Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrency is actually really good for illegal activities. Some banks are no longer allowing it to be purchased with their cards for this reason. They are obligated to try to prevent it.

 
Nebfanatic said:
Thought experiment 
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I made a factual statement. Banks are legally required to try to stop illegal uses of $, which is part of why they are stopping the purchase of cryptocurrency.

Saying it "isn't fueling anything" is incorrect. I agree there are much bigger factors when it comes to drug usage, though.

Maybe they should blame it on White broken homes and laziness, or cultural problems within the White community.

 
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The Russians used Bitcoin to cover their actions in hacking the DNC.

LINK

A group of Russian military intelligence officers indicted Friday as part of an ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election allegedly used bitcoin to fund their operations.

In the just-released indictment, prosecutors assert that the 12 named intelligence officers hacked computer networks and email accounts owned and used by the U.S. Democratic Party, including the presidential campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

The details were included under a charge of conspiracy to launder money. According to the indictment, the defendants "conspired to launder the equivalent of $95,000 through a web of transactions structured to capitalize on the perceived anonymity of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin."

"In an effort to pay for their efforts around the world ... the defendants paid for it with cryptocurrency," deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said during a press briefing. 

 
While the defendants allegedly used other currencies, including the U.S. dollar, "they principally used bitcoin when purchasing servers, registering domains, and otherwise making payments in furtherance of hacking activity."

Payments are said to have been made to companies in the U.S., with some of those funds being traced to a bitcoin mining operation.
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Zero succession plan. Wow. Crohn's isn't exactly terminal, but anyone whose death would cause a burden should have some sort of plan in place for an untimely demise. Especially if that burden is, at best, freezing hundreds of millions in other peoples' assets. This whole thing is about as reckless and irresponsible as investing in bitcoin.

I'm younger than this guy was. All I've really got is a mortgage with no kids and even I have a plan in place in case someone breaks in and murders me at home while looking for my bitcoins. 

 
I didn't even know this thread existed or I would have probably responded a long time ago. It's a shame and also a bit surprising that nobody actually addressed some of the questions/issues raised.

The most common one: "My paper money is backed by the full faith of the U.S. government." I don't honestly believe that's completely accurate. Because that same government inflates its value by printing more of it - both literally and through quantitative easing - each year.

Bitcoin is a new technology never seen before. It is backed by a powerful software algorithm. And it is disinflationary (and at some point around 2140 will actually become deflationary). It is proving itself as a store of value. If this is in doubt, check out Bitcoin's logarithmic growth curve against the dollar since 2010. And the Bitcoin protocol cannot be changed unless 51% of the computing power running Bitcoin's software agrees to download and start using the forked version.

If you look back at history as new technology started to try to break into the mainstream, the masses would understandably push back because it's just so new and outside of our known paradigms. Think about how strange the train, automobile, and air travel were to people when those things were first rolled out. But in time the ideas became more and more commonly accepted until flying on an airplane across the country was as normal as waking up in the morning. We could sit here and name many other examples but those are just a few. 

Over the past few years, a lot of push back was seen by the financial establishment, and for very obvious reasons...although more and more you're hearing about "blockchain" being incorporated. This is how a new technology begins to burst onto the scene; acceptance is at first slow and then comes in waves.

 
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Undone said:
I didn't even know this thread existed or I would have probably responded a long time ago. It's a shame and also a bit surprising that nobody actually addressed some of the questions/issues raised.

The most common one: "My paper money is backed by the full faith of the U.S. government." I don't honestly believe that's completely accurate. Because that same government inflates its value by printing more of it - both literally and through quantitative easing - each year.

Bitcoin is a new technology never seen before. It is backed by a powerful software algorithm. And it is disinflationary (and at some point around 2140 will actually become deflationary). It is proving itself as a store of value. If this is in doubt, check out Bitcoin's logarithmic growth curve against the dollar since 2010. And the Bitcoin protocol cannot be changed unless 51% of the computing power running Bitcoin's software agrees to download and start using the forked version.

If you look back at history as new technology started to try to break into the mainstream, the masses would understandably push back because it's just so new and outside of our known paradigms. Think about how strange the train, automobile, and air travel were to people when those things were first rolled out. But in time the ideas became more and more commonly accepted until flying on an airplane across the country was as normal as waking up in the morning. We could sit here and name many other examples but those are just a few. 

Over the past few years, a lot of push back was seen by the financial establishment, and for very obvious reasons...although more and more you're hearing about "blockchain" being incorporated. This is how a new technology begins to burst onto the scene; acceptance is at first slow and then comes in waves.
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I don't doubt blockchain will be used in all sorts of things, but that's a technology that enables cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies themselves are still problematic for a variety of reasons, the main one being who will and won't accept them for payment. And the explosion in the number of cryptocurrencies has just made it worse.

One other thing, the US dollar is not only backed by the US government, which is why it's used internationally, but the demand for it is driven by the government as well in the form of taxes. If you're paying US taxes, you must pay in US dollars. It's one of the tools a government has to enforce a currency.

 
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RedDenver said:
I don't doubt blockchain will be used in all sorts of things, but that's a technology that enables cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies themselves are still problematic for a variety of reasons, the main one being who will and won't accept them for payment. And the explosion in the number of cryptocurrencies has just made it worse.

One other thing, the US dollar is not only backed by the US government, which is why it's used internationally, but the demand for it is driven by the government as well in the form of taxes. If you're paying US taxes, you must pay in US dollars. It's one of the tools a government has to enforce a currency.
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As it pertains to Bitcoin itself (as opposed to any other number of altcoins), I see it being a store of value and not an actual currency long-term. The main driver for its store of value is its disinflationary and secure nature. It will not ever supplant the USD as an actual currency and anyone who touts that idea is living in a fantasy land.

The main point I try to get across when someone says "the dollar is backed by the U.S. government" is to get that person to think outside the box and apply some critical thinking to the definition of that statement. Because simply parroting that statement as some kind of absolute is both a bit naive and simplistic. The things you said above are not untrue, but neither are the things I've said about its inflationary nature. To reinforce the point, this is why we don't stuff stacks of cash into a pillow case under our bed, but we do use it as currency. Cash is not a good store of value.

Again, this is why I like Bitcoin as a store of value. I'm not referring to any other cryptocurrency here when I say this; only Bitcoin. 

*Edit: One other thing in regards to the bold section of the quote above - Just to be objective here, think about how easy it is for us as people who are extremely fortunate to have been born Americans to say this. But then, juxtapose this against someone in a third world country whose currency inflated hundreds or thousands of times over during periods of economic crisis. Their government said the same thing; 'Our currency is backed by our government.' But conceptually, that didn't wind up really meaning anything. Again, I am definitely not saying that Bitcoin is the answer to this problem for Americans nor the citizens of any other country or to say it will supplant any country's currency. 

 
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For me and the advice I gave my college aged son, was that if you have extra money and you are looking for a grandslam investment with a very high risk, then get some crypto and plan on not looking at for 10 years unless it pops again.   
 

It’s not a bad strategy for someone in their 20’s to throw a few thousand into it knowing they have a lifetime of investment opportunities to make that back quickly 

 
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