Here's another Bitcoin article, this time in USA Today:

Bitcoin virtual money draws investments, skepticism

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I wouldn't say it's more of an "environmental disaster" than the combo of Flash and Facebook games.

At least the massive power consumption with Bitcoin will stop once the max number of BTC has been generated.

There doesn't seem to be an end planned or in sight, to the Flash games. 

It would seem that reality has finally raised her pretty but unwelcome little head in the investment world...

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^maybe we can actually use it as a currency now (if it's stabilises)

Some could. I wouldn't willingly. Would you? 

I wouldn't say it's more of an "environmental disaster" than the combo of Flash and Facebook games.

This.  I'd say its more of a sensationalist headline than anything else. 

Bitcoin drops below $70 on April 15th 2013. Chart here.

Gold is not doing much better as a "safe haven." Story here.

What a surprise!

I'm pretty sure it will start trending up again... at a more reasonable pace this time.  These kind of adjustments happen... which is a big reason why investing is such a crap shoot over the short term.

(oh... and something I always forget; remove the tracking crap from the urls if you remember... )

Investopedia has posted a good article on currency speculation and regulation (or lack thereof) which outlines some of the unique risks this investment strategy brings to the table.

In that 'investing' in bitcoins or any other form of cryptocurrency is essentially a form of foreign exchange speculation, what's in the article is worth reading if you're either curious or tempted to put a hand in the game.

One of the points in the article is that regulation (so often denounced by bitcoin and libertarian economics diehards) actually does have a point and a benefit. And some regulation is not necessarily the automatic evil (and government/Illuminati/freemason/UFO sponsored conspiracy  ) that a few people will argue any and every financial regulation must be.

It's a good read. Read it here.

Why It's Important To Regulate Foreign Exchange
April 16 2013| Filed Under » Forex Economics, Forex History, Government Regulation

The foreign exchange (forex) market is the world's biggest financial market by far. According to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS)'s triennial survey, global forex turnover in April 2010 averaged a staggering $4.0 trillion daily, an increase of 20% from $3.3 trillion three years earlier. In an increasingly globalized economy, the significance of the foreign exchange marketplace to the average consumer cannot be underestimated. The rate at which our domestic currency can be exchanged in the global forex market determines the price we pay for an increasing number of products, the price-tag for our vacations, the rate of return on our investments (ROI), and even the interest rate on our loans and deposits.

And yet, despite the importance of this market, where currency gyrations can dictate the fortunes of everyone from the largest nation to the smallest consumer, foreign exchange remains a largely unregulated business. Although foreign exchange has traditionally been regarded as the exclusive domain of the biggest banks and corporations - recent trends have dispelled this notion, making it increasingly important for foreign exchange to come under the ambit of regulation...

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Bitcoins may be the libertarian tax solution- MSN Money

^Of course the US government could just outlaw bitcoins and cryptocurrencies for US citizens in much the same way it once outlawed individual possession of gold coins and bullion. That wouldn't be enough to stop some people - although it would certainly up the consequences rather drastically for those people unfortunate enough to get caught.


If things like bitcoins are going to succeed, they're going to have to make some attempt to reach an accommodation with current government backed currencies. If they're presented primarily as a way of evading regulation, or creating an underground economy, they're going to get stepped on pretty severely.

The one big problem with would-be Libertarian economic revolutionaries (from what I've seen) is their tendency to be overly romantic and somewhat naive. Direct confrontation is the one thing most global powers are well equipped to deal with. So while direct confrontation and nose thumbing may be cathartic, they don't do much to further social change - unless the target institution is already weakened and has lost the bulk of its own public's support. None of the major world governments are in that position yet - and likely won't be any time soon.

If cryptocurriencies are the wave of the future, those pushing for them are going to need to take a longer view, and play a much more mature political, economic, and social 'game' than they have so far.

I wish them well. But I don't hold out much hope because of the way so many of their advocates have been conducting themselves lately...

Seems to me to be a case of "We can't be bothered anymore...BitCoins are fluctuating to goddamn badly to make us enough money...that...and the taxman is becoming more and more aware of huge amounts of money moving between our accounts, and is now looking for  ways to take as much of it as possible"

Ask anybody who's tried minting their own stable-resource-backed money, like the banks used to do in the good/bad old days.  I can't remember the name of the book, but I used to have one that detailed the trials and tribulations of people with the best of intentions and great ideas on how to rebuild our economy with a monetary system that gave actual value to it's currency, but ended up eventually running afoul of their greatest competition, the Federal Reserve. 

When I first heard of BitCoins, I said to myself that this was eventually going to happen.
It always does...

I seem to recall it was a chapter in one of the many books offered by Loompanics or Paladin Press, but I can't find the title I'm looking for.  It may have been touched on in "How To Start Your Own Country" by Erwin Strauss, but I'm not quite sure.

Relevant Wikipedia pages:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_currency
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_currency

Also read:
http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/cc/NMfHC/chp8.html
(the rest of the work is not my cup of tea, but that chapter is informative).

Quote from: 40hz on April 19, 2013, 01:37 AM

much the same way it once outlawed individual possession of gold coins and bullion.

wait...what?  You guys can't own gold?!  Since when? o.0

@Stephen - we can now. Couldn't for a good number of years starting in 1933 and ending in 1975. See here.

Remember, this is the land of the "free" and the home of the brave.

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