If iota is the biggest, then at what level would you rank bitcoin as a scam? And what about ether? 
I don’t see them as scams, rather, current fluff is. In other words, people got overly excited. There’s also some scam about bitfinex[1,2] going on (it seems) but i haven’t researched on it.
I think that’s sort of why I like monero, not much fluff (besides people speculating), it’s private and so on.
[1]https://twitter.com/bitfinexed
[2]https://medium.com/@bitfinexed
2 Likes
A successful product fills a need. What is the need for crypto currency??unless it is for illegal activity…
In 2003, one might ask, what is the need for social media?
In 1996, one might ask, what is the need for internet?
In 1980, one might ask, what is the need for a PC?
Not sure if there will be a real need for cryptocurrency… it’s up to the inventors to build some apps around it, make it worthwhile for the masses to use and create value, then it might take off from there.
1 Like
The need is for criminal activity. Government needs to ban it or regulate it…
It will be more on the regulation side.
One usage is to prevent government bailout of those big banks in 2008. It’ll help control the deficit for sure. This is macro economics side of the story.
On the micro economics side, on the individual side, it’s the real money. You work 1 month and buy a Bitcoin. 30 years later, your coin will be able to buy the similar labor for 1-2 months. You don’t need interest, you don’t need a financial advisor, you don’t need to take risk to buy stocks. You just know that your coin won’t be devalued by your dear government.
If you save your 1 months of salary in a checking account in USD, you are not sure if it can buy you 1 week of labor 30 years later.
Money is a medium for labor exchange. If your USD loses value in time, it basically favors people who are better connected to Fed or has more brain cells than you.
There’s a real need if it can conduct financial transactions more securely and at lower cost than other methods. The lower cost part remains to be seen. People are completely ignoring the insane electrical power required to validate transactions. Next year, we’ll be able to blame cyrpto currencies for global warming. The heat semiconductors produce while consuming all that electricity is no joke.
1 Like
Mining is a one time activity. Once all the coins are mined, there will be no energy consumption.
I think the real benefit is not the lower cost. The real benefit is that it retains value. Fiat currency will be devalued on purpose by the government. Bitcoin value should be retained and will for sure rise since the number of coins is fixed and human population and productity keeps advancing.
With the same coins, you can buy more houses 30 years later than now. So Bitcoin is a better investment than real estate. Only issue is how to get an interest income on your coins.
With Bitcoin, lending is a challenge. We need to figure out a way for lending to work. If you borrow 10000 bitcoins in 2010, you’ll most likely declare bankruptcy today. With such a high probability of default, no one wants to lend bitcoins
You have to process each transaction though. How much energy does that take?
The number of bitcoins is fixed, but there’s not much barrier to entry for new currencies. That’s going to be a constant battle to make bitcoin the first choice. Since the whole idea is it’s a decentralized project with no one in control, who’s going to make important decisions to keep bitcoin #1?
The masses 
1 Like
Are these assumptions valid?
That means bitcoin is not a currency. Is some kind of collectible
2 Likes
Exactly. With gold, you don’t need elitists to devise complicated monetary policies to enrich their friends.
Gold and Bitcoin can cause the wealth and income gap smaller. Liberals will love it
Bitcoin also will make lending less popular and make the fiscal deficit the history. Conservatives will love it.
Bitcoin will unite the liberals with conservatives and make the world peaceful and rosy
I don’t have bitcoin and would be very pissed to pay $1M for 1BTC.
Is gold a currency or collectible?
Fiat currency is one big reason for the bigger and bigger government
Your world is those who have bitcoin becomes rich and those who don’t become poor. No way, the majority would accept that. I have to organize a mass movement against bitcoin! And then create a new currency called Revolt!
1 Like
I thought you already invested $1M into bitcoin… or was it $1k??? Can’t keep track… 
Wow… that’s more anti-bitcoin than my rants ever were…
You two are getting old and senile. Why don’t you two go eat some steak and come back.
How will bitcoin shrink the wealth gap? Do you think poor people are buying bitcoin? Are they going to start demanding to be paid in bitcoin?