Re:Excoin exchange's Bitcoins stolen, will be shutting down
by sillysaurus3 on Sunday February 15, 2015 @04:46PM
(#9054262)
(I didn't downvote. There's far too much of that on HN.)
Bitcoin is an agreement by the worldwide blockchain that you personally control the fate of anywhere from 0 to 21 million bitcoins. You can hoard them, send them to someone else, or throw away your access to them. But you can control no more than 21 million coins, because there will never be more than 21 million bitcoins. See http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/161/how-many-bitc...
I'm trying to figure out what you're saying. It seems like if your arguments apply to Bitcoin, then they would also apply to any other kind of good with limited supply, such as gold. Why would anyone be outraged when gold is stolen? Because people believe gold has value. The reason gold is valuable is due to its scarcity, not because gold is inherently valuable. People rarely use gold for its unique conductivity properties, whereas they usually use it for its scarcity. Same with Bitcoin.
So if your arguments apply to Bitcoin and gold, then what is being said? I'm curious to know your position on this. Not because I'm trying to defend or prove anything, but because your ideas tend to be interesting.
I think maybe people here are just talking past each other, so maybe it would help to articulate in detail?
Bitcoin is an agreement by the worldwide blockchain that you personally control the fate of anywhere from 0 to 21 million bitcoins. You can hoard them, send them to someone else, or throw away your access to them. But you can control no more than 21 million coins, because there will never be more than 21 million bitcoins. See http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/161/how-many-bitc...
I'm trying to figure out what you're saying. It seems like if your arguments apply to Bitcoin, then they would also apply to any other kind of good with limited supply, such as gold. Why would anyone be outraged when gold is stolen? Because people believe gold has value. The reason gold is valuable is due to its scarcity, not because gold is inherently valuable. People rarely use gold for its unique conductivity properties, whereas they usually use it for its scarcity. Same with Bitcoin.
So if your arguments apply to Bitcoin and gold, then what is being said? I'm curious to know your position on this. Not because I'm trying to defend or prove anything, but because your ideas tend to be interesting.
I think maybe people here are just talking past each other, so maybe it would help to articulate in detail?