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Re:Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin by drabiega on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @02:29PM (#15864121)
Where then, would you draw the line between a currency and a non-currency asset?
Re:Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin by librvf on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @11:24PM (#15867612)
When it hits all of:

    Acceptability
    Durability
    Divisibility
    Stability
    Portability
    (Elasticity)


If you can't spend it easily, it's not a (functioning) currency.

If it spoils or decays within your lifetime it's not a currency.

If it's not something you can divide in order to make payments of a more-or-less arbitrary amount, it's not a currency.

If you can't predict how much of the asset you will need to pay your bills next month, it's not a currency

If you can't bring it with you to the place where the exchange takes place, it's not a currency.

If you can't obtain capital investment in a currency because the currency itself is more valuable than anything you could produce, then it's not a (good long term) currency. This last one is in parens because it one only matters in a growing economy. A deflationary currency can still otherwise function as a viable medium of exchange, but eventually, lack of availability for new entrants will mean that entrepreneurs will begin looking to do business in alternate currencies.

Re:Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin by cesarb on Thursday December 07, 2017 @09:24AM (#15870158)
> If you can't predict how much of the asset you will need to pay your bills next month, it's not a currency

Back in the hyperinflation days, we couldn't predict how many Cr$ we would need to pay our bills in the next month. That didn't keep it from being a currency.

Re:Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin by librvf on Thursday December 07, 2017 @07:50PM (#15875803)
That period did not last. Yes, if you try hard enough and look narrowly enough you can find exceptions to any of these rules, but it holds as a general guideline. If hyperinflation had continued indefinitely, it's probable some other commodity would have supplanted it as a de facto currency.
Re:Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin by blueprint on Thursday December 07, 2017 @08:17AM (#15869708)
Are you missing fungibility or is that covered?
Re:Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin by librvf on Thursday December 07, 2017 @07:42PM (#15875750)
Missed it. In my mind I think I lumped it in with divisibility, which is related but not quite the same thing.
Re:Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin by blueprint on Thursday December 07, 2017 @08:37PM (#15876028)
Nice. In that case, I wonder if you've ever heard of Monero? :)
Re:Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin by azernik on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @02:31PM (#15864140)
Liquidity, probably - how fast can you exchange how much of it.

Though I do personally think there's a lot more to a currency than that.

Re:Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin by stephengillie on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @08:38PM (#15866872)
Everything is a currency, if you barter hard enough.
Re:Steam is no longer supporting Bitcoin by librvf on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @11:30PM (#15867633)
Barter is, by definition, an exchange of goods without using money. In other words if you have to barter to get rid of it, it's not currency.