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Re:Bitcoin’s Price Breaks All-Time High: Here’s Why It Happened by mariodiana on Monday November 30, 2020 @02:27PM (#25257794)
I would hesitate to call it "money" as well, as apart from its use in place of money, it has no value. Even paper currency is, at bottom, worth the paper it's printed on.
Re:Bitcoin’s Price Breaks All-Time High: Here’s Why It Happened by alwillis on Monday November 30, 2020 @05:27PM (#25259855)
Even paper currency is, at bottom, worth the paper it's printed on.

When Zimbabwe printed a $100,000,000,000,000 (one hundred trillion dollar bill) due to hyperinflation, the people used it for fire, because it wasn't useful for anything else.

So… no, paper money has been worthless many times.

Re:Bitcoin’s Price Breaks All-Time High: Here’s Why It Happened by pmiller2 on Monday November 30, 2020 @06:49PM (#25260565)
And, now, those notes sell for over $100 each in uncirculated condition, simply because it's denominated in "dollars" and has the largest numerical denomination history. Had you bought one in 2001, when they were worth $5 apiece, that would have yielded you a CAGR of around 40%. Sometimes, I kind of want to kick myself for missing out on that train. :)
Re:Bitcoin’s Price Breaks All-Time High: Here’s Why It Happened by alwillis on Monday November 30, 2020 @09:01PM (#25261445)
More as a collectable than anything else.
Re:Bitcoin’s Price Breaks All-Time High: Here’s Why It Happened by mariodiana on Tuesday December 01, 2020 @06:42PM (#25271562)
You should look up "worthless." Even kindling counts as value. Try burning Bitcoin.
Re:Bitcoin’s Price Breaks All-Time High: Here’s Why It Happened by JoeAltmaier on Monday November 30, 2020 @05:44PM (#25260005)
Coins are essentially worthless as well. Ok, they have a 'book value' of the (usually base) metal they're made from. But that's about it.

So what has 'true value' then? Gold? It's similar to Bitcoin, in that you have to deposit it and use an exchange.

Re:Bitcoin’s Price Breaks All-Time High: Here’s Why It Happened by alwillis on Monday November 30, 2020 @05:54PM (#25260102)
It's similar to Bitcoin, in that you have to deposit it and use an exchange.

Bitcoin is peer-to-peer; you don't have to use an exchange to transact.

Lightning allows us to transact bitcoin instantaneously, person to person. There are plenty of Lightning wallets for iOS and Android.

[1]: https://bisq.network

[2]: https://hodlhodl.com

Re:Bitcoin’s Price Breaks All-Time High: Here’s Why It Happened by JoeAltmaier on Monday November 30, 2020 @05:58PM (#25260127)
As long as you're willing to transact $19000, right? Else who holds the coin in escrow? Or am I misunderstanding something.
Re:Bitcoin’s Price Breaks All-Time High: Here’s Why It Happened by alwillis on Monday November 30, 2020 @08:59PM (#25261438)
Or am I misunderstanding something. Yes.

From the Bisq FAQ: Security deposits are set to be a percentage of the trade amount—actual percent varies by BTC price volatility, but minimum is 0.006 BTC—but the percent can be adjusted by the offer maker to be as low as 15% or as high as 50%.

0.006 of a Bitcoin is $117.366

Re:Bitcoin’s Price Breaks All-Time High: Here’s Why It Happened by JoeAltmaier on Monday November 30, 2020 @10:05PM (#25261835)
So, with an exchange? Not peer to peer?
Re:Bitcoin’s Price Breaks All-Time High: Here’s Why It Happened by alwillis on Tuesday December 01, 2020 @03:08AM (#25263385)
So, with an exchange? Not peer to peer?

Both Bisq and Hodl Hodl are peer-to-peer. You set your own price to sell at, for example. I don't know about Hodl Hodl but Bisq runs over Tor to protect user's privacy.

Re:Bitcoin’s Price Breaks All-Time High: Here’s Why It Happened by pmiller2 on Monday November 30, 2020 @06:40PM (#25260501)
I believe you can transact in amounts as low as 1 satoshi, or 1e-8 BTC, which would imply a minimum transaction amount of $0.19, assuming a value of $19k per BTC.
Re:Bitcoin’s Price Breaks All-Time High: Here’s Why It Happened by pmiller2 on Monday November 30, 2020 @06:38PM (#25260484)
It's true that current circulation coins have very little value as metal scrap. The largest coin you're ever likely to encounter in circulation is the Kennedy half dollar. Since 1971, they are made of a copper core with a copper/nickel cladding layer, just like current dimes and quarters are. It's current melt value is approximately $0.09.

But, when yo speak about "true value," consider that anything you're trying to attach a dollar value to, you're measuring its value in terms of dollars. A dollar today really is little more than a bit that's set in a computer somewhere. Why do we give that any value at all?

The answer is that the USD, along with most, if not all, current world currencies, is essentially an "economy token." By that I mean the USD is literally just a way to keep score, i.e. to tell how much you're winning at the game of capitalism.

This seems like neither a good thing nor a bad thing. It just is what it is.

Interestingly, according to https://sdbullion.com/blog/how-much-silver-gold-is-there there are about 6e9 ozt gold and 5e10 ozt silver above ground right now. At today's current spot prices of $1789.55 for gold per ozt and $22.78 per ozt, that works out to about 1.2e13 USD worth, which, if we made all money either out of or backed by gold and silver in a 1:1 ratio, would literally be all the money in the world.

Re:Bitcoin’s Price Breaks All-Time High: Here’s Why It Happened by mariodiana on Tuesday December 01, 2020 @06:43PM (#25271571)
Gold has value on its own, apart from its function as money.
Re:Bitcoin’s Price Breaks All-Time High: Here’s Why It Happened by alwillis on Monday November 30, 2020 @05:33PM (#25259916)
"Paper is poverty… it is only the ghost of money, not money itself."

-Thomas Jefferson