RIP bitcoin

[10032012]

Is this a game changer?

Bitcoin has a serious flaw, people are losing money both from it being stolen and the value dropping through the floor... It fluctuates much more than any real world currency. Too risky for bitcoin to become mainstream?

Do you accept bitcoins? Do you own and pay with bitcoins? Does the latest news reports change your mind about how viable bitcoins are?

You can of course store your bitcoins offline for extra security - you need to be online to make a transaction of course. The US Government is allegedly behind the Silk Road 2 bitcoin hack (others say its a scam regarding the site owners)... this is neither here or there for the majority of people, but confidence in the digital currency must be at an all time low. Thoughts welcome.

 

[Elliottc26]

I know that there's a shop that is Bitcoin only and also Fiverr now accept the currency. People are still spending thousands on mining Bitcoin, so, there appears to be a frenzy surrounding it still; although, home miners are no longer in the running since it's difficulty level has risen - they join pools.

Litecoin is also doing well with people mining for it using high-end graphics cards on gaming PCs. But these need to be running 24/7/365 to make a profit.

Bitcoin fell as China deemed the currency illegal from US$1000 to around US$550. Mt.Gox price has fallen to US$302 but rebounded to US$383 following this hack 13th Feb and yesterday - a steep low. 4,500 BTC were stolen worth US$2.44million at the time.

It's still a gamble like any investment opportunity. Perhaps buy low and wait for the rebound - then sell. Unless the thieves do a mass sell off.

 

[mit74]

it's too unstable at the moment. You take £x amount of bitcoins for a product and within a day the value halves and you've lost hundreds possibly thousands. Plus they're too easy to steal. The general populous just isn't smart enough to know how to keep them safe. You need your own encrypted safe which is beyond most people and be knowledgable on the dangers of how they can be stolen.

 

[Cromulent]

I'm still considering accepting it for a new venture I'm working on.

Sure, when you hear about the recent attacks it worries you but at the same time their are numerous people out there who are clamouring for services to accept the currency and I'd like to take advantage of that since a lot of people use bitcoins in my target market.

I'll keep an eye on the currency and see how things pan out over the next month or two and then I'll make my decision.

 

[webgeek]

Bitcoin doesn't inherently have a flaw, but rather one of the clients and the fact that transactions have been implemented, by some, with single signatures.

As soon as the 'standard' is updated with multi-sig requirements, the current MTGox issue, which faces most others, will be resolved, at least as far as I know.

 

[IanG]

Taking it as payment is only the same as taking a traditional currency and spending that on ****** in order to speculate.

The fact it moves around a lot doesn't mean its a bad investment, it just means its higher risk than other ways of holding money.

It will continue to rise and fall, I personally wouldn't forfeit too many real pounds in order to hold some but I see no reason not to watch the market.

 

[Excel Expert]

I think it is far too early to call BitCoin dead, I think it is far from it.

Despite several big dips (that it recovered very quickly from) the value of BitCoins has continued to climb.

The big stories around hacks dont seem to be about the currency at all, they all seem to be about people hacking in to systems and stealing them. Silk Road 2 being a prime example. Other stories seem to point to website owners stealing their customers money.

It has governments rattled for more that one reason. Most governments are saying that it is not safe etc, but what they are not telling us is their true fears i.e. how to tax it and whats to stop their own currency being toppled by BitCoin.

There is no doubt that it is growing and evolving, and like everything in that situation it will need to go through a few revisions to perfect.

 

[SuffolkDesigns]

I can see them gaining ground again, as there is a finite number of btc that will become available (about 20 million?) but with a large number being "lost" each year at what point do people start dumping them?
If a btc was worth $100 then I would be comfortable having a handful, but if they ever become worth $20,000 as some predict then I would feel extremely uncomfortable holding on to even a couple.

 

[Excel Expert]

It becomes like any other investment or exchange rate gamble. If you purchased £100 of US dollars and over a period of time their value went up to £20,000 would you be equally as nervous. The value could dive or climb at any point. The chances are anyone in that position would cash in because it is already an incredible ROI

 

[Talay]

..but if they ever become worth $20,000 as some predict then I would feel extremely uncomfortable holding on to even a couple.

But then you'd need a secondary derivatives market to synthetically split the coins into more liquid denominations.

 

[10032012]

Thanks for your views - its an interesting conversation. Much to think about.

 

[Excel Expert]

Has anyone tried Bitcoin mining?

I'm getting tempted to leave an old laptop running to see how much it produces. Apart from the electricity I wouldnt be losing anything.

Looking at the hardware available to make dedicated mining platforms there seems to be a huge spread in expenses. The cheapest I have seen is one based on a Raspberry Pi (£30-£40) with a load of dedicated USB devices ($40) plugged in to it (the more devices plugged in via a USB hub the more powerful the device) through to devices costing tens of thousands. Risking an old laptop and some electric seems like a worthwhile experiment.

If it generates enough cash I may stick it in to the USB devices.

 

[thelegalstop]

A lot of valuable points being raised here. I think BitCoin is something that is yet to be improved, quite a lot, to be honest, but it will stabilise at some point.

Apart from security concerns, which is, I think the matter of bringing in some professional computer system that are currently in use with standard currency exchange, there is the trust issue.

A currency is worth exactly that much as people want to give you things for it, e.g. goods services, commodities, other currencies, etc. Bitcoin is quite new and is still prone to major financial organisations and the overall speculation. One message from the IRS about some investigation going on, and the whole Bitcoin community simply freaks out.

One more point, though. I think the fundamental issue here is not only the thrive for innovation and computerisation, but also the depreciation in trust for the standard banks. We seem not to trust our Governments and their monetary policy, turning to the alternative ventures, such as Bitcoin.

I wish it well, anyway, it's quite exciting new way of payment!