is a major target for anyone wanting to take down bitcoin trading.

(Read More: Bitcoin Showing 'Aggressive Bubble' Behavior: SocGen)

"Attackers wait until the price of bitcoins reaches a certain value, sell, destabilize the exchange, wait for everybody to panic-sell their bitcoins, wait for the price to drop to a certain amount, then stop the attack and start buying as much as they can. Repeat this two or three times like we saw over the past few days and they profit," Mt.Gox said.

"There is pretty much nothing that can be done. Large companies are frequently victims of these kinds of attacks. Even though we are using one of the best companies to help us fight against these DDoS attacks, we are still being affected."

Bitcoin is a virtual currency allowing users to exchange online credits for goods and services. There are currently nearly 11 million bitcoins in circulation but the currency is capped at 21 million coins. While there is no central bank that issues them, new bitcoins can be created online by using a computer to complete difficult tasks, a process known as mining.

(Read More: Bitcoin Boom? An ATM for Virtual Currency in the Works)

The total value of all bitcoins has now surpassed $1.4 billion. But these latest revelations may go some way to reinforce criticisms of its instability and price volatility. Mt. Gox had to temporarily suspend deposits on March 12 as a newly mined block of bitcoin went unrecognized by the system which caused a short sell-off.

Another bitcoin associated company Instawallet - an online storage service - was hacked earlier this week and its service was suspended indefinitely.

"Our database was fraudulently accessed, due to the very nature of Instawallet it is impossible to reopen the service as-is," it said on its website.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100615508

srsly78 · 04-04-2013 3:41pm

Bitcoin didn't get hacked, the article is sensationalist. One of the exchanges is suffering under all the extra load is all.

zonEEE · 04-04-2013 4:46pm

"The exchange blamed a type of hacking attack called a distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS)."

Bitcoin hacked ?

A ddos on an exchange and cnn comes out with that bullsh1t.

Guess thats CNN for ya....

Pity the fools who take their word for gospel

Roonbox · 04-04-2013 5:23pm

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-04/visualizing-bitcoin-encryption-standard

a proper breakdown

Roonbox · 04-04-2013 5:27pm

I am loving peoples blind enthusiasm on this.. its exciting.

I don't buy it for one second as a viable alternative but I am tempted to take a ride on the mania train for a while if I get an opportunity to get in cheap.

pH · 04-04-2013 5:36pm

Roonbox wrote: »

I am loving peoples blind enthusiasm on this.. its exciting.

I don't buy it for one second as a viable alternative but I am tempted to take a ride on the mania train for a while if I get an opportunity to get in cheap.

A "computer currency" like bitcoin is incredibly exciting - the possibilities are endless - it does to money and value what the www has already done to information. This is apart from any reasons to jump on a bubble - having "value" that's secure, anonymous and tradable easily by computers on the net is the next big evolution of cyberspace.

Selik · 04-04-2013 11:28pm

Anybody seen this site?

https://www.casascius.com

Very interesting!

milltown · 05-04-2013 12:19am

zonEEE wrote: »

"The exchange blamed a type of hacking attack called a distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS)."

Bitcoin hacked ?

A ddos on an exchange and cnn comes out with that bullsh1t.

Guess thats CNN for ya....

Pity the fools who take their word for gospel

Exactly.
DDOS is, to me, the exact opposite of hacking.
Hacking implies somebody with specific skills attacking a system to a specific end. Justin Bieber could orchestrate a DDOS attack over Twitter by tweeting "all my fans should take a look at this page http://www.ghey4biebz.org".

At $150 I'd love a physical bitcoin for posterity, even though it would be a bit like having a CD with an early MP3 burnt onto it, almost completely missing the point. Will keep an eye to see what sort of money a 1Btc coin ends up going for.

OU812 · 05-04-2013 12:24am

Giles wrote: »

Anybody seen this site?

https://www.casascius.com

Very interesting!

Does that not defeat the entire point of them?

spix · 05-04-2013 1:37am

Just started bitcoining a couple of hours ago

Earned 25c so far less 8c electricity.

I'll be rich in no time.

fergalr · 05-04-2013 2:10am

Cavehill Red wrote: »

You just need to shut access to the network. That can be done through regulation, which is likely imminent, or through hacking an exchange, as has happened already.

zonEEE wrote: »

For you to bring down the network you would have to shut access to the internet for every single person in the world, Each person is a node. This is impossible.

zonEEE wrote: »

I got an awful funny mental image in my head : Gardai using "major network shutting GUI" shutting the internet down.

srsly78 wrote: »

Cavehill Red your criticisms are off the mark, you clearly do not understand the basic technical stuff behind this. Indeed you should not invest in something you have no idea about.

srsly78 and zonEEE, I thought you were pretty hard on Cavehill there.

My understanding is that Cavehill says there's significant downside risk, in the event that a nation (e.g. USA) decides to regulate and legislate against Bitcoin, and attempt to shutdown the network.

You dismiss Cavehill's claims, and say its not possible to shutdown the network.

I would be very interested in some sort of technical explanation for why you guys think that nation-state level resources couldn't shut down the Bitcoin network?

Amberman · 05-04-2013 3:23am

fergalr wrote: »

srsly78 and zonEEE, I thought you were pretty hard on Cavehill there.

My understanding is that Cavehill says there's significant downside risk, in the event that a nation (e.g. USA) decides to regulate and legislate against Bitcoin,

The bitcoin markets are already regulated. Most of the big ones like mt.gox already comply with US anti-money laundering regulations.

and attempt to shutdown the network.

You dismiss Cavehill's claims, and say its not possible to shutdown the network.

It really isnt. There isn't a head on the beast which you can chop off. Its a distributed peer to peer network.

I would be very interested in some sort of technical explanation for why you guys think that nation-state level resources couldn't shut down the Bitcoin network?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer

xertpo · 05-04-2013 9:32am

Nice article on the commodity v currency argument

https://medium.com/money-banking/2b5ef79482cb

hfallada · 05-04-2013 9:39am

Bitcoin was on the front of the FT this week saying its only spiking being of the cyprus situation. Also if the bitcoin currency grows very big the US government will shut it down. I seen some man in the middle of nowhere made like $5 million of his own currency in the US and was put in prison for 25 years. The US government may force them to close it. They have successful banned( some people obviously still do it but a majority dont) internet gambling probably because it was a threat to US casinos

srsly78 · 05-04-2013 9:42am

A majority don't gamble online in america? Sure, but they probably could if they wanted to. Can hardly call the ban successful if everyone still does it anyway. Bitcoin is a big way american gamblers fund their play nowadays.

Successful like the war on drugs I suppose?

Amberman · 05-04-2013 9:45am

hfallada wrote: »

Bitcoin was on the front of the FT this week saying its only spiking being of the cyprus situation. Also if the bitcoin currency grows very big the US government will shut it down. I seen some man in the middle of nowhere made like $5 million of his own currency in the US and was put in prison for 25 years. The US government may force them to close it. They have successful banned( some people obviously still do it but a majority dont) internet gambling probably because it was a threat to US casinos

Don't suppose the FT elaborated on HOW the US govt could shut down BTC?

FYI, LOADS of poker players from the US continued to play poker during the internet poker ban.

They have these things called proxy servers and offshore bank accounts these days. :cool:

Amberman · 05-04-2013 10:09am

srsly78 wrote: »

Successful like the war on drugs I suppose?

LOL...I can see it now..."The war on Bitcoin" ... its a matter of natioanl security and anyone who uses it is a terrorist.

**** OFF America!

Roonbox · 05-04-2013 4:18pm

Amberman wrote: »

LOL...I can see it now..."The war on Bitcoin" ... its a matter of natioanl security and anyone who uses it is a terrorist.

**** OFF America!

You cant be swayed. If you find yourself completely and totally on one side of a trade and don't even consider that you may be incorrect, that is usually not a good sign.

Bitcoins have a lot of issues, the main one for me being that the general public will not adopt a currency that is this volatile.

Buying bitcoins

Comments