Who started the bitcoin in the first place? Does it have a reserve like the regular currency? The US dollar has gold reserves in Fort Knox and that backs the value of the US dollar. The same goes with other currencies of each country. Now with the bitcoin, who is operating the heart of the bitcoin? What is the reserve? What happens if no one wants to buy my bitcoin anymore?
similar question and answer posed in a different thread. simplified here.. Satoshi Nakamoto is the name chosen by an anonymous person or group that developed bitcoin. Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto is not Satoshi Nakamoto and was featured in NewsWeek Craig Wright claims to be S.N. but has not proved it. there is no reserve. the software governing bitcoin does limit the total possible number of coins to 21 million. 1 bitcoin can be broken down to 8 decimal spaces. the smallest unit has been named the "satoshi" this limit could be changed. but 51%+ (in reality more like 75%) of the network would have to agree to it, and is not likely. ok not so simplified. the hart of bitcoin is the 6000+ node operators, the miners, pool operators, developers and users. what happens to zimbabwe money when no one wants to use it. it becomes a joke, and is now somewhat of a collectors item. some people will pay $5 for a 1 trillion dollar note that is only worth a penny or something. zimbabwe's problem was hyper inflation. what happens when a government bans guns and drugs- alcohol? a black market grows and feeds money to the outlaws. bitcoin is in an inflationary stage. currently there are about 15million bitcoins out of a possible 21 million out there. satoshi has the first million and it is un-known to anyone else what will be done with them. at the start 50 bitcoins were created every 10min. about 4 years ago that was cut in half. around july that number will be cut in half again. it will continue to be cut in half every ~4 years until 21million. at that point bitcoin will be deflationary. bitcoinclock.com estimated halving date. miners are given the new bitcoins in proportion to their computational power provided. they are also given transaction fees. as the new coin reward shrinks, it is thought that the transaction count and therefor fees collected will go up. continuing to give them incentive to contribute to the network. bitcoin is decentralized. the reserve is decentralized it is worth what people are willing to give you for it, gold, work, products. the guy who ran liberty dollars was shut down, he had a gold/silver reserve and it was confiscated by the feds. it would be very hard for the feds to confiscate all the belongings of every bitcoin user. some gold reserve places have locations in 10 or so countries on various continents. bitcoin users are in every country. bitcoin nodes are secured in bunkers, and a satellite is being launched. ham radio operators maintain a connection in places where regular internet is not available.
As soon as Bitcoin or any crypto currency gets mentioned I get a shudder down my spine. While I'm nowhere near an expert and to be honest I don't want to be, Bitcoin for me is something I don't trust so in that respect I can't see me having anything to do with it, even if it ever does become a legitimate currency or form of getting paid.
The thing with bitcoins is that they are unpredictable. And much like normal currencies, they can go up and down. The last couple of years and months, it has suffered a lot of ups and downs. For me, it isn't going anywhere yet, it's bound to stay. But of course, the fact that it's used by illegal transactors make it somehow not appealing to many people. And the fact that it's not regulated is why many people use it too. So it's really a confusing thing actually! Lol!
Nah, bitcoin isn't going anywhere. It outlasted the SilkRoad fiasco and Mt.Gox, it'll outlast ISIS. If they do anything about it, they'll simply go after the addresses and servers that hold the coin data they need, or will find out where it's hardcopy is if they really need to get it out of coldstorage and return it to digital use on the blockchain. They did that recently near the middle to the end of last year by auctioning off the bitcoin they seized from previous events to get money exchanged to cash to the tune of billions of dollars. With power and advantages like that, they don't want to destroy bitcoin...they merely want to control it and maintain what they need to be able to in the future whenever they want to do that. Kind of like how they take over countries and install puppet governments there that do their bidding, they don't want to physically destroy the region or let the people know they're being controlled...they just want to be the ones who control who does what and be at the top of that chain as always.
Yeah, because you could totally pay for regular services in gold. "Here, Sir, let me bring my chainsaw so I can pay you 0.00454 grams of gold". It's not like that. Gold is not a currency. We are not in the Middle Ages anymore.
Thank you for the great information that hopefully will make Ancient disappear from these forums. What a waste of space. I think people talking about Bitcoin being closed by the FBI are about the same as people thinking Russia can cut a cable in the ocean and shut down the internet. Bitcoins are very similar to the internet in that the beauty is that there is no central location.. it is just a huge web, and if you break one string, their are still a million pathways to where you need to go.
As far as I know bitcoin's existence isn't dependent on any single location that can be shut down. As long as people are willing to use bitcoins they will still be around. They're a convenient way of moving around money for people doing illicit activities so I doubt they'll disappear anytime soon.
Bitcoin might take a dive but I can't see it being shut down in any way completely, after all it started life as being used on illegal drug and arms trading sites.
Bitcoin makes me nervous really. I was in a Bitcoin forum at one time...and i still don't understand it. There are too many variables and too many unscrupulous people involved. The only way I will ever use Bitcoin is if I get it for free. I just have no confidence in it. I don;t think I am the only one who feels that way.
