Bitcoin breaks $3K to reach new all-time high

Re:Bitcoin breaks $3K to reach new all-time high by GTP on Saturday August 05, 2017 @04:43AM (#14934810)

The fact that you can use it to buy real things doesn't means that is has a strong fundamental. To contradict the statement that BTC doesn't have a strong fundamental you should tell which this fundamental is and why it is strong. NOTE: don't take me wrong, I don't have a clear opinion about this topic. I think there's a concrete possibility that BTC will crash when it reaches the limit of 21 million BTC but I'm not sure it will happen, I think we have to wait until that moment to see what happens.

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Re:Bitcoin breaks $3K to reach new all-time high by discombobulate on Saturday August 05, 2017 @04:47AM (#14934826)

What does 'a strong fundamental' mean?

A global payment system which is faster than a wire transfer. An uncorrelated hedge for assets. P2P payment. Things like that?

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Re:Bitcoin breaks $3K to reach new all-time high by trevyn on Saturday August 05, 2017 @05:02AM (#14934880)

A different (more modern?) cryptocurrency could serve all of those needs, which is a threat to the fundamental value of Bitcoin.

For comparison, the "fundamental" value of USD is a trust in the US Government to maintain its value. Comparing that to the fundamental value of Bitcoin would be a fun discussion to have, but the fact remains that the US has done it for 225 years and Bitcoin has done it for less than 9 years.

Actually, by that reasoning, I guess the fundamental value of Bitcoin is the distributed self-interest and capability of Bitcoin holders to maintain Bitcoin's value, which is obviously a powerful force.

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Re:Bitcoin breaks $3K to reach new all-time high by hackinthebochs on Saturday August 05, 2017 @10:27AM (#14935877)

>A different (more modern?) cryptocurrency could serve all of those needs

People always underestimate the power of network effects. People have been predicting the demise of facebook for the last decade. Surely something better will come along at eat its lunch, right? Wrong. Network effects are and always will be king.

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Re:Bitcoin breaks $3K to reach new all-time high by omarchowdhury on Saturday August 05, 2017 @02:25PM (#14937107)

Why haven't network effects brought to Bitcoin mass adoption already, then? The very nature of network effects is that they are an accelerant for adoption, why hasn't this happened? It's been 8 years.

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Re:Bitcoin breaks $3K to reach new all-time high by hackinthebochs on Saturday August 05, 2017 @03:28PM (#14937428)

Network effects isn't about adoption necessarily, its about defense. If a cryptocurrency is going to be mainstream, it will be bitcoin barring some massive self-inflicted wound or some new game changing technology. But adoption hasn't reached critical mass because there are still many usability barriers. Hopefully with segwit we'll start to see those barriers fall away.

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Re:Bitcoin breaks $3K to reach new all-time high by discombobulate on Saturday August 05, 2017 @05:06AM (#14934890)

Like I said, I stay on the ball. I'm not going to lay out my investment thesis here.

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Re:Bitcoin breaks $3K to reach new all-time high by trevyn on Saturday August 05, 2017 @05:15AM (#14934905)

But the point is that a "strong fundamental" means that there is a widespread long-term belief in whatever backs the currency. Bitcoin is too new to have this in human timescales.

Can you make money speculating in Bitcoin? Obviously. But it is not fundamentally backed by something that people have long-term trust in -- it is only worth what you can trade it for at that moment.

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Re:Bitcoin breaks $3K to reach new all-time high by discombobulate on Saturday August 05, 2017 @05:24AM (#14934923)

I trust cryptography & networks. I've lived a large part of my life on networks. Never talked to a politician.

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Re:Bitcoin breaks $3K to reach new all-time high by ric2b on Saturday August 05, 2017 @06:12PM (#14938199)

> but the fact remains that the US has done it for 225 years and Bitcoin has done it for less than 9 years.

The USD was backed by gold until Nixon, you can only count the last 40 something years against Bitcoin's 9.

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Re:Bitcoin breaks $3K to reach new all-time high by trevyn on Sunday August 06, 2017 @02:57AM (#14940125)

The USD was backed by your trust in the government to give you its gold upon demand, not an intrinsic ability to physically convert a note into gold, so nothing really changed with Nixon.

Mind blown, right? :)

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Re:Bitcoin breaks $3K to reach new all-time high by nullandvoid on Saturday August 05, 2017 @11:36AM (#14936209)

You do realize the expected date date for the mining limit to be reached is 2140 right?

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