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The Artist |
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The Artist Super Spammer
Joined: 06 Jan 2008 Karma :
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Posted: 11:12 - 15 Dec 2017 Post subject: |
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It may well have the characteristics of a ponzi scheme but it also has the potential to be disrupt a lot of industries and people are putting a lot of value on that. You could say people are betting or speculating on that.
As that wiki page says, no one is guaranteeing anyone profit. In fact, the vast majority of people won't stop telling you how risky it is. |
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Pjay |
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Pjay World Chat Champion
Joined: 18 Jan 2016 Karma :
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Posted: 11:21 - 15 Dec 2017 Post subject: |
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As the article says, the late adopters do not need to lose.
You could buy in today and sell tomorrow at a profit. Pyramid schemes rely on you making money from people joining after you.
Bitcoins also have a legitimate use as a currency outside of just buying and selling it for cash.
Pyramid/Ponzi schemes are a closed system, bitcoins are not.
You can have as much scepticism as you like, it doens't bother me, I've already won in crypto. If it all crashes tomorrow, I've still made more in the past 6 months than I have in the previous 5 years of my life.
Not being part of if was your fault, not mine, or bitcoins. There has been enough info in this thread to have made any one of us a small or even large fortune. Choosing to dismiss it is nothing that I can remedy. All I know is, I have still a nice chunk of money invested, all which has cost me nothing at all. It's a nice train to ride. ____________________ struan80 - I'll go first - satisfied tick 1 |
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The Artist |
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The Artist Super Spammer
Joined: 06 Jan 2008 Karma :
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Rogerborg |
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Rogerborg nimbA
Joined: 26 Oct 2010 Karma :
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Posted: 11:32 - 15 Dec 2017 Post subject: |
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Pjay wrote: | As the article says, the late adopters do not need to lose. |
Not in an imaginary world where bitcoin value keeps rising or stabilises and it's generally adopted as a payment method.
However, that doesn't address my question of how it's being used in the real world.
Pjay wrote: | You could buy in today and sell tomorrow at a profit. |
Sell to whom?
Pjay wrote: | Pyramid schemes rely on you making money from people joining after you. |
See previous question.
Pjay wrote: | Bitcoins also have a legitimate use as a currency outside of just buying and selling it for cash. |
In principle. See previous post. Is it being used as a currency?
Pjay wrote: | I've still made more in the past 6 months than I have in the previous 5 years of my life. |
Whom did you scalp when you cashed out?
Pjay wrote: | All I know is, I have still a nice chunk of money invested |
In bitcoin? When you said you'd "made" on it, I assumed you'd turned it into a more stable currency. Or are you still waiting for Peak Banana? ____________________ Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike |
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Pjay |
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Pjay World Chat Champion
Joined: 18 Jan 2016 Karma :
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Posted: 11:44 - 15 Dec 2017 Post subject: |
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Stay salty
In the meantime, BTC is up 8% in the last 24 hours.
Oh and yeah, I take profits out as £'s simply because for now at least, they are easier to spend. There will become a point where that wont need to happen, but until then the GBP is my favoured currency for purchasing Xmas gifts and paying my bills. ____________________ struan80 - I'll go first - satisfied tick 1 |
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Lord Percy |
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Lord Percy World Chat Champion
Joined: 03 Aug 2012 Karma :
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Posted: 12:29 - 15 Dec 2017 Post subject: |
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Pjay wrote: |
As the article says, the late adopters do not need to lose.
You could buy in today and sell tomorrow at a profit. Pyramid schemes rely on you making money from people joining after you.
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Nobody has yet explained how bitcoin is not the same as this. The only way it can gain value is by other people putting more real-world money into the pot. And why do they do that?
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You can have as much scepticism as you like, it doens't bother me, I've already won in crypto. If it all crashes tomorrow, I've still made more in the past 6 months than I have in the previous 5 years of my life.
Not being part of if was your fault, not mine, or bitcoins. There has been enough info in this thread to have made any one of us a small or even large fortune. Choosing to dismiss it is nothing that I can remedy. All I know is, I have still a nice chunk of money invested, all which has cost me nothing at all. |
So how did you make the money? What service or product did you create or invest in? Who provided the money for your profits and why did they put the money in?
Quote: | It's a nice train to ride. |
Indeed. This I don't disagree with and I may too buy in at some point - there is profit to be made. It's still a blatant pyramid though.
Regarding that long myth-busting article. I like this bit - Bitcoin is illegal because it's not legal tender:
Quote: | in general trading in any commodity, including digital currency like Bitcoin, BerkShares, game currencies like WoW gold, or Linden dollars, is not illegal. |
So bitcoin is the same as online gamer currency. Like I said, it's just a trivial commodity that people can buy into as and when they please, under the full knowledge that it may become a useless non-item in the future. So what makes it so special? Apart form the potential to earn mega-bucks as the hype is still growing. Seems the same as, I dunno, trading shiny pokemon cards. If people started using pokemon cards as a way of making large, economically heavy purchases of items with high local real-world currency price in any country, you can bet they'd be banned. A bit like bitcoin was banned in China.
and:
Bictoin can't work because there is no way to control inflation:
Quote: | Given the fact that Bitcoin is a distributed system of currency, if demand were to decrease to almost nothing, the currency would be doomed anyway. |
So if too many people decide to sell their coins for real world currency, it's over for bitcoin?
and I like this one: Bictoin is a pyramid scheme
Quote: | Bitcoin is nearly opposite of a pyramid scheme in a mathematical sense. Because Bitcoins are algorithmically made scarce, no exponential benefit is derived from introducing new users to use of it. There is a quantitative benefit in having additional interest or demand, but this is in no way exponential. |
Okay so why has the price of bitcoin shot up, and why do most peole sign up to it?
Everyone I know has done it for one reason and one reason only - they can sell their coins for more later. That's pretty much the only thing the average Joe talks about when they talk about bitcoin.
And one final point. How does the concept of nation statehood, governance and public taxation come into play? Is bitcoin cryptopia stateless? Who will pay for hospitals, police, schools, roads etc? Is this not surely another reason why central banking is still fundamental? In an economic crisis the government needs the power to create economic balance for itself from the central bank, unless you think it's okay for every single public service to be at the whim of whatever 'market forces' the bitcoin world is at the behest of. |
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Pjay |
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Pjay World Chat Champion
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P. |
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P. Red Rocket
Joined: 14 Feb 2008 Karma :
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Pjay |
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Pjay World Chat Champion
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Pjay |
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Pjay World Chat Champion
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Lord Percy |
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Lord Percy World Chat Champion
Joined: 03 Aug 2012 Karma :
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Rogerborg |
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Rogerborg nimbA
Joined: 26 Oct 2010 Karma :
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Posted: 16:09 - 15 Dec 2017 Post subject: |
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Pjay wrote: | these are people that are using Bitcoins to make life saving purchases like medication and food. |
Seems like a legit strategy, but can you provide any sauce for it?
I'll give you one unverified dollop that's been re-re-re-reported everywhere.
"Jorge Ochoa, 34, who liquidated part of his bitcoin savings into dollars so that he could take his wife on a honeymoon to New York City."
Such life and death, very heartstring.
I like the guy who's bigging up crypto while making his living from creating imaginary money, that's a nice touch. ____________________ Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike |
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Jayy |
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Jayy Mr. Ponzi
Joined: 08 Jun 2009 Karma :
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Pjay |
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Pjay World Chat Champion
Joined: 18 Jan 2016 Karma :
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Posted: 16:16 - 15 Dec 2017 Post subject: |
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Lord Percy wrote: | Pjay wrote: | If anyone thinks Bitcoin isn't viable, they only need to follow the situation in Venezuela at the moment.
It is literally saving the lives of people there and these are not rich people investing money to make money, these are people that are using Bitcoins to make life saving purchases like medication and food.
Also its worth noting that since the banking fiasco in Greece, Crypto use has been growing well there, as people are not trusting banks to hold their money any more. |
Sorry but this is nonsense, it doesn't say anything about the viability of bitcoin. It says people are joining and benefiting from a currently growing pyramid scheme.
The only reason they can use bitcoins to buy food and medicine is because their bitcoins have grown in value, because it's a pyramid which is still growing. Lucky them.
Can you guarantee the saviour status of bitcoin for the Venezuelan people? Would you recommend that those without bitcoins buy into it right now with the very last of their savings? Can you guarantee the viability and stability of bitcoin to people in that situation? |
You are welcome to your views on bitcoin, you can sit back and watch saying we are all stupid to get sucked in and laugh when the market crashes 20% saying you knew it was all a scam. But the reality is, it's been here for 8 years and it's proven to be resilient and unhackable.
People the world over are changing their money over to it, because it's preferable to having a bank hold your money and then devalue it with inflation and quantitative easing.
If you think the current system is fine then that's all well and good, I dont.
I am happily going to keep making money while you can stay salty and hoping it falls around my ears. Good luck with that. ____________________ struan80 - I'll go first - satisfied tick 1 |
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Pjay |
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Pjay World Chat Champion
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Rogerborg |
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Rogerborg nimbA
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Lord Percy |
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Lord Percy World Chat Champion
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Ste |
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Ste Not Work Safe
Joined: 01 Sep 2002 Karma :
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Posted: 18:37 - 15 Dec 2017 Post subject: |
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The more you argue your point, the clearer it is that you don't understand what a pyramid scheme is. |
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Pjay |
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Pjay World Chat Champion
Joined: 18 Jan 2016 Karma :
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Posted: 18:45 - 15 Dec 2017 Post subject: |
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Lord Percy wrote: | That's the idea of a pyramid scheme |
It's clearly not a pyramid scheme.
You can use Bitcoin to purchase goods and pay for services.
If you start up a company and offer your services for bitcoin, how are you contributing money into this scheme? You aren't, you are contributing your work for the work of computing power.
You can also trade bitcoins for other crypto currencies that have a real world use, such as ICO's and smart contracts.
BTC is also used as the main currency on exchanges to purchase other cryptocurrencies, so its value is also linked to this use.
You can put money in and the price goes up or down, but Pyramid schemes are purely scams that will always fall over at some point, as they rely on recruitment. By design, bitcoin will cap itself with supplied coins, after that do you suppose it will all come crashing down?
No of course it wont. Bitcoin costs a lot of money to make, this is another reason why they are expensive, you are not buying fresh air or shares in a company that wont make a return on your investment, you are buying the proof of work that has occurred and was of use.
People that liken it to a pyramid scheme either dont know what bitcoin is or does, or they dont know what a pyramid scheme is. Maybe even both.
The biggest problem people have with it, especially in the media, is that they do not understand what drives it, therefore they cant predict it. This is why you can read all over the media about how fragile it is, but the reality is that they have no idea if it will be £500 next month or £50,000. This bothers them so they mostly call it a scam or advising people to steer clear. The reasons why it gains in value are so wide and varied that you cant predict its value, you can't even give it a value other than it's current price. To me this it its strength.
Things are worth only what people are willing to pay for them.
1 BTC is worth £13,650 fact. ____________________ struan80 - I'll go first - satisfied tick 1 |
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Lord Percy |
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Lord Percy World Chat Champion
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Lord Percy |
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Lord Percy World Chat Champion
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Ste |
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Ste Not Work Safe
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Pjay |
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Pjay World Chat Champion
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Rogerborg |
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Rogerborg nimbA
Joined: 26 Oct 2010 Karma :
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Posted: 20:44 - 15 Dec 2017 Post subject: |
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Spot on. An honest fool would just own it, rather than spouting hilarious tosh about more than a tiny fraction of adopters caring about or even understanding the technobabble behind cryptodosh. But dat cognitive dissonance doe. ____________________ Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike |
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Pjay |
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Pjay World Chat Champion
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Old Thread Alert!
The last post was made 6 years, 127 days ago. Instead of replying here, would creating a new thread be more useful? |
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